The Arava Institute

After finishing our class in Rehovot at Hebrew University on strategic water management, the team packed up and headed into the deep south of Israel and the Negev Desert.

Our destination for the night (and next day) was Kibbutz Ketura - home of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Arriving in the early evening, the team quickly dropped our stuff off at our rooms before heading to a BBQ at the Kibbutz pool. There were all the essentials (i.e. hamburgers and hot dogs, as well as an enormous pool). The Kibbutz was also playing host to a bunch of British birthrighters, who we (actually Asher in particular) challenged to a game of football. We lost a close match - but it was still good times.

"Our living quarters for our one night at Kibbutz Ketura"
Photo by Jessica (at Israelity)

After getting back to our rooms everyone brought drinks to the roof of the lodge to watch the stars and talk. In the desert, the sky at night is really something to behold. Early the next morning, we were up and out of our rooms by 7am. After a breakfast and a quick tour of the kibbutz, we proceeded to the conference room at the institute, where we heard from from the first of a few speakers regarding Arava's mission and activities.

Each of our meetings lasted about an hour. Our first meeting of the day was with Dr. Tareq Abu-Hamed, who is the head of Arava's Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation. Following this meeting, we heard from Roy Kagan of the Arava Power Company. Our third visit was with Noam Ilan at the Regional Energy Commission. Each of these three visits highlighted a different aspect of the Arava mission and some of the pioneering research they are conducting on site at the kibbutz.

"Exploring the Aora Solar Energy Installation"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

In the afternoon we had a visit to the Aora Solar Energy Installation at Kibbutz Samar. The Aora installation is interesting in that it is an experiment in providing a modular point source solar power system - though at this point the power outputs are still negligible. Before returning to lunch at Kibbutz Ketura, we stopped for a small ice cream snack at the Yotvata. The ice cream was good - but for me the real highlight was their chocolate milk. So good!

Upon return to Arava we had a final afternoon meeting with Miriam Sharton the Associate Director of the institute. Altogether, our brief visit was a great experience. With this portion of the trip complete we left the kibbutz to head down to Eilat. As we entered into Israel's southernmost city, we said goodbye to our fearless leader, Asher, who boarded a plane to head back to the US via Tel Aviv. Goodbye Asher!

Cleantech Visits

Once again the Smith team was on the road for a day of company visits - this time focused on cleantech, medical device, and consumer goods firms. On Wednesday morning, we departed from our home in Haifa. Our first stop of the day was the cleantech (agribusiness) firm, Kaiima. Afterwords, we traveled to Misgav for visits with The Misgav Venture Accelerator and Signal Business Development. Later that afternoon, the team traveled to the Naot Shoe Factory at Kibbutz Neot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee.

After a long drive (due mostly to traffic), we arrived in Kfar Tavor and our first meeting of the day, Kaiima. Formerly - Biofuel International - Kaiima was founded in 2006 and is located in the Galilee region of northern Israel. They are an agro-biotech company that develops and uses proprietary, non-transgenic, technologies to boost inherent crop productivity. In particular, the company has developed a Clean Genome Multiplication (CGM™) technology to produce new, non-genetically modified, crops with dramatically improved productivity and improved land and water-use efficiencies. Use of these high-performance varieties and thoughtful agricultural practices can enable farmers all over the world to generate more food and more energy, while sustaining resources.

Photo by Stephen Kushner

 

Our host for the morning was Dr. Doron Gal, the CEO and co-founder of Kaiima. Dr. Gal walked us through a presentation on the history of the firm. Financially, the firm is funded by one of the venture capital firms we visited previously this summer, DFJ-Tamir Fishman. After Dr. Gal's presentation, he answered questions on the underlying technology - its current potential - and also possible future research and development plans. Following the presentation, we had the opportunity to see Kaiima's greenhouses in person. After a short 10 minute drive from their offices, we were on-site. In person, the company's technology was even more impressive than ever could be communicated through slides alone.

Photo by Daniel Branscome

From Kaiima we traveled to our next meeting of the day in Misgav. The Misgav Technology Center (now known as The Misgav Venture Accelerator), was founded in 1992 as an incubator with a focus in medical devices, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies. Originally founded publicly by the local council in conjunction with Rafael, Misgav was recently partially privatized through a $2 million investment from The Trendlines Group (a seed-stage investment and consulting group). Our host was Steve Rhodes, Chairman and CEO at The Trendlines Group. Steve spent much of our time with him walking us through Misgav's various portfolio companies - explaining their investment from start to finish.

Photo by Stephen Kushner

 

Misgav currently has 11 incubated companies and 12 “graduate” companies (i.e. pre-revenue). Misgav provides not only capital, but management experience, work space, and legal and accounting services for incubated companies. Their focus is on market research and potential, and in evaluating prospective companies they focus on both the underlying technology, and the market potential. After talking with Steve we then were joined by Tina Ornstein, the CEO of Signal Business Development. The consulting subsidiary of The Trendlines Group, Signal's job is to to provide the structure and market know-how to help Misgav's incubator companies make the leap to the next level. Tina provided a brief overview of a typical Signal engagement and the key factors she focuses on for any given project. All in all, it was a very informative and engaging series of meetings.

Photo by Stephen Kushner

 

The last visit of the day was to the Naot Shoe Factory at Kibbutz Neot Mordechai. The team arrived at the factory in the late afternoon. Opened in 1942, Naot started out as a small kibbutz factory producing work boots. Currently, it employs 160 workers and designs a new line of footwear every year. Their products include a variety of shoes and sandals for men, women and children with special insoles that conform to the shape of the wearer's foot. Naot exports its products to countries worldwide with eighty percent of its products are sold outside of Israel. Major markets include the United States, Canada, Germany and Australia.

Photo by Stephen Kushner

 

After a brief (and somewhat impromptu) tour of the Naot factory, a few team members bought shoes, some for themselves and others as gifts. Shortly thereafter, the team hopped in the bus for the ride back to Haifa - another productive day of company visits in the books.

Company Visits, pt2

After our meeting with Glen Schwaber from Israel CleanTech Ventures, we departed Jerusalem for the trip south to the city of Be'er Sheva. As we drove, the group debriefed from our earlier meeting and also prepared questions and exchanged information in preparation for our two upcoming afternoon company visits.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

At the time, unbeknown to the team, our group's driver had mistakenly taken an unintended detour on Israel Highway 60, which cuts directly through the heart of the West Bank, past the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron, before reentering Israel proper just outside Be'er Sheva. We were all definitely caught off guard when - after two hours of very fast driving - we entered an armed checkpoint to reenter Israeli controlled territory. Definitely an interesting experience, to say the least! I would write more, but that story is for another time.

After a quick schwarma lunch at a local mall, we arrived at our second meeting of the day, Netafim. Founded in 1965, Netafim is jointly owned by three kibbutzim - Hatzerim, Magal and Yiftah. As of June, 2010 they have over 2,000 employees, operate in 112 countries, and have annual sales over $400 million. Netafim is the global leader in smart drip irrigation solutions for a sustainable future. Since introducing the world's first drip irrigation solutions they have led the way by developing products that help our customers optimize results.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our host and guide at Netafim was Naty Barak, the Head of Sustainable Development and a 30+ year veteran of both Netafim and the Hatzerim kibbutz. Naty offered the Smith team a fantastic overview of Israel's first cleantech firm (before anyone even knew about sustainability or clean technology), its history and its future. After a 20 minute presentation, covering the technology of drip irrigation, as well as a few current case studies of its use and impact in global agriculture, we departed for a tour of the Netafim factory. We walked the production floor, inspecting up close each machine along the way.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our next visit was to Yitran Communications Ltd., another Be'er Sheva based company. Yitran is a company based around power line carrier technology. In particular, they produce fabless semiconductors and integrated circuits that allow for command and control applications including Energy Management, Automatic/Remote Meter Reading, Home/Building Automation, Switching and Lighting, HVAC Control, Street Light control and more. Now 10+ years since its creation, Yitran is still looking for its first big win.

Amit Grauer, Yitran's current VP of Product Management played host to the Smith team during our visit and walked us though Yitran's short, but eventful history - walking us through its ups and downs - and explaining the path they see to eventually achieving success in the future. As many in our group aspire to become entrepreneurs in the future - it was certainly interesting understanding the false starts, missed opportunities, etc. that come with any new venture. Yitran is certainly an interesting company with a valuable product. The question is twofold though: 1) Can they convince the right industry players to adopt them as the standard? and 2) Can they stay afloat long enough to see the first part become reality?

The weekend in Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva was highly rewarding. By the time we rolled back into Haifa late Sunday night - without a doubt - the whole team was exhausted. That being said, everyone agreed that they wouldn't have missed anything we'd done.

Company Visits, pt1

Once again, I'm a few days later than I'd like writing about one of our many events. As is probably already evident, we've had a really packed schedule this summer in Israel. It seems like at any moment we've been on the road - always either heading to or from our next engagement. From technology conferences and historical sightseeing, to company visits and business meetings, the Smith team has been busy, busy, busy!

Anyway, on to the issue at hand. Last Sunday, June 13, we had the opportunity to engage with three different Israeli companies. In our first meeting we met one-on-one with a founding partner of an Israeli venture capital firm at our hotel in Jerusalem. In the other two we did so through on-site meetings and visits at each of the other two company's headquarters, both located in the city of Be'er Sheva.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our first meeting of the day was with Israel CleanTech Ventures (ICV). Established in 2006, ICV is the first Israel-focused cleantech venture capital fund - dedicated to providing value added growth capital to entrepreneurs specializing in energy, water, and environmental technologies. ICV raised $75 million for its first fund in 2007, drawn from a diverse (predominantly European and American) client base, which included Robeco, Piper Jaffray, as well as other institutional investors and family offices.

Our guide to Israel CleanTech Ventures was Glen Schwaber, a founding partner and originally a native of Boston, who emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1994. Glen has a wealth of experience in the Israeli investment community, having begun his career at Jerusalem Global, a private equity firm for Israeli hi-tech start-ups before transitioning to Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of the most successful venture capital firms in Israel, and then later founding ICV with two other initial partners.

Unlike a few of our previous VC meetings - where our hosts spent a significant portion of the meeting talking generally about the market in Israel - Glen dove right into a detailed discussion of a few current portfolio company investments - as well as the Israeli cleantech sector in general. Over the course of about an hour, Glen walked our group through an analysis of ICV's strategy, including a thorough breakdown of their investment criteria, market approach, and screening process.

There were two portfolio companies I found particularly interesting. The first was CellEra, which is a a fuel-cell company with a revolutionary new type of fuel cell, the Platinum-Free Membrane Fuel Cell (PFM-FC). CellEra's solution eliminates major cost components in current fuel-cells, such as very expensive platinum. The second investment was in a firm, Scodix, which has developed a revolutionary Digital UV Embossing press. The machine and associated process are inherently environmentally friendly - the process requires no plates or silk, minimum electricity power, and results in virtually no printing waste.

All together, our meeting with Glen was really interesting, and no doubt about it, ICV's current portfolio investments (and investment strategy generally) are really cutting edge!

The Electric Future

This past Wednesday we had an opportunity to attend a speech at the Technion by Mr. Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place. Before starting Better Place, Shai was previously the President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG. He resigned from this position in March 2007 to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change - ultimately leading to his founding of Better Place. Per TED's online profile:

[Shai's] approach to solving the puzzle of electric automobiles could spark nothing short of an automotive revolution. Through his enthusiastic persistence, Agassi's startup Better Place has signed up some impressive partners - including Nissan-Renault and the countries of Israel and Denmark.

The topic and the content of Shai's address was very compelling. Additionally, since the Smith team will be visiting Shai's company, Better Place, later this summer, his speech was a perfect introduction prior to our visit. To give you a taste of what we heard, Shai gave a speech very similar to one he had given previously at TED, which I've posted below.

Venture Capitalists, pt2

Following our successful vist with Moshe Levin at DFJ Tamir Fishman, we hopped in our bus and drove across Tel Aviv for our second meeting of the day. After a quick lunch, we made our way upstairs and into the offices of AquAgro Fund. This fund, which is a subsidiary of one of Israel's largest conglomerates, Gaon Holdings, is a venture capital fund focused on cleantech technologies and investments.

Our meeting was facilitated by one the fund's primary managing partners, Hillel Milo. Like our previous speaker, Mr. Milo is about as experienced as one gets in the Israeli venture capital industry. He co-founded one of the earliest VC firms in Israel. Further, he has a wealth of other venture and industry experience. Hillel has quite a presence in a room. He was able to present non-stop for 45 minutes, with no notes - easily calling up data and information from his mind - while at the same time keeping us captivated. By the end of our meeting we all wished we'd had more time to pick his brain.

"The team meets with Hillel Milo of AquAgro"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Unlike the previous meeting we'd just attended, Hillel decided to focus specifically on a few of the current cleantech investments that AquAgro is engaged in right now. Further, Hillel gave us a great breakdown of the specific sectors that he believes constitute the cleantech market. Lastly, he gave us an overview of the primary criteria he (and his team) utilize when evaluating potential investments.

If our previous meeting had been about where Israel has been, our meeting with Hillel was about where Israel is going. For example, AquAgro is invested in a firm, Desalitech, which has invented a revolutionary method to create affordable and scalable water desalination. Another investment is in Evogene, a biotech firm that has created (and patented) over 400 novel genes to radically improve crop yields. One final company we discussed is Variable Wind, who has a technology that brings wind energy costs into parity with fossil fuels.

Altogether, our two meetings were both highly engaging and highly informative. Both were great introductions into the Israeli venture capital market. Further, each touched on both traditional and emerging investment spaces (e.g. cleantech). Next week, the team will be heading to Jerusalem to participate in a two day business conference focused on high tech.