New Companies Includes 11 Startups Yeshiva University, in partnership with Gvahim, an Israeli NGO that enables business and career success for new immigrants, Cactus Capital and Yazamut 360°, the Entrepreneurship Center of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), announced the launch of the second cohort of its Innovation Lab today, with the participation of 11 startups from Israel spanning a range of industries. Six of the participating companies are alumni of the Gvahim Entrepreneurship Center (GEC) while two of them are portfolio companies of Cactus Capital. The YU Innovation Lab is an entrepreneurial hub that was launched in May 2019 in collaboration with Yissum, the technology transfer company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It focused on creating a hands-on entrepreneurial environment in which Israeli-based startups can grow their U.S. market potential while leveraging YU’s community of students, faculty experts and NYC business and tech ecosystems. This second cohort is an expansion of the collaboration between the YU Innovation Lab and the Israeli tech ecosystem. The 11 participating companies mark a significant increase from the first cohort, in which five Israeli companies participated in the three-month long program. Along with Gvahim, companies in the second cohort of the Innovation Lab include those currently working with Cactus Capital, Incubit Ventures at Gav-Yam Negev High-Tech (Advanced Technologies) Park, alumni of AtoBe Startup Accelerator at Azrieli College of Engineering as well as MassChallenge. The program assists participants in developing world-class products and services on a world-class level and in making a rapid jump to the U.S. and global markets. YU teams of students and faculty members are assigned to work with each startup, catering to its specific needs. The program also includes specialized workshops, office space, legal advice from expert lawyers and individualized guidance from mentors who are senior high-tech and business professionals. “This growth from the first to the second cohort of our program highlights the need we are filling in helping early stage Israeli startups explore the U.S. market,” said Dr. Maria Blekher, Director of the YU Innovation Lab. “We have added significant expertise to our group of experts and mentors for this cohort, with the goal of enabling program participants to springboard to the front lines of their respective industries.” “Gvahim is honored to be partnering with Yeshiva University's Innovation Lab,” said Revital Rauchwerger, Director of the Gvahim Entrepreneurship Center (GEC). “It is a privilege to have GEC Alumni startups participate in this prestigious program, and we look forward to this important collaboration.” “The collaboration between Yeshiva University and Cactus Capital is a major milestone in bringing Israeli student startups across the ocean to the U.S. We look forward to having many more student entrepreneurs from BGU working closely with YU,” said Roy Kimchi, General Manager of Cactus Capital. The Startups

• CaringEye is developing a multi-sensor device, with a camera, that enables drivers to monitor children in rear-facing car seats and receive alerts whenever children are at risk of suffocation, or are left in the car unattended. CaringEye offers video streaming via private secure Wi-Fi network, on-device machine vision processing and active emergency alarm.
• HeroKi provides kidney transplant recipients with the confidence to live an active lifestyle by offering protective wearables made from impact-absorbent, lightweight materials. Plans to develop protective gear for pelvic kidney, and a protective belt for hernia, are in the roadmap.
• LEELOO offers corporations worldwide a solution to improve their employees’ foreign language conversational skills using interactions with a chatbot. LEELOO’s product is based on proprietary AI technology - using ML and NLP - and is GDPR-compliant and secure. The first product will be available in French and English.
• Letos suggests a complementary sensor solution that can evaluate true spontaneous physiological reactions in real time, as they occur in the utmost natural environments—at home, at the office, or while commuting on the road.
• Libra@Home has developed a fully immersive virtual reality tool for physical and occupational therapists to improve the delivery and quality of treatment to patients with neurological disorders, both in the clinic and at home. This neurorehabilitation platform uses virtual reality to deliver therapeutic stimuli, sensors, and wearables to monitor patient outcomes and track performance.
• MoneyCompass is an app that uses AI to get Americans out of debt, starting with student loans.
• PointMe is a mobile enabled Offline to Online connection & conversion technology for Out-of-Home advertising, Retail & Location services.
• Rewhiz discovers and organizes a company's Cloud and SaaS subscriptions via a dashboard that provides a bird’s eye view of data and information for each installed third-party service. The startup’s AI services analyze data and recommend actions to optimize costs, security, compliance, and carbon footprint.
• Sightbit prevents drowning and saves lives by harnessing advances in AI and image recognition technology. We are developing a drowning-prevention system to monitor swimmers and hazards at beaches, lakes, and other swim areas. The Sightbit system instantly alerts lifeguards of threats, allowing them to begin rapid rescue, de-escalate dangerous situations and save lives.
• Truvi transforms disaster response and preparedness with an AI-based decision support system that provides predictive and actionable matching of life-saving needs-to-solutions in real time. The startup seeks to empower decision makers in the preparedness and real-time response stages with a platform that enables best matching and available solutions.
• WeTreat is a platform that connects therapists and patients in the complementary medicine field.