Israeli software development kit (SDK) management startup SafeDK has raised $2.25 million in a seed round led by StageOne Venture Capital and with the participation of Eddy Shalev, Marius Nacht, and Kaedan Capital.
The company is headquartered in Herzliya Pituach and was founded in 2014 by two women - CEO Orly Shoavi and Ronnie Sternberg. The company has eight employees. Shoavi said, "We in effect assist the development of apps. When developers write applications, they focus on what is special in their application and use existing components that they buy or download for free. Developers do not know these codes and take it however it is. This option speeds up the development process but raises problems in two areas security and privacy. Using these extensions may slow the app and cause it to collapse or require it to use up much of the battery. In other instances, using these extensions may lead to Google or Apple throwing it out of their app store.
She added, "We provide a layer of protection in real time. If we see that the extension slows operation of the device or tries to access private data, we warn about this in real time. Our technology also offers an effective solution that allows the cancellation of the extension's operations. This helps app developers who have no need of putting out a new version."
Shoavi estimates the existing market at 6,000 Android app extensions and 13,000 extensions for Apple's iOS operating system. She says that SafeDK already has dozens of customers in Israel including apps in the software sector and gaming apps.
Shoavi and Sternberg met a year ago through a mutual friend and have been working together since then. Shoavi formerly worked at Intel, Radvision, Modu and Telmap, which was sold to Intel. Sternberg was a consultant at KPMG and subsequently held a senior position at Benny Landa's Landa Labs.
Globes: It's very rare to find two startup founder who are women. Why doesn't it happen more?
Shoavi said, "Why? I think fear and lack of confidence. But there is no reason why women shouldn't be entrepreneurs. There really isn't any difference."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 18, 2015
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