Israel’s TaKaDu and SolarEdge have developed solutions in the water and solar fields that make current technologies more efficient.
Israel’s TaKaDu and SolarEdge have been named Red Herring Europe 100 winners for 2010. The two cleantech companies are among eight Israeli startups to have made the list which considered financial performance, technology innovation and execution of strategy and other criteria.
Here’s a closer look at both companies:
TaKaDu, founded by Amir Peleg in 2008, connects water and IT by providing a Software-as-a-Service solution that monitors water infrastructure and can detect leaks and prioritize which ones should be repaired first. The monitoring network can impact water savings up to 50%, and can help cities predict and prevent water loss now and in the future.
The TaKaDu system is already hooked up to Australian, European and UK water data and the company has partnerships with IBM and Schneider Electric of France. TaKaDu was one of 10 Israel clean tech companies invited to present at the California-Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) Cleantech Tour and Showcase this past April. The company has $3.5 million invested in it to date.
SolarEdge has created “intelligent panels” that work together with a central Power Box, which would replace the passive panels that are the current norm. The PowerBoxes can enable the production of up to 25% more energy and significantly reduce costs.
SolarEdge recently entered distribution and installation agreements with Gadot Solar Solutions and Solco to distribute its technology in Europe and Australia more widely. In March the company was listed by Fast Company as one of the world’s 10 Most Innovative companies in Energy for 2010 and announced its partnership with Flextronics to develop more efficient solar energy harvesting systems. To date it has received over $57 million in funding to, including raising $23 million from GE and other investors last year.
As both companies continue to grow, it will be interesting to see if when they will expand to China.
::Red Herring 100
::TaKaDu company website
::SolarEdge company website
Author: Lisa Damast
Lisa Damast is an online marketing consultant by day and blogger of Israel technology by night. Her blog, Israel Innovation 2.0, provides news and analysis of Israeli technology companies in the enterprise software, Web 2.0 and cleantech sectors. Lisa is also a co-organizer of the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum (JBNF). JBNF helps facilitate online and offline networking among business professionals in Jerusalem, including in the cleantech industry. Lisa made aliyah in August 2007 after receiving a degree in Communication Studies from Boston University in May 2007. Lisa can be reached at lisa (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
