Forbes –
Israel’s dynamic tech startup scene is no secret. The country has been called the “start-up nation” for years and, today, only the U.S. and China have more companies listed on the NASDAQ than Israel’s 90 – worth a total of $40 billion. Innovation continues and a new crop of Israeli tech startups are on their way up, transforming healthcare, entertainment, finance, media and a myriad of other industries. The hot startups below have secured funding from investors, and are perhaps, on their way to successful exits or IPOs. Here are 25 Israeli tech startups to watch this year:
Yevvo
Yevvo bills itself as the Twitter of live streaming, which is a pretty fair description. The app allows users to share a live video stream with their followers at any time. The young Israeli co-founder and CEO, Ben Rubin, raised several hundred thousands of dollars for Yevvo throughout 2013. In October, a proof of concept of the app’s virality came when 3,000 students from four high schools in Detroit downloaded Yevvo after word of the app spread organically. Then, in February 2014, the serious money came in, when Yevvo closed a $3.7 million Series A round. Yevvo has continued to spread since then. In May, Bloomberg TV reported that the app’s users had tripled in the last two weeks.
Yotpo
A simple solution to a widespread problem. That’s often a formula for startup success, and it’s what Yotpo has hit upon with its online customer review platform. The company seems to have struck the right balance between standardization and customization: it’s a plug-and-play service with several standard features, such as a translator and moderation tools but it also flexible enough that it can be made to fit seamlessly with the aesthetic of any website. Investors seem to think the two young founders, based in Tel-Aviv, have gotten this balance right. In January Yotpo closed an A round worth almost $11 million.
MyPermissions
How many online privacy agreements have you confirmed without reading them in the last week? How about the last month or the last year? How many apps have access to your personal information? Probably more than any of us would care to count. The problem with e-signing privacy agreements and granting permissions to apps is that it can be hard to take privileges back, once they’ve been granted. MyPermissions is a dashboard that scans for all apps and web apps that have access to your information and shows you the results in one place. From there, you can get rid of apps you consider intrusive. Since its founding in 2012, the app has become available on iOS, Android and, recently, Chrome. Management is working with $2.6 million of funding raised in two rounds in 2013.