Tech Talk: Zipy makes buying from international e-commerce sites easy
A look at the most recent must-know Israeli start-ups.
By ARIEL SHAPIRATHE ZIPY TEAM hopes to expand operations abroad in Romania and Russia while constantly looking for partners in other countries(photo credit: COURTESY ZIPY)
The idea to establish Zipy happened when the three founders – Dima, Anton and Andrey – who were friends long before, met in a pub one night to drink some beer. They talked about how their parents were always asking them to buy products they wanted on Ebay.The trio are all from Ashdod. Dima and Andrey are friends from high school, and Dima met Anton in the army.They thought about a solution that would help their parents and others buy easily from websites abroad. And in the process, they established Zipy, first for just Ebay, but since then, Amazon, Aliexpress and dealextreme. They plan to add more online shopping sites in the near future. Dima and Andrey are Software engineers from Ben-Gurion University and Anton studied economics at the Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.The main purpose of Zipy was and is to make online shopping easy and accessible for those who had problems buying from sites abroad. It’s a bit like people who have difficulties with the English language, don’t have a paypal account and are without an international credit card and so on.Today, Zipy’s office is located in Beersheba, and the company has 20 full-time employees. Most of them live in the southern city, with a few working abroad from Russia.Zipy is also expanding their activity by operating abroad in Romania and Russia, while constantly looking for partners in other countries. The company went on air in 2013 in Israel.As of today, the site’s users made 2.4 million orders from Zipy in Israel, which amounts to 750,000 website visits on average per month in Israel and about $6 million turnover last year in Israel.Zipy’s services and advantages to costumers are that all products from Ebay, Aliexpress, Amazon and Dealextreme can be viewed in one site, which makes searching, easy ordering, shipping and tracking much easier, and all in Hebrew to boot, along with customer service in the language.Muvix reinvents public screening
A new Israeli start-up offers an improved cinematic experience, anytime, anywhere, in different languages and in a time selected by the viewer.Muvix, a new technology start-up, was established with the goal to reinvent public screening. Through a cutting-edge, patented technology and an innovative business model, the company introduces its clients to endless possibilities for screening and viewing any content, including: movies, TV shows, sports events, live concerts, and more, delivering a fun and powerful experience – better than ever before.The company, serving consumers as well as organizations and commercial companies, enables on-demand screening of multiple content channels in the same public place, at the same time, delivering a new and improved viewing experience – either indoors or outdoors. Screening events can be held at the beach, on city rooftops, in the company’s concept site in Tel Aviv – Muvix Concept, at the client’s place or any site of his or her choosing.Just like Netflix changed the way people view content at home, Muvix intends to change the way people consume content when going out.To give the public a taste of the Muvix experience, the company has launched Muvix Concept, as a unique prototype for Smart Urban Cineplexes™ that will be available globally. The complex, located in a restored Hatachana building in Neveh Tzedek (a neighborhood in southwestern Tel Aviv), is the first in the world providing movies-on-demand in the public space.This next generation theater, conceived by the well-known interior designer, Alona Eliasi, delivers a new group experience. It includes 14 smartly designed open screening spaces, in various sizes, equipped with different screens – from a space for two – all the way up to a space for fourteen, including a space with two king-sized beds or a family space, with multiple screens. The seats on site have been especially designed by a leading ergonomist to provide maximum comfort.To enjoy the experience, viewers are asked to download the Muvix App before arrival. Using the app and headphones, viewers receive a HD version of the soundtrack, in the language they choose and in perfect synchronization with the video displayed on the large screen. The app also allows viewers to order food and drinks during the show, book tickets, and invite friends to watch with them. If needed, spare smartphones and headphones are available on site.Muvix was founded by Alon Cohen, founder, former CEO and chairman of CyberArk, with the goal of revolutionizing public screening globally. The company developed a unique platform and globally patented technology, providing perfect synchronization between the sound played on a smartphone and the picture, which enables screening of several content channels (movies, TV shows, sports events, live concerts, and more) to different groups simultaneously, in the same space, with no disturbance, thereby creating a new form of consuming media and the experience of movie-on-demand in the public space.Just say ‘Aaaah’ Two guys in a basement in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood just invented a tabletop mini air-conditioner. Working in a basement store room in the neighborhood, Ari Tench and his son David are putting the finishing touches on a new tabletop cooler that does the impossible: it makes enough cold air to keep a person comfortable even in a 30 degree Celsius room!It’s not just a little cool breeze. Air comes rushing out of Tench’s likable little box – it sits inside a piece of A4 paper – at an amazing 6 degrees Celsius less than the room temperature.That’s enough to make anyone say ‘Aaaah’ after a few minutes.The father-son duo will be selling their cooler next summer for around NIS 650.It cooler uses a new technology for water evaporation invented and patented by Tench. Most of the water (98%) is evaporated in less than one millisecond by this new process.That’s enough to keep anyone refreshed and comfortable – at a cost of less than one dollar’s worth of electricity for a month of cooling!
