Roi Carthy is the Managing Partner at Initial Capital.
Previously, Roi has worked at companies such as Soluto, Zend Technologies and 888.com.
Roi has been covering the Israeli startup scene for TechCrunch since 2007.
Born in Israel, Roi has spent many years abroad living in both the US (Boston, Olivet, DC) and in Europe (Budapest, Zurich).
Today, Roi works out of Tel-Aviv and lives in near-by Givatayim.
Nielsen is today announcing the launch of ‘Nielsen Innovate‘, a $25M Israeli fund dedicated to early stage investments in web, media, research, measurement, and advertising startups. Heading the new fund is Esther Barak-Landes, who has ran investment activities at Partam High Tech since 2006. → Read More
Mobli is launching a new version of its photo- and video-sharing app, pushing into the next generation of this competitive space with a revamped news feed of based on the people and channels the user follows, a new way to auto-edit uploaded photos, and filters specific to cities and other locations. Although it’s going up against competitors ranging from Instagram to Vine, the Israeli and… → Read More
Grab on to your filters Insta-kooks, because you’re going to go all double-tap for Firegram.
Designed to help users promote their Instagram snaps. It delivers as advertised. How the heck it works though has left me scratching my head. → Read More
PlanetSoho.com, formerly ‘SohoOS,’ is today announcing a new iPhone app called ‘Get Paid‘ (iTunes link), designed to help small businesses get paid on the go by being able to invoice and collect payments at customer locations. → Read More
For companies that choose to go ‘Facebook first’ a new product by EXAI makes it a snap to go ‘website second’ by auto-magically converting their Facebook Pages into full-blown websites — with mobile versions to boot!
If you haven’t heard of EXAI you’re not alone… → Read More
Writing about billion-dollar valuations and companies flush with cash is certainly fun, entertaining, and hopefully enlightening, but it’s always fun to come across a teeny-tiny startup solving a small, but real problem for a clientele you know almost nothing about.
No better example than PerfectMenu.com and its dead-simple solution that helps eateries get their menus online and easily maintain… → Read More
In the past months I keep hearing the same two themes about Mobli. The first, that the company has been head-hunting product and technologists rather aggressively across the local industry here in Israel. The second, that the company has received two acquisition offers.
In short? All Mobli cylinders are firing! → Read More
I have a confession to make… I’ve never-ever used a BlackBerry. I’ve been an iPhone owner since Gen 1, and frankly, can’t even figure out how to operate an Android device (I tried). BlackBerry was never even a consideration to the point that I never bothered to take its platform seriously.
This is why when a friend told me about a BlackBerry app developed by an Israeli startup that he… → Read More
Having built a reputation over the past three decades as the ‘Startup Nation,’ in recent years Israel has also begun to establish a name for itself as a TV format exporting powerhouse.
The most notable shows with Israeli origin are ‘Homeland’ and ‘In Treatment,’ along with the likes of ‘Traffic Light,’ ‘The Ex-List’ and ‘Phenomenon’.
In an effort to encourage more innovation, the Keshet… → Read More
It was nearly a year ago that SohoOS announced a second round of financing to the tune of $8M. The company has since been quiet on the PR front, so I I decided to check in with Ron Daniel (CEO) to see why.
The one-word answer: Growth. Micro-businesses using the platform have exploded to 940,000, with 1500 being added every day.
Let me jot your memory: SohoOS offers a collection of business… → Read More
It’s that time of the year for one of the Israeli startup community’s staple events, TWS. This year the event’s founder, and Pops CEO, Yaron Orentstein is collaborating with Israel’s most popular tech blog, Newsgeek.co.il to showcase some up and coming Israeli early-stage startups (and a couple from Europe).
Here are the startups presenting on-stage in Tel-Aviv this morning:
Overwolf adds… → Read More
Occasionally I get to meet entrepreneurs with really wild and far reaching visions. Occasionally I even think they’re not all that nuts either. This happened a few months ago when I was introduced to three co-founders, Andrey Shirben and brothers, Lior and Liran Akavia. Together, the three want to bring robotics to every household. No biggie.
As a first step they’re trying their luck with… → Read More
Our hair-brained idea to pilot a Brazilian Pavilion at the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt has taken a life of its own!
We expected 10 startups to show interest. Boy did we underestimate… There are now — wait for it — 76 Brazilian startups that have signed-up to take part in the Pavilion! This is on top of the 23 Israeli startups that have lined-up for their own Pavilion.
But the… → Read More
Tmura, an Israeli non-profit, is closing on its 10-year anniversary. In a decade’s worth of work it has contributed a whopping $6.3M+ to educational programs.
The extraordinary amount isn’t the result of efficient fundraising, rather, of having been allotted small amounts of options by early-stage startups. Tmura then exercises these options when the startups see a liquidation event.
Out… → Read More
It was at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco in 2011 where a fine tradition began, namely, the Israeli Pavilion.
No less than 20 early-stage Israeli startups flew-in from Israel to demo and network themselves to the bone for three non-stop days.
The inaugural Pavilion was such a success, we decided to have another one at the past Disrupt in NYC. It too was a huge success with yet another 20… → Read More
Look at your Android phone! Now back at this post!
Imagine you could program your Android to text your wife when you left work. Now imagine your Android reminding you in the morning to grab your umbrella if it’s going to rain later in the day.
Now look back at your Android Phone! Now look at Microsoft! Wait, what? Microsoft?
That’s right, your favorite Redmond techno-giant is sitting on… → Read More
With $450K behind it in funding, Israeli-based Qmerce is helping business large and small add social games to their communities, particularly on Facebook.
The premise behind Qmerce’s value proposition isn’t new. That is, branded social games aimed at driving user engagement via rewards, achievements and consequently, loyalty.
With over 40 customers to date, including Crocs and Pizza Hut (the… → Read More
This post is co-written with Daniel Cunha, my partner at Initial Capital.
In Part I, we outlined some of the challenges facing the Brazilian startup community as it sets-out to reap the massive opportunity the local market has to offer. In Part II below, we’re going to suggest a course of action, and how it could benefit through the experience of the Israeli startup industry.
Step One… → Read More
Israeli-based Viewbix is announcing a Round A of $2M led by Canaan Partners, with participation by Longfellow Venture Partners.
Viewbix makes it really easy and quick to create interactive videos. These are videos that are augmented by various features such as eBay listings, Skype buttons, and Twitter feeds.
The company is also offering 250 TechCrunch readers a free trial of its premium… → Read More
Initial Capital was launched in 2011 as an investment firm targeting early stage startups in Israel and Brazil. The unlikely investment focus is the result of three friends — two Israeli and one Brazilian — turned professional investors.
Our Israeli investment network was rather mature when we launched, so we were able to hit the ground running and in the nine months since our launch… → Read More
With a $4M investment, McCann Worldgroup has bought a 15% stake in Israeli incubator ‘thetime‘.
This move isn’t a particularly surprising considering ‘thetime’ was founded by Ilan Shiloah, who for the past 10 years has been chairman of McCann Erickson Israel. ‘thetime’ was also co-founded by angel investor, Nir Tarlovsky. Uri Weinheber, previously of Lab One, acts as the incubator’s CEO. → Read More
Slowly but surely, Microsoft Israel is making itself more and more relevant for the local startup community. In fact, we recently covered its latest major push, the Windows Azure Accelerator.
Then there’s the annual ThinkNext conference which has become one of the local tech community’s staple events. The more interesting portion of the event (in my opinion at least) is the demo area, where… → Read More
Not to miss an opportunity to make an impression upon hipsters, Mobli is going to squeeze all the juice it can get out of SXSW with a major app revamp, and a party in Austin to boot.
Mobli, which counts Leonardo DiCaprio as one of its investors ($4M funding to date), is dubbing the new version, ‘Mobli 2.0′. Personally I feel they should have gone with ‘The New Mobli’ — zing!
Besides… → Read More
Loyalize, a social TV audience platform, has been been acquired by Function(X) for $5M in cash and stock. The company intends to integrate Loyalize into Viggle, a television loyalty product designed for iOS devices.
Loyalize was founded by serial-entrepreneur Shahar Smirin whose current flagship project is GetTaxi, which former TechCrunch Editor Sarah Lacy called ‘Way Beyond Uber… → Read More
Our industry lauds cutting-edge UX. Look no further than the exceptional work of Path. One either swoons over it, or one is blind. But what if that sends a wrong signal? Don’t get me wrong, I feel very strongly about the importance of UX, but since I’ve played around with NewsFlash, a feature-stripped free news app for iOS (iTunes link), I’ve asked myself whether more often than not users work for… → Read More
A year ago, Mangrove Capital Partners invested $1.75 million in SohoOS and its small-business management service. Today the company is announcing that Morgenthaler Ventures is leading a second round of financing to the tune of $8 million (it’s also the firm’s first investment in an Israeli-based startup). All existing investors, including Mangrove Capital Partners, Kima Ventures and The Time are… → Read More
Back in May, my6sense raised another $1.1 million to continue pushing its digital intuition technology to market.
Today, the company is releasing a brand new product called ‘Smart Magazine’ which can be best described as a Flipboard for iPhone with added digital intuition that helps brings relevant content to its users ‘automagically’.
Except that the company elected to forgo iOS and launch… → Read More
The hottest deal in Israel is turning out to be a company whose name I first heard only a few of months ago. I can’t go to any industry networking event these days without being asked what I know about the company, which has managed to keep a low profile since its founding a couple of years ago.
Why are VCs in hot pursuit for a company they know so little about? First and foremost, because… → Read More
With no shortage of products and services that target small businesses in a generic way, some verticals really do need dedicated solutions. Personal trainers are one such group.
Never having really thought about it myself, I asked a few of my friends to find out what tools their personal trainers use to manage their day-to-day operations. The answers ranged from old-school methods like… → Read More
I love finding services that bring value to small businesses. Viewbix falls squarely into that category.
ViewBix comes from the founders of Qoof, who gave agencies and advertisers a way to easily create interactive videos. The need for customization, however, tended to bring a lot of friction to the selling process.
For SMBs, it was pretty much completely out of scope. This was frustrating… → Read More
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