Quantum Hub
Deal Flow Report
June 2023
Dear Partners,
We are happy to share the June 2023 deal flow report
You will find 4 sections in the report - Ecosystem news, Quantum news, Spotlights, and Full Dealflow report.
As always, we would appreciate any feedback and questions on the focus areas and reviewed companies.
Ecosystem News gives a glimpse of interesting events/ announcements/ investments information related to the Israeli tech ecosystem.
Quantum Hub News shares interesting news related to Quantum activities.
Our Spotlight section highlights and provides more information on companies we found most interesting in the past month.
Finally, we provide the full deal flow of the month, including relevant companies from our focal sectors.
Ecosystem News
General Motors Acquires Battery Software Startup, Quantum SPARK Alumni, ALGOLiON
ALGOLiON Ltd., an Israel-based battery software startup has been acquired by General Motors Co. for an undisclosed sum.
The company has developed sophisticated software that uses data streams from EV Battery Management Systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance to ensure proper vehicle health management and provide early detection of battery hazards including thermal runaway propagation events.
ALGOLiON, which received early support from the Israeli Innovation Authority, was founded in 2014 by Niles Fleischer, Ph.D., and Alex Nimberger, Ph.D. Dr. Fleischer has more than 40 years of experience in the battery industry and more than 80 patents in the field, while Dr. Nimberger has deep military and civilian experience in all aspects of lithium-ion batteries.
Platform NoTraffic Raises $50m
NoTraffic has developed an AI-powered platform together with a software-defined SaaS platform, empowering Departments of Transportation and other stakeholders to manage traffic in real time.
The platform gives traffic authorities and infrastructure operators the ability to fully control and prioritize traffic flow for all kinds of transportation - cars, bicycles, buses, pedestrians, and more.
The investment will enable NoTraffic to speed up growth, increase production, R&D, and sales into new global markets, including Japan, Italy, Germany, and the UK. NoTraffic utilizes edge computing technology, pioneering unparalleled software-defined infrastructure that facilitates real-time decision-making at both local and cloud levels.
Quantum Hub News
Quantum hub @ Vivatech, Paris, France, June 14th to 17th, 2023
VivaTech 2023 brings together more than 2,400 startups and 2,000 investors, enabling local champions anywhere from Africa to Asia, to become global leaders.
VivaTech presents itself as the meeting point between business and innovation, where collaboration opportunities are created, and where questions of global impact are debated by major tech players and leading companies. Although technology is not the panacea for all ills, it offers answers to some of the most complex questions we face as a society.
Here are key points from Elon Musk's speech at the VivaTech 2023, along with insights on how we can learn to be better leaders
By Dana Taigman Koren, CBO @ Quantum Hub & Managing Partner @ q fund
1. Recognize the need for innovation: Learn from Tesla's example of identifying a gap in the market and addressing it with electric vehicles. There was a need for Tesla, because at the time of Tesla’s founding, there were no electric vehicles being made, and the large car companies were not making electric vehicles. As leaders, we should constantly assess the needs and demands of our industries and strive to innovate accordingly.
2. Embrace audacious goals: Follow SpaceX's pursuit of making life multiplanetary as inspiration. Encourage a culture of setting ambitious and challenging goals to foster innovation and push the boundaries of possibility.
3. Cultivate a curious mindset: When Musk was 12, he learned about the philosophy of curiosity from reading the book "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy". Inspired by Musk’s emphasis on curiosity, encourage a culture of continuous learning, exploration, and asking questions. As leaders, we should always foster an environment that supports experimentation and creative problem-solving.
4. Foster Love for Work: Take Musk’s advice to heart and encourage individuals to find their true passion and align it with their work. As leaders, create an environment where employees feel motivated, inspired, and connected to the purpose of their work.
5. Risks of AI: “The most likely outcome is positive for AI, but that’s not every possible outcome. We need to minimize the probability that something will go wrong with digital superintelligence". Promote ethical considerations and encourage discussions and research on the ethical implications of emerging technologies.
6. Hug Openness: Musk mentioned that Twitter is the only social media company that shows the actual algorithm code. Follow Twitter's lead in transparency, encourage transparency in decision-making processes, communication, and sharing of information, which can lead to trust and innovation within teams.
7. Push Boundaries: Musk’s groundbreaking work with Neuralink, (aimed at empowering individuals with paralysis to control computers or phones using their brain activity), pushes the boundaries of what technology can achieve in the field of healthcare. It leads us to contemplate the profound impact such advancements could have had on someone like Stephen Hawking, if he were alive today. The potential of transforming his life and the lives of countless others is awe-inspiring. We should encourage exploration of innovative solutions and collaboration between technology and medical fields to address critical challenges and improve human well-being.
By incorporating these insights into leadership practices, we can adopt a culture of innovation, curiosity, purpose, and responsibility, inspiring teams and colleagues to push boundaries and create positive change.
Spotlight of the Month
Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal Technology
Carbon Blue aims to help companies offset their carbon emissions and earn carbon credits by removing CO2 directly from seawater.
The solution removes excess CO2 from seawater and locks it away indefinitely. By doing so, it counters ocean acidification and its environmental impacts as well as enhancing the oceans' ability to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere to fight climate change.
The proprietary process utilizes calcium, among the most abundant chemical elements in the ocean, to mineralize, separate, and remove dissolved CO2 from seawater. After the CO2 is removed, the calcium is returned to the ocean to maintain its natural chemical composition.
The reactors used in the process are free of membranes and electrodes, and are robust in the marine environment, allowing for cost-efficient and scalable CO2 removal.
Distinctiveness
> One out of 5 finalists of the Aviram Awards 2023
Company ID
Founded: 2022
Funding: Pre-seed
Industries: Industry 4.0
Product: R&D
CarbonBlue's solution
Real-Time Truck Tire Profile Direct Sensing Technology
BANF has developed an advanced tire sensor technology (the iSensor System), which monitors tire conditions (such as wear, wheel alignment, and loose nuts/lugs), as well as road surface conditions (such as asphalt heating and slippery roads, for example: black ice) while vehicles are in motion.
The system offers real-time tire analysis, empowering fleet operators to optimize tire performance and proactively identify defects. Its main goals are to improve fuel efficiency, prevent accidents related to tire issues, and support the efficient operation of autonomous trucks and fleets.
Distinctiveness
> Investors - Gentium Partners, WeVenture, Bluepoint Partners, L&S Venture Capital, Daedeok Venture Partners, Mason Capital, TIPS Program.
Company ID
Founded: 2020
Funding: Round A
Industries: Automotive
Product: Beta
BANF's Product
Speaker-in-chip Audio Technology
SonicEdge is developing a speaker technology that provides high-fidelity sound in an ultra-compact size. Leveraging the semiconductor industry to disrupt the world of speakers, SonicEdge uses a proprietary technology of sound generation that is based on modulated ultrasound and implementation in a MEMS device.
By providing a full stack from MEMS silicon to drive its algorithms, SonicEdge speakers provide enhanced sound quality, advanced ANC support, and are approximately a tenth of the size of existing solutions.
Distinctiveness
> Entered the program of a Danish innovation center for audio innovation.
> Made a PoC with Samsung at a cost of 150,000 $
Company ID
Founded: 2018
Funding: Round B
Industries: Automotive
Product: Beta
SonicEdge's Product
Off-grid Green Shade and Light Solutions
LumiWeave is an outdoor fabric material embedded with solar and organic photovoltaic (PV) cells that store solar energy during daytime hours for off-grid lighting in the evening.
Based on its proprietary fabric, LumiWeave's outdoor solutions provide daytime shading and nighttime illumination while reducing fossil-fuel emissions and light pollution.
Smart Canopy - a monolete fully flexible sheet embedded within:
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Durable sun screening fabric - screen up to 99.5% of sunlight radiation.
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Lightweight PV film - capable of 190W per sqm sun harvesting.
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Flexible thin LED panels - 0.2mm thick 10 Watts panels.
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Conducting material for wiring.
Control system - Motion, light, sun angle sensors.
Salt Water Battery - Capacity of 1.5 kWh
Distinctiveness
> 6 paid pilots in Israel
> Pilots in the process with the following companies - EMAAR, Serge Ferrari, Tensoflex, and Kopron
Company ID
Founded: 2021
Funding: Bootstrap
Industries: Energy
Product: R&D
LumiWeave's solution
One of the pilot in Israel
Anti-viral/bacterial ink technology
Developed a copper ink that helps prevent bacteria and germs from catching on fabrics. The copper is in the form of a powder that is inserted into the ink and can be printed on screen print & injected into printers.
Distinctiveness
> Created a patent for ink that can be printed on fabrics and contains antibacterial copper powder.
> Berlin Partners showed interest in the product and a webinar was coordinated with public transport operators in Berlin to present the product and recruit potential customers.
Company ID
Founded: 2023
Funding: Bootstrap
Industries: BioTech
Product: Beta
Cuver's Solution
Full Deal Flow of the Month
Company | Solution | Description | Industries | Next Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Smartflow | Data-driven Rain Flood Control | Promotes rainwater flood resilience by allow real-time, data-driven cloud logic to control aerial floods by easily connecting the edges. | Infrastructure | |
Treedis | No-code Platform for Creating Immersive Virtual Experiences | Transform physical spaces into immersive experiences used for knowledge retention, learning and real-time operation. | Industry 4.0 | |
Axiv Materials | Sustainable fibers from Protein Waste | Axiv materials extracts high-quality proteins from waste, and up-cycles them to sustainable, biodegradable, and premium textile fibers. | Industry 4.0 | |
IronComm | AI-powered Communication System | An AI-powered smart communication system designed to save time, reduce human errors, and improve complex linear communication processes. | Industry 4.0 | |
Cuvertech | Ink combined with antibacterial copper powder that can be printed on textiles | Copper ink that helps prevent bacteria and germs from catching on fabrics. The copper is in the form of a powder that is inserted into the ink and can be printed on screen print and inject printers | Automotive | |
BANF | Logistics Safety with Real-time Truck Tire Technology | Providing tire health and road condition information through real-time tire data. | Automotive | |
SonicEdge | Speaker-in-chip Audio Technology | Developing a game-changing speaker technology that provides high-fidelity sound in an ultra-compact size | Automotive | |
Karry Autonomous Indoor | AI software for Last Mile Delivery | AI software layer is added to the commercial last mile robot that adds the ability to deal with dynamic conditions in real time | Logistics | |
Flyz Robotics | Smart Fulfilment Center | Autonomous platform for deploying sensors, devices and packages on vertical walls and other hard to reach spaces. | Logistics | |
SkyPort | Robotics-PBV Last Mile Package | Connecting urban high-rise buildings to delivery drones - closing the gap of the Last meter delivery. We bring the packages to the doorstep in buildings. | Logistics | |
Ventus Technologies | Robotics-PBV Cargo Package | Predict weather hazards and forecast environmental conditions to optimize driving strategy. | Logistics | |
NetFreight | Global Network Marketplace for the Logistics World | Website & an App solution that enables logistics businesses from all logistics segments to identify, evaluate, and collaborate with reliable partner efficiently. | Logistics | |
CarbonBlue | Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal Technology | The solution removes excess CO2 from seawater and locks it away indefinitely. | Energy | |
Lumiweave | Off-grid Green Shade and Light Solutions | An outdoor fabric material embedded with solar and organic photovoltaic (PV) cells that store solar energy during daytime hours for off-grid lighting in the evening.
| Energy | |
Nettef | Energy Harvesting from Pressure Losses | A system designed to retrieve electric energy from the hydraulic resistance of regulators in a pressurized liquid-conducting pipeline, generating energy through the reuse of otherwise wasted resources. | Energy | |
Edooy | Brackish Water Desalination | The Edooy solutions target higher efficiencies in inland desalination plants as well as industrial brine handling. | Other | |
OPA Operations | Mobile Platform for Reusable Food Packaging | A platform for reusable food packaging that helps maintain the users' food quality and protect the planet at the same time. | Other | |
Trustmi AI | A SaaS platform to eliminate B2B fraud risk and costs | A SaaS platform enabling accounting and Treasury teams to prevent fraudulent events in the volume of information and workload. | Other | |
Be Weekly | Routine Delivery Platform as a Service | Repeat pantry shopping automaton with routine deliver platform. | Other |