SNÉIsrael’s Technology Transfer Company, has closed a $2.5 million financing round from Arieli Capital, a venture capital fund founded and managed by Eric (Ariel) Bentov. This is the first significant external financing round by SNÉ, which was selected by the Council of Higher Education in Israel (CHE) as the preferred provider of intellectual property commercialization services for all academic colleges and government-funded hospitals and research institutes.
SNÉ provides commercialization of intellectual property for more than 40 Israeli colleges and government-funded research institutes and hospitals. Through the use of a proprietary methodology, SNÉ's services save time and hassle in the establishment of a commercialization center for promising inventions, providing research institutes with a proven and efficient solution.
The company closely cooperates with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design; Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art; Afeka Academic College of Engineering; Hadassah Academic College; Jerusalem College of Technology - Lev Academic Center; ORT Braude; Medical Center of the Galilee and Ruppin Academic Center. SNE operates in a range of fields, including biotechnology, medical devices, software, industrial design, cleantech, agriculture and water technologies.
Based in Ra’anana and with 10 employees, SNÉ was founded in 2013 by Omri Raisman, Gerardo Nahum, Dr. Shai Yarkoni, and Adv. Amos Konforti. The company won an eight-year government tender published by the Council of Higher Education (with an option to extend for four more years) to establish a company to encourage the commercialization of knowhow and intellectual property at colleges, hospitals and research institutes. The goals of the initiative were to expand the colleges’ sources of revenue and improve the innovation and competitiveness of Israeli industry. As part of the tender's terms, the Council of Higher Education has allocated NIS 26 million to support this activity.
In 2015 Avi Ben-Zichri, who has held senior positions in high tech over the past 20 years, was appointed CEO of SNÉ. He has served as Siemens Data Communications VP Development, and VP Development at Oplus, which was sold to Intel for $100 million in 2005.
Ben Zichri said, “We intend to use the capital we have raised to increase the number of institutions SNÉ works with in the coming year. We also plan to advance and develop current products, expand its portfolio of new products and prepare them for commercialization. Along with this, we will invest in engineering and field tests, and continue to develop business relations with industry and investment funds in Israel and overseas.”
Ariel Capital chairman Eric (Ariel) Bentov said, "We chose to invest in SNÉ as we believe in the marketing potential of the company and in the capability of its management team. SNÉ is capable of providing the industry with an ongoing stream of proven business ideas from academic and research institutions from all over Israel. Beyond the financial investment, we intend to put our marketing and sales capabilities at the disposal of SNÉ, while emphasizing the thorough testing of each technology's marketing potential."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 25, 2016
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