b-to-v at the annual conference of the High Tech Industry Association IsraelJune 8, 2010
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The b-to-v investors circle is in Israel for the second time after having learned to know the country through different angles in 2009. Two investments have been made by b-to-v in Israel since, one of them being Cellera, a promising fuel cell company.
What we experience here today at the annual conference of the High Tech Industry Association is amazing: The VC industry, the well established big companies like Audi, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and politics are joining forces in order to give entrepreneurship a strong push forward. Some interesting things we have heard and observed:
- Again: Israeli entrepreneurs seem to be more “hungry” for success than European ones. Lots of them being very structured, focused and leadership-experienced army officers.
- Israeli VC Funds have raised more capital than the all Western European VCs combined.
- The VC scene has started a great initiative to develop wealth in the Arab part of the country with its different initiatives like the VC Fund Al-Bawader (this working session for example has been been moderated by Chemi Peres, including a key note of Avishay Braverman, Minister of Minority Affairs).
- The number of entrepreneurial politicians seems extremely high (the prime minister, three minsters and the major of Jerusalem, a very successful entrepreneur himself, are actively involved in the conference, have a clear view on what they say and deliver immediate action on site – we have never seen that in Europe till now).
- Israel is attracting VCs from all over the world – including our dear friend Gavin Ni whom we were privileged to get to know at our first trip to China in 2007.
First conclusion: This Jerusalem conference may become the “Davos of Venture Capital”. Let us think about it loudly in the VC industry.
And with all that: Congratulation to Lars Hinrichs for your great new venture HackFwd (@ Facebook) and we wish you all the very best for it! Looking forward forging great companies with you – jointly with great people from all over the world.
Cellity acquired by NokiaJuly 24, 2009
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Nokia and Cellity today announced an agreement for Nokia to acquire certain assets of Cellity. Cellity is a privately owned mobile software company which employs 14 people in Hamburg, Germany. b-to-v has been an investor in Cellity since June 2007. Find more details in the official press release here.
b-to-v portfolio company Plazes acquired by NokiaJune 23, 2008
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As already widely posted, we are pleased to announce that the b-to-v portfolio company Plazes today has announced its acquisition by Nokia. With Plazes context-aware social-activity service Nokia will strenghten their consumer offering in location-based services. Whithin a few month the service will be made available to Nokia customers both online (under ovi.com) and on Nokia’s mobile devices.
Congrats to the team around Felix Petersen and Stefan Kellner and special thanks to the lead investor Peter Schüpbach who managed on Plazes’ behalf the M&A process and supported the team closely for the last three years. We are looking forward to the further development and integration of this pioneering location-based technology within Nokia.
Tokiva’s new HomepageJanuary 3, 2008
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Another b-to-v Portfolio Venture enjoys the luxury of a new website: Tokiva. Tokiva is a global communication platform that enables the association and sharing of a profile with a phone number. By doing so Tokiva provides rich voice and data services on the Web, Instant Messengers and Mobile platforms. Founded in March 2006, it enables inexpensive, reliable international long distance calls on mobile devices. Unique to Tokiva is its open Mobile VoIP Platform (MVP) designed specifically to address the unique consumer behaviour, capabilities, and constraints of the mobile environment. Tokiva’s MVP platform can connect VoIP networks with mobile operators in over 200 countries to deliver inexpensive voice and data services.
- Voice Services – International call, conference call, call forwarding, follow me, and voice mail.
- Messaging Services – Mobile email, international and group SMS.
- Presence Services – Peer awareness including the sharing of location, mood, picture, music, and audio-blogs.
Check out the new website on www.tokiva.com and sign up for cheap international calls on your mobile phone.