News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Seven of the 52 Internet start-ups presenting their wares to venture capitalists at last week's TechCrunch50 2008 conference in San Francisco were Israeli, according to Globes online business magazine. According to organizers, the TechCrunch50 conference is intended to "find the best start-ups and launch them in front of our industry’s most influential VCs, corporations, fellow entrepreneurs and press." Approximately 1,200 companies applied to present at TechCrunch50.

Though Israel did not win top prize at the conference, Israeli start-up Iamnews, founded by Nir Ofir, won the People's Choice Award.

Techcrunch founder Michael Arrington told Globes that "Israel rocks," adding "There are very few concentrations of innovation in the world, and Israel is one of them."