Insights & News / Itay Gura

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Itay Gura, a partner who oversees the firm’s startup practice, shares insights regarding the Israeli startup sector's reaction to the turbulent present.

In a recent interview with Calcalist, Itay Gura, a partner and the head of our firm’s startup practice, provided insight into how the Israel-Hamas war is affecting Israeli startups, and offered a nuanced perspective on the evolving tech landscape. Itay concluded the interview by noting the potential pathways and opportunities emerging for Israeli startups amidst the challenges posed by the ongoing conflict.

As experts in the high-tech field, Itay Gura and Inbar Katzir were invited to act as judges in a startup project competition held by students of the University of Haifa’s Department of Information Systems.

Itay Gura and Inbar Katzir advised Cryptohub, which offers crypto trading tools and innovations to improve the average crypto trader's experience, throughout the course of a USD 6 million investment round. The round was led by Tectona, the only public company that focuses its activities on the adoption of blockchain technologies.

Itay Gura, Ido Freund, and Inbar Katzir represented the Israeli startup Daily.dev in a USD 11 million seed funding round. The company aims to build the world’s largest professional network for the global developer community.

Itay Gura, Ido Freund, and Inbar Katzir represented the startup Winn.AI in an initial funding round of USD 17 million. Winn.AI offers a real-time AI assistant that helps sales teams win more deals with less hassle through its innovative real-time tracking, capturing, and CRM updating features.

Our firm represents BioGenCell, a stem cell research and development company located at Laniado Hospital. The company recently announced the completion of a USD 16 million seed round investment, aided by counsel from Advs. Itay Gura, Ido Freund, and Inbar Katzir. Our firm has represented the company since its inception.

Itay Gura, Ido Freund, and Inbar Katzir represented BlueVine, a fintech company operating in the US that provides a banking platform for small and medium-sized businesses, in its first investment in an Israeli company. BlueVine led the USD 7.5 million investment in Bizi and will also grant Bizi a license for its platform to provide services in Israel.

Our firm represents EdTech Israel, a project to promote technological innovation in the fields of education and learning. In a meeting held today, Itay Gura, Yuval Lazi, and Ido Freund lectured to the venture's participants on founders’ agreements, intellectual property, and financing agreements, respectively.

A new cycle of the jumpTAU accelerator program, from Tel Aviv University, has begun. The accelerator supports multicultural ventures, in an effort to promote cooperation between Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs.

Our firm advises the accelerator as part of a broad collaboration with Tel Aviv University. In a meeting held today, four of our attorneys lectured to the entrepreneurs on a number of relevant topics.

Daniel Lorber lectured on founders’ agreements, Itay Gura lectured on startup financing, Anat Even-Chen lectured on website regulations and privacy policies, and Ido Freund lectured on intellectual property.

Migdal is investing USD 20 million in Tipa, an Israeli cleantech company that is developing and marketing compostable flexible packaging solutions for foods and various other consumer goods.

Our firm is advising Migdal, who took part in Tipa’s investment round alongside Millennium Food-Tech and Meitav Dash. Itay Gura and Inbar Katzir represented Migdal in the transaction.

Yuval Lazi, Itay Gura, Ido Freund, and Inbar Katzir represented the Israeli startup NickNack in its sale to Papaya Global Ltd., a private Israeli company that provides payroll and human resource management computing services to multinational corporations. NickNack is developing a platform that fosters team engagement and togetherness for organizations working remotely.

Our firm’s Micky Barnea, Itay Gura, and Ido Freund represented Danel, a human resources, nursing, and medical services company, in its acquisition of 22% of Aviv Scientific, a leader in improving brain performance and treating the aging process. The transaction’s value is USD 22 million.

As part of our partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Executive Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, Itay Gura lectured today on the legal considerations when launching a startup.

Our firm represented the IoT security company Cymplify in its acquisition by NASDAQ-listed cloud security company Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. for USD 5 million.

Our firm represented the Israeli startup Anzu (Anzu.io) in a USD 6.5 million fundraising round. Anzu developed a platform for game developers that allows the integration of advertisements into the game world. The investment round was led by Advs. Itay Gura and Ido Freund from our Commercial Department.

As part of the firm's representation of the IBM Alpha Zone Accelerator, Adv. Itay Gura attended a session with participants of the new class and lectured on the issues facing late-stage startup companies.  

Our firm represented the private equity group Bridgepoint in the acquisition of control in the Israeli software testing company Qualitest from Marlin Equity Partners for approx. USD 420 million.

Commercial Department partners Yuval Lazi and Itay Gura lectured on founders' agreements to participants in the digital and social entrepreneurship programs at the Hebrew University Entrepreneurship Center.

Micky Barnea, Ariella Dreyfuss, Itay Gura, Mayer Winkler, and Ido Freund represented Johnson & Johnson Innovation in an investment round in the Israeli medtech startup Techsomed Medical Technologies Ltd. Founded in 2012, Techsomed has developed an image analysis system that helps track tissue response to thermal ablation, the process of destroying tumors using extreme heat or cold. Techsomed intends to use the funding toward receiving regulatory approval in the US, Europe, and Japan.

JJDC led the company's current round of financing, which included both former and new investors, such as Screen Holdings, the Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion (AMIT), NextLeap Ventures, and Axil Capital.

Adv. Itay Gura lectured today on founders' agreements to entrepreneurs at WeWork Labs in Tel Aviv.

We hosted today participants of AWS EdStart, an educational technology (EdTech) startup accelerator. A number of partners from our firm spoke at the seminar: Itay Gura lectured on founders' agreements, Daniel Lorber on intellectual property, and Harel Perlmutter on the tax issues of startups.

Adv. Itay Gura lectured today at WeWork Labs in Haifa on the importance of founders' agreements. Itay discussed the key issues that must be addressed in such agreements and what the impact of each issue is on the founders and the startup.

Our firm represented MMG Capital Ventures as the main investor in the latest investment round of Home Hero.

We hosted together with Catalonia Trade & Investment a delegation of companies that arrived in Israel in search of new investment opportunities.

Our firm represented the US pharmaceutical and medical devices company Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) in a USD 3 million lead investment round in OrthoSpin Ltd. OrthoSpin is an Israeli-based startup that provides smart robotic external fixation systems.

Our firm is representing British private equity firm Ethemba Capital in its sale of control in Israeli company Avgol Nonwoven Industries Ltd. to Indorama Ventures Spain S.L., a chemical manufacturer whose shares are traded on the Thai stock exchange. The price of the sale is valued at NIS 1.7 billion.

Our firm is hosting today the participants of Taasiyeda, an education program founded by the Manufacturers Association of Israel, for a seminar on founders' agreements, IP, and tax issues.

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today at the hiCenter Ventures Meetup on why founders' agreements are a solid foundation before taking the next step.

Barnea represented Israeli startup EXO Technologies, a developer of GPS technology for autonomous and connected vehicle applications, in its acquisition by the American corporation Lear.

HP Inc. completed its acquisition of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.’s printer business in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. HP Inc. was represented by Barnea

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today at StarTAU's acceleration program on founders' agreements and IP.

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today on the topic of founders agreements at HIP - Heseg Innovators Program.

Barnea represented Johnson & Johnson in respect of its investment of USD 12 million in the startup, DayTwo, which provides personalized nutrition recommendations based on mapping and analyzing the composition of intestinal bacteria.

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today on founders agreements and IP at the BEE program, part of the Tel Aviv University entrepreneurship center.

Adv. Itay Gura from Barnea will lecture today on investment agreements and intellectual property to students participating in the Startup Science Innovation seminar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Barnea represented Viola Private Equity in an investment of USD 50 million in Similar Web, a leading digital market intelligence platform that provides insights for websites and applications.

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today on the topic of founders agreements at 'Ignition' - the Entrepreneurship Course of Startau, Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center.

Barnea was selected to work in conjunction with the IDC Legal Clinic for Startups in supporting law students and entrepreneurs from under represented sectors, in the 2016/2017 academic year.

Adv. Yuval Lazi and Adv. Itay Gura attended at the Tel Aviv University to lecture to participants in the Tel Aviv University’s MBA Programs in Innovation and Entrepreneurship on some of the legal and commercial aspects of starting a business. The participants took part in a Hackathon on 30th May.

Yesterday, the signing ceremony of the Share Purchase Agreement for the sale of Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd. to Fosun (China), for approximately NIS 290 million, was held in Jerusalem. Micky Barnea, Ariella Dreyfuss and Itay Gura from our firm represented Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, one of the selling shareholders.

Barnea represented Continuity Software in a transaction for the sale of the company to Kedma Capital for an amount of NIS 160 million. Continuity Software is the leading provider of service availability risk management solutions.

Representing Continuity Software- Adv. Micky Barnea and Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss.
Adv. Yuval Lazi represented Kedma Capital.

Adv. Simon Jaffa, Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss, Adv. Itay Gura and Adv. Karin Kashi represented Covercy, a Fintech start up in the foreign exchange and remittance industry, in raising financing in a round led by SGVC

Israeli startup Blender announced today that it had raised $5 million from Blumberg Capital. The company has raised $3.5 million since it was founded, not including the current round.