German auto manufacturer Daimler is taking part in an estimated $10 million Series B financing round by Israeli mobility status AI engine and big data analytics solutions startup Anagog. Daimler is investing through the Mercedes-Benz development center in Tel Aviv. Anagog has developed technology for monitoring and analyzing mobility patterns using smartphone sensors. The other investor in the round is Mizmaa Ventures, a venture capital fund specializing in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data that has offices in California and Hong Kong. This is Anagog's second financing round, after raising $5 million in its first round.
CTO Gil Levy and COO Yaron Aizenbud founded Anagog in 2010. Ofer Tziperman joined the company as CEO and investor in 2015. Anagog has 25 employees in its Tel Aviv offices. As of now, the company's technology has been installed in 25 million smartphones as part of 100 applications with which Anagog signed cooperation agreements, including the Pango parking application in Israel. The information about users is collected and analyzed through artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Anagog's partners receive real-time information about their customers' movements, both in vehicles and on foot, so that they can offer the customers services at the appropriate time and place, or halt services liable to bother the customers. The technology also notifies the partners whether their customers are sleeping or awake in order to personalize the application according to their activity. This information is transferred anonymously in order to maintain privacy. Other uses include locating a car whose owner has forgotten where he parked and identifying places frequented by the customers in order to offer them context-related services.
Anagog's connection with Mercedes Benz was forged following the company's participation last year in "The Bridge" program founded and managed by Gabby Czertok. This program is designed to connect Israeli technology companies with relevant officeholders in the three giant companies funding the program: Coca Cola, Turner, and Mercedes Benz. Following its participation the program, Anagog and Mercedes Benz launched a joint development - an application named EQ Ready, which analyzes mobility patterns of Mercedez Benz customers in order to provide them with information that will make them more eager to switch to the company's electrical and hybrid vehicles.
"Business cooperation with Daimler is a strategic opportunity to find mutual synergy between Anagog's mobility innovations and Daimler's long-term vision for mobility services," Tziperman says. "We are also very glad to add the experienced Mizmaa team to our ranks. Mizmaa's thorough knowledge of our potential markets will be a valuable asset for Anagog. We're working on expanding the financing round to additional important investors able to help us realize our vision for innovation in mobility."
Mercedez-Benz Israel head of innovation Eyal Mayer said that this was not the company's first investment in Israel; it had already invested in Via and StoreDot, according to its strategy of finding and assessing Israeli companies in mobility, digitalization, and improvement of user experience. Mayer said that the company was considering investments in additional Israeli companies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 26, 2018
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