i3 - November/December 2019 - 12

Tech

By Mark Chisholm

I N T E R N AT I O N A L FO C US

Turner Broadcasting
Working with Israeli
Video Platform
The Binational Industrial research
and Development (BIRD)
Foundation has announced that
Israel-based startup Snappers,
along with Turner Broadcasting,
will receive a $1 million grant to
build a crowdsourced video platform. The platform is intended to
allow content producers to easily
make use of live video from
attendees of conferences and
other events.

Food Tech Gains
Steam in Israel
A partnership between agrifood
investment firm Finistere
Ventures, venture investor platform OurCrowd, and Israel based
food manufacturers Tnuva and
Tempo Beverages, launched the
Fresh Start FoodTech Incubator
in September. The incubator will
invest in 40 startups aiming to
transform the food industry
through technology. The first
investments are expected to take
place in 2020. Israel-based
Redefine Meat also announced
that it raised $6 million to develop
a 3D meat-printing system to produce animal-free meat products.

USING IMAGE SEARCH TO
IMPROVE THE RETAIL
EXPERIENCE
Syte, a visual AI firm that recently received
$21.5 million in Series B funding, is using
artificial intelligence and imaging to help
shoppers more easily find what they're looking
for. The Israeli company, which has offices in Tel
Aviv, New York, Geneva and London, offers
solutions such as camera searching tools, in-store
"smart mirrors" and product recommendation
engines. Through camera search technology, a
customer takes a picture of a product that is then
broken down into individual components by the
technology. The customer is then given
recommendations of similar products. The
company is partnering with Kohl's in the U.S.,
Argos in the U.K. and other retailers.

Startup Aims
to Transform
Automotive
Manufacturing
Israeli automotive
startup REE has invested
in a modular platform
that the company hopes
will change the way
vehicles are built. The
system relies on what
the company calls a
modular "skateboard
chassis" that includes
the brakes, motor and
drivetrain. Vehicle manufacturers can choose
the different components that will make up
the chassis. REE is currently collaborating
with Mitsubishi and a
number of auto part
manufacturers.

Battling Tuberculosis with Two-Way Texting
An Israeli company is using SMS text messaging to combat tuberculosis (TB),
the contagious disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2017, according to the
World Health Organization. Keheala, a Tel Aviv-based startup, has developed
a program where text messages remind patients to take their medication. If
the patient fails to confirm via text message, additional text messages and
phone calls follow. Relying on behavioral science, Keheala works to fight TB
through increased observability.

12

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

Clockwise from top left: William Bayreuther/Unsplash, Peter Hermes Furian/Alamy,
Courtesy of Syte, Courtesy of REE Automotive, Courtesy of Keheala.

ISRAEL
i3 - November/December 2019

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