Merage Institute website

Entrepreneurs'
Competition

Last day to submit: 15 July 2025

Our vision

The Innovation Competition for Israel's Renewal

About the Competition

MerageNext is a national startup competition with $100K first prize empowering visionary entrepreneurs to create bold, scalable solutions that support the renewal of Israel.

From housing and resilience to Lifesciences & health, advanced manufacturing, Defense & Cyber, Agro-FoodTech, Desert & Climate, FinTech, SmartMobility Education- this competition calls on innovators to help shape the next chapter of collective rebuilding and growth of Israel.

The Merage Startup Competition started back in 2014, and proudly supported diverse innovators, including:

Entrepreneurs over the age of 45 transitioning from top careers into the startup world.

Women founders, who are building innovative startups at growing rates — yet still receive only 10% of global investor funding.

October 7th events changed the competition focus to support the renewal and strengthening of Israel.

Each of the finalists will receive personalized coaching to prepare them for the actual pitching competition as well as:
Access to knowledge sessions, networking events, mentoring and media exposure.

First prize:

100K$ GRAND PRIZE

(a) one hundred thousand US dollars to be used for the initial financing of the winning project according to the business plan.

(b) automatic acceptance into the prestigious Merage Institute Innovation Bridge Program in California (all expenses paid; flights are excluded).

Second and third Prizes

Automatic acceptance into the prestigious Merage Institute Innovation Bridge Program in California. (all program related expenses in California are covered; flights are excluded).

 

2025 program

The Competition Structure

The competition will hold a few stages as follows:
Stage 1 - Registration and Application submission (May 25 - July 15, 2025): At the end of this stage the board will select promising projects that will progress to the next stage.

Stage 2 - 20 Selected: startups to be announced.

Stage 3 - Pitching event: Five teams will be selected for the Final Competition after the pitching event.

Stage 4 - The Final Competition (On September 16, 2025): The 5 finalists will present their project to a Board of Judges and to the audience (5 minutes presentation each), followed by Q&A with the judges.

The winner will be determined by the judges and audience (Merage Fellows, investors, advisors); the finalist with the highest score will win the first prize ($100,000 USD).

The prize will be presented to the winner by Mr. Paul Merage.

The Competing Projects:
There is no restriction on the type of projects participating in the competition. Any project from any field that meets the conditions of the competition is suitable for the submission of a proposal in the competition.

Prizes

First Prize: $ 100,000 - (a) one hundred thousand US dollars to be used for the initial financing of the winning project according to the business plan.
(b) automatic acceptance into the prestigious Merage Institute Innovation Bridge Program in California (all expenses paid; flights are excluded). Read More

Second and third Prizes: automatic acceptance into the prestigious Merage Institute Innovation Bridge Program in California (all program related expenses in California are covered; flights are excluded). Read More

The Competing Projects

There is no restriction on the type of projects participating in the competition. Any project from any field that meets the conditions of the competition is suitable for the submission of a proposal in the competition.

Eligibility Criteria - MerageNext 2025

The Innovation Competition for Israel's Renewal

This year, in response to Israel's current challenges, the competition is open to all entrepreneurs. We are calling for bold, scalable solutions that support the renewal and rebuilding of Israel — across housing, resilience, agriculture, education, economic recovery, health, security, and more.

We are looking for ventures that will help shape the next chapter of Israel’s growth and resilience.

Admission Terms

1. Eligible projects may include a joint venture, applied research idea, or innovative technology, but must demonstrate viable commercial potential.

2. Additional eligibility requirements: The project must not have received funding exceeding $1 million USD to date (whether self-funded or from external sources).

3. Ownership of the project and intellectual property must belong to the applying entrepreneur(s).Therefore, projects owned by employers (e.g., universities, research institutes, public sector bodies) are not eligible. A declaration to this effect is required as part of the application.

4. Completion and submission of all required registration materials - click here

Register

The first date for registration:
May 25, 2025.
Last date for registration:
July 15, 2025.
Registration for the competition must be completed by this date.

Congratulations to our 2022
1st Place Winner and 100K Grand Prize

Social Mind Autism 
Keren Sagiv Friedgut 

2022 Winner

Congratulations to our 3 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner: 
Strasa.Tech – Ori Gonen
3rd Prize Winner:
EXOSOMM – Netta Granot
Fan Favorite:
Little One – Ami Meoded

2022 Digital Brochure

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of gender or age. Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success! From Paul Merage & all of us at the Merage Institute, we sincerely thank you.

Congratulations to our 2021
1st Place Winner and 100K Grand Prize

Sharkbitt
Jenny Chernobelsky & Omer Holzinger

Congratulations to our 4 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner & Fan Favorite: 
Maolac - Yuval Appelbaum & Maya Ashkenazi
3rd Prize Winner:
Embie - Ravid Israel
4th Prize Winner:
Applied ML - Hanan Hefter

Full Video  2021 Digital Brochure

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of gender or age. Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success! From Paul Merage & all of us at the Merage Institute, we sincerely thank you.

Congratulations to our 2020
1st Place Winner and 100K Grand Prize

NuTek
Dov Cohen

Congratulations to our 5 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner: 
EggBryo - Ariel Popper
3rd Prize Winner:
Lamu - Adi Seifert
Fan Favorite Winner:
CogniShape - Daniela Aisenberg, Oren Meir
5th Prize Winner:
Cynomi - David Primor

2020 Digital Brochure

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age. Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2019
1st place winner and 100k grand prize

Neurotrigger Ltd
Assaf Deutsch

2019 Winner

Congratulations to our 5 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner:
SynergyMed Ltd
3rd Prize Winner:
Clanz
4th Prize Winner:
Diagnoz.me
5th Prize Winner:
Airy

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2018
1st place winner and 100k grand prize

Curiosity Robotic
Yaron Ball and Sherry Perlov

2018 Winner

Congratulations to our 5 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner / Ze'ev Fine and Ofer Shamay - Chesstories

Tamar Merhav – Wallyz
Ofer Weinberg – Tweexit
Michal Magen and Rafi Chen - Indorse
Yigal Elharar – Livetrip ( Popular Vote )

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2017
45+ competition & student winners

2017 Winners

45+ Competition Winners:

1. SensePD - Software company in the digital health market offering a solution for early diagnosis of autism. Raffi Rembrand, Kobie Cohen, Assaf Gur, Prof. Ditza Zachor, Prof. Doron Urbach, Dr. Michal Begin, Prof. Eitan Kimmel
2. MindsEye - Provides assistance in diagnosis and monitoring of ADHD and other mental disorders using Pupillometry Biomarkers. Ophir Atar, Anat Barnea, Boaz Brill, Sam Zatelman.
3. Append Medical - Developing a device to prevent stroke. Dr. Leonid Sternik, Oded Meiri, Zachi Berger.

TrekAce - a patented wearable tactile monitor, packed with applications and technologies, that transforms traditional forms of communication into intuitive tactile language. Ronen Gabbay, Eliaz Hashdi, Tamir Konortov, Nir Dafni.
Pension Compass - Online information system that provides customers actual monetary saving by constantly monitoring their status in reaction to changes in their working and personal life. Abrahan Zvi Barak, Gad Shavit, Orit Nir, Yitzhak Dvir.
cMeSafe - innovative autonomous personal safety solution that wholly independently identifies when a user is encountering a distressful situation and automatically calls for help. Dr. Gideon Meiry.

Student Winners:

1. SmartAir - personal device that predicts and prevents asthma attacks. Uriel Klar, Nimrod Partush
2. Fun42 - O2 enables better intimacy and sexual pleasure through technology and innovation. Hila Gadot, Naor Penso
3. Xenia - Intelligent design platform that automatically generates optimal store layouts in real time. Shmulik Bilgoray, Dr. Efi Fogel, Hila Goldenberg

TypeIt - a platform that teaches literacy, spelling and keyboard typing through a musical game experience. Asaf Fadida, Nave Ohana, Revital Hollander
Canvas Earth - Create and share digital art in augmented reality. Jonathan Ataria, Ori Shapira, Nitzan Hadar, Tal Avinari
Poney - Application built to manage children's pocket money using an app and a credit card. Ido Shechter, Itzik ben nun, Tal Cohen, Abed Zaitun
Billbear - Monitors bills, splits them between roomates, pays them automatically. Amir Fuerst, Ben Tlusty, Niv Pulver
Blind-Tech - Wearable system based on the sharp senses of the visually impaired. Omer Gohari, Or Gafni, Aviram Berg
Picolo - A smart and unique application which identifies everyone in a photo and is able to share it among them. Moshe Sar Idan, Yossi Saldof, Shaked Chaim, Amir Geller

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2016
1st place winner and 100k grand prize

iSilla – Movement for people with disabilities
Efrat Shenhod - Malihi, Gani Rami, Danny Shahaf, Dr. Iris Shichor & Dr. Lior Yizhaki

Isilla

Congratulations to our 6 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner / Shmuel Levin -  SonicBone - Bone Age - Ultrasound Device for Bone Age assessment
3rd Prize Winner / Kobi Olin, Danny Gelman, Boris Shvartsev & Prof. Yair Ein-Eli – Inensto - Aluminum Air Battery
Kathie Shefer & Anai Green – ClayPlay - Platform to create applications and games on touch screens
Roy Gurion, Mark Heifets, Alon Buchnik & Dr. Nava Shaked - Onvego - Voice and multi-modal control for app developers
Ravid Roif, Israel Weinereich & Naftali Geffen – SMBIDS - Fintech startup dealing with loans to SMBs based on transaction history
Meny Lev-Sagie, Ahinoam Lev-Sagie & Nimrod Lev - VagX - Point of care microscopy solution for inflammation of the vagina

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2015
1st place winner and 100k grand prize

AmplioSpeech
Yair Shapira, Ofer Amir & Yoav Medan

AmplioSpeech

Congratulations to our 6 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner / Asa Ziv & Prof. Yoel Sasson -  HySAS – A new Hydrogen Energy Storage
3rd Prize Winner / Dr. Arthur Rabner, Dr. Moshe Ben-David & Michael Belkin – Glasses for AMD Macular Degeneration
Jacob Kaufmann & Serge Goldmann – 3D dental X-Ray imaging
Tal Ben-David & Assaf Harel - PeerSay - Disrupt the way businesses choose products
Shaie Shvartzberg & Mor Shvartzberg – Alto - Allows deaf people to feel and sense the joy of music
Shai Richter - MARPHOBIOS – Medical Auscultation by Remote Bio-Sensing

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

Congratulations to our 2014
1st place winner and 100k grand prize

OffLA
Dr. Nachshon Margaliot, Ori Einhorn & Yuval Raz

Offla

Congratulations to our 5 finalists who did an outstanding job in the competition!

2nd Prize Winner / Avi Balouka -  PV Optimizer
3rd Prize Winner / Dr. Yoel Arieli & Haim Engler– Progressive Lens
Mike Shaked – Urethral Tech
Dorit Deddi, Efrat Blaier & Ran Zfoni - MMUZE
Dr. Yossi Rosemberg, Mark Funt & Ori Bar-On – Myo

We sincerely applaud each of you who took the time to submit your amazing ideas; the submissions exceeded all expectations. The idea of this competition was to stimulate the Entrepreneurial Spirit, regardless of age.
Because of all of you, the competition was a huge success!
We thank you.

About the Merage Institute

Paul Merage

The Merage Institute’s vision is to promoting trade and bridging Innovation between US and Israel as a vehicle to economic growth in Israel and the United States.

The Institute accomplishes this through a number of innovative initiatives, including specialized Business Leadership Programs for industries that are innovation driven from Israel, where the Institute tries to bridge technologies, research, ideas that can leverage the US and Israel’s biggest advantage – Innovation and by bringing them closer to create economy growth for US and Israel and the rest of the world. At the same time the Institute exposes the US business community to Israeli start-up leaders and vice versa, aiming to strengthen and promote bonding, knowledge exchange and strategic collaborations between the two.

The flag activity, Innovation Bridge Business Leadership Program, consists of an intense two week immersion seminar (for about 20 entrepreneurs) which emphasizes effective approaches to marketing, negotiation, networking and sales strategies, finance, legal and procurement issues in the conduct of business with and within the United States. The program is offered completely with no charge of any kind.

The Institute has done this program since 2005. Today we hold 5 programs a year for Israeli start-ups executives from different industries such as life sciences, BioTech, Medical devices, Pharma, Hi-tech, HLS, NewMedia and Clean Tech. for more information www.merageinstitute.org