Start-up Arcos Technologies Ltd. announced today that it had completed a $500,000 first financing round from Xenia Ventures and the Office of the Chief Scientist.
Arcos VP Research & Development Avi Eliyahu and CEO Yariv Reches founded the company. Eliyahu previously worked as a senior R&D manager at TVGate Ltd. and Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT). Reches, an information systems and production engineer, was a project manager and business development manager at several technology companies.
Arcos is developing a product that converts new-generation converters into centralized home entertainment stations, allowing the use of only one converter for advanced viewing on all televisions in a home. The system's digital module is installed in third-generation converters, such as PVRs (personal video recorders), now being offered by cable and satellite broadcasters.
Third-generation converters can record scores of hours of broadcasts, and allow users to make a variety of cuts, skips commercials, stop, and continue programs at will. Current PVRs can only serve one television. Arcos's solution will enable a PVR unit to serve several televisions in a home, by upgrading the other, simpler converters into advanced ones.
Xenia Ventures is an incubator founded by a group high-tech entrepreneurs, including Dr. Orna Berry (Ornet), Avishay Noam (NovaCom), Roni Einav (New Dimension Software), and Itzhak (Aki) Ratner (Precise Software Solutions).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 30, 2005