Technion Seed investing in Xurity

Homeland Security venture Xurity receives $800,000 investment from Technion Seed; the investment round includes direct investment by three VC funds - Battery Ventures, Vertex and ProSeed

Homeland Security venture Xurity has received a seed investment of $800,000 from Technion Seed. Three VC funds - Battery Ventures, Vertex and ProSeed (all co-owners of Technion Seed) directly participated in this round of investment. Following the investment, the company completed its recruitment process of quality personnel and is now entering the development stage of its innovative technology, with the aim of demonstrating its applicability through the construction of a prototype. The company is situated at the offices of Technion Seed, located at the MATAM High-Tech park at the south of Haifa.

“Xurity is developing a solution to one of the most urgent problems facing modern-day civil aviation,” says Technion Seed CEO Moshe Katzenelson. “Today’s airport security screening systems cannot identify explosives, but only issue a general warning for suspected dangerous substances, at the same time generating a large number of false alarms, which cause significant delays for passengers. Xurity’s system is expected to solve this complex problem by drastically reducing the number of false alarms, thus enabling the swifter flow of travelers without compromising the level of security checks.”

Katzenelson stresses that the investment in the company is a result of the incubator’s policy and that of its partner funds – which are among the leading venture capital funds in Israel and the USA – of investing in high-risk technological initiatives with very large market potential, in order to enable those “high-risk/high-reward” ventures to prove their viability. This is a preliminary stage to follow-on, large-scale investments. The scope of the seed investment itself – $ 800,000 – is also a result of this policy: “We believe that entrepreneurs must receive as much funding as required to prove the applicability of their ideas, and not suffice with the minimum that incubators usually supply,” Katzenelson says.

“Xurity combines unique technology and a huge market, and that is precisely the kind of seed investments that Vertex, Battery, ProSeed and Vitalife – the partners in Technion Seed – are interested in,” according to Yifat Oron, a partner in Vertex Venture Capital Fund. “Our investment – both direct and through Technion Seed – provides the company with funding from some of the best funds around, all within the supportive nourishing framework of Technion Seed. This combination of considerable funding at high-risk stages, professional and close-knit support, and top-tier investors (who stand behind the venture and have the ability to continue supporting it further), is a combination that significantly boosts the venture’s chances of success.”

Xurity was established by Ze’ev Harel (who is also the company’s CEO), Ohad Ben-Dror, Dr. Ze’ev Burshtein and Dr. Assaf Tzuk. Ze’ev Harel – a serial entrepreneur – has already led two companies from the idea stage, through development and to realization. These are Real Time Radiography, which deals with the development of digital X-Ray imaging, and ACG (Advanced Computer Graphics), which deals in computerized character recognition.

About Xurity

Xurity develops a unique technology for the identification of materials by X-ray scanning during the security screening of travelers’ luggage at airports and other points of transfer. The system developed by the company is based on technology that enables swift identification of suspect material inside a bag or suitcase that has undergone preliminary scanning by today’s screening technology. The system provides security personnel with information regarding the nature of a suspect material – whether explosive or “innocent” - to a high level of certainty, without necessitating the opening of a bag or suitcase (which entails delays in passenger flow), nor the use of subjective judgment of the security personnel (which entails taking a security risk). Xurity’s system, which is based on the company’s unique technology, will be installed primarily in airport security-check areas, but also – at a later stage – at train-stations, entrances to locales of public assemblage, and more.

About Technion Seed

Technion Seed is a seed-stage investment firm, owned jointly by four Venture Capital funds – Vertex Venture Capital, the US-based Battery Ventures, SCP-Vitalife and ProSeed – and the Technion Research & Development Foundation. Through Technion Seed, these funds invest in high market potential technological ideas and ventures, that are still at a stage of very high uncertainty. The investment in such ventures – up to about $1,000,000 at the initial stage – is made directly by the funds, and is aimed at enabling the entrepreneurs to prove the viability of the idea. Success in the initial phase will then lead to a large round of financing, for continued growth of the venture. Technion Seed invests in a wide variety of areas, including communications, internet, medical devices, new materials and more.