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Apple May Be Buying Israel-Based MIT Research Fellow’s Co. For $400M+

By Sudarshana Banerjee

Apple is reportedly buying Israel-based Flash memory company Anobit. Robin Wauters of Techcrunch writes in a post, quoting a report to that effect in Calcalist (which is published in Hebrew), that Apple could be using its cash reserves to go shopping.

If Apple is indeed buying Anobit, this would be two firsts for the company. First, an acquisition in Israel, and also its first acquisition under the helm of the new CEO Tim Cook.

Anobit provides flash storage solutions for the Enterprise and Mobile markets. “Anobit’s products are used by world leading flash manufacturers, consumer electronics vendors and storage system providers,” says its corporate website. It does not specify if Apple uses its solutions.

Anobit was founded in 2006, and is headquartered in Herzeliya Pituach, Israel, with subsidies in United States and Korea. The company has received $76M in funding from Battery Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, and Strategic Investors, and has 95 patents (21 granted) in its kitty. Ehud Weinstein, a professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, and a Research Affiliate at the Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the chairman and CEO of Anobit.

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