Microsoft Ventures Announces 11 Companies Selected for First Cyber Security Accelerator

This week Microsoft Ventures is opening its first cyber security and healthcare accelerator in Israel, with 11 startups. This is the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Tel Aviv’s first thematicbatch and will consist only of cyber security and healthcare companies. Three-hundredlocal companies and startups, representing 32 countries applied, including many from the Far East, Europe, the U.S. and Africa. One third of the class is comprised of companies from outside of Israel, hailing from Slovenia, India, Japan and Spain. To date, 78% of graduates from Microsoft’s global accelerator programs have raised an average of $1.5M follow-on funding and 14 companies have been acquired to date. Recent acquisitions include: Kitlocate (acquired by Yandex) and Appixia (acquired by Wix).

New partners have joined thecyber security accelerator including cloud services provider Akamai, along with JVP venture capital fund, one of the most active investors in Israel in early stage cyber-security companies. The startups in the program will be given access to the wealth of cyber security knowledge accumulated by Akamai and JVP, including mentoring and introduction to relevant clients and partners around the world. Akamai will offer an optional $25,000 investment in each startup accepted into the program via the purchase of convertible bonds. In the framework of this cooperation, JVP will invest $1 million in one of the participating startups, who will also be invited to join JVP’s cyber-security incubator in Be’erSheva.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technologies company, and Healthbox, theAmerican healthcare accelerator and investor, will be joining the healthcare accelerator. BD and Healthbox will offer startups mentoring and marketexpertise that will help them accelerate their business and technological development. These partners will offer entrepreneurs an optional investment of $75,000 via convertible bonds and grants and mentoring from experienced managers who will assist each startup in understanding healthcare customers and systems’ needs, along with potential reimbursement,clinical and regulatory requirements.

The companies chosen will participate in the four-month accelerator program that began this week. The program assists startups to develop products and services on a world-class level and to make a rapid jump to the global market. The program consists of mentoring and individualized guidance from over 100 mentors who are senior high-tech and business professionals; physical and technology infrastructure and a range of joint ventures with global companies and organizations that offer consulting and follow-up programs.

“This batch emphasizes Israel’s strength as an ecosystem of global importance” says Hanan Lavy, director of the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Israel. “Some 30% of the participants are foreign startups. Furthermore, leading global companies such as BD and Akamai, as well as JVP and Healthbox will contribute their knowledge to the young companies. This partnerships create a set of global capabilities for startups inthe program– and not by coincidence. The partnership will provide startups with unprecedented access to strategic markets and clients. And in addition to the mentorship startups will receive, our goal is to springboard the program participants to the front lines of the industry.”

About the startups – Cyber-Security:

Capy.me (Japan). is a cyber-security startup with an explicit goal to provide user-friendly security tools for all internet users.

Data Flow (Israel) secures corporate applications by doing a run-time analysis of the application’s runtime environment.

Hermetic.io (Israel) develops a mobile vault for securing personal digital assets like photos and Bitcoins that guarantees unprecedented resistance to hacking.

Minereye (Israel) provides continuous tracking and monitoring of sensitive data on organization networks.

ScadaFence (Israel) develops a disruptive technology that mitigates the complex threats posed against industrial networks and critical infrastructures, by detecting a broad spectrum of highly sophisticated attacks (APT), which remain undetected by the current solutions. 

Siemplify (Israel) – Intelligence driven incident response – detect and respond to complex cyber threats in minutes rather than hours or days.

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