CTECH-Latest Innovation & Technology News: Israel at War 12/22/23
Construction giant Lennar acquires full control of former proptech unicorn Veev. Veev, valued at $1 billion in March 2022, recently entered insolvency in the United States due to an inability to meet financial obligations to suppliers and employees under California state laws. Read more
‘The atmosphere on campuses normalizes antisemitism’. Eric Fingerhut found himself serving as president of the Jewish Federations of North America at a historic moment: Hamas’ 7/10 attack and its war with Israel, prompting urgent emergency donations for Israel, which reached an unprecedented $750 million. He spoke to Calcalist about this as well as the subsequent rise in antisemitism, the American Jewish community and the current environment on university campuses. Read more
“If I don’t show a return similar to that of the S&P 500, the client will kill me.” Has the S&P 500 become too dominant? Despite the index rising by about 25% in 2023, the public continues to pour tens of billions into ETFs tracking the index that follows the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on US stock exchanges. Read more
Despite—and because of—the challenges, bet on Israeli tech. Investing in Israeli tech is more than a financial decision; it’s a bet on the nation’s ability to innovate and overcome challenges, even in times of conflict. Read more
Billionaire Len Blavatnik suspending donations to Harvard due to anti-Semitism on campus. The Blavatnik family foundation has donated at least $270 million to the university to date. Read more
Funding troubles plaguing both veteran and young Israeli startups. According to the Start-Up Nation Policy Institute, older startups (established before 2017) and those that raised significant amounts before the war are also having problems raising capital. Read more
AnGes laying off 110 EmendoBio employees three years after $250 million acquisition. The Japanese pharma company notified the employees of the Israeli firm that they are being fired and the future of the company’s technology is unclear at this point. Read more
OurCrowd announces $50 million Israel Resilience Fund with eight initial investments. The fund has so far received more than $13 million in capital commitments, and approved the first eight investments from the fund, including to BlueTree, Carrar, Edgybees, and Verobotics. Read more
“Entrepreneurs who were seemingly competitors joined forces for the benefit of civilians, casualties or abductees.” As part of Calcalist and Poalim Tech’s series of online interviews “Six After War”, Prof. Dafna Kariv, an expert in management and entrepreneurship from Reichman University, spoke with Poalim Tech CEO Michal Kissos Hertzog about entrepreneurship, high-tech and business resilience. Read more
How Iran used social media to stoke tensions between Israelis. An investigation by the Fake Reporter organization reveals that since 2021, a foreign network with ties to Iran has been operating in Israel, spreading lies, incitement and hate on social media, using dozens of fake profiles and impersonating real people to sow division. Read more
Okta acquiring cybersecurity startup Spera for over $100 million. The American identity and access management giant is making its first purchase in Israel. Spera, which raised $10 million in Seed funding earlier this year, has developed a solution to provide end-to-end identity attack surface management, risk reduction and identity threat prevention, detection, and response. Read more
Medical device company Insightec laying off 100 employees, 20% of workforce. The Israeli company has developed a platform that focuses on sound waves, guided by MRI, to provide tremor treatment to patients with medication-refractory essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. Read more
ScaleOps raises $15 million Series A to automate cloud resource management. The Israeli startup’s fully-automated platform continuously optimizes and manages cloud-native resources during runtime. Read more
Early-stage startups facing extreme difficulty raising funds, says Israel Innovation Authority. According to a survey conducted in the past month among 500 entrepreneurs, around half of early-stage Israeli startups have enough money for just six more months of operations. Read more
Compugen shares soar on massive deal with Gilead, worth up to $848 million. The Israeli company utilizes its broadly applicable predictive computational discovery capabilities to identify new drug targets and biological pathways for developing novel cancer immunotherapies. Read more
Israeli hackers claim responsibility for shutting down 70% of Iran gas stations in cyber attack. A pro-Israeli hacker group called ‘The Predatory Sparrow’ claims to have succeeded in shutting down most gas stations in the country, confirmed by Iranian and international media. Read more
Salvador Technologies Raises $6 million Seed for cyberattack recovery platform. The Israeli startup’s platform bypasses standard recovery protocols and allows critical infrastructure operators and industrial enterprises to recover from attacks and any malfunction within only 30 seconds. Read more
Yoseph Haddad: “As an Israeli Arab, I bring all the angles – that’s why people connect to my content.” “Advocacy gives the IDF soldiers breathing room for their activities,” Yoseph Haddad, advocacy activist and CEO of “Together – Vouch for Each Other”, said as part of Calcalist and Poalim Tech’s series of online interviews “Six After War”. Read more
The $9.4 billion dilemma: Egypt will need to act against Houthis to protect Suez Canal. The announcement by the world’s four largest shipping companies about suspending sailing through the Suez Canal due to the increasing Houthi attacks is not only a severe blow to global trade but, more importantly, to Egypt’s national security. Read more
Microsoft Israel R&D Center engineers lead development of AI platform that stops cyberattacks. Dozens of engineers, researchers and machine learning experts across security teams at Microsoft Israel R&D led the 2-year long research and development process, analyzing various cyberattacks using information accumulated by Microsoft’s security products. Read more
Inside Microsoft’s Israel R&D Center: Almost $1B in annual income and an average monthly salary of $18k. According to documents seen by Calcalist, Microsoft’s R&D center in Israel employs about 2,700 people and spent around $570 million on salaries in FY 2023. Read more
eBay cutting almost 10% of Israeli workforce in second round of layoffs this year. The e-commerce giant is laying off around 20-25 of its 250 employees in Israel after already firing dozens in February. Read more
Israelis being ‘unofficially boycotted’ in global academia, says report. According to the National Council for Civilian R&D, there have been cancellations of invitations to joint conferences, rejections of articles for publication and grants to Israeli researchers, and more, all of which could seriously harm Israel’s scientific and economic standing. Read more
Half of shipping routes to Israel through Red Sea halted due to Houthi threat. Shipping giant Maersk announced that it will stop transporting goods through the Suez Canal following attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, and was quickly followed by two other large shipping companies, all of which is expected to increase the price of goods arriving in Israel. Read more
Tech in the South: “The area will overcome.” Many companies located in Israel’s southern region do not enjoy the benefits of others who can work remotely or in different regions due to the type of technology they develop, causing problems for supply chains and research. Read more
Palo Alto closing on $100 billion valuation as entire cyber ecosystem flourishes. The company founded by Nir Zuk is trading at a record value for a cybersecurity company, and Check Point and CyberArk are also at all-time highs. Although the cybersecurity sector as a whole is growing due to the increase in the scope of attacks and the change in regulations in the US, many Israeli companies are specifically benefitting due to their work with large organizations that are less affected by interest rates and their focus on comprehensive solutions. Read more
American Dynamism meets Israeli ingenuity in defense tech renaissance. TLV Partners’ Yonatan Mandelbaum suggests that Israeli startups prioritize defense tech, coining it “Patriotism as a Service.” Aligned with Andreessen Horowitz’s “American Dynamism,” the call for innovation in defense tech is underscored by the evolving global landscape and accessible weaponry, emphasizing AI and a “Defense First” approach. Read more
Private equity investment in Israel plummets by 33% in 2023. According to the year’s summary by accounting firm Deloitte Israel, the volume of transactions was $3.5 billion, reflecting a 37% drop compared to 2022. In addition, the number of M&A transactions plunged by 23% to 157 and their volume shrank by 30% to $15 billion. Read more
Gigi Levy-Weiss: “The 7th of October and what followed made me more optimistic.” As part of Calcalist and Poalim Tech’s series of interviews “Six After War”, Gigi Levy-Weiss, General Partner at VC fund NFX, discussed with Poalim Tech CEO Michal Kissos Hertzog how to get high-tech back on track after the war. Read more
Does Axel Springer’s partnership with OpenAI mark the way forward for news publishers? The deal comes as publishers contemplate suing technology companies for violating their copyrights by using, without permission, their content to train large language models. Read more
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