The Intel Ignite start-up programme in Israel has announced the ten start-ups selected for its second cohort, which is scheduled to begin this weekend.
 
The cohort consists of a range of seed start-ups, each with an average funding of more than $5m. The companies in the second cohort are:

• Aspecto helps development teams solve production problems before they evolve, using deep API analysis. The company’s approach is to automate tasks based on real production data.
• Chain Reaction enables enterprise blockchain adoption by overcoming scale and security barriers. Its cloud-based hardware infrastructure enables enterprise-grade privacy-enabled blockchain systems.
• Classiq tackles urgent and complex challenges in quantum computing development. The company bridges the gap between complex quantum logic and real-world applications.
• Compira Labs leverages congestion control and machine learning to prevent poor quality video streaming. The technology is used by content distribution networks and over-the-top video providers.
• Deepchecks monitors artificial intelligence (AI) systems, helping organisations with various aspects of controlling their AI systems, including monitoring, predicting failures and identifying root cause issues.
• Hyro creates plug-and-play conversational AI assistants for enterprises by seamlessly consolidating information on their web sites and databases without the use of any integrations, playbooks or training data from customers.
• Indoor Robotics developed an autonomous platform for indoor navigation and operation of robots. Its holistic product performs active monitoring on the premises for early detection of hazards. Cloud-based AI anomaly detection software provides further analysis of events.
• OneView allows scalable and efficient analysis of satellite imagery by using virtual synthetic data optimised for machine-learning algorithm training.
• Shopic created the world’s first frictionless checkout platform using AI, which fits medium to large grocery stores. It provides line-free checkout, while eliminating incidents of fraud and increasing sales. Its platform also collects analytics for retailers, providing information on stock levels, missing items and more.
• Valid Networks blends the best practices of traditional application security in dApps software development. Its proprietary technology uses machine-learning algorithms and code verification techniques.

“We are very excited to have such an incredible group of start-ups participating in our second cohort,” said Tzahi (Zack) Weisfeld, Intel Ignite general manager. “The global situation is confronting us with a new reality, and we are looking to help start-ups overcome their challenges. Start-ups are in real need of experienced advice and guidance. This is the time to do everything in our power to help them.”

Due to the coronavirus, the programme will be conducted entirely online until people can safely return to work.

During the 12-week programme, each start-up will be assigned an industry mentor, with whom it will conduct weekly virtual meetings. The virtual programme will include sales and marketing workshops, culture and team building, networking, and coaching sessions with industry experts, including sessions on how to work through challenging economic situations. The mentor entrepreneurs will speak to the start-ups about crisis management and their takeaways for successfully managing and building companies regardless of the challenges.

Choosing from more than 200 applicants, 70 start-ups were interviewed for two to three hours each. Sixteen were shortlisted, with ten selected. More than 50 Intel executives and technical leaders, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and ecosystem influencers helped with the interviews and final selection.