Insights & News /  High Tech

On January 10, Petah Tikva Entrepreneurial Community, in association with StarTAU, the Entrepreneurship Center at Tel Aviv University, will host a panel of investment experts. Participants will present their business venture ideas to the panel. 

V-Wave, a privately held company with offices in Israel and the U.S., completed a Series B financing round in the sum of $28m. The round was led by Johnson Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc. (represented by Barnea). Other participants were TriVentures, Pura Vida and BioStar Ventures. Eli and Nir Barkat's BRM fund, Pontifax and Edwards Lifesciences, which were already shareholders in V-Wave, also participated.

Ariella Dreyfuss Adv. published an article in the leading legal English website "The Lawyer" discussing the new law in Israel relating to alternative means of raising funds. The goal of the law is to assist small Israeli companies in their efforts to raise funds through the social phenomena of crowdfunding, and the establishment of high-tech funds to be traded on a new index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

In an article published in The Lawyer and Lexology, Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss and Adv. Asaf Shalev explain that a new draft bill, published at the beginning of the month, proposes that Israeli private and public companies should be able to submit documents to the Israeli Companies Registrar in English. The aim of the bill is to ease the process for foreign parties interested in investing in Israeli business and participating in Israel’s high tech story.

Micky Barnea was one of nine experts from around the world who participated in the "Corporate Livewire" virtual round table. The subject of the event was Technology, Media Telecommunications 2015.  Micky discussed recent regulatory changes, key trends and Intellectual Property in the Media Industry.

Barnea represented Bruker Nano, an American company, traded on Nasdaq, in its acquisition of Jordan Valley Semiconductors for $53m. The acquisition uniquely positions Bruker to offer unmatched solutions for advanced problems in nanotechnology research and semiconductor metrology. Adv. Simon Jaffa and Adv. Daniel Lorber represented the client.

On July 29, 2015 the Knesset passed an Amendment to the Encouragement of RD in the Industry Law. Micky Barnea, who specializes in advising companies of all sizes and from all industries: venture capital funds, entrepreneurs, and Israeli and international investors in technology and life sciences, refers  in "Globes" on the benefits of the new R D Law.

The winner of the  "Start up Open" competition is "Lishtot" an Israeli startup which has developed technology that indicates in 2 seconds if water is polluted, thereby reducing the risks of drinking polluted water. The event was held at Hansen House in Jerusalem. Barnea was involved with the competition from inception for the second year, together with the Jerusalem Development Authority, JNext, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Prime Minister's Office, MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel and others. 

There is no doubt that Israel has a thriving high-tech industry. Israel has developed a high-tech eco-system that encompasses companies at various stages of development. It has also built up an extensive community of investors and development centers of international companies. The high-tech industry in the start-up nation has attracted and is attracting corporate giants from around the world to operate their development centers in Israel. This is done via the acquisition of Israeli companies or as part of a business strategy of creating a presence in Israel.

Despite the conflict in  Gaza, 2014 was an extremely busy year for Israeli Hitech MA transactions. Several partners at leading law firms, including Simon Jaffa, were interviewed by "The Lawyer" to review last year’s results and discuss the technology market.

Barnea represented Athena SCS Limited, a UK based company, and its shareholders in the sale of the company to NXP Semiconductors NV, a Nasdaq listed company. Athena is an independent UK-based developer of state-of-the art smart card solutions for access, enterprise, eGovernment, transportation, payment and mobile solutions.

Micky Barnea, managing partner of Barnea, and Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Online, in a joint interview focused on the area of financial trading platforms. In the interview Micky discusses the effects of the new Israeli regulations pertaining to the activities of trading platforms. These regulations will come into effect on May 26, 2015.

Senior industry figures from a host of FX companies met top venture capital investors in Tel Aviv, Israel today at the conference hosted by Barnea and the IVC. To read more, please click here

Micky Barnea, Managing Partner and Head of the Technology department published an article in the IVC annual high-tech book. In the article, Micky asserts that although online financial trading is focused on financial tools, the ability to innovate is a key ingredient in the success of online financial trading companies. As such, they should be treated as high-tech companies.

As part of our collaboration with Startau, Tel Aviv University's Entrepreneurship Center, our firm hosted today a student delegation from Peru. The event included lectures by Adv. Micky Barnea, managing partner and by Lior Weizman, Eco System development Manager Cloud, Start ups and Academia, From IBM.

Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel, Barnea Co Law firm, The Jerusalem Development Authority, JNext, The Jerusalem Municipality, The MIT Enterprise Forum - Israel,  Israel advanced technology industries, Made In Jerusalem and more leading hi-tech entities have organized for the 2nd time  a competition for early stage startups. The Israeli Company which wins StartUp Open will receive a package of services worth thousands of shekels and will automatically be entered into the list of the World's Top 50 Most Promising Startups, also known as the GEW50. Registration for StartUp Open Israel 2015 will be open until July 13th , 2015. After a thorough process of judging, the final round of the StartUp Open competition in Israel will be held at Jerusalem on September 7th, 2015 in front of an audience consisting of entrepreneurs, managers, investors, researchers, and government representatives.

The Israeli corporate governance rules discourage technology companies from listing on the TASE. However, with some simple steps this all can be changed. Israel's position as the Startup Nation is reflected in the fact that multiple local technology companies are listed on the US and London Stock Exchanges. However, the TASE has never managed to make itself an attractive  target for Israeli high-tech companies. Thus, while many technology companies today prefer the purchase option of an initial public offering, such companies seeking to issue shares do not regard the TASE as an attractive or even relevant option. They prefer to turn to international exchanges.

In 2010, the Committee for Compensation and Royalties made a “revolutionary” ruling regarding the assignment by employees to their employers of rights to "service inventions" – i.e. inventions created in the course of employment. The Committee held that the assignment of an invention does not automatically amount to a waiver of the employee's right to receive compensation for such invention under section 134 of the Patents Law (1967). Although the employer would be the owner of a patent invented by an employee, it may still be compelled to pay the employee royalties for their contribution to the company's technology. This ruling sent proverbial shockwaves through the Israeli high tech industry. Companies, potential acquirers and investors struggled with assessing the risk as to whether employees, both past and present, would now seek compensation for the work they had performed for their employers. In a recent decision the situation appears to have been clarified. On 4 May 2014, the same Committee appears to have revised its position, when it rejected a claim for royalties by a former employee. The Committee ruled that an employee's right to compensation for "service inventions" is not absolute and such right may be waived. The Committee also found that a general waiver signed by the employee upon his termination was sufficient to relieve the employer from the requirement to pay royalties – even if such waiver did not make specific reference to inventions or to section 134 of the Patents Law. According to this latest decision by the Committee, an assignment of rights of "service inventions" together with a general release upon termination would now be sufficient to ensure that the employer will have no further liability to employees who have contributed to inventions. Nevertheless, it would still be prudent to include an express waiver of rights to royalties for "service inventions" in all employment agreements.

Following the successful launch of MarginProbe System, which received Pre-Market Approval (PMA) from the FDA early last year, Dune Medical Devices Ltd. has successfully completed the first of a two stage USD21 million equity financing. The initial closing was completed for USD14 million with a second tranche of USD7 million to be completed by October 2014. Dune Medical Devices develops surgical devices and techniques for real-time, intra-operative optimization of excisions in surgical oncology procedures.Dune Medical Devices has offices in the U.S. and in Israel.

Barnea together with the Enterprise Forum, Israel Advanced Technology Industries,  is pleased to sponsor the 2014 StartUp Open Competition to be held on 22 September in Jerusalem. StartUp Open is a competition featured during Global Entreperneurship Week. The competition was originally launched as part of the Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2010 and has since been a leader in the promotion and nourishment of aspiring entrepreneurs. StartUp Open is one of the world's largest competitions for startup companies and boasts participation from 37 countries. The start-up competition focuses on companies that made significant progress between November 25, 2013 (Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013) and November 16, 2014 (Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014). For further information, please contact: Gil Shourka, National Coordinator GEW – Israel. Email: [email protected]