The Next Innovation From Israel at the StartUp Open IL Competition

TEL AVIV, Israel, September 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

- Lishtot won the StartUp Open Israel competition  

StartUp Open was originally launched as part of the Kauffman Foundation in 2010 and is part of Global Entrepreneurship Network. It is one of the world's largest competitions for startup companies, boosting participation from over 60 countries.

StartUp Open welcomes entrepreneurs from all over the world to share their business skills and gain global exposure to help start-ups develop their ideas.

The Israeli winner of the competition, Lishtot, was one of the six finalist companies, and will automatically enter the list of the World's Top 50 Most Promising Startups, also known as the GEW50 . There it will compete on the global package of the competition prizes. It will also receive a business and strategic Consulting and get the opportunity to present its products to the international community during Global Entrepreneurship week in November 2015

Lishtot has developed a technology for water testing, which answers the question "to drink or not to drink?" on the spot. Lishtot technology detects bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides, etc. and the complete test takes only 2 seconds to complete. Lishtot products will not only save lives in developing countries, but they will help people in developed countries live safer as well. Today, there are many situations where people in the developed world have been told to boil their water, but the "boil water notice" is usually announced about 36 hours after the water has been identified as contaminated. Another 24 hours may pass after water is safe to drink until bacterial plates confirm the same. Lishtot's technology will help those people to bridge the gaps and will give individuals the ability to test their water by themselves.

The second place winners were SmartLogic, which has developed a product for "listening" to machines and predicting future failures.

The Third place winners were InnerEye, a visual target detection capabilities by combining the human brain and computer vision.

StartUp Open main supporters in Israel include: Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel, Barnea & Co Law firm, The Jerusalem Development Authority, JNext, The Jerusalem Municipality, The MIT Enterprise Forum - Israel, Israel advanced technology industries, and more.

The final competition was held at the Hansen center in Jerusalem, in the presence of investment entities, startups, high-tech executives and an interested audience.

The jury of the competition included: Managing Partner from Barnea & Co; Michael Barnea, Chairperson of Global Entrepreneurship Week of Israel; Ayla Matalon, Manager of the Hi-Tech Entrepreneurship project at the Jerusalem Development Authority; Stav Erez, Head of the Asper Centre for Entrepreneurship; Professor Niron Hashai, CEO of Algomizer Ltd; Noam Band, Co-Founder of Gilat Satellite Networks; Joshua Levinberg, Founder and CEO of Continuity Software; Gil Hecht , CEO of Pilat Media; Avi Engel,and Partner at AfterDox; Micki Scheinbach.

According to Ayla Matalon , Chairperson, Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel: "After having conquered the worlds with "Breezometer" in 2014, Startup Open 2015 judging committee elected "Lishtot", which is developing a personal water safety device that can be deployed in a café in Paris or along a river in India, and answers the question "to drink or not to drink? Within seconds of testing."

Additionally, Michael Barnea, Managing Partner from Barnea & Co, said: "Entrepreneurship forms the basis of our local technology industry, which plays an important role in the Israeli economy. We are in an era in which support in the initial stages of a company's endeavors is unprecedented, including the activities of many accelerators operating in Israel. However, there is still a significant lack of spheres of support for the next steps that need seed funding. Competitions like Startup Open provide a boost, opportunities and exposure  for the successful companies among the participants. We are delighted to accompany this event for the 2nd time and support the community of Israeli entrepreneurship."

Contact
Gil Shourka, National Coordinator, Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel
Email: gew.israel@gmail.com
Tel: +972-36405607