insights

by Globes’ correspondent

NICE Systems Ltd. financial transaction monitoring software unit NICE Actimize said today that Russian financial regulators have deployed its system for market surveillance. The federal executive body regulating the Russian Federation’s financial markets, Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS), has deployed NICE Actimize’s solution. According to NICE Actimize, the FFMS has already uncovered suspect activity from its implementation of the Actimize Market Surveillance solution, which includes compliance monitoring for equity, fixed income, futures and other securities and trading products. The FFMS currently monitors tens of millions of orders daily from the two primary Russian exchanges, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) and the Russian Trading System (RTS), involving some one million executions. The FFMS sought the Actimize Market Surveillance solution in its efforts to enforce a new Russian Federal Law to prevent abuse of inside information and market manipulation. The new law is expected to go into effect in January. The law is intended to reinforce market integrity and transparency in Russian financial markets. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000605359&fid=1725

by Globes’ correspondent

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has invested in Israeli mobile application start-up Any.Do Ltd. Genesis Partners, Blumberg Capital, and Schmidt’s Innovation Edeavors invested $1 million in Any.Do’s first financing round. Private investors, including Palantir Technologies co-founder and CEO Joe Lonsdale, also invested in the company. Any.Do also hired Facebook mobile manager Eric Chang and Twitter search location-based manager Elad Gil as advisors. Any.Do CEO Omer Perchik co-founded the company with two others in January 2010. Perchik served in the IDF computer unit. The founders developed the product in a garage. Perchik says that the company will use the proceeds from the financing round to complete development of the product and hire employees to work on the product’s software, algorithms, marketing, and user interface. Any.Do’s technology analyzes users’ intentions to help them carry out daily tasks in real time over their mobile telephones. The technology can be activated by voice ID by analyzing natural language and personalizing the services offered. Perchik says that the technology will change attitudes towards mobile telephones and further enhance the user’s experience. The product is due to reach market during 2011. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000604077&fid=1725

by Shmulik Shelah

Sources inform ”Globes” that semiconductor giant Broadcom Inc. made its seventh acquisition in Israel a few days ago, acquiring image processing company Sightic Vista Ltd. The acquisition was reportedly for $10-20 million, less than Broadcom normally spends and below the threshold requiring notification. Broadcom confirmed the acquisition, but declined to provide additional details. Sightic declined to comment. Sightic develops software and hardware image processing and enhancement solutions for integration into high quality, miniature digital cameras and video applications. The solutions include algorithms for processing images and multimedia applications for mobile devices. Relatively little was invested in the company by private investors, with no involvement by venture capital funds. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000603868&fid=1725