Read It On VC Cafe First: Six Israeli Startup News That You Probably Missed This Week

It's earnings season and it's hard to keep up with all that's been going on with Israeli companies this week. Want to catch up with the latest news? Below is a bite-size summary of the latest VC and start up news from the holy land.

1. eSnips, an Israel-based "social content-sharing site" released 'Social DNA'. Social DNA is a series of quick 'tests' that allow users to find like minded people. The concept is not new as it is implemented by many dating sites and Facebook Apps such as: compare people , similar friends and many online dating sites. eSnips' CEO Yael Elish reported to have approximately 13 million monthly users, out of which 200K are Israelis [Sources: Techcrunch, The Marker]
   
   
2. New VC Fund focused on India-Israel investments. Footrpint’s focus is to invest $2-4 million in lifestyle, retail, financial services, security, education, clean technology and life sciences companies in the India-Israel-India corridor. Footprint is led by Neill Brownstein, co-founder of Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as Linda Brownstein, Josh Bornstein and Shalini Elassery. Footprint already signed an agreement in July 2006 with Infinity—an Israeli-Chinese technology fund with $350 million in its current fund—to invest in Israeli companies and technologies that target Indian markets. [via LiveMint and VC Circle]
   
   
3. Electric Cars in Israel? Following Shai Agassi's and Idan Ofer's "Project Better Place", Israel is attracting foreign investments related to electric cars. French car maker Renault SA is studying a possible plan to build a manufacturing plant for electric cars in Israel. [via Businessweek]
   
   
4. JaJah loves Jangl - Israeli VOIP Platform JaJah recently announced a series of new deals. It started with an ad for minutes campaign, enabled by a partnership with Oridian (also Israeli). The geographically targeted ads allow JaJah to monetize while providing a free service to its users. Now, JaJah announced a partnership with Jangl, a VOIP platform that enables users to get a virtual telephone number on the web. Jangl will help JaJah to extend its reach to Jangl's 40M users and Jangl will in turn use JaJah's monetization platform and gain entry to the 122 countries in which JaJah is active. [via Mashable]
   
   
5. Video discovery made simple - Israel based Taboola wants to enable content discovery style 'Stumble Upon' for video sites. EverGreen believes in the idea - it will finance a round of $1.5M to make it happen. Taboola allows users to integrate ads onto a site's video player using java script tags. Israeli 5min.com has been testing the service and it reported a 23% increase in watched videos and 53% increase in session length since it started the test. [via NewTeeVee]
   

See an example of Taboola (click on related, bottom left):

• Ukraine planning to create free trade zone with Israel. Among the priorities of Ukraine's development the president identified the development of industry, specifically machine building, space- and aircraft construction, and chemical industry. [via]

Shai Agassi Reinvents the Gas Pump for All-Electirc Cars @ Better Place

After almost becoming the CEO of SAP global, Shai Agassi now aims to reinvent 'the pump' - for battery powered all-electric cars.

With a $200M investment in his pocket, Shai Agassi is planning to build a network of battery-charging stations in the US, Europe and emerging markets with his new venture called 'Project Better Place', which already has a head count of ten. The seed round was raised from two funds and a group of private investors. The Israel Corporation, a large Israeli transportation and technology holding company, invested $100 million earlier this year. The rest was invested by Vantage Point Venture Partners, and heavy weight investors Edgar Bronfman Sr., the liquor magnate (Chivas Regal, Crown Royal), and James D. Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank.

The new system will sell electric fuel on a subscription basis and will subsidize vehicle costs through leases and credits. In a recent interview, Shai said that tests of prototype vehicles would start in early 2008 and the company would begin commercial sales and service in 2010.

Unlike Tesla Motors and other electric-car ventures that focus on the battery itself (performance, life cycle and cost), Shai's venture plans to extend the existing electric-power grids with a wide network of recharging stations in urban areas, that will be supplemented with a smaller number of automated battery-replacement stations.

Shai Agassi, 39, joined SAP in 2001, when it acquired his Israel based company, TopTier software .
Check out the New York Times and WSJ for the rest of the story. To learn more about the project, see the Fact Sheet (Pdf).


Also, see Shai's presentation (requires plugin) by clicking on the image below:

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