Are we about to see the first technology IPO of 2020 in Tel Aviv? SaverOne, among whose investors are Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (Nasdaq:ITRN); TASE:ITRN), UMI Israel, and Keshet Broadcasting, filed an offering prospectus at the beginning of this week.
Assuming that the offering goes ahead, SaverOne will be the third company to go public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange so far this year, after Reit Azorim and Almogim. The prospectus filed does not yet state how much SaverOne intends to raise, but the presentation that the company published gives a sum of NIS 20 million, of which NIS 16.5 million will be for development and NIS 3.5 million for sales and marketing. The company's last fund raising round was at a valuation of $15 million. The offering will be led by Rosario and Discount.
SaverOne has developed a system that it says represents a unique solution to the problem of distraction when driving from use of mobile telephones. The system takes over the driver's telephone and prevents use of dangerous applications.
According to SaverOne, 25% of road accidents in the US are connected to the use of mobile telephones. It says that its system is the only one that prevents access to distracting applications in the vicinity of the driver. When the vehicle stops, applications become unblocked.
SaverOne was founded in 2014. It currently employs 24 people and has ten registered patents. It has so far raised $10 million. It states in its presentation that it has collaboration agreements with Israel Police, Dan Bus Company, and insurance company Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL).
SaverOne's CEO is Ori Gilboa, formerly CEO of the auto division of Meir Group, and its chairman is Jacob Tenenboem, who founded Internet company Genieo Innovation, which was sold to Somoto for $34 million.
SaverOne says in its presentation that its business model is based on one-time sales of the system, and it estimates that when regulations requiring the use of a system to prevent mobile telephone distraction during driving come into force, the market will be worth $70 billion. The company describes this regulation as a game changer. It says that the market is highly competitive, but that as far as it knows there are no similar full, effective solutions.
2019 was the first year in which the company began to recognize revenue, which amounted to NIS 85,000 from pilot contracts. It made an operating loss in 2019 of NIS 8.2 million, and a net loss of NIS 9.4 million, down from NIS 11.6 million in 2018.
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