Pulsar Welding has raised a $1.8 million. A private US investor invested $2 million, and the rest came from Israeli investors. Pulsar Welding is also raising its second financing round, in which it expects to close at $10 million. Pulsar Welding develops electromagnetic solutions for designing and processing metals for industry.
Pulsar Welding CFO Riki Gafri said that in contrast to previous rounds, the company had contacted several US and European strategic investors, rather than venture capital funds, in order to expand its marketing and sales capability. She said Pulsar Welding is focusing on the automobile and household appliances industries. Gafni added that the company had signed an agreement with Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) a few months ago, which should generate several hundred thousand dollars in revenue.
Pulsar Welding develops technologies for welding, designing and cutting materials for industry using electromagnetic pulses. The company has raised $3.5 million to date from Koor Corporate Venture Capital and Millennium Materials Technologies Fund.
Pulsar Welding has exported systems to the US and China. It has a cooperation agreement with the Edison Welding Institute (EWI) at Ohio State University, one of the largest institutes in the US for industrial processes. Over 400 major US metals companies are members of EWI.
Pulsar Welding signed a marketing agreement with ESAB, a Swedish supplier of welding and cutting equipment. Under the agreement ESAB committed to buying $33 million worth of Pulsar Welding products over 3-5 years, but failed to meet the commitment. Pulsar Welding then changed the agreement to a non-exclusive distributing agreement.
Pulsar Welding president and CEO Oren Gafni and CTO Yuri Livshitz founded the company in 1996. The company has 16 employees and plans to hire more on the strength of this financing round.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 20, 2003