The tech behind Israel’s amazing air defenses

A weekly selection of news and investment opportunities from OurCrowd, the global venture investing platform

Startup of the Week

Hailo: Final allocation for OurCrowd investors

AI chipmaker unicorn Hailo made headlines around the world last week with news of its successful $120M raise and the unveiling of its powerful new Hailo-10 AI accelerator specifically designed to process LLMs at low power consumption for the personal computer and automotive industries, bringing generative AI to the edge. The successful close is “the latest sign of investor enthusiasm for startups that can help address a global chip shortage and fuel the development of generative AI,” Saritha Rai reported for Bloomberg. “Hailo’s chips execute AI tasks with lower memory usage and power consumption than a typical processor, making them a strong candidate for compact, offline, and battery-powered devices such as cars, smart cameras, and robotics,” wrote Kyle Wiggers at TechCrunch. OurCrowd investors have exclusive access to the final allocation in this closed and fully subscribed round. Additional information is available under NDA.?

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Meet the tech behind the Israeli air defenses that repulsed Iran's missile assault

Israeli air defenses faced their biggest test yet against hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles fired from Iran over the weekend in a terrifying barrage. The systems intercepted and destroyed 99 percent of the enemy’s weaponry. Iron Dome played a major role in the defensive operation. It uses radar to detect incoming threats and high performance command-and-control software, created by OurCrowd portfolio company mPrest, to determine if they need to be intercepted based on their trajectory. It then launches interceptor missiles designed to detonate the incoming projectile while still in the air. OurCrowd stands proudly with the Israeli Defense Forces as they continue to keep the people of Israel safe from potentially devastating attacks.?And we salute mPrest and the rest of our portfolio companies that use the latest technology to save lives and make the world a safer place.

Carrar: Surviving Hamas, serving humanity

Carrar’s revolutionary technology triples the lifetime of EV batteries and stops them catching fire – a flaw that could potentially derail the fast-growing, multibillion-dollar global electric car market. Carrar’s proprietary thermal-management technology systems dissipate twice the amount of heat of existing solutions, increasing battery lifespan and preventing temperature spirals that cause thermal runaway and battery fire. Carrar is already working with major partners in the automotive industry. The company was bombed out of its headquarters in Sderot, near Gaza, by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, but the staff has now returned and this week Carrar closed a $5.3M raise to finance the development of its commercial battery modules. The company is also a recipient of funding from OurCrowd’s Israel Resilience Fund.

Bionaut Labs founder enjoys $360M credibility rating

The Bionaut is a tiny micro-robot that travels through the body, delivering targeted therapeutic drugs to the brain and other hard to reach parts of the anatomy. It sounds like science fiction, but investors were given confidence in the idea by the impressive track record of the company’s founders. “Bionaut Labs was significantly strengthened by our previous entrepreneurial success with PrimeSense, which was acquired by Apple,” says Michael Shpigelmacher, CEO and Founder of Bionaut Labs, of the $360M sale of his previous company. “This early achievement provided us with the credibility and access to high-tech investors, such as Upfront Ventures in Los Angeles and later, Khosla Ventures.” The company is now engaged in a clinical trial with the Mayo Clinic, while a second program has received the FDA’s orphan drug designation, Shpigelmacher tells Investment Reports. The company is currently raising on the OurCrowd platform.

Medved: Worldwide innovation needs global incubation

“I have been a fan of startup incubators since the 1990s, when I invested in Compugen (NASDAQ: CGEN), a drug discovery company nurtured at the high-tech incubator in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert where David Ben-Gurion lived and worked the land after retiring from public service,” writes OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved. “I learned that the more support, mentoring, and connections you give a startup in its early years, the better its chance of success. My experience with Compugen inspired me to encourage OurCrowd to become Israel's largest incubator operator. Today, with our excellent global partners, we have five incubators in Israel, a sixth in New Zealand, and we have just announced a seventh in Uruguay. The Israeli model for government-backed incubators helps grow startups from seed to success, providing returns for entrepreneurs, investors, and taxpayers.” Read more in Jon’s new ‘Investors on the Frontlines’ column.

Type One Energy eyes fusion power in UK backed by Bill Gates

“Megawatt Alley” near Nottingham is being targeted for the country’s first clean energy fusion power plant – and Type One Energy is hoping to win the bid. “We have expressed interest to the government and the UK Atomic Energy Authority to be involved in that site,” Christofer Mowry, CEO of Type One Energy, told Ben Spencer of The Times of London. Type One, whose investors include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is set to build its inaugural US fusion plant in Tennessee after winning the first award from the $50M Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund in February. “We have to build something that can replace coal plants in India and Indonesia at a cheaper price,” Mowry said. “Otherwise we aren’t going to solve climate change.”

FDA clears Eko’s first AI to aid heart failure detection in routine check-ups

OurCrowd portfolio company Eko Health was awarded FDA clearance for the first AI-based diagnostic system to aid the detection of heart failure during routine check-ups. “For the first time, US healthcare providers can now detect low EF, a key heart failure indicator, in 15 seconds using an Eko stethoscope during a routine physical examination. This leap in early detection marks both a significant medical innovation and a new era in the detection of cardiovascular disease,” the company said.

Ursa Major wins US Navy contract for next gen solid rocket motors

Ursa Major, OurCrowd’s 3D printing rocket manufacturer, won a contract with the US Naval Energetics Systems and Technologies Program to develop and hot-fire test a prototype solid rocket motor for the Navy's Standard Missile program. The company will help “bolster a critical component of the Nation's industrial base,” says Capt. Thomas Seigenthaler, the director of the Navy's Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems 3.0 Naval Air Warfare Center – Weapons Division at China Lake. “The production of solid rocket motors is a top priority, and we are impressed with Ursa Major's innovative approach to address manufacturing challenges.”

NeuReality: EU trailing US, UK, and China on AI inference

“Europe’s standing in AI inference development trails behind leaders like the US, the UK, and China,” says Moshe Tanach, CEO and Co-founder of NeuReality, OurCrowd’s AI inference pioneer. NeuReality recently won a $20M investment from the European Innovation Council Fund to accelerate the deployment of its technology to more regions and market segments. “The US dominates, with nearly 60% of top-tier AI researchers and $249B in private funding. China and the UK are close contenders, while Israel and Canada emerge as key players due to robust government support and startup ecosystems,” Tanach tells Anne-Fran?oise Pelé at EE Times Europe. “The integration of NeuReality’s NR1 technology with AI accelerator chips from NVIDIA and other suppliers in AI data centers promises significantly enhanced energy and cost efficiency, heralding a transformative step forward in AI infrastructure optimization,” he says.

BlueTree secures self-GRAS status, poised for global juice market

BlueTree Technologies, an OurCrowd startup whose proprietary technology selectively removes sugars from juice, milk, and beer without harming the taste, secured FDA self-affirmed “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status and is now in talks with major juice manufacturers around the world, CEO Michael Gordon tells Elaine Watson at AgFunder News. “We plan to license the system to juice producers around the world, and we’re currently negotiating with large-scale manufacturers in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. They are looking at the numbers and saying this is cost effective,” Gordon says. BlueTree graduated from our Fresh Start FoodTech incubator and recently won a grant from EIT Food, the world’s largest food innovation community, supported by the European Union.

Edgybees registers ‘pivotal’ patent for geospatial analysis

Edgybees, OurCrowd’s georegistration software leader, registered a new patent that it says is “a major leap in geospatial analysis.” The company’s platform aligns data from multiple sources, sensors, and physical maps to achieve the high-definition accuracy required for the accurate deployment of aircraft, drones, and other critical airborne equipment. Shay Har-Noy, Edgybees CEO, hailed the patent as a “groundbreaking development that redefines the landscape of geospatial analysis and geographic information systems. It describes AI-based technology to align full motion video from drones and other aircraft to a reference map, dramatically improving the positional accuracy of every pixel in the video.”

Bulgaria partners with Axiom Space on innovation and technology

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Innovation and Growth will collaborate with OurCrowd portfolio company Axiom Space, a provider of human spaceflight services and developer of spaceflight infrastructure, on space innovation, technology, and research. The collaboration was announced by Innovation Minister Milena Stoycheva after signing a letter of intent creating a partnership to promote and develop the country’s space ecosystem. “This new partnership will provide more opportunities for the Bulgarian industry and small and medium-sized enterprises in the sector,” said Minister Stoycheva. "Bulgaria considers this area as a strategic asset contributing to the creation of new markets and business opportunities.”

Xage reveals increased zero trust adoption in industrial sectors

Organizations are leveraging zero trust to enhance the safety, security, and reliability of their enterprise across IT and operational technology environments, according to new research from OurCrowd portfolio company Xage Security. The company’s State of Zero Trust in the Industrial Enterprise Report analyzes the current status and trajectory of zero trust security implementation within industrial organizations, focusing on critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. “The industrial world is taking action and recognizes the necessity to expedite zero trust adoption to keep our nation’s—and world’s—critical infrastructure safe from cyberattacks,” says Jonathon Gordon, Industry Analyst at Takepoint Research.

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Startup Beat?is a weekly selection of news and investment opportunities from?OurCrowd, the global venture investing platform.

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OurCrowd is a global venture investing platform. To date we have more than $2.3 billion in commitments, 230,000 registered investors, 440 portfolio companies, 56 venture funds and 63 exits.

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