3 Israeli firms are on list of world’s best deep tech

XPRIZE and Bessemer VC’s inaugural XB100 rank the top 100 private deep-technology companies positioned to make a positive societal impact.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c

Three Israeli companies — UBQ Materials (plastic alternative made from household trash), Fabric (automated urban micro-fulfillment centers) and Believer (cultivated meat) – appear on the inaugural XB100 ranking of the top 100 private deep-tech companies, published by XPRIZE and Bessemer Venture Partners.

UBQ and Fabric are headquartered in Tel Aviv and Believer in Rehovot.

According to XPRIZE, “The XB100 was launched to celebrate the entrepreneurs who are commercializing scientific research into deep tech and spotlight how they are impacting our society across nine categories.

“The XB100 evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: impact on humanity, valuation, scientific difficulty, and commercial traction.”

Bessemer Venture Partners’ Tess Hatch said, “The companies on the XB100 list represent the most valuable and impactful private companies in the deep-tech sector. The XB100 awardees defy imagination and will reshape the human experience.”

“UBQ’s inclusion in this ranking exemplifies how innovation and technology can extend beyond software to break through the norms of our physical world,” commented Jack “Tato” Bigio, cofounder and co-CEO of UBQ Materials.

“UBQ is introducing a sustainable alternative to oil-based plastics, reducing the carbon footprint of thousands of products across industries including construction, logistics and supply chain, consumer goods and even automotive.”

The company’s patented thermoplastic (made from trash that would have been landfilled or incinerated) has been adopted by brands including Mercedes-Benz, PepsiCo and McDonald’s. This year, UBQ will open its new facility in The Netherlands to produce 80,000 tons of UBQ annually from 104,600 metric tons of waste.

Fabric, which was also recently on CB Insights’ Retail Tech 100 list, reports that brands using its robotic urban micro-fulfillment centers have seen a more than 62% reduction in labor costs, an over 71% improvement in storage density, upward of 99% inventory accuracy and a threefold increase in throughput compared to manual fulfillment.

Believer is building its first US commercial-scale lab-grown meat factory in Wilson, North Carolina – which is on track to be the largest facility of its kind anywhere, capable of producing 22 million pounds of cultivated meat annually.