• Top investment opportunities
  • Startup of the Week: Shield, workplace intelligence for the financial world
  • OurCrowd partners with Philippines’ Einhorn Resources
  • Angels should mind the VC dip but need not fear it
  • World Fund leads IQM’s $128M raise
  • Stream now: Investing in FoodTech, making tomorrow’s meals
  • Beckman Coulter and Scopio Labs speed up blood smear analysis
  • Japan Post uses Innoviz sensors to build smart-city maps
  • HMC Farms launch Tevel’s flying robots in California plum-picking pilot
  • Anodot granted US patent for anomaly detection algorithm
  • Introductions
  • More than 3,100 high-tech jobs

Startup of the Week:
Shield: Workplace intelligence for the financial world

With billions of online interactions carried out by businesses every day, the operational, data, risk and compliance challenges of digital communication are huge. If not properly managed, they can bring down an organization. Regulations require businesses, particularly financial institutions and FinTechs, to monitor, track and secure internal digital communications. Israeli startup Shield has created an AI-powered communication compliance platform that monitors and analyzes communications for fraud, insider trading, market abuse and employee misconduct. It utilizes AI, natural language processing and visualization capabilities to automate the compliance lifecycle and meet regulation requirements. Shield’s ARR grew 117% from the end of Q1 2021 to the end of Q1 2022, and it projects 2X ARR YOY growth in 2022. The company’s client base includes Tier-1 banks, asset managers, hedge funds and commodities trading firms. OurCrowd has an allocation in this Series B round led by current investor Macquarie, with participation from Mindset Ventures and a top-tier strategic financial institution.

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OurCrowd partners with Philippines’ Einhorn Resources

A partnership between OurCrowd and Einhorn Resources Inc, a top Philippine investment firm, will give Einhorn clients direct access to OurCrowd’s exclusive investments, and mentorships to facilitate growth of Philippine startups, the Manila Standard reports. “We are excited to work with OurCrowd to pave the way for stronger ties for investment opportunities, traditional companies and tech solution collaborations,” says Jean Henri Lhuillier, CEO of Einhorn Resources. “The partnership aims to open the funnel to a Philippine network of investors who can choose relevant companies to invest in as well as customize an online portfolio.” Plans are also in hand to set up a regional incubator that will give growth opportunities to Philippine startups looking for Israeli tech expertise.

Angels should mind the VC dip but need not fear it

Global startup investing in mid-2022 is starting to track the downturn in the public markets, just as it did in past dips and after the usual one-to-two-quarter time lag. While angel investors should always be cautious and understand what this means for their existing startup portfolio, they should also be engaged by the opportunities that this correction brings. Read more in my new ‘Investors on the Frontlines’ column.

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World Fund leads IQM’s $128M raise

The climate-oriented VC World Fund based in Germany leads IQM’s $128M raise, TechCrunch reports. IQM is the European leader in quantum computers, and is the only company on the continent designing and selling full-stack, on-premises quantum systems. World Fund is hoping IQM systems will help tackle the complex problems related to climate change. “Quantum computing holds the potential to drive the breakthroughs needed to help solve the climate crisis. We are proud to lead this round and support IQM’s ambition to deliver quantum advantage to climate and sustainability goals,” says Daria Saharova, World Fund Founding Partner. The EU’s European Innovation Council and Tencent are also participating in this oversubscribed round that is still open to OurCrowd investors.

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Stream now: Investing in FoodTech, making tomorrow’s meals

The future of global food supplies are threatened by rising populations, climate change and crises like the war in Ukraine. The urgent need for technologically advanced food alternatives is growing. OurCrowd portfolio companies Ripple and BlueTree Technologies explain how their companies are contributing to a more sustainable food supply chain in ‘Investing in FoodTech: Making tomorrow’s meals,’ now available to stream. Ripple uses yellow peas to offer a plant-based alternative to dairy products that match or even beat the nutritional benefits of other milk alternatives. Compared to cows’ milk, Ripple has half the sugar, 50% more calcium and no cholesterol. “Yellow peas are one of the highest non-animal protein sources on the planet, and they’re one of the most sustainable crops out there,” says Laura Flanagan, Ripple CEO.

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Top Tech News

Beckman Coulter and Scopio Labs speed up blood smear analysis

A global partnership between veteran US biomedical testing firm Beckman Coulter and our portfolio company Scopio Labs aims to speed up analysis of blood smears through increased adoption of Scopio’s next-generation peripheral blood analysis platforms. Scopio’s technology uses full-field imaging and AI decision support to eliminate manual microscopy, while enhancing workflow for laboratory professionals and clinicians. “By leveraging computational photography, Scopio generates a high-resolution, full-field image of the sample, including a large scan area and the smallest details. This is a leap in digital morphology capabilities, and with easy and secure remote viewing, can help laboratories significantly reduce manual labor burden, while improving turnaround time,” says Dr. Peter Soltani, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Beckman Coulter.

Japan Post deploys Innoviz sensors to build smart-city maps

Japan Post is looking to our portfolio company Innoviz (NASDAQ: INVZ) to take the next step in providing smart-city services. Japan Post installed Innoviz’s high-performance LiDAR sensors on its postal delivery trucks, and will use the collected data to generate detailed digital maps, gathering information such as changes in roads and buildings along delivery routes. These maps will serve as foundational data to enable automated driving, unmanned delivery and other next-generation services for Japan’s residents. “We greatly appreciate such an innovative approach full of possibilities to solve local issues across the country using the solution from Innoviz,” says Yoshihiro Gomi, Executive Officer at Japan Post. “We hope that the combination of our assets and InnovizOne LiDAR sensor will lead to the creation of a new business.”

HMC Farms launch Tevel’s flying robots in California plum-picking pilot

The extreme heat in California’s Central Valley is not preventing autonomous flying robots made by our portfolio company Tevel from harvesting local fruit crops. HMC Farms is using Tevel’s robots in a pilot program to locate, harvest and place the fruit in boxes with no human interaction, Perishable News reports. HMC’s high-density orchards, where it grows peaches, nectarines and plums, are ideal locations for autonomous harvesting. Tevel’s platform is particularly appealing to California’s agricultural community, which has been challenged by labor shortages over the past few years.

Anodot granted US patent for anomaly detection algorithm

Our business intelligence trail blazer Anodot was granted a US patent for its new algorithm that speeds up an industry-leading model used to detect data anomalies. It boosts Arima, a model for estimating anomalies in time-series data, reducing runtime by 99.98% and slashing the expense of running the model by up to 80%, enabling Anodot to better protect its customers’ bottom lines. “This new patent is a milestone for Anodot customers and their frequently overburdened data teams,” says David Drai, Anodot CEO and Co-founder. “As businesses of every size generate more and more data, it becomes increasingly difficult to clearly see and understand the impact of every small part making the machine run. We’re eager to see this lightning-fast solution in action.”

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.

 

More than 3,100 High-Tech Jobs

Read the OurCrowd High-Tech Jobs Index Q1 2022 HERE. 

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