Udi Ziv recently joined Giza as Executive Venture Partner focusing his expertise on technology evaluation in the sector of Software. He also serves as an active chairman or board member for several companies, leveraging his 20 years of experience in this industry towards the successful growth of the companies he is working with.

Mr. Ziv formerly held the position as General Manager, Small Business Solutions, SAP AG. He was responsible for SAP’s Small Business Solutions Product and Technology Unit, including strategy and execution and manages 500 people in seven locations world wide. He was also responsible for all operations of The Lab, SAP’s fourth largest R&D site in the world, including: Finance, HR, Marketing, IT, Facilities, etc. Mr. Ziv has obtained three US Patents; seven others are in filing process. Mr. Ziv was part the founding team of TopTier Software and was in charge of all R&D activities from TopTier’s initial phases. The company was acquired by SAP in 2001.

Mr. Ziv holds a Bachelor of Science, Computer Engineering, from the Technion, Israeli Institute of Technology. He served in the Israeli Defence Force as a Senior Software Engineer in Army Intelligence developing state-of-the-art intelligence system for the Israel Defense Forces.

Mitralign announced the closing of a $24M Series C financing. This financing will enable the Company to complete its initial clinical experience and obtain CE Mark approval of the Mitralign System. This round was co-led by Medtronic [NYSE: MDT] and Johnson and Johnson Development Corporation and includes Oakwood Medical, Palisades Capital and ATI. Existing investors, Giza Venture Capital, Forbion, Oxford Biosciences and Triathlon Medical Venture Partners also participated in the round.

This financing will allow the company to advance their endeavor to emulate surgical precision with a catheter-based approach for mitral valve repair. To date the Company has enrolled over 20 patients in a catheter study with Dr. Adrian Ebner in Asuncion, Paraguay. The Company will proceed with the addition of clinical sites for the Mitralign Pilot Study in Europe. These additional sites will include electrophysiology, EP, centers to join pre-eminent interventional cardiology, IC, sites such as Prof. Dr. med. Eberhard Grube, Helios Heart Center, Siegburg, Germany.

Combining surgical precision with interventional therapy, Mitralign is developing an innovative, catheter-based method to effectively treat mitral regurgitation in patients suffering from Congestive Heart Failure. Mitralign's goal is to emulate the technique employed in traditional open heart surgical repair but in a far less invasive manner.

Horizon Semiconductors, a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable secure video and audio compression & transmission for the consumer electronics and home entertainment markets, announced the immediate availability of industry's first single chip multi-standard native 1080/60p high definition decoders for triple-play/quad-play Cable, Satellite and IPTV Set-Top Box, Digital Video Recorders and Home Media Centers.

These highly integrated SoCs enable end-users to substantially benefit from the lower cost, smaller size and improved features, as well as superior viewing experience of next-generation STBs and media players. Horizon's Hz4220 & Hz3220 are provided with comprehensive software stacks and reference hardware platforms designed to significantly accelerate OEM/ODM development cycle.

"We believe native 1080/60p decoding and transcoding technologies will be major features in the evolution of location-free triple/quad-play set-top box solutions," said IdaRose Sylvester, Senior Industry Analyst for IDC. "These features will enable broadband operators worldwide to provide the very best integrated video, voice and high-speed data services anywhere, and semiconductor companies who enable these challenging features will be instrumental in making this market happen."

The third largest entertainment and social networking Web site in China, 360Quan.com, part of the Koolanoo Group announced that it gained a further investment of US $5 million from Beijing-based Internet and new media company. The investment is to be used to improve its products, launch better services, and make the users more satisfied with the site.

There are more than 22 million users visiting 360Quan.com each month, and the site is one of the fastest growing social networking sites in the country. It aims to become the nation's best platform for young people to connect people with friends and others who work, study and live around them.

CellGuide, a pioneer in highly integrated host-based GPS/GNSS solutions for mass-market mobile devices, announced its expansion into key markets in the Asia-Pacific region through the appointment of distributors covering China, Korea, and Taiwan for the promotion, sale, and support of its products, including its recently announced high-performance ACLYS solution.

CellGuide’s GPS product-line leads the evolution from existing stand-alone GPS chips to more highly integrated GPS solutions that are ideal for mass-market device manufacturers looking for a superior GPS price/performance ratio. The ACLYS chip, together with its associated host-based software replaces dedicated GPS silicon by leveraging mobile processors or other wireless components inside the mobile device, to provide GPS functionality. In China and Taiwan, CellGuide’s products will be promoted and sold by Supreme Electronics, one of Greater China’s leading electronics distributors with over 8 local offices serving China and Taiwan.

Whetstone Semiconductor, a semiconductor and IP specialist with key relationships in the application processor and handheld device sectors, will promote and sell CellGuide’s products in Korea.

CellGuide has successfully integrated its solutions into a broad range of third party ARM/DSP based processors including those made by Freescale Semiconductor (MX series), Marvell (PXA series), Samsung Electronics (S3C24xx, S3C64xx, and others), TI (OMAP), and other manufacturers. The ACLYS host-based software runs on the widest range of O/S in the industry, including Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Symbian, eLinux, Thread-X, Nucleus, u-Cos, and other RTOS.

Advasense, a semiconductor company announced the completion of its B1 round of financing. CIDC, a leading Taiwan-based venture capital fund, invested in the round jointly with existing investors Giza Venture Capital, BlueRun Ventures (BRV) and VentureTech Alliance.

The capital raised in this round will assist the company inaccelerating development of its 5Mpixel 1/4" CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) product. Advasense has proven that its innovative 4T FCP (Feedback Controlled Pixel) technology works in its 1st silicon of a 3Mpixel CIS. The pixel size is 2.2u using design rules of 0.18u process.

Advasense's patented technology enables the production of high-performing, high image
resolution imagers with small pixels at a competitive price. The CIS products include on
chip Image Stabilization that uses the pixel array as a memory, providing sharper images
in low lighting situations and subsequently enhancing the user’s experience.

BioLineRx Ltd. (TASE: BLRX), announced positive interim results from an ongoing Phase 2 trial of BL-1020, a GABA enhanced antipsychotic. The study is an open-label, multi-center, six week trial conducted in hospitalized patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia, in which BL-1020 showed statistically significant efficacy with minimal side effects.

The assessment was part of a planned review by an Independent Safety Monitoring Board (ISMB) that reviewed the first 20 schizophrenic patients that completed 21 days of the study.

“These results from severely ill treatment resistant patients with psychosis are extremely encouraging, as they further substantiate existing preclinical and clinical data suggesting that BL-1020 possesses the efficacy of currently available antipsychotics but without their compliance limiting motor or metabolic side effects," commented Morris C. Laster, MD, CEO of BioLineRx. "Based on the medical need for novel therapeutics to address the severe unmet medical need for schizophrenia, and the preliminary findings in this study, we believe that BL-1020 has the potential to be a significant advance in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia”.

Preliminary evidence of efficacy was obtained from the analysis of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scores, both of which are widely recognized measures of the severity of schizophrenia. Analyses showed that BL-1020 treatment reduces the PANSS total score by 26.1 points from the baseline (p<0.001) (baseline=85.6, day 42=58.2). There was a significant (p<0.001) improvement in PANSS negative score by 7.1 points when compared to baseline values (baseline=20.5, day 42=13.4). Furthermore, CGI results showed that 92.35% of patients improved by at least one category by the end of this part of the study.

Flash Networks, a leading provider of mobile Internet Quality of Experience (QoE) solutions, announced that its business and revenues from Asia-Pacific are poised to grow as a result of its having added six new distributors, covering seven countries that will support its growing installed base and over a dozen trials in the region since January 2007.

As a result of the recent expansion, Flash Networks is now able to provide local sales and support services throughout Asia Pacific for mobile Internet solutions that enable fast, smooth, and easy navigation while browsing the Internet using laptops and handheld mobile devices.

According to Frost & Sullivan, data revenues for mobile operators in Asia Pacific between 2003 and 2006 have increased by 219% percent and are estimated to reach $22.45 billion at the end of 2007. This has been primarily driven by greater 3G coverage and deployment, a focus on the expanding regional subscriber base, the declining cost of advanced multimedia handsets, and the competition to secure a continuous stream of content through partnerships.

In October, Flash Networks received the 2007 Frost & Sullivan Award for Product of the Year in the European mobile Internet platform and services market. The Frost & Sullivan Product of the Year Award is presented each year to the company demonstrating excellence in new product and technologies within their industry.

Can-Fite BioPharma announced that its CF102 drug, which is being developed for the treatment of viral hepatitis and liver cancer, was tested in preclinical trials and shown to be effective in promoting liver tissue regeneration following partial hepatectomy.

The Company filed a patent application on this innovative findings and will include this indication in further clinical development of CF102. Partial hepatectomy is usually performed in patients with primary or metastatic liver cancer. Rapid liver regeneration is crucial in these conditions and determines future liver function and chances for successful recovery. Regeneration of normal liver tissue is also needed to preserve liver function in patients with liver failure.

No drugs are currently available to speed up the regeneration process; therefore, developing a drug for the treatment of patients undergoing hepatectomy or patients with liver failure is at need.
Similar to CF101, Can-Fite's first drug which is currently in Phase IIb Clinical studies, CF102 specifically attacks liver tumors and hepatitis infected cells. The novel indication for regeneration of normal liver tissue extends the use of CF102 to include treatment of patients undergoing partial hepatectomy and patients suffering from diseases leading to liver failure.

Can-Fite also announced that preparation is currently underway for a phase I trial with CF102, which is due to commence in the US in the first quarter of 2008. This trial in healthy volunteers will allow the Company to push the drug into advanced phases for the abovementioned indications, including liver cancer, hepatitis and the novel application of rapid liver regeneration.