The climate crisis is challenging many industries, especially the high-tech sector, which has had to reinvent itself and develop advanced features that will contribute to environmental health and prevent ecological pollution. There are a lot of companies that have already taken a step and developed ecological technologies. On this International Earth Day, let’s explore some of the Israeli startups making a difference to our planet.
Fungit BioSolutions
The growing global population, coupled with the ongoing loss of arable land, presents a major challenge to our food security. Currently available agricultural chemicals are not eco-friendly, and often not specific to the plants, all the while promoting the development of resistant disease strains.
Fungit BioSolutions from the InNegev Business Tech-Incubator is developing a complete solution using biological microorganism-based biocontrol agents. Their biocontrol agents protect the crops from fungal diseases and extreme environmental changes and can be integrated from the pre-harvest stage toward the post-harvest stage. They applied cutting-edge genome sequencing and bioinformatics approaches for the development of their proprietary biocontrol agents. Currently, they are establishing a proprietary discovery platform, which is based on a rapid transition from lead microorganism identification to proof-of-concept.
Fungit BioSolutions is a BioAg start-up that was founded in 2021 by experienced scientists and entrepreneurs Dr. Liat Avrahami-Moyal and Dr. Shimon Lecht. In collaboration with the InNegev Incubator, which specializes in BioAg, they have recently received the support of the Israeli Innovation Authority. Before that, they were awarded a research grant from ASPER-HUJI Innovation Fund.
Dustoss
Dustoss, also from the InNegev Business Tech-Incubator, develops a smart and simple solution for cleaning solar panels. Its patented, dry-cleaning technology uses wind energy to wave cleaning elements (transparent and flexible) that prevent the accumulation of dust and soil on the panels. This solution is super eco-friendly as it upgrades panels’ electricity production while requiring no water and only uses wind as a source of power. Being so different from any other existing solution, yet simple and much cheaper, this solution is potentially a market disruptor.
The company was founded In January 2021 by Hadar Sefi and Yoel Sefi after a pre-seed round of $0.5M invested by Alfa Capital and the InNegev Incubator. Over the past year, the company has performed a few successful POCs, showing a rise of more than 20% in panels production over the summer, outperforming more than 5 monthly rounds of manual labour washing.
Sightbit
In recent years we have witnessed more disasters near water areas that are causing harm to human life and the environment. Sightbit has developed unique systems that can provide monitoring and forecasting in a complex water environment with the help of cameras. The company's solution enables reading and understanding any water condition and can track and identify any object, person, or infrastructure in the same environment. This allows the company's systems to enable early detection of floods and water hazards in public places and prevent damage to human life and property.
The Sightbit's system connects to local authority's cameras and can detect various water conditions, emphasizing those that indicate imminent flooding. Using the company's system enables real-time information about people in distress, identifying the water blockage point in the initial stage of flooding, control of real-time events, and other automatic actions.
Sightbit was established in 2020 by Nathaniel Eliav and Adam Bismuth. The company raised $950,000 from the Israel Innovation Authority and the Business Tech-Incubator InNegev. The company is in the high-tech park in Beer-Sheba. At the moment, Sightbit is concluding a strategic partnership with two advanced water technologies corporations in Europe and the United States, all the while working on expanding into new markets.
BreezoMeter
BreezoMeter is an impact company that raises awareness regarding air pollution worldwide and specializes in collecting and predicting air data, pollen, and fires. The company uses sophisticated AI modelling to gather and understand data from hundreds of thousands of data sources — including more than 47,000 sensors worldwide. The result is reliable street-level air quality data, live pollen tracking, and timely wildfire tracking in more than 100 countries globally.
Ran Korber, Emil Fisher and Ziv Lautman, all Technion alumni, started BreezoMeter in 2016. They employ about 100 people, have raised $45 million to date, and operate in Israel and the U.S. Top brands such as Apple, L'Oréal, Yahoo, AstraZeneca, Siemens, Boehringer Ingelheim, Volvo, and Johnson & Johnson, are all BreezoMeter customers and use the technology to deliver accuracy-validated environmental information to their customers.
Beewise
In the past few years, many farmers and researchers worldwide have been worried about the risk to global food production due to the extensive mortality of bees. Beewise is an Israeli company that operates in Beit HaEmek and develops an advanced robotic hive that gathers and monitors information regarding the bees. Thanks to Beewise’s application, beekeepers can now track and apply many actions in their beehives.
Hallel Schreier, co-founder of Beewise explains that monitoring the bees helps identify early diseases, improves bee health, and reduces the hives' mortality rate. The company was founded by Saar Safra, Hallel Schreier, Eliyah Radzyner, Boaz Petersil and Yossi Sorin in 2018. To date, they have raised 120 million dollars and employ 110 people in Israel and the U.S.
