Three Israeli startups?Amimon, BrainsGate, and Zend?received first prizes Tuesday as the best young companies in their respective sectors at the Israel Venture Association?s annual meeting in Tel Aviv.

The competition, co-sponsored by Red Herring and the Israel Venture Association, was limited to early-stage companies with revenue of up to $10 million in 2005 supported by venture funds associated with the IVA.

The companies were chosen because of their vision, technological innovation, and potential impact.

A panel of independent judges chose nine finalists listed in Red Herring?s June 19 issue. Prizes for the three first-place winners were awarded in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The high-tech industry has accounted for 40 percent of the growth in Israel?s economy and 15 percent of the new jobs over the past decade.

Amimon Does Wireless High-Def
 
Amimon, a wireless semiconductor company, has developed a wireless video modem that eliminates the need for cables between high-definition flat-panel displays and projectors, permitting hassle-free streaming of multimedia content.

The company, which is just a year and a half old, claims to offer the only universal high-speed wireless HDTV link offering streaming rates of wireline quality. It achieves this feat by widening the pipe rather than compressing data.

The idea is for the wireless link to eventually be integrated within a chip inside a television or set-top box, replacing the last stretch of wire to a flat-panel display or multimedia projector.

Amimon raised $7.65 million in a first round of funding from Evergreen Venture Partners, Cedar Financial Advisors, and Walden Israel, and is currently trying to raise a second round.

Communication sector judge Gilad Nass, a research director at IDC?s EMEA Emerging Technology Group, told Red Herring that Amimon was chosen because of its strong management, vision, and innovation.

Amimon CEO Yoav Nissan-Cohen is the former chief executive of Tower Semiconductor. Two people behind the company?s technology, Zvi Reznic and Noam Geri, worked as engineers at the cable modem startup Libit Signal Processing, which Texas Instruments acquired in 1999 for $360 million.

A third technologist, Meir Feder, sold his video compression company Peach Networks to Microsoft before coming to work for Amimon.

The company spotted the shift to high-definition television and demand for wireless solutions, first targeting early adopters of high-end products. Amimon expects about 1 billion units per year will be produced with uncompressed video by 2010.

If the company captures 5 to 19 percent of that market, it estimates it would earn between $500 million and $1 billion a year in revenue.

Zend Helps Build Web Applications

Zend, the winner in the software category, helped contribute to the growing popularity of Personal Home Page (PHP), an open-source scripting language used to create dynamic web applications.

PHP is estimated to be in use at more than 22 million web sites and deployed at more than 6,000 companies worldwide. Zend?s development tool, Zend Studio, is widely used by developers writing PHP applications.

The company has raise $17 million in three rounds. Investors include Walden Israel, Index Ventures, IntelCapital, and Azure Capital.

Software category judge Yanki Margalit, chief executive of the digital security company Aladdin, said

Zend was chosen because it had identified a clear business need, focused on customers, had a clear business model, and proved its ability to build a sustainable business.

?I am convinced that PHP is going to be part of the future and Zend is going to be part of the future,? said Mr. Margalit.

BrainsGate Aids Stroke Patients

BrainsGate, the winner in the life sciences category, takes a unique approach to dealing with stroke patients.

Its NeuroPath System, a technology based on a miniature electrode implanted in the roof of the mouth in the six critical hours after a stroke, emits signals to stimulate the central nervous system?s sphenopalatine ganglion to increase blood flow to the brain.

Human trials are due to get under way at the end of this year. The company currently focuses on ischemic stroke, but NeuroPath?s technology could eventually be used to deliver drugs to treat diseases such as Alzheimer?s, Parkinson?s, and brain cancer.

BrainsGate has raised $22.5 million in two rounds. Key investors include Elron, Pitango Venture Capital, Alice Ventures, and Boston Scientific.

?BrainsGate is not only innovative but bold in its approach in opening up arteries to the brain through electro-stimulation,? said life sciences category judge Shimon Eckhouse, chairman of Syneron Medical. ?They have taken an extremely complex revolutionary idea which, if successful, will have a huge impact.?

In addition to Mr. Nass, Mr. Margalit, and Mr. Eckhouse, judges for the contest included Dan Yachin, a research director at IDC?s EMEA Emerging Technology group; Benny Levin, chairman of the board of dbMotion and co-founder of NICE Systems; Ruth Arnon, a noted immunologist and former vice president of the Weizmann Institute of Science; Yoram Karmon, acting CEO of Power Paper, an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech industry executive; and Jennifer L. Schenker, Red Herring?s international editor.