Genieo Innovations Ltd., a developer of personalized homepages, has closed its second financing round from private investors. The Herzliya-based start-up did not disclose the amount raised.
Genieo, founded in 2007, has aroused considerable international interest by succeeding in doing something that the world's internet giants have tried and failed to do: personalize news content while preserving the user's privacy. The company's solution has been able to chain users to their personalized news portal for longer periods than other news portals.
Genieo CEO Sol Tzvi and chairman Jacob Tenenboem founded the company, which has raised $4 million to date in two financing rounds. Investors include former Israel Electric Corporation chairman Moti Friedman, Matrix IT Ltd. (TASE:MTRX) CEO Moti Gutman, Comsec Consulting Ltd. (TASE:CMSC) CEO Nissim Barel, Cargo Air Lines CEO Ofer Gilboa, ProSeed Venture Capital Fund (TASE:PRSD) chairman Ligad Rotlevy, Industrial Development Bank of Israel Ltd owner Zvi Barinboim, and StoneRiver Inc. insurance division president Gary Sherne.
Genieo says that international hardware and software companies are chasing after the technology of the company, which appears to be on the verge of a breakthrough. "PCWorld" picked Genieo as "Best of 2010 in productivity software", alongside Microsoft's Office 2010, Google's browser Chrome, Adobe's Creative Suite, and Symantec's antivirus solution.
Genieo's application automatically creates a personalized news portal, which collects content from various content channels, such as news sites, blogs, Twitter, and social networks. The technology dynamically analyzes changes in the user's topics of interest, and frequently updates the portal.
Tzvi said, "It seems that Genieo is changing how we consume information. The good news about our technology also lies in the connection it creates between the old and new media. After Web 2.0 created a personal dimension enabling people to share their opinions online (creating content), Genieo has expanded the sheet to enable each and every one of us - content consumers - to enjoy a complete personalized experience in our consumption as well."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 1, 2010
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