Newsletter: Fruit, fraud and robots

 

• The week’s top investment deals from OurCrowd
• Fresh fruit picked from the tree by Israeli robots
• Startups tackling Covid and urgent health challenges
• BioCatch: Fingering fraudsters, saving millions
• Insightec: Can ultrasound help treat brain tumors?
• YuLife enhances group risk coverage for UKs medical insurers
• QuantLR among Top 5 picks for Israel Aerospace Industries program
• Webinar: A new way to treat burns
• Introductions
• Job opportunities

Fresh fruit picked from the tree by Israeli robots

Tevel Aerobotics is receiving orders for its fruit-picking autonomous drones from North America, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil, the India Times reports. Ten percent of fruit worldwide rots on the tree because there’s no one to pick it and labor shortages have increased during the coronavirus pandemic as countries restrict entry to seasonal workers. Tevel’s flying fruit picker – an artificial intelligence-driven robotic drone that gently picks fruit and performs other tasks like thinning and pruning, can save farmers up to 30% of their costs and it could not be more timely. At our recent AgTech webinar, Founder and CEO Yaniv Maor revealed how his tiny flying drones can pick several varieties of fruit faster and more efficiently than by hand. With eight patents pending and unique knowhow, the company has a highly innovative solution to one of today’s greatest pain points in agriculture. Click here to learn more about the company.

OurCrowd & SALT Talks, Ep. 3:

Startups tackling Covid and urgent health challenges

This third installment of the SALT Talks: Pandemic Venture Investment Series, presented in partnership with OurCrowd, will take place on Thursday, Nov. 12. Top health startup executives will look at medical efforts to combat Covid-19, the race for a vaccine, a possible therapy and how to make drug usage safer and more efficient. With Eyal Desheh, Chairman of MigVax, Dr. Gilly Regev, CEO of SaNOtize, and Dr. Gidi Stein, CEO of Medaware.

BioCatch: Fingering fraudsters, saving millions

Behavioral biometrics can help spot financial crimes that are more difficult to spot with more traditional security tools, according to three new case studies from BioCatch. In one study, an e-commerce business received an urgent order for 740,000 straws to be delivered to Tuvalu, a tiny island with a population of 11,000. After the payment was made, the customer called the company and asked that the shipping costs of $10,000 be directed to another freight company. It was a fraud. The entire order was illegitimate, and the request to transfer shipping funds was part of the scam. Employing behavioral biometrics to analyze the user’s level of data familiarity and computer proficiency, the organization was able to determine that the user was inputting stolen and synthetic information in the checkout process and blocked the transaction up front. Read more here.

 

 

Top Tech News

Insightec: Can ultrasound help treat brain tumors?
Insightec, a pioneer in the use of focused ultrasound to treat essential tremor without brain surgery, announced an agreement with Lantheus in Billerica, Mass. to use Lantheus’ microbubbles technology to deliver ultrasound energy deep in the brain to help treat cancerous tumors – without making an incision. The microbubbles, combined with the application of focused ultrasound, are being investigated in the temporary disruption of the blood brain barrier to potentially allow for more effective delivery of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of glioblastoma patients. Glioblastoma is the most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor affecting 3.19 Americans per one hundred thousand and has a less than 5% five-year survival rate. “Our collaboration with Insightec could help change the paradigm in glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer for which patients and clinicians unfortunately have few options, and where the unmet medical need is truly significant,” says Mary Anne Heino, President and CEO of Lantheus.

YuLife enhances group risk coverage for UKs medical insurers
YuLife has become the only group risk member of the UK’s Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII), enabling it to work closely with AMII’s 120 or so intermediary firms. “This partnership with AMII seemed like a natural progression for us – the opportunity to become AMII’s only group risk member was one we could not pass up,” says Barry Waring, head of broker distribution for YuLife. The Association’s executive chairman, Stuart Scullion, tells Cover that the partnership will deliver additional value for clients by harmonizing their private medical insurance, group risk and wellbeing benefits. “YuLife is a fantastically innovative company and we look forward to seeing our partnership progress,” Scullion says, noting that the YuLife app “uses behavioural science and game mechanics to reward people for living well, and provides direct access to virtual GPs and mental health support.”

QuantLR among Top 5 picks for Israel Aerospace Industries program
QuantLR is one of just five startups chosen from hundreds of applicants by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for an accelerated development track that allows them to work with IAI’s technology leaders, realize long-term business potential, leverage breakthrough technologies, and gain access to IAI’s customers. QuantLR uses advanced quantum encryption that enables parties to transfer secure, encrypted information that hackers cannot access. Its solution ensures that quantum and other powerful technology will be a driving force for good. Its first target is deployment on 5G communication lines and base stations. As part of the IAI accelerator track, QuantLR will join IAI’s ELTA Group experts to work on a quantum sensing project. The selected companies “will have an opportunity to validate and test their technology jointly with IAI experts and supportive environment and, at the same time, become exposed to unique technologies and cross-fertilizing work processes in diverse open innovation fields,” says Amira Sharon, IAI’s VP of R&D and Innovation.

Webinar: A new way to treat burns

Nanomedic offers a new way of treating burns, reducing pain and improving results. Its Spincare Wound System creates a skin-like layer that biomimics the structure of natural skin, reducing the potential for infection and cross-contamination, and enhancing the healing process. It is permeable and breathable, and simply peels off when the wound is healed. Join Dr. Alexandra Schulz, a burn specialist and expert in wound care, to learn about NanoMedic’s electrospinning technology, and how she has incorporated it in everyday procedures, especially in hard-to-dress areas. See the technology in action here.

Making Hard Easy: Spincare – a New Alternative for Wound Care Treatment

Thursday, November 12th | 10:00AM New York | 5:00PM Jerusalem

Registration is required. Click here or the button below to register. 

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Introductions

Your portfolio gets stronger when the OurCrowd network gets involved. Visit our Introductions page to see which of our companies are looking for connections that you may be able to help with.