Software giant Salesforce backs Israeli automotive data start-up

Herzliya-based automotive data service start-up Upstream Security said Tuesday that it had secured an investment from Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of the American cloud tech giant Salesforce.

The undisclosed sum expands Upstream’s Series B funding round announced last year, when the start-up raised $30 million from a group of automotive industry leaders. The investment was led by Alliance Venture Capital (Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi) together with Hyundai, Volvo Group, Nationwide Insurance, Maniv Mobility and others.

Founded by cybersecurity experts Yoav Levy and Yonatan Appel in 2017, Upstream offers cloud-based data services for connected cars, including cybersecurity protection, quality enhancement and data monetization opportunities.

The new partnership, Upstream said, would bring “real-time end-to-end data-driven solutions to the automotive sector” when combined with Salesforce’s CRM (customer relationship management) platform which is offered to automotive manufacturers, dealers and suppliers.

“Both Salesforce and Upstream have jointly recognized the power in automotive data and the capabilities that it unlocks,” said Levy, the CEO of Upstream.

“Paired with Salesforce’s unparalleled CRM services, Upstream’s field-proven automotive-specific machine learning and data analysis tools will be instrumental in helping the automotive realm adapt to the new-age demands of the connected car customer.”

The partnership, the companies said, will also enable additional players in the automotive industry to understand connected car data and enact real-time actions based on insights derived from the data.

“Our partnership with Upstream will empower our automotive customers with value-added end-to-end data services,” said Achyut Jajoo, Salesforce’s vice president and chief solutions officer for Manufacturing Industries. “The fusion between data and customized offerings is integral to the digital transformation of the automotive sector.”

The latest investment expands Salesforce’s wide-ranging involvement in over a dozen investments across Israel’s hi-tech ecosystem to date.

In September 2019, Salesforce agreed to acquire Israeli-founded field service management company ClickSoftware Technologies for $1.35 billion. The San Francisco-headquartered software company has acquired six Israeli companies since it first entered the Israeli market in 2011, including AI-powered marketing intelligence platform Datorama for approximately $850m. in July 2018 and conversational intelligence platform Bonobo for a reported $40m.-$50m. in May 2019.

Last year, Salesforce Ventures announced the launch of a $125m. fund to back enterprise cloud start-ups in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.