CTECH Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News April 3, 2024
AI chip unicorn Hailo raises another $120 million to bring GenAI to edge devices. The Israeli startup, which took its total funding to $340 million, also announced the Hailo-10, its newest AI accelerator specifically designed to process LLMs at low power consumption for the personal computer and automotive industries. Read more
“Israel faces a pivotal moment where it can choose between dwelling on past hardships or seizing the opportunity for growth.” Amir Haramaty, founder and CEO of aiOla, was speaking on a panel held as part of Calcalist and KPMG’s Work After Work event with Nicole Priel, a Partner at Ibex Investors, and Dina Pasca-Raz, partner and Head of Technology at KPMG Israel. Read more
“The Israeli ecosystem as a whole has emerged strong, supportive, and capable.” Next47’s Moshe Zilberstein joined CTech to discuss how the local tech community bounced back from a challenging 2023 amid war. Read more
Israeli tech sector holds strong, raises billions during war despite uncertainty. Startup Nation Central’s report unveils a mixed bag: while investment in Israeli high-tech remains steady at $3.1 billion amid conflict and judicial reform, concerns loom with workforce strain and small exits signaling potential stagnation in the industry’s growth. Read more
Tiger Global falls well short of target with new $2.2B fund post global and Israeli investment cutback. Tiger Global was the most active investor in the U.S. and Israel in 2021, but never came close to reaching the $6 billion it hoped to raise for its new fund, suggesting a low appetite among institutional investors for VC investments, compounded by negative experiences with Tiger Global in recent years. Read more
“It is clear that the events of last year underscored the strong confidence in the resilience and tenacity of Israeli tech.” Arik Kleinstein, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Glilot Capital Partners, joined CTech to share insights about the VC world in 2024. Read more
March 2024 in Israeli tech funding: $822 million in 20 deals. Israeli startups raised in March more than January and February combined, including four rounds of at least $100 million. Read more
5,000 rockets per day and a shipping blockade: Israel preparing for all-out war with Hezbollah. Israel has been increasing its emergency stockpile of basic raw materials including food, medicine, and medical equipment on an unprecedented scale in preparation for a full-scale war with Hezbollah, the head of the National Emergency Management Authority has revealed. Read more
Cyber startup Identiq to lay off almost half of its workforce. The Israeli company, which raised a $47 million Series A three years ago, is cutting around 20 of 45 jobs. Read more
Million-dollar salaries and accelerated options: AI talent race has got tech giants in a frenzy. On this edition of our AI-native show, we discuss how the AI talent war drives up salaries of AI researchers and engineers. Read more
Israeli high-tech since the start of the war: $3.1 billion raised and $3.7 billion in M&As. Despite the unprecedented challenges of having about 15% of their workforce drafted into the IDF reserves and the near-complete air blockade on Israel, local startups continue to thrive, according to a report by Startup Nation Central. Read more
Israel confronts sharp rise in cyber attacks from Iran and Hezbollah amid war. According to the annual report published by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, from October 7 to the end of 2023, the number of cyber attacks jumped by 2.5 times. Read more
Tech entrepreneurs Liron and Naomi Petrushka die in California plane crash. The Petrushkas, well-known entrepreneurs and investors, had been living in California in recent years and invested in, among others, Check, Next Insurance and VC firm UpWest. Read more
No news is good news? Israel-UAE relations remain strong despite war. The Abraham Accords opened up business opportunities for both countries. Today, that relationship remains strong despite an apparent void in tech news. Read more
Pango on verge of completing $200 million acquisition of Gett. Swedish fund VNV Global currently controls Gett, which has raised $900 million to date. Read more
Israeli high-tech shows signs of recovery with $1.6 billion raised in 105 rounds in Q1 of 2024. The volume of fundraising increased by 10% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, with the number of rounds registering a 34% jump. Read more
After fleeing Iran and an illustrious career in Israeli intelligence, Sanaz Yashar raises $30M for cyber startup. Zafran, founded in 2022 by Yashar (CEO), Ben Seri (CTO) and Snir Havdala (CPO), develops a risk and mitigation platform to pinpoint the ‘exploitable’ threats in the organization and to mitigate their risk by mobilizing existing security controls. Read more
Cyber startup Coro nets $100 million Series D to make enterprise-grade security accessible to all. The Israeli startup, which took its total funding in the past 24 months to $255 million, offers an enterprise-grade security software platform to SMEs covering endpoint protection, email and user protection and network and cloud protection. Read more
The Edge of Tech | The Midas of chips does it again with Astera Labs. Also on our AI-native show: Foundational nets $8 million in Seed funding to bring AI agents into data engineering and could personalized and innovative birth control be the next FemTech frontier? Read more
There were many basic assumptions about women in the military. They didn’t hold after October 7. Ora Peled Nakash, founder, entrepreneur, and a retired naval officer and the first woman to graduate from the unified program at the Israeli Naval Academy, spoke to CTech about the need for the integration of women in military submarine units, and how October 7th has proven beyond a doubt the mettle and ability of female soldiers. Read more
Legendary Israeli investor strikes gold again with Astera Labs. Chip company Astera Labs, in which Israeli entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz is a founding investor, has surged since its IPO last week. This exit joins Willenz’s string of successes in the world of chips, which began with the sale of Galileo to American company Marvell for $2.7 billion in 2000 and continued with the sale of Annapurna to Amazon for $360 million in 2015 and the sale of Habana Labs to Intel for $2 billion in 2019. Read more
Rafael orders surge 85% to over $8 billion amid war, global arms race. The backlog of orders for the state-owned defense company reached a record NIS 52.5 billion ($14 billion) last year. Rafael plans to hire about 2,000 new employees in the upcoming year to support a rise in production needs and accelerate development plans for new weapon systems. Read more
128,000 square meters, a hair salon and a basketball court: Mobileye opens new Jerusalem headquarters. 2,700 Mobileye employees in Jerusalem are moving to the company’s new campus, which in addition to the usual high-tech perks such as a gym, will also include a convenience store, running track, service points for leasing vehicles, and nursing rooms. Read more
Bill Ackman: “The TASE is a royalty on the growth of Startup Nation available at a bargain price.” The hedge fund legend noted that he invested in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange earlier this year because he thought “it was a good investment with the added benefit of supporting Israel at a challenging time for the country.” Read more
Two main factors preventing Israeli high-tech from bouncing back. Edouard Cukierman, Managing Partner at Catalyst Funds, joined CTech for its 2024 VC Survey series to share some challenges still faced by Startup Nation amid war. Read more
