text:
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
T. S. Elliot
Shield-IoT and Datora Telecom Partner to Secure Millions of IoT Devices in Brazil
New IoT security service protects cellular connected devices from cyber criminals and nation-state threats, "With Shield-IoT, we are able to protect our customers' IoT networks, data, and critical services," said Datora CEO Tomas Fuchs.
Shield-IoT, a leading IoT cyber security software solution provider, and Datora Telecom, one of Brazil's top MVNO connectivity providers, announced the launch of a new IoT security service. The new SaaS service will enable Datora and its enterprise customers to seamlessly monitor and secure any cellular-connected device across any application at any scale.
With over 50 billion IoT and IIoT devices expected to be connected by 2024, countless industries such as utilities, smart grids, transportation, and various smart city applications rely on their connected devices to support key services and fuel business growth. In Brazil, 79% of companies expect their IoT implementations to grow in size over the coming 12 months. Of those, 44% have active plans to implement 5G for IoT connectivity.
The increased adoption has led to an escalating threat leveraging connected devices. In the first half of 2021, there were 1.5 billion IoT global breaches, which security experts expect to increase as more IoT devices are connected.
"Hackers can easily attack vulnerable infrastructure and infiltrate into an organization's network via devices exposed in the field, such as smart meters, EV charging stations, Point-of-Sales, and CCTV cameras. Once inside, they are able to steal data, send false data, stage ransomware attacks, manipulate device operations, and even take down critical infrastructure," said Udi Solomon, CEO, and Co-Founder at Shield-IoT.
The new service analyzes device-to-cloud communication statistics to accurately detect the first signs of unknown cyber-attacks and operational events before any damage can take place.
Users get real-time unparalleled visibility and can take preventive measures, leveraging the solution's actionable alerts, including event type, severity, recommended action, and more.
"Working with Shield-IoT enables Datora to protect our customers' IoT networks, data, and critical services," said Tomas Fuchs, CEO of Datora. "The agent-less SaaS solution requires no network changes or any installation on the device, enabling our customers to quickly subscribe to the service with almost zero effort and without impact on their existing operations."
"As IoT networks continue to grow massively and as new threats emerge, customers require a solution that can easily adapt to meet these challenges," added Solomon. "Our context-free AI solution is 'future-proof' by design, built to protect both today and tomorrow's IoT networks against current and future threats."
About Shield-IoT
Shield-IoT is an IoT cyber security software solution provider, enabling enterprises and solution providers to monitor and secure mass-scale B2B IoT/IIoT networks, reduce operational costs and generate new revenue streams. Based on over 15 years of academic research (MIT) and 80 academic papers, Shield-IoT patented technology delivers the world's first coreset-AI anomaly detection solution to enable accurate analytics at mass scale. www.shieldiot.io
About Datora
Datora Group is formed by Datora Telecom and Arqia (MVNO). Datora Telecom started operations in Brazil in 1993 and 3 years later was the first to supply VoIP in Latin America. Currently, it is present throughout Brazil, and has operation offices around the world, with more than 2,000 clients, between operators and companies traveling more than 30 billion minutes annually, and with more than 1 million IoT devices connected. In addition, it offers a complete portfolio of connectivity and IoT platform services/solutions. Arqia, the mobile technology unit of the Datora Group, was founded in 2011 to serve the IoT market, as well as being a facilitating platform for the entry of companies from any industry into the Virtual Mobile Operator market. The company, headquartered in Belo Horizonte (MG, Brazil), was the first Virtual Mobile Operator (MVNO) to operate in the country.
Equalum Secures $14M in Series C Funding to Expand Delivery of Continuous Data Integration
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—August 8, 2022— Equalum, a best-in-class provider of data integration and ingestion solutions, today announced a $14M Series C financing round. The investors include Planven, United Ventures, Innovation Endeavours, Saints Capital and the company's newest partner, Springtide Ventures. Total fundraising now stands at $39M as the company leads the industry in helping organizations connect to, transform, manipulate, and synchronize disparate data from multiple sources at unmatched speed and scalability.
Equalum is defining the future of data integration with the only platform that continuously and natively supports all use cases under a single unified platform without the need for custom coding. The company's flagship technology eliminates data integration tool sprawl and simplifies the development of real-time streaming data pipelines with end-to-end monitoring all within a single easy-to-use platform. The award-winning platform is trusted by industry leaders to accelerate cloud adoption by insulating the end user from the complexities of mutli-cloud and hybrid cloud deployments. The company has a strong customer base across a wide range of verticals, including financial services, insurance, healthcare and manufacturing.
The additional capital will support the expansion of Equalum's global footprint, product development, and rapid growth trajectory as the company meets the demand for "cloud first" organizations that are developing new processes or transforming old processes in the cloud. The timing for this round is ideal as industry forecasts indicate growing customer demand. FORTUNE Business Insights recently published research predicting that the data integration market will rise from $11.94 billion in 2022 to $29.16 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 13.6%. The Equalum Continuous Data Integration Platform (CDIP) will support this demand for on-premises, hybrid and multi-cloud-based projects that require tight integration with Azure, AWS and Google Cloud Targets. Equalum also offers real-time streaming for a wide range of use cases in addition to Batch ETL, Replication and industry-leading Change Data Capture capabilities.
"Equalum's unified platform differentiates the company from others in the space by delivering the ability to leverage a single platform to seamlessly integrate data from numerous sources to numerous targets while eliminating data silos, and facilitating the deployment of cloud-based solutions. This greatly simplifies operations so that resources can focus on core competencies and more effectively and quickly deliver on strategic initiatives," said David Marek, Executive Director, Springtide Ventures. "Over the past several years, Equalum has seen impressive growth, driven by the company's flagship platform. Now with a mature, production-proven technology generating strong demand in the market, this round provides the resources to build upon their already substantial customer base."
"The success of an organization can more often be measured by its ability to quickly access, move and process business-critical data for a wide range of important applications," said Guy Eilon, CEO of Equalum. "With the mission of taking data integration to the next level, this round extends our reach to a greater number of enterprises seeking a more performant, efficient solution."
Source Defense Secures $27 Million in Growth Funding to Accelerate Prevention of Web Client-Side Cyber Risks
Springtide Ventures joins existing investors, including JVP and AllegisCyber, as the leader in web application client-side protection increases client deployments by 240% year-over-year, and solidifies dominance in third-party risk mitigation with nearly 24 billion compliance policy violations thwarted in that same timeframe
ROSH HA'AYIN, Israel and NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 26, 2022 – Source Defense, a pioneer in web application client-side protection, today announced that it has secured $27 million in Series B funding. The round is led by new investor Springtide Ventures with all existing investors also participating, including Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), AllegisCyber Capital, Global Brain, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., NightDragon, LLC, and Capital One Ventures. In addition to the investment, Karel Tusek, CTO of Springtide Ventures, will join the Source Defense Board of Directors. The new funds will be applied toward the company's accelerated growth plans, including investments in Sales, Marketing, Alliances, and Research and Development. To support this growth, the company appointed cybersecurity startup veteran, Stephen Ward, as CMO late in 2021.
The company addresses a major concern related to third-party supply chain risk which has led to material adverse impact on thousands of companies over the past few years. One of the largest and least quantified business vulnerabilities lies in website use of client-side JavaScript. Client-side code, delivered in real-time by third-party (as well as fourth- and nth-party) supply chain partners, helps drive and enhance the website user experience, increase engagement, and drive analytic insights. Typical web properties rely on dozens of these supply chain partners. At the same time, this script represents unmanaged and unprotected shadow code, effectively the soft belly for adversaries on any large website. This fertile and extremely profitable threat and attack surface has already resulted in hundreds of high-profile attacks and led to more than 400 client-side attack incidents (e.g., credential harvesting, formjacking, and Magecart attacks) per month in the past two years, making breach headlines at major brands including Macy's, Ticketmaster, British Airways, Segway, and many others. It has precipitated industry research firm Gartner to define a new category in web application client-side protection that it expects to require mass market adoption in the next two years.
"Organizations spend a lot of time and effort to make sure their websites are well designed, coded, and performing before going live, yet so many of them know so little about what actually happens on their website once it leaves the server-side and reaches the visitor's browser (client-side), even though it is one of their most important assets both financially and brand-wise," said Dan Dinnar, CEO of Source Defense. "Source Defense not only identified this as a major and growing issue very early on but partnered with some of the world's largest and most trusted brands to put a real-time halt to any attempts at digital skimming, formjacking, clickjacking, ad injection, PII theft, and content defacement. We've done this in a way that none thought possible – with an easy to test solution, rapid deployment, and with virtually no additional security management burden. The urgency for addressing these attacks only grows – as evidenced by recent Gartner predictions that web application client-side protection will be a ubiquitously deployed part of security tech in the next few years."
Source Defense recognized this emerging issue, established a dominant market position, and continues to grow rapidly as the category leader. The company has posted more than 250% growth in the past two years and will increase staff by 70% by the end of 2022. The company currently protects nearly a billion monthly site visits and defends transactions for some of the world's largest businesses, preventing approximately 6 billion quarterly violations of security and compliance policies from occurring in the process.
"While many vulnerabilities that are exploited are deep within an organizational infrastructure, a company's website is like hitting an exposed nerve – or in this case a massive bundle of exposed nerves," said Tušek. "For an investor, you don't just want to invest in innovations that make security better, you want to find innovations that have a positive, material impact on business. Source Defense has solved a massive problem, and not only can protect businesses from millions in losses and fines but cut off a major revenue stream for criminals."
"Client-side web supply chain attacks are the most prevalent and stealthiest in the market. Online brands cannot control such attacks, as the malicious code does not go through their servers and is constantly changing. This results in severe risk of fraud, information theft, compliance violations, defacement, and more," said Yoav Tzruya, General Partner of JVP. "Source Defense is the only company that offers a true prevention-first approach to solving the problem. With more than 100 leading brands protected, Source Defense allows organizations to secure transactions and user information, while achieving compliance, and allowing marketing and developers the ability to continue and be agile and competitive, dramatically reducing this cybersecurity risk."
For any website that facilitates transactions, deals with private or sensitive data, or provides valuable services or information, Source Defense's first-of-its-kind platform provides security and compliance, and in many cases, site performance gains, to maximize business opportunity while minimizing risk. The platform offers a fully automated prevention-first approach, offering complete access control and a permission-based approach to first-party code, as well as JavaScript-based third-party tools. Source Defense protects leading organizations across multiple verticals, including financial services, healthcare, hospitality, and retail, offering cybersecurity prevention capability, compliance (e.g., PCI, HIPAA, GDPR), as well as better flexibility for marketing teams and developers.
PlainID Raises $75 million In Series C Funding Led by Insight Partners to Help Enterprises Secure Their Digital Assets
Tel Aviv and New York, December 21, 2021 – PlainID, a leading provider of cybersecurity, authorization, and identity access management (IAM) solutions, today announced it has raised $75 million in Series C funding. The round was led by New York-based global venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, with participation from Itai Tsiddon, Viola Ventures and all other existing investors. PlainID will use the funding to expand its Go-To-Market strategy, accelerate product development and further its vision of enabling organizations to simply and securely govern, administer and control who can access assets across their digital landscape.
Founded in Israel in 2014, PlainID delivers innovative solutions in the IAM and Cybersecurity space by providing a policy-based access management layer, using a real time decision engine to control who has access to what. Its Policy Manager and Partner Manager solutions have been developed to deliver instant and secure digital experiences, with authorized users accessing the data and applications they need without delays or compromising security.
"This major funding round is an important milestone for PlainID and will enable us to significantly scale our platform to meet the huge opportunities that exist within the IAM and Cybersecurity markets," commented Oren Ohayon Harel, CEO and co-founder, PlainID. "Our technology enables organizations to augment and consolidate their IAM policy management using a scalable runtime authorization engine and intuitive UI that allows them to adopt a cybersecurity mesh architecture, while securing their digital assets by centralizing the control of who can access what and when across the technology stack."
"PlainID has developed a compelling proposition that centralizes access policy management in an identity and access management space that has been traditionally decentralized and manual" commented Steve Ward, Managing Director at Insight Partners. "We are delighted to make this significant investment in the future of the business, which has the team, experience, product innovation and roadmap in place to build on its momentum in 2021. We look forward to partnering with PlainID as they continue to grow and focus on solutions that enable their customers and business partners."
The availability of ubiquitous digital resources and experiences in a zero-trust world means security and risk management teams must focus more heavily on delivering the high levels of security required across today's complex infrastructure and services without interrupting the user experience. As technology continues to evolve, IAM and Cybersecurity are converging, becoming a major enabler in ensuring that organizations can implement the flexible and adaptable levels of security that are essential to meet business and stakeholder needs.
This latest round brings the total raised by PlainID to $100 million. It follows a strong 2021 for PlainID, which saw the business deliver over 100% growth in ARR , 80% growth in its customer base, and significant momentum in its OEM partnership with SAP The company also announced new appointments to its senior executive team – Gil Levonai to Chief Marketing Officer, Thomas Ammirati to Chief Revenue Officer and Eli Shay to VP of Global Services.
According to a Gartner report, the identity-centric approach to security (as required in cybersecurity mesh architecture) depends on managing identities and their relevant (authorization) policies. That's why runtime authorization is evolving as the key enabler of the cybersecurity mesh architecture by providing policy management and orchestration capabilities.
*Gartner, "2022 Planning Guide for Identity and Access Management", Mary Ruddy, David Chase, Erik Wahlstrom, Paul Rabinovich, Nat Krishnan, Homan Farahmand, October 11, 2021.
Shield-IoT Raises $7.4M in Series A to Streamline and Secure Mass Scale IoT Networks
Shield-IoT streamlines the implementation of mass scale IoT and 5G networks with the world's first Coreset-AI security platform. "Shield-IoT's innovative approach to anomaly detection provides accurate analytics at mass-scale," says Ramanath Mallikarjuna, Chief Strategist at Akamai Technologies.
Tel Aviv, Israel November 22nd, 2021 – Shield-IoT, a leader in mass-scale IoT and IIoT network cyber security and operational monitoring, announced today the closing of a $7.4 million Series A round of funding. The Series A round was led by NextLeap Ventures and Bloc Ventures, with the participation of Atlas Ventures, Akamai Technologies, Springtide Ventures, DIVEdigital and Janvest Capital Partners.
Founded in 2017, Shield-IoT addresses the escalating proliferation of IoT cyber threats to devices, data, critical services and infrastructure. With Shield-IoT, service providers and IoT brands can monitor and secure their mass-scale B2B IoT and IIoT networks, reduce operational costs, and generate new revenue streams with value-added services.
"Shield-IoT's innovative approach to anomaly detection enables Akamai to provide accurate analytics at mass-scale," says Ramanath Mallikarjuna, Chief Strategist at Akamai Technologies. "Akamai is collaborating with Shield-IoT on innovative solutions to enhance cybersecurity and operational monitoring for customers of Akamai's IoT solutions."
Currently in use across multiple verticals including telcos, utilities, transportation, manufacturing, smart cities, and government, Shield-IoT offers a simple-to-deploy and easy-to-operate cloud-based software solution to protect any IoT device or application with no changes to end-customer networks.
Based on over 15 years of academic research and 50 academic papers, Shield-IoT coreset-AI patented technology revolutionizes IoT mass-volume data analysis through a unique transformation of "big data" into small datasets. "Coresets compress the data from n to log(n), or from 1 million to 20 data points, enabling context-free highly accurate anomaly detection in minutes instead of hours or days", says Professor Dan Feldman, Chief Scientist at Shield-IoT.
"Shield-IoT removes the big data barriers and opens the door to a $50 billion IoT connectivity services market (2025)", says Udi Solomon, CEO and Co-Founder of Shield-IoT. < em >"Our innovative technology is helping global IoT players to move forward and accelerate IoT growth".
ThreatMark attracts additional funding; appoints Daniel Rawlings as new CEO & President to lead the next phase of expansion & growth
Prague, Brno, 21st October 2021 – ThreatMark, provider of the most advanced online fraud prevention solution in the market, has completed a new $3M funding round led by Springtide Ventures, and also strengthened its executive leadership in order to continue expansion throughout Europe and North American markets.
Major online businesses impacted by digital fraud, such as those in the Financial Services Industry, benefit from ThreatMark's AI-powered behavior profiling technology to enable secure customer experiences across all digital channels. This technology leverages innovative fraud prevention & threat detection, combining advanced behavioral biometrics, real-time transaction risk monitoring & analysis, and comprehensive cybersecurity expertise.
ThreatMark's new CEO & President Daniel Rawlings commented on the news: "The increasingly sophisticated nature of modern threats and fraud require innovative solutions like ThreatMark. I'm impressed by ThreatMark's track record of helping customers solve their fraud & compliance challenges. It's an honor to lead such a great company and I look forward to expanding upon our successes and more globally deliver ThreatMark's advanced fraud prevention solutions into the market, with an initial emphasis on Europe and North America."
Michal Tresner, ThreatMark's co-founder, who continues with the company as Chairman of the Board and also assumes the position of Chief Product Officer & Head of Solution Strategy, said: "Dan's appointment is the result of an extensive global talent search we conducted to find just the right person, and I am delighted to have Dan join the company. The experience, industry expertise and relationship network that Dan brings to ThreatMark is a big step forward for us. Now we're stronger and better equipped to help our customers around the world succeed in preventing digital fraud both today and in the future."
"Building an innovative, scalable & high-performance fraud prevention solution that covers a broad variety of online fraud in the rapidly-evolving digital landscape has always been at the heart of our solution vision," said Kryštof Hilar, ThreatMark's co-founder and CTO, "Dan's leadership and the additional resources will enable us to do just that."
David Marek from Springtide Ventures commented: "Solving digital fraud is critical for the financial services industry and other online businesses globally. ThreatMark is perfectly positioned to lead the market with their advanced solution. We are pleased to welcome Dan to the ThreatMark team and stand firmly behind them to help enable their planned expansion and growth."
About ThreatMark
Founded in 2015, ThreatMark brings trust in the digital world through advanced fraud prevention solution built on extensive cybersecurity know-how and the latest advancements in AI & Data Analytics. ThreatMark's Anti-Fraud Suite processes a comprehensive set of data to continuously monitor user identities & their intentions while providing protection from sophisticated digital fraud.
About Daniel Rawlings
Daniel is an experienced business leader and C-level executive in the software & technology industry, with a proven track record of delivering outstanding growth, customer success & winning culture. In his 20+ years of executive leadership roles, including CEO, CRO, and CCO, Dan has helped companies large & small to rapidly achieve new levels of growth and success.
Springtide Ventures invests in the Israeli start-up Cognni
Springtide Ventures has long directed the vast majority of its investments to Israel, where it primarily focuses on advanced start-ups that already possess specific products, market fit and customers. It targets Series B investment rounds, and mostly invests between three to ten million dollars to support sales expansion. The fund's new acquisition follows the same lines; investing USD 3 million in Cognni in the form of SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). The investment is expected to continue and in 2022, the fund should hold a 5% stake in Cognni.
"We regard this investment as really promising. The products that Cognni develops are focused on the management and protection of corporate documents. This is something that companies cannot be without in the future. At the same time, I very much appreciate that we can continue cooperating with the Israeli start-up scene, where we have built great relationships over the last couple of years. We continue to see that many ideas with global potential are often born here," said Karel Tušek, Springtide's Chief Technology Officer.
Based in Tel Aviv, and founded in 2019, Cognni has pioneered information intelligence, providing medium to large companies insights into critical information assets without the need for teams to spend hundreds of hours a month classifying this information. When businesses keep an updated and detailed overview of their data, they minimize risks associated with data misuse (i.e. by insiders), configure a higher level of information security and prevent damage that could be caused by cyber attacks. Cognni is a member of the prestigious Microsoft Intelligent Security Association and the company's solutions are offered in the Microsoft sales network. "We're so excited to join the Springtide Ventures fund family and this investment reflects the confidence in our unique solutions, which empower organizations to understand the potential risk and lower the impact of critical information being exposed. Up until now, data governance has focused on regulated data and this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to companies' information resources, which are and should be protected in every company," said Guy Eisdorfer, Cognni's CEO.
Springtide Ventures continues its strategy in Israel, focusing on companies developing SaaS products for B2B in the field of Cybersecurity and Cloud Infrastructure Management & Operations. "This also works well in terms of synergies with ARICOMA Group, which is a large IT division of the KKCG Group. However, we are expanding our scope to include the blockchain area, for example," adds Tušek. He argues that cooperation with local Israeli VCs, incubators and accelerators (especially at the universities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) is crucial and this is mainly possible thanks to the presence of the fund's collaborators directly in Israel. Based on good market knowledge, Springtide Ventures also wishes to expand its investments into "early stage" opportunities (Seed, Series A round), where the amounts are up to one million dollars, and which create space for investments in the later stages.
Alma Media acquired Techloop
Techloop has been acquired and will be joining forces with LMC (providers of Jobs.cz, Prace.cz, Atmoskop.cz, Teamio, Seduo and more). LMC is the part of Alma Media Group (Finland) operating in the digital recruitment field throughout 11 countries in Europe with large expansion potential for Techloop.
The vision of Techloop has a unique focus from the very beginning. That vision is to innovate the IT hiring market space by giving their users a fully transparent way to find opportunities while protecting their privacy and providing control throughout the hiring process.
https://techloop.io/techloop-news/techloop-has-joined-forces-with-lmc-and-alma-media/
America's NetApp is buying the SPOT
Springtide Ventures has sold its stake in SPOT. The buyer is NetApp, the leader in cloud data services.
An agreement was signed on 4th Jun allowing NetApp to enter into SPOT. The transaction was announced on the NASDAQ, America's largest electronic stock exchange. Following the merger, the companies will become the world's number one provider of Application Driven Infrastructure and, thanks to their state-of-the-art platform, will contribute to optimizing the costs for public cloud computing and running repositories.
Apart from the Springtide Ventures fund, other major investors, such as Highland Partners, Intel Capital and Vertex, are also selling their shares.
Springtide Ventures first invested in SPOT (formerly SpotInst) in August 2016. "Even then, we were impressed by their unique idea for optimizing cloud services," said Michal Tománek, KKCG's Chief Investment Officer. Over the course of five years the original start-up was built into a company that by 2019 had revenues of over $ 20 million and an annual volume of recurring revenues worth over $ 22 million.
"A great idea tailor-made for today's technological trends, an idea that can save both hardware and financial capacity; there is enthusiasm and a team that is able to move it all in the right direction. This is the basis of SPOT's success, today we are happy to hand over the share to NetApp," said Tománek, adding that this is a prime example of a successful investment in a start-up.
"SPOT was founded with a vision to revolutionize the way companies consume cloud infrastructure services, using analytics and automation to deliver the most reliable, best performing and most cost-efficient infrastructure for every workload on every cloud," said Amiram Shachar, Founder & CEO, SPOT. "We look forward to joining the NetApp family and building together the future of Application Driven Infrastructure and helping customers to deploy more workloads in the cloud."
"In today's public clouds, speed is the new scale. However, waste in the public clouds driven by idle resources and overprovisioned resources is a significant and a growing customer problem slowing down more public cloud adoption," said Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager, Public Cloud Services, NA. "The combination of NetApp's #1 shared storage platform for block, file and object and SPOT's compute platform will deliver a leading solution for the continuous optimization of cost for all workloads, both cloud native and legacy. Optimized customers are happy customers and happy customers deploy more to the public clouds."
Games developer Geewa receives strategic investment from U.S.-based mobile games company Applovin
Geewa, one of the Czech Republic's most successful gaming studios, announced today that it received a strategic investment from AppLovin, a U.S.-based mobile games company that fuels the growth of many of the world's most popular mobile games and game studios. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
"Coming off our most successful year to date, the timing of this partnership with AppLovin couldn't be better," said Miloš Endrle, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Geewa. "We're excited that with AppLovin's expertise, we will be well-poised to optimize our games to reach an even bigger global audience."
This investment fuels continued growth for the Geewa team, as it enables the studio to scale its most popular games, including Smashing Four, globally on AppLovin's platform. Founded in 2005, Geewa will continue to operate as an independent, stand-alone company with existing management.
"By investing in studios from around the world, we're able to execute on our growth strategy, while giving them a bigger platform to play on," said Adam Foroughi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of AppLovin. "Our team clicked with Geewa — its strong leadership, hit game Smashing Four, and their superior talent in Prague impressed us. We're confident that AppLovin can scale Geewa's business beyond its borders and reach players everywhere."
PlainID, a Leading Authorization Company, Receives Investment from SAP
TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — PlainID, a leading provider of authorization solutions, today announced that SAP® has invested in PlainID for an undisclosed amount.
PlainID is taking a lead in the industry by providing efficient and dynamic authorization solutions using its Policy Based Access Control platform. Enabling companies to make smarter decisions around their access management, including traditional roles and entitlements, and to provide a runtime ability for access control is helping to give PlainID's customers an edge in streamlining business processes, governance and data access management.
"Today is a milestone for PlainID," said Oren Ohayon Harel, CEO and Co-Founder of PlainID. "SAP's investment is a sign of confidence and trust from one of the leading companies in the world and gives a sense of momentum and success. Over a dozen businesses that use SAP solutions also use PlainID technology in the SAP Customer Data Cloud platform. This covers access control for over one million users. These include Fortune 2000 companies from industries such as pharma, oil and gas, and retail."
PlainID plans to use the SAP investment to bring its solution to an even wider audience, helping companies upgrade their identity and access management and giving them a whole new platform from which to grow.
"Together with our best-in-class identity and enterprise preference management platform, this new offering delivers a market leading solution," said Ben Jackson, General Manager of SAP Customer Data Cloud at SAP. "We embedded PlainID's Authorization as a Service platform within the SAP Customer Data Cloud to help businesses fill gaps around access management. We're pleased to be extending our relationship through this investment in PlainID."
PlainID offers two standalone products: Policy Manager and Role and Entitlement Manager. Learn more at www.plainid.com.
PlainID named as a Sample Vendor in the Externalized Authorization Management category in the Hype Cycle for Identity and Access Management Technologies, 2019
NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — PlainID, announced it has been named by Gartner as a Sample Vendor in the Externalized Authorization Management category in the Hype Cycle for Identity and Access Management Technologies, 2019.
"We are thrilled to be once again named in the Hype Cycle report, and are encouraged by the movement of the Externalized Authorization Management category into the "Slope of Enlightenment" phase," said Sam Adler, VP of Marketing at PlainID. In the report1 (Gartner subscription required), Felix Gaehtgens, VP Analyst at Gartner notes, "Enterprises should use EAM when externalized and centralized fine-grained authorization across a variety of application is desired."
"In our opinion, the Externalized Authorization Management category is growing rapidly, and the need for the functionality is growing even faster." Gal Helemski, PlainID CIPO and Co-Founder added, "PlainID offers a Unified Authorization Management solution that provides fine-grained, medium-grained and coarse-grained access control for applications, APIs, cloud platforms, portals and IAM solutions. We believe there should be a more unified approach to Authorization Management, so that companies can see what users can do, not just manage users. The traditional approach has been to focus on Identity and Authentication, and we believe the ability to manage access policies and the connections to what users can access is shifting what we think about what Identity Management should achieve."
To learn more and to get a free demo of PlainID, go to: PlainID.com
Gartner "Hype Cycle for Identity and Access Management Technologies, 2019," Ant Allan, 2 August 2019
*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About PlainID
PlainID offers an advanced Authorization Platform, the first policy based access control (PBAC) solution that simplifies Authorization to one point of decision, one point of control and one point of view across your cloud, mobile and legacy applications. An intuitive policy based decision solution, PBAC is quickly replacing the traditional role based (RBAC) and attribute based (ABAC) authorization solutions. Companies that use PlainID benefit from a scalable, graph DB based Authorization platform that meets the demands of enterprise growth without worry.
SOURCE PlainID
AUTOCONT has purchased a 100% stake in Cloud4com
The Aricoma Group, a member of the KKCG Group, announced another acquisition in the IT sector. Aricoma's subsidiary AUTOCONT has purchased a 100% stake in Cloud4com, one of the biggest independent providers of cloud infrastructure in the Czech Republic.
Representatives of the two companies signed an agreement yesterday, under which Cloud4com becomes an integral part of the Aricoma holding. The strategic result of this transaction will be a strong Czech provider of IT infrastructure with a comprehensive portfolio of services for small and medium enterprises. The Aricoma holding is the new owner of shares that were formerly part of the long-term portfolio of the Springtide Ventures venture capital fund and in part owned by the founders of Cloud4com. As part of the transaction, Cloud4com founders were appointed to the management of the MidMarket Division of AUTOCONT, another member of the Aricoma Group.
"We know Cloud4com very well because it was the target of an investment we made through the Springtide Ventures fund four years ago, while Cloud4com was going through the startup stage. The fact that our business operations have now come together confirms that we originally made the right choice. More importantly, it the deal will help us fulfill our ambition to be the number on provider of cloud services in the Czech Republic," explained Michal Tománek, KKCG's Investment Director responsible for information technologies.
According to Aricoma's CEO Milan Sameš, the acquisition is consistent with the consolidation trend on the Czech market for IT services, "We are building a resourceful holding using the best that's available on the domestic market, and we're looking abroad as well."
Tomáš Knoll, Cloud4com's CEO and one of its founders, confirms that the owners sought a strategic investor who would guarantee the future development of their company, one of the fastest growing cloud infrastructure providers in the Czech Republic. "We received several offers, but in the end we chose Aricoma, mainly because of the broad regional coverage offered by the AUTOCONT network,"explained Knoll.
"We are currently doing well with the 'We Are Your IT' project, a business concept as part of which we guarantee or take over the administration and development of the customer's information technologies. Thanks to that, our clients can focus on their forte, the primary objective of their business. The services provided by Cloud4com will be a perfect addition to this model. Complementing our unique nationwide sales channel with Cloud4com's products will provide us with three main competitive advantages. To begin with, we'll be able to offer what is currently the best local cloud platform for BU MM. Combined with our Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft AZURE competences, the platform will allow implementing any of the cloud scenarios customers might require. In addition, we'll be the only company on the market capable of offering an end-to-end solution to IT services, ranging from IaaS to complete outsourcing, including selected applications the integral part of which will be local hands-on accessibility anywhere in the Czech Republic. And finally and no less importantly, the acquisition will provide a fast solution to management, competence, and other staff-related issues regarding our Prague-based team," added Martin Stejskal, Director of AUTOCONT's Midmarket Business Unit.
PlainID listed in Forbes 10 Under $30M: The Most Promising Young Israeli Startups in New York
The 10 Under $30M list is comprised of fast-growing Israeli startup companies who chose New York as their first (or second) home, in order to bring their innovative promise to the U.S. market. Each company has a unique value proposition in its own field, whether it is cybersecurity, fintech, retail or any other industry in need for new technologies.
Abut PlainID:
Controlling information and data flow within a small team is easy, but as organizations grow into thousands of employees, from different management levels and teams, or thousands of customers spread across the globe – managing who's who, or who can access what data, becomes difficult.
Organizations face two challenges in this process. The first one is about the ability to understand who can access your most valuable resources, and control their level of access. The second is around data governance and compliance with regulations when launching new services.
PlainID's tagline is "The Authorization Company", exactly for that reason, as the company's founders are trying to make authorization processes faster and easier to implement. Or, as Oren Ohayon Harel, Co-Founder and CEO of PlainID, describes it: "turning identity to data you can consume."
The company, founded in 2014, provides a platform solution to control an organization's entire authorization process, but unlike other authorization platforms, it's all based on the organization's business logic. The platform allows teams to implement literally any kind of rule, without having to use code. Moreover, PlainID's authorization-as-a-service platform eliminates the need to develop compliance authentication for every single application or service using that data. This makes authorization processes faster, producing ROI faster when launching new services.
PlainID's customers include the World Bank, Freddie Mac, SAP as OEM and more. "We're working with enterprises that are highly regulated and have a complex environment, using cloud, on-premise, or hybrid service technology delivery methods, and most of them are in the middle of a technological transformation process", Ohayon Harel explains.
PlainID has 15 employees in New York, while the whole company's R&D center is based in Israel.
Spotinst raises $35M and continues to be a market leader
Spotinst, an AI based workload management platform for businesses to manage their compute infrastructure across different cloud providers, raised $35m in a Series B funding.
The round was led by Highland, with participation from existing investors Leaders Fund, Intel Capital, and Vertex Ventures.
The company, which has now raised approximately $52m since launch, intends to use the funds to increase its market share of the cloud optimization space, and double-down on its Serverless and Containers platform.
Founded by Amiram Shachar, Liran Polak and Aharon Twizer in 2015, Spotinst provides an AI based workload management platform which allows companies to manage and optimize their cloud computing spend across several cloud providers by tapping into excess compute capacity in data centres operated by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
The platform can intelligently manage, provision, and orchestrate compute capacity in the public cloud. It uses predictive machine learning algorithms to identify and predict when discounted opportunities become unavailable. When they do, Spotinst automatically migrates applications to available capacity, without compromising on availability.
Customers range from large enterprises including Sony, Samsung, Unilever, Qualcomm and Ticketmaster to hundreds of SMEs in the U.S and EMEA.
The majority of customers are in North America, while Europe is the second largest market.
The company currently has approximately 100 staff across four offices: San Francisco, New York, London, and Tel Aviv and plans to double that number in the next 12 months.
PlainID Announces $11 Million Series A Funding Round To provide enterprises with the only real-time fine-grain "authorization as a service" solution
PlainID, an authorization management platform that disrupts the way identities, human and non-human, access data assets on prem and in the cloud, announced today that it has raised $11 Million in a Series A Round from Springtide Ventures, Viola Ventures, Capri Ventures and iAngels.
Building on strategic wins with Fortune 500 companies, PlainID will use this strategic round to address growing demand for its platform and accelerate commercial success.
In a world with endless permutations between identities, hybrid IT environments and APIs, the company allows enterprises to control authorization policies in real-time through an agnostic, easy to configure, master policy layer.
The platform offers a clear understanding of every authorization level, in the cloud, mobile and on-premise applications, as well as complete control over the entire organization's authorization process. This gives business leaders, data governance professionals and security teams in the organization one externalized solution where they can seamlessly view and implement organizational policies across multiple protocols.
The funding round will be used to expand the Company's U.S. sales & marketing operations, customer support, and R&D team.
"The authorization landscape is changing and understanding who can access what and when becomes a critical question, that requires a good answer," said Oren Ohayon Harel, CEO and Co-Founder of PlainID. "A simplified authorization platform meets the intricate demands of a growing enterprise by maximizing security and minimizing anxiety."
"Run-time authorization is becoming more complex in an era of Enterprise automation. Current solutions no longer meet the changing requirements of hybrid IT environments, API collaboration and the introduction of more robotic process automation solutions," said Omry Ben David, Partner at Viola Ventures. "We believe that externalized fine-grain authorization will become the next large category in IAM, in a similar way to how Okta built the authentication category by externalizing the process and offering a single sign-on solution".
"PlainID provides a new generation tool allowing managers to gain control and flexibility in managing authorization across their organizations while minimizing dependency on IT specialists, says Marek Jablonsky, Executive Director at Springtide Ventures. "Importantly, the solution also addresses regulatory requirements and provides the necessary "peace of mind" to the executives when it comes to auditable robustly process-based IAM. Building on their hands-on experience from their previous roles as IT security executives with large enterprises the founders have managed to develop a largely superior solution with a potential to disrupt and redefine the category".
About PlainID:
Founded in 2015, PlainID is an advanced policy based access control solution which by creating lateral authorization business policies, minimizes complexity and lets business owners control and fine-tune access. The company's co-founders have substantial experience in the IAM space: Oren Ohayon Harel (CEO) served as Deputy CISO at one of the largest banks in Israel and led cross organizational development and deployment projects of cyber security and user identity management. Gal Helemski (CIPO) has over 14 years of experience in cyber security, defining solutions to customers mainly in the IAM area. She also served for six years in the IDF's prestigious computing unit Mamram.
About Springtide Ventures:
An integral part of the KKCG Group, Springtide Ventures is a venture capital division specializing in search for high-potential technology startups in areas of Cybersecurity, Cloud Infrastructure, Industry 4.0., AI and Marketing. To date, Springtide Ventures has acquired stakes in the Israeli companies Bio-Nexus and Spotinst and in such Czech firms as cloud4com, Cleerio, Geewa, ThreatMark and most recently Techloop. KKCG is an international investment group, founded by Karel Komarek, holding assets worth more than EUR 4.8bn and employing a workforce of more than 3 500 people. Its long-term focus as a strategic investor rests on the production, trading and storaging of crude oil and natural gas, the lottery industry, tourism, and investments into new technologies.
About Viola Ventures:
Viola Ventures is a venture capital firm, with over $1B AUM, empowering early stage start-ups to become global leaders. Founded in 2000, the fund invests in Israeli-related early stage companies and is the only Israel-based venture fund with six investing partners, solely dedicated to early-stage tech investments. PlainID is the second investment from the fifth fund recently announced.
Techloop Receives Eur 5 Million Investment from Springtide Ventures and Rockaway Ventures
The Series A investment will allow the startup to expand its virtual IT recruitment marketplace to other European countries.
Prague, 28 November 2017 – Having received seed investment from Rockaway Ventures last year, Techloop, a virtual marketplace connecting IT professionals and prospective employers, has now obtained a Series A investment from Springtide Ventures/KKCG with the participation of Rockaway Ventures. The investment totals five million euros (close to 130 million crowns).
Techloop is a virtual marketplace that reinvents the way IT professionals search for jobs. It allows them to remain anonymous while receiving job offers directly from prospective employers. In addition, users who find a job through Techloop receive a EUR 500 hiring bonus from Techloop. Techloop has grown considerably in 2017, and currently connects over 25,000 IT professionals with more than 900 prospective employers in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Since the platform was launched in 2016, several hundreds of IT professionals have found jobs using Techloop. "We want to continue improving the experience of finding a job or recruiting professionals in the IT sector. We are also planning expansion to several other European countries. Our vision is to provide greater choice for the thousands of IT professionals who look for a new career opportunity," said Techloop CEO and Cofounder Joao Duarte. According to Duarte, Techloop's partnership with two strong and experienced investors is a major asset, "We're delighted to have forged a partnership with Springtide Ventures and Rockaway Ventures. Their know-how and investments will be of key importance in the expansion of the Techloop platform."
One of the most important investments in the Czech IT sector, the venture has allowed Springtide Ventures to further enlarge its portfolio of high-potential startup companies. Together with other IT investments, startups are to form one of the fundamental pillars of the business of the parent undertaking, KKCG. "Surveys show that the shortage of IT specialists in Europe alone will amount to 900,000 workers between now and the year 2020. Already now, four out of 10 European companies that hire IT specialists face difficulties. For us, investing into an innovative enterprise that offers an effective solution to this problem is a logical step in this area," explained Marek Jablonský, CEO of Springtide Ventures, a company that is a member of the KKCG Investment Group.
"We invested seed round in Techloop nearly 11 months ago. Since then, we've been impressed by work done by the firm's three founders, especially their ability to get things done and deliver results. We will continue to support Techloop in its international expansion with additional financing, strategic guidance, and human resources,"said Viktor Fischer from Rockaway Ventures.
The investment will allow Techloop to grow from its current 28 employees to approximately 150 during the next two years. "To meet our ambitious plans for growth, we are now hiring a large number of specialists for Techloop's headquarters in Prague. We're looking for talented professionals in customer service, sales, and marketing," said Techloop COO and Cofounder Paul Cooper.
Techloop
The Techloop platform is a digital recruitment marketplace launched by Joao Duarte, Paul Cooper, and Andrew Elliott in 2016. The company mainly targets IT professionals and companies that are looking for IT talent. IT specialists value the anonymity the platform provides, the specific nature of job offers they get, and the EUR 500 hiring bonus. On their part, companies appreciate access to a large database of IT professionals and a host of other services Techloop offers.
Springtide Ventures
An integral part of the KKCG Group, Springtide Ventures is a venture capital fund specializing in search for high-potential startups. Funds to the tune of 60 million euros have been allocated to the fund for investments of this type. To date, Springtide Ventures has acquired stakes in the Israeli companies Bio-Nexus and SpotInst and in such Czech firms as cloud4com, Cleerio, Geewa, and most recently ThreatMark. KKCG is an investment group founded by Karel Komárek. KKCG pursues business interests in various sectors, including IT. This year in fall, KKCG acquired a 70% stake in the Czech IT leader Autocont.
Rockaway Capital
Rockaway Capital's vision is to build Internet economy through value added. Today, Rockaway focuses on two main types of investment strategies. The first consists of buying into regional companies that enjoy a strong market position and have a proven business model. Companies in this part of the portfolio include Invia, Heureka, Chytrý Honza, and the Mall Group, all of which operate in 15 European countries. The second strategy consists of providing backing to technology startups with global ambitions through the Rockaway Ventures Division. Rockaway is headed by Jakub Havrlant who founded the group in 2013 to pursue investment activities.
Springtide Ventures and Rockaway invest into the Czech startup Threatmark
ThreatMark s.r.o., a company that has developed a solution for mobile and web-based applications that provides effective protection against fraud and cyberattacks, has attracted two leading domestic investors. The Springtide Ventures Fund from the KKCG Group and the Rockaway Ventures Division of the Rockaway Investment Group have acquired a 32.2% stake in ThreatMark.
The two investors intend to provide ThreatMark not only with financial backing, but also with know-how, and take part in the company's management and assist it with market entry in other European countries as well as in the U.S. and Asia.
ThreatMark was established in Brno two years ago as a laboratory specializing in the development of solutions for cybersecurity and protection against online fraud. The company's products are the response to the insufficient security of online applications and, more importantly, the fact that the security of their users continues to be neglected. Apart from developing proprietary security solutions, ThreatMark conducts research into malware detection, artificial intelligence, and behavioral biometry, and applies the results of its research activities into the production environment, banking systems in particular.
Thanks to its robust nature, the system developed by ThreatMark is able to compete with established brands on the fraud detection market. The unique features and the company's innovative approach to rapid integration helps to gain competitive advantage. ThreatMark's solution processes hundreds of parameters that define clients' actions when opening a new account online, during the logon process, and also helps to protect users during their interaction with the applications. It analyzes hundreds of connection, device and session parameters and measures the interaction of the users with the device and the application. This in combination with action context and transaction content analysis is used to predict high-risk operations, detect hacker attacks against payment systems, and prevent unauthorized access to online accounts in mobile and web-based applications. The solution also allows banks to comply with the legal requirements under the PSD2 directive.
ThreatMark currently operates in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom
During its beginnings, ThreatMark was assisted by the Cleverlance Group, a Czech IT corporation that acted as a seed investor, and provided ThreatMark with the necessary starting capital and access to the Czech and Slovak markets through its subsidiary AEC, a.s. AEC acted as ThreatMark's system integrator and brokered contacts to its established clients in the financial sector. Cleverlance will continue to hold an ownership interest in the company.
"ThreatMark has developed a system that very effectively detects the entire spectrum of fraud and current attacks against online applications. Thanks to its robust nature, the product is able to compete with established brands on the fraud detection market, and the company's innovative approach facilitates fast integration into existing IT systems," explained AEC's CEO and ThreatMark's co-founder Tomáš Strýček.
By acquiring a stake in this Czech startup, Springtide Ventures has demonstrated adherence to its strategy of investing into Central European and Israeli companies with a potential to operate on the global scale and succeed on advanced markets, particularly in Europe and in the U.S. As in other projects, the fund plans to take advantage of its strengths: the KKCG Group's size and resources, effective management system, IT expertise, base of operations in the heart of Europe, and experience with expansion to global markets.
"We find ThreatMark attractive because of its products and the market it targets. The number of attacks against services that require online login grows every year in terms of their frequency, extent, and seriousness. For instance, while as much as 200 million dollars was stolen from online accounts in the United Kingdom alone in 2014, the sum grew by another 25% one year later. At the same time, a significant portion of attacks remain undetected for a long time, in part due to their increasingly sophisticated nature," said Executive Director of Springtide Ventures Marek Jablonský.
"For most startups, venture capital is the holy grail. We've succeeded in reaching this milestone, thanks to the hard work and expertise of the entire ThreatMark team. The new capital as well as the extensive experience of our partners will allow us not only to accelerate the development of our product, but also, and more importantly, to boost business activities on foreign markets," added Michal Tresner, Executive Director and one of the founders of ThreatMark.
For the Rockaway Investment Group, the transaction adds another company to the startup portfolio of the Rockaway Ventures Division. The decision to buy into ThreatMark was based on the company's team of technology experts and unique solution with high global scaling potential. The transaction has been overseen by Andrea Lauren, a Rockaway Instrument Partner and fintech specialist who has recently joined the group's management.
Springtide Ventures is an investment fund specializing in companies with global ambitions whose products and services are based on or closely related to information technologies (IT), mainly in such areas as digital marketing, geoinformation systems, online gaming, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and big data. To date, Springtide Ventures has invested into six Czech and Israeli companies. In the forthcoming years, the fund plans to invest to the tune of EUR 40-60 million.
KKCG Investment Group
KKCG is an international investment group with assets worth EUR 2 billion and more than 2,500 employees. The group's long-term investment strategy focuses on crude oil and natural gas production, lotteries, tourism, and investments into new technologies. KKCG holds stakes in more than 25 Czech and foreign corporations, including MND Group, SAZKA Group, DataSpring, SafeDX, VÍTKOVICE, FISCHER Travel Group, and others. KKCG operates in 10 countries worldwide.
Rockaway Capital Investment Group
The vision of Rockaway Capital is centered on building Internet-based economy through value added. Rockaway currently follows two main investment strategies. The first one consists of buying into regional companies with a strong position and a proven business model, including the likes of Invia, Heureka, Chytrý Honza, or Mall Group, which operate on 15 European markets. The second strategy consists of providing backing to technology startups with global ambitions through the Rockaway Ventures Division. Rockaway is headed by Jakub Havrlant who founded the group in 2013 to pursue his investment activities.
Cleverlance Group
The Cleverlance Group brings together Czech IT companies that operate on the international level in providing consulting, solutions, and services with a focus on finance, telecommunications, utilities, and public administration. The group includes Cleverlance Enterprise Solutions, AEC, TrustPort, CTS TRADE IT, and Cleverlance H2B. The business of Cleverlance Enterprise Solutions centers on supporting business processes and offering innovative services through the implementation of effective SW solutions.
Since its establishment in 1991, AEC has been one of the leading Czech providers of products and services for data and information security. AEC offers security solutions produced by such global leaders as Check Point, RSA, Tenable, McAfee, FireEye, Forcepoint, IBM, and Kaspersky. The company's portfolio of information security services includes risk analytics, penetration tests, implementation of security processes, and other specialized services. AEC has been a member of the Cleverlance Group since 2008.
Forbes: Apart from Crude Oil and Lotteries, Karel Komárek is focusing on Smart Technologies and Startups To build a new pillar of his business empire.
A narrow stairway leads from the sun-heated street to a cool basement that ends in a wide tunnel with an arched ceiling. If Tel Aviv had a subway, this could easily be one of its stations. Here, directly beneath the Sarona central market, the Knights Templar once upon a time had their wine cellars. More recently, the structure was used by agents of Israel's Mossad secret service. Today, it is the home of the Whiskey Bar & Museum, which offers more than a thousand of bottles and first-class ribeye steaks made from cattle bred on the Golan Heights.
Matanel Shalom raises a glass of single malt, smells it, and delights in a sip. He is wearing a light blue shirt and a yarmulke covers his head. This underground establishment is like his home: he is one of the owners and uses the premises to hold business meetings. His muscular shoulders bear witness to 11 years he spent in the Israeli Army's Special Forces.
Now, however, Shalom has a completely different job. He manages the Shell Capital investment fund, and operates as the Israeli connection for Czech entrepreneur Karel Komárek and his Springtide Ventures risk capital fund. His intimate knowledge of the local startup scene helps Komárek's people find high-potential companies for investment purposes.
Startups and technology firms are attracting more and more attention from the fourth most affluent Czech. At present, Komárek's KKCG Group relies on two strong business segments – oil and gas production and lotteries. In addition, Komárek sees high potential in up-and-coming companies in the IT, biotechnology, and cloud segments, and wants to make new technologies another pillar of his empire.
To date, however, investments made into the above segments amount to slightly over one billion crowns, which is a negligible amount compared to KKCG's main business. This year, Forbes appraised the value of Komárek's assets, which include Moravské naftové doly, the travel agencies Fischer and Nev-Dama, and the lottery companies Sazka, OPAP, and Casinos Austria, at 2.2 billion dollars. That places the 48-year native of Hodonín, Czech Republic among the one thousand wealthiest people in the world.
Investments into startups and smart technologies are Komárek's bet on the future – the one billion crowns already invested is expected to double, as a minimum, during the next three years. The money will be spent both in and outside the Czech Republic. Springtide Ventures is mainly interested in Israel, a country considered the world's best source of top startups alongside California's Silicon Valley. Thus, Springtide Ventures boss Marek Jablonský has used his contacts to team up with Shalom, and together, they have launched a partnership that has so far resulted in an investment into Bio-Nexus, while another transaction is just around the corner.
"I like the way Springtide Ventures does business; we have a lot in common. It's like an open marriage, both sides can learn a lot from one another," says Shalom before ordering another round of fine whisky. Then he taps fingers on the yarmulke that covers his head and reveals, "I'm a man of faith, and I believe that it's worth it. I like helping good deeds."
Jablonský and his associates from Springtide Ventures come to Israel regularly. In April, they visited Tel Aviv and Beersheba to look into new opportunities. They focus on the B2B segment and the technology infrastructure. That includes both Bio-Nexus, whose platform accelerates and streamlines communication in work teams, and Spotinst, another company into which the fund has invested which specializes in providing small users with customized cloud services at an affordable cost. Other firms are expected to follow suit, as Springtide wants to invest to the tune of 40 to 60 million dollars into startups during the next five years. In addition, Komárek has contributed another $13 million into Jazz Venture Partners, an American fund that invests into neuroscience projects.
What might now appear as a small part of a multibillion business operation gets considerable attention from both KKCG and Komárek personally. "I consider investments into startups and modern technologies strategically important. I pay close attention to this segment, among other reasons because it often gives me inspiration for our existing business. It's a way of accelerating the KKCG Group's technological development," explains Komárek. "Generally speaking, I find technologies fascinating, and I like working with them. I believe that they will be of fundamental importance for the future of humankind." Israelis are masters of technological innovation with regard to both software and hardware. Israeli inventions include USB flash memory sticks, firewall, and the ICQ and Viber chat applications. Likewise, Israel is the home of such successful startups as Waze and MobilEye – the former is a part of Google and the latter has been purchased by Intel for 15 billion dollars earlier this year. The likes of Facebook, Deutsche Telekom, eBay, and IBM have their research centers or business incubators in Tel Aviv.
The numbers speak for themselves: 4% of Israeli GDP goes into research and development, which is clearly reflected in the number of startups in the country – currently, there are about five thousand, and on average, two new ones are set up every day. Last year only, investors contributed 4.8 billion dollars into startup ventures. Data collected by the IVC Research Center indicate that there were 104 Israeli startups worth 10 billion dollars in total in 2016.
Where does Israel's startup power come from? The sources are several, but they all have a common denominator – the military. Every Israeli citizen must undergo army training at the age of 18 years – women go for two years, men for three. Already at the age of 19 years, Israelis are assigned a team of rookies they are required to lead. "In essence, it's a small startup of sorts," laughs Shalom from Shell Capital. "In the army, children turn into real adults. Military service teaches you responsibility and gives you self-confidence."
The army functions as a breeding ground for the startup scene, and provides Israelis with the qualities needed for succeeding in business: willingness to take risk, ability to work under pressure, resilience, orientation on goals, innovative approach, and resolve to make decisions fast. A Special Forces unit designated as 8200 operates as a cybernetic spy agency that brings together the brightest individuals in the country. Being in possession of technologies more advanced than those other countries have at their disposal, hostile countries in particular, is of key importance for Israel's ability to survive in its volatile region.
Another company with military origins is Bio-Nexus, into which Springtide has invested five million dollars in exchange for a one-third ownership interest. Its founder Ztiki Fuchs and his team of former army rescue personnel have developed a software platform that relies on smartphones, tablets, and other devices to collect data and to manage teamwork in real time. Bio-Nexus's clients include armed forces, major airlines, hospitals, and industrial corporations.
"We've brought the 21st century to an environment where most tasks are still documented on paper. With our solution, everything is faster, more efficient, and thoroughly documented. Plus, the system reduces room for human error," explains Ztiki, adding that their digital communication solution supports contactless operation thanks to voice recognition. In addition, smartglasses, which are a part of the system, are able to display necessary information to rescue workers in real time. "Bio-Nexus has a unique product. We have essentially no competitor who would be offering a product comparable to ours," explains Jablonský and adds that the company's revenues now cover its expenditures.
Bio-Nexus was one of 28 startups middleman Shalom presented and recommended to Springtide in 2015. The fund's specialists carried out an in-depth assessment of the firm, and the transaction subsequently launched KKCG's adventure in Israel. Whenever Shalom mentions investment, he stresses that local startups are mainly the target of American and Chinese money, and that European investors lag behind. That is why he decided to help the Czech fund, along with the fact that he receives commission for brokered investment transactions. "Czech and Israelis have a lot in common. In many areas, including the culture. It would be a pity not to take advantage of it. Plus, these guys," Shalom points at Jablonský's mini team, "do a great job."
What does it mean in reality? Why do young Israeli entrepreneurs take money from an "unknown" Central European billionaire? "The way they work is different than a standard venture capital fund. They operate under a large conglomerate whose business spans from industrial production to technologies. They have expertise, knowledge, and good connections, and they're able to open the door for us whenever we need it on a certain market. It's reassuring to have the backing of someone like that," recounts Ztiki. "It's not a fund that would focus only on exit from the very beginning. It is, first and foremost, a partner for our further development."
What he says reflects the fact that KKCG operates in dozens of countries on three continents, and is becoming more and more powerful in the IT sector. It owns data centers, cloud service providers, and stakes in gaming and biotechnology companies. "Thanks to that, we are able to offer truly smart money and convince up-and-coming entrepreneurs that we can assist them. Since they often talk to financial specialists, they appreciate that we understand the technical aspects of their products," describes Jablonský, adding that it takes some time before the initial barrier is overcome and before the fund wins the trust of its partners. "If things make sense, people don't care where you're from."
This opinion is shared by Eran Grabiner, Head of Operations at Spotinst, a company Springtide has recently bought into.
"There is a lot of investment money around. But we sought someone who would help us in a different way, especially with knowledge as to how to successfully enter new markets. Already now, we have customers we have met thanks to Springtide, and through them, we want to gain a strong foothold in Europe," says Grabiner in the office of the firm's CEO who happens to be on a business trip in the U.S.
There is no other quiet place where we could sit down and chat.
Spotinst has its head office in an inconspicuous villa on the busy Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. The building is occupied by 40 people, and the two-year old startup will soon outgrow its size – as revenues rise by an average 38% per month, so does the number of employees.
Jablonský calls Spotinst's business as a "game-changer". Thanks to ingenious algorithms, the startup is able to resell at low prices unused capacity of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google data centers (they are normally used to roughly 60% of their capacity). Spotinst also works as a trading exchange: customers bid to get the least expensive spot in a cloud, and Spotinst also predicts and secures smooth transfer to another facility in the event the primary location is down, which occurs quite frequently because of maintenance or entry of new data. "Our services allow clients to save as much as 70% of the cost of using the Amazon cloud," calculates Grabiner.
Amirar Schahar founded Spotinst at the age of 26 years (he is now 28), following seven years of military service. He served in an elite unit that was responsible for improving the Iron Dome mobile air defense system, which protects Israeli cities from missile attacks. "An extraordinary founder, an exceptional product, an unbelievably rapid growth. It was a love at first sight for us. This could be a unicorn," hopes Jablonský. Unicom is a term that refers to a startup with a value in excess of a billion dollars. It is now a half past nine in the evening, but the wind blowing from the Mediterranean Sea is still warm. The quest for another unicorn continues over a dish of scallop and shrimp in the Fortuna del Mar beachside restaurant. Jablonský and his associates Karel Tušek and Tomáš Jiroušek are eating dinner, wrapping up a string of meetings that began at seven o'clock in the morning and took them on crisscross cab rides around Tel Aviv. They are facing two founders of a startup whose name needs to remain confidential for the time being, as nothing is certain until an investment deal is signed.
In shoptalk, the process is called working with leads, and it involves endless streams of e-mails, hours of videoconferences, days spent studying documents, and frequent flights between Prague and Tel Aviv. Only a small percentage of startup assessments result in an investment deal. That's why it is so important to pamper the most promising projects. After all, here, at Fortuna del Mar, a lot is at stake – this startup, which allows any person to design an IoT product and have it made, has already received 14 million dollars from investors.
Its owners aim high. "Unicorn? That's the reason why I get out of bed every morning," tells me one of them. Jablonský grins on opposite side of the table.
It was him who set things in motion in 2012, which later led to the founding of Springtide Ventures. As part of management buyout, he wedged out the 1188 service from Telefonica 02 and teamed up with Michal Tománek, a former fellow student at the London Business School, to bring it under KKCG's wings. It wasn't long, however, before smartphones connected to the Internet made the original business concept of 1188 obsolete, and today, the service, renamed as Connectart, rents out the capacity of its call center. Be it as it may, other investments followed in the wake of the Connectart deal, such as NejRemeslnici.cz, Geewa, Cleerio, and Cloud4com, and they were transferred to the Springtide fund.
Incidentally, do you know what the fund's name stands for?
When the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth all line up, a spring tide occurs, during which the ocean creates enormous waves. "Our goal is to catch the right wave and surf along," mentions Jablonský. While he and his associates are on the lookout for the right wave, Komárek is the person who decides whether Springtide will go for a ride. For every prospective startup, they bring him a concise presentation on three slides to which he listens attentively, and then shoots questions. If he gets satisfactory answers and all things add up, he gives a go-ahead.
The fund's goal is to acquire stakes in 12 to 15 firms over the next seven years and, ultimately, to earn five-fold of the invested sum. "Choosing the right startup is difficult. And a matter of luck too. The degree of risk is higher, but, naturally, the potential profits are higher as well," says Michal Tománek, KKCG's Investment Director who is responsible for this segment. "Investing into startups will never be the bulk of the group's business, but there is the potential of using these investments in our own projects. Today, technologies are essential in every field."
Potential synergy might exist, for example, in Sazka, which needs a large number of back-end technologies that are not visible on the outside as well as solutions with a direct effect on gamers. Lotteries are entering the digital world – starting this year, a Sportka ticket can be purchased using a mobile phone, and Lucky Numbers can be caught in the virtual reality of Café Happiness opened by Sazka in the Flora Shopping Mall in Prague. Sitting there, in the café, and sipping a demitasse, which came with a scratch ticket as all cups of coffee do, Tománek explains that the quest for the right ideas must focus on places where action happens. "The Czech Republic is fine, but you have to be where the best ideas see the light of the world," Tománek says. In KKCG's case, it translates into three locations – Israel, California, and Taiwan.
Last year in January, Tománek and Komárek boarded a Gulfstream G550 jet and set out for San Francisco.
"We wanted to get the feel of the place and to start creating a network of people. In a nutshell, we wanted to see how things work over there," describes Tománek the trip to Silicon Valley, where they visited Google X (they saw Makáni airborne electricity generating units in action), Salesforce, Lending Club, and the UCSF neurotechnology lab.
The lab's manager Adam Gazzaley also happens to be a partner in Jazz Venture Partners, a fund specializing in bringing together IT and neuroscience, and the meeting intrigued Komárek to such an extent that he decided to invest 300 million crowns into the fund and to become its minority shareholder.
Jazz's firepower amounts to the equivalent of 2.5 billion crowns, and people who invested into the fund include the likes of Jack Ma, the founder of the Alibaba online giant, and former Citigroup boss Sandy Weill. The fund was established two years ago, and it oversees seven companies that share one common denominator – technologies capable of improving man's efficiency in learning, entertainment, sports, and healthcare.
For example, Level Ex allows surgeons to practice operations thanks to a virtual reality headset, and Pear Therapeutics use a combination of virtual reality and pharmaceuticals to treat a disorder known as ADHD – the startup is the first company that has been awarded a permit from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Another product seen as to have a high potential is a special headset made by Halo Neuroscience, which uses low-intensity transcranial electrical stimulation of the nervous system to improve the transmission of impulses between the brain and muscles. "Scientists have discovered that this method is able to improve movement coordination by as much as 20%," claims Tománek, adding that the headset is used by the U.S. Marines and ski jumpers.
"Apart from the new mentality these investments bring to the KKCG Group, I'm interested in the global reach of new segments because business today is no longer limited to countries or continents; the winners are those who are able to offer solutions for the global market," says Komárek.
In this regard, he draws inspiration from golf buddy and fellow billionaire Terry Gou. "I like his vision regarding all the things that technologies have the power to change," says Komárek about the founder of the Taiwanese giant Foxconn. KKCG has teamed up with this largest maker of electronics in the world, which runs a production and development center in the Czech Republic, to carry out two projects. The two partners built the SafeDX data center near Sazka's head office in Prague last year, and in February, they jointly launched the ETIP investment fund, which – unlike Springtide and Jazz – will focus on firms at a more advanced developmental stage. In other words, companies with a proven business model specializing in cybersecurity, the Internet of things, and data centers.
"KKCG possesses the investment know-how and is well familiar with the Czech and Europe-wide IT market. Combining our experience with our partner's size, research and development abilities, and production facilities in Europe and Asia will bring interesting results," believes ICT Director Martin Chládek who is responsible for the partnership with Foxconn and the data center segment as a whole. According to him, the fund has investment deals worth to the tune of tens to hundreds of millions of euros ready to be launched in the initial stage of its operation.
To make sure that the list of Komárek's group's startup and technology activities is complete, it is necessary to mention the DataSpring data center, which has been built near Hodonín, Czech Republic. In part financed by EU subsidies, the facility is now connected to the Microsoft global network. In addition, there are the biotechnology firms SmartBrain and Medicem – the former is developing a revolutionary drug for breast cancer treatment, and the latter follows the legacy of Czech contact lens inventor Otto Wichterle by producing modern intraocular lenses that are implanted directly into the eye.
One of the reasons behind Komárek's close relationship with startups is his family. Two years ago, his son Karel, who is currently pursuing university studies in the United States, founded BranchTop, a startup operating what is essentially a new social network that brings together personal and professional life. The network operates on the principle of not selling user-related data to advertisers.
Komárek senior is proud that his son has independently (without dad's knowledge) launched its own project, but he stresses that he'll have to make do without his money. "I wish him success, but he'll have to find financing for his projects on his own."
Springtide Ventures buys into Israeli IT firm Bio-Nexus
Springtide Ventures, a venture capital fund and a member of the KKCG Group, has acquired a stake in Bio-Nexus, an innovative Israeli IT company, enlarging its portfolio with another high-potential firm from the information technology sector. This investment underscores the fund's strategic focus on companies from Central Europe and Israel that have the potential to operate on a global scale and to succeed on advanced markets, particularly those in the U.S. and Europe.
"We are attracted by Bio-Nexus' huge growth potential around the world as well as its impressive results to date. The Springtide Ventures fund has acquired an initial 20% stake in the company, confirming our focus on fast-growing Central European and Israeli technology firms," explained Marek Jablonský, Executive Director of Springtide Ventures.
BIO-NEXUS is developing an innovative and unique technology by combining the most modern developments, such as embedded reality, with intuitive solutions guiding field personnel through their tasks and workflows. The company currently focuses on three main industry verticals: large industrial sites (Care-Nexus), emergency medical services (Bio-Nexus Medical) and airliners (Aero-Nexus). "Our vision is to reduce human errors, create secure environments and save lives. In addition, the platform helps achieve cost savings and efficiencies by bringing tactical and strategic real-time processes into the digital age," says Ztiki Fuchs, CEO of BIO-NEXUS.
The core competence of Bio-Nexus is the development of its patent-protected Mobile Workflow Engine and the rapid deployment of its flagship mobile workflow-processing platform with service organizations. The platform facilitates field maintenance and critical real-time supervision where accurate execution depends on efficient workflow processing. It could also be described as an end-to-end digital communication platform between the points of event and the command and control center.
The platform helps manage processes characterized by urgency, high costs and risks, such as large industrial site technical checks, aircraft fleet maintenance and emergency medical services.
The company has also integrated its platform with heads-up displays, various headsets and cameras and coupled it with portable wireless devices, such as smartphones and tablets. The system also makes use of speech recognition (hands-free capabilities) to facilitate adherence to protocol and rapid documentation in field environments.
The system has been approved by scores of advanced companies and organizations across its target industry verticals, including the US Navy, NATO, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Virgin AU, China Air, the VISY Group and Bellevue Hospital, New York, US. The company has approximately 50 different claims for patents that are registered in the US and in 28 additional countries.
"Buying into BIO-NEXUS marks another step in the direction in which we aspire to proceed over the long term. We focus on advanced markets, as we believe that technologies that can be marketed globally have a vast potential. We build on our inherent advantages, such as the size and resources of the KKCG Group, our location in the heart of Europe, IT expertise, extensive experience with market expansion projects, and corporate management know-how," said Michal Tománek, KKCG's Investment Director who is responsible for Springtide Ventures within the framework of the KKCG Group.
KKCG to invest EUR 40-60 mil into start-Ups across Central Europe and Israel over the next 2-3 years
KKCG group is to invest 40 to 60 million EUR into technological startups through Springtide Ventures fund. Its CEO, Marek Jablonský, says the fund will invest into 15 to 20 copmanies in Central Europe and Israel region over the next 2-3 years. Springtide Ventures focuse on companies with global ambitions. Its goal is to help them penetrate advanced markets in Europe and USA. Jablonský said: "Our mission is to help courageous enterpreneurs build outstanding companies with individual investments typically ranging between one and five million euros." Springtide actively supports enterpreneurs in building their companies over the initial 1-2 years and helps them enter their target markets. The fund also helps attract reputable investors in USA and Europe to follow-up financing rounds while being ready to participate along them.
Springtide focuse on startups active in the areas of digital marketing, geoinformation systems, on-line games, big data and IT security. Their latest investment of several million euros was into Cleerio, a Czech company that creates map-based information systems. The fund previously also invested in an on-line game developer Geewa, virtual data center provider Cloud4com or an on-line portal for finding and engaging trustworthy craftsmen NejRemeslnici.cz. Springtide is currently searching for a strategic partner and/or investor for NejRemeslnici.cz. KKCG acquired majority in the portal three years ago, i.e. before Springtide Ventures fund was established. Springtide Ventures is part of KKCG Group, an international investment group with assets under management of over EUR 1.6 billion and more than 2,500 employees. KKCG holds shares in more than 25 Czech and foreign corporations, including MND Group, SAZKA or CK FISHER.
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On the Run (Farrar Straus Giroux) is the US edition of Tristan's middle-grade mystery novel published in Australia as Two Wolves.
One afternoon, four police officers visit Ben Silver's home. Minutes after they leave, his parents arrive. Ben and his little sister Olive are bundled into the car and told they're going on a holiday. Which is weird, because Ben's family never goes on holidays.
Things aren't right and Ben knows it. His parents are on the run. So Ben and Olive are running, too.
Ben's always dreamt of becoming a detective – his dad even calls him 'Cop' because he asks so many questions. Now Ben gathers evidence, jots notes and tries to uncover what his parents have done. The trouble is, if he figures it out, what does he do next? Tell someone? Or keep the secret and live life on the run?
On The Run recalls the great adventure stories of Jack London but with the gritty realism of 21st-century story-telling. Gripping and unpredictable, with a hero you won't forget.
A tense, hard-edged, no-holds-barred thriller.


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Justin Blackmon (OSU COWBOYS/ Jacksonville Jaguars) gets a 2nd DUI charge
Saw this on another criminal defense attorney's blog. Thought it was interesting. Hopefully Blackmon will keep himself out of trouble when he's out on bond. A second DUI has some pretty stiff penalties here in Kansas and since lots of Oklahoma law is based on Kansas law I assume its quite a big deal their as well.
If you find yourself needing a criminal defense lawyer in Overland Park, Olathe, or anywhere else in the metro give us a call.
Justin Blackmon enters not guilty plea for aggravated DUI charge
By Samantha Vincent
Former Oklahoma State Unviersity wide receiver Justin Blackmon appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to an aggravated DUI charge Monday afternoon. Blackmon, 22, was arrested by Stillwater police officers at 3:14 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of aggravated driving under the influence. He was released from custody around 12:45 p.m. that day and was charged with misdemeanor aggravated DUI Monday morning.
Officer Charles Murphy, while monitoring traffic on 6th Avenue, pulled over a white Chevrolet Tahoe for driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and driving left of center, according to an affidavit. The driver, Blackmon, made an improper turn by turning into the outside lane of traffic, Murphy said.
Blackmon stopped in a gas station parking lot near McElroy Road and Perkins Road after failing to yield to the officer for about four blocks, according to a police report. Blackmon, according to Stillwater officer Jeff Dillon, was unsteady on his feet, had slurred speech and had glassy, bloodshot eyes. He reportedly admitted consuming alcohol prior to driving. No other occupants were in the vehicle. While being questioned by officers, Blackmon reportedly was argumentative and stated, "I just flew in, I don't know why you're harassing me", according to the affidavit. He was then arrested and taken to the Stillwater City Jail, where he agreed to take a breath test. The results were .24 and .26, the affidavit says. According to the website factsontap.org, a .24 blood alcohol concentration indicates that a 220 pound male would have to consume 12 drinks in a one-hour period. Blackmon's record shows that he weighs 215 pounds. Blackmon was then transported to the Payne County Jail and booked on a $1,000 bond, said Payne County Sgt. Brandon Ingham.
"Since he was brought in so late, he was processed and released fairly soon after his arrest," Ingham said. Blackmon, now a receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, will next appear in court at 10:30 a.m. July 24, which is three days before the start of the Jaguars' training camp. He hired defense attorney Cheryl Ramsey, who also represents OSU basketball player Darrell Williams in his pending felony trial. Blackmon, a two-time Biletnikoff award winner, was previously arrested in October 2010 on a DUI complaint. He was pulled over in Carrollton, Texas after driving 92 mph in a 60 mph zone. Head coach Mike Gundy suspended him for an away game against Kansas State after that arrest. After a plea deal in Carrollton Municipal Court, Blackmon paid a fine for a reduced charge of minor in possession.
He was also arrested for failing to appear in Logan County (Okla.) court after receiving a ticket for driving 21-25 mph over the speed limit. The warrant was issued in November 2009 but was not served until May 2010. Blackmon pleaded no contest to the speeding offense and used his $250 jail bond toward paying fines, court records show. Dan Edwards, vice president of communications for the Jaguars, said Sunday the Jaguars were aware of the report. "All I can say at this point is that we are gathering information," Edwards said. "We don't have any further comment at this time."
Edwards said he did not know when a statement would be made about Blackmon's status. He declined to comment on whether the Jaguars have made contact with Blackmon since his release. As of Tuesday morning, an announcement from the Jaguars about Blackmon's DUI charge has not been released.
Posted by Brandan Davies Esq. at 9:35 AM No comments:
Labels: dui arrest, jacksonville jaguars, justing blackmon, osu cowboys
Justin Blackmon (OSU COWBOYS/ Jacksonville Jaguars...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Hotel King Suites is popular among a number of travelers visiting Bengaluru and looking for comfortable accommodation facilities without feeling a pinch in the pocket. The hotel is situated near Baptist Hospital. The rooms have been designed very elegantly. The walls have not been painted and instead of beautiful wallpapers with intricate designs have been used. All rooms are well-furnished and a lot of woodwork is involved. Large windows have been provided in each room which is covered by long and thick curtains. The additional facilities provided by the hotel are free Wi-Fi, an uninterrupted power backup source, parking provisions, card payment in all forms, laundry provisions, CCTV cameras, and an elevator facility. The in-house facilities include a common dining area which can be used by the guests as and when required. The maintenance of the entire property is under a team of dedicated staff. The hotel is surrounded by a number of utilities like the Hebbal Bus Stop, Hebbal Railway Station Pizza Hut, The Punjabi Rasoi, Totally Hot Stuff, and BDA Complex.


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Q: Org Mode extension to colorize scheduled entries/subtrees? I wonder if there is a theme/setting to gray out entries scheduled in the future in an Org file. This would help visually sift through stuff that's not actionable.

A: An alternative option would be to use the org-sparse-tree with the "match" option (C-c / m) and then use the following regular expression:
-SCHEDULED={.}-SCHEDULED>"<today>"

This will show you all headlines either having no schedules or headlines having schedules in the past.
Followed by the command org-kill-note-or-show-branches (C-c C-k), you will get all your headlines in a file and the ones that are interesting to you, will be highlighted by Emacs.
Maybe this helps.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This week's Best In Show comes all the way from Iceland! Júníus Meyvant (aka Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson) brings us the simply beautiful "Lay Your Head" from his latest album, Across the Borders, available now from Glassnote Records. For more information visit juniusmeyvant.com.
Our Best In Show this week comes out of New York City. A sort of Americana-style version of something by the Go-Betweens, "Vagabond" is a cut from the prolific Steve Gunn's latest album, The Unseen In Between, available now from Matador Records. For more information visit steve-gunn.com.


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AB III – trzeci album studyjny amerykańskiej rockowej formacji Alter Bridge, którego premierę wyznaczono na 11 października 2010.

31 sierpnia na oficjalnej stronie zespołu ujawniono okładkę albumu oraz ogłoszono, iż singlami promującymi wydawnictwo będą takie utwory jak "Isolation" i "Wonderful Life". 6 września na oficjalnej stronie wytwórni Roadrunner Records udostępniony został utwór "Isolation", który jako oficjalny singiel wydany został 26 września. 17 września zespół udostępnił do pobrania utwór "Words Darker Than Their Wings". Był on dostępny przez 48 godzin. 4 października wytwórnia Roadrunner udostępniła do przesłuchania cały album. 21 stycznia 2011 w Australii singlem stał się utwór "I Know It Hurts".

Tytuł utworu "Coeur D'Alene" oznacza nazwę jeziora obok miasta o tej samej nazwie w stanie Idaho, przy którym wokalista Myles Kennedy zamieszkuje. Piosenka opowiada o jego zaciszu domowym, z którym jezioro mu się kojarzy.

17 października 2011 ukazała się specjalna edycja płyty, zatytułowana AB III.5, na której zamieszczono wszystkie 3 utwory dodatkowe oraz film dokumentalny "One By One".

Lista utworów
Źródło.
 Slip To The Void - 4:55
 Isolation - 4:15
 Ghost Of Days Gone By - 4:28
 All Hope Is Gone - 4:51
 Still Remains - 4:47
 Make It Right - 4:18
 Wonderful Life - 5:22
 I Know It Hurts - 3:57
 Show Me A Sign - 5:58
 Fallout - 4:24
 Breathe Again - 4:24
 Coeur D'Alene - 4:33
 Life Must Go On - 4:34
 Words Darker Than Their Wings - 5:21

Utwory bonusowe:
 15. "Zero" - 3:46 (tylko amerykańska edycja albumu)
 16. "Home" - 5:36 (tylko amerykańska edycja albumu)
 17. "Never Born to Follow" - 4:04 (tylko japońska edycja albumu)

Twórcy
 Skład zespołu
 Myles Kennedy – wokal prowadzący, gitara rytmiczna, gitara prowadząca, keyboard
 Mark Tremonti – gitara prowadząca, gitara rytmiczna, wokal wspierający, wokal prowadzący w utworze "Words Darker Than Their Wings"
 Brian Marshall – gitara basowa
 Scott Phillips – perkusja

 Inni
 Michael "Elvis" Baskette – produkcja muzyczna
 Brian Sperber – miksowanie
 Ted Jensen – mastering

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 Okładka

Albumy rocka alternatywnego
Albumy Alter Bridge
Albumy Roadrunner Records
Albumy muzyczne wydane w roku 2010

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia