Of the 25 leading startups selected by "The Wall Street Journal," in its article "Tech companies to watch," six - almost one quarter - are Israeli. This is not exactly a surprise, because Israel has been second to the US in cyber security for a long time, and three of the six Israeli companies on the list are cyber security companies. Furthermore, three of the four cyber security companies on the list are Israeli, giving additional prominence to Israel's leading position in this market.
The first company according to capital raised to date is Cybereason, which only recently, just after "The Wall Street Journal" published its rating, completed a $100 million financing round, thereby providing some justification for its selection. The second, illusive Networks, has raised $30 million to date, and the third, Argus Cyber Security, which is riding the smart car wave, has also raised $30 million to date.
A slightly less surprising Israeli selection is shared journeys company Via, which is seeking to challenge Uber, mainly in the New York market. The fact that it has raised $137 million to date indicates something about its chances of success.
Three fintech companies were also among the big 25, one of the Israeli: Lemonade, which operates a peer-to-peer (P2P) website and cellular application on which homeowners can buy insurance. The company has raised $60 million to date.
The last Israeli representative on the list is the only one in the social media category: Life On Air, which has developed the Houseparty app. This app makes it possible to conduct a chat with many participants confined to the members, meaning that the people in the chat can see with whom they are chatting. In contrast to the other Israeli companies included in the rating, Life On Air, which was founded as an Israeli company, has lost some of its Israeli identity, because most of its employees are in the US, not in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on July 2, 2017
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