CTECH: Israel’s Latest Innovation and Technolgy News Feb. 14, 2022
Have tech companies gone too far with exorbitant perks to attract
employees? The expensive parties, trips abroad, and other perks at tech companies are causing more and more discomfort for people within the industry. They admit that it embarrasses them, and even causes damage by interfering with their private lives, hurting their work, disrupting priorities and wasting money. Now employees and managers are finally brave enough to explicitly say – enough is enough. Read more
Finding the holy grail of what makes a successful entrepreneur. If
there is such a thing as an “expert entrepreneur”, someone whose chances of success in ventures is higher, and the variables that bring a person to become an expert entrepreneur can be isolated – this is the holy grail of the entrepreneurial world because it means reducing the chances of failure. Read more
Freelancers salaries surge amid pandemic and digitization. The Covid-19 pandemic led to a rise in demand for freelancers, and their salaries followed suit. According to research conducted by Payoneer, most freelancers are between the ages of 18-34 and are expecting the boom to continue. Read more
“We want humanity to use carbon measurements as currency.” Albo
Climate aims to reduce carbon emission through its satellite radar platform by monitoring fluctuating carbon rates, and wants to reward sustainable farming through financial credits. Read more
Arieli Capital launching Wellness Tech Bootcamp. The investment
company and the Bridge Healing Arts Center are seeking startups focused on creating technologies that can improve physical and mental health and work with brands, international customers, and leading investors. Read more
Startup Boarding Pass | “There are no competitors – Toorz will be
first on the market.” As the world recovers from the pandemic, Toorz has raised $1.8M to help Group Tourism make a comeback through digitization. Read more
Female Founders | Esther Altura, DrizzleX – A startup depends on the
people who run it. “It is against my DNA as an Israeli to waste water, and it hurts the property’s bottom line,” said Altura when asked what inspired her to found her company. Read more
Appointments | Walnut appoints Sagit Malkes Glaswein and Amitai Tamir to executive positions. The pair are joining the company from
Similarweb and Gett to serve as VP People & Operations and VP Finance.
Read more
The API security unicorn has registered 500% growth in revenue and 300% growth in its customer base over the past year. Read more
Deepdub secures $20 million Series A to take AI-based dubbing global. The Israeli startup’s platform leverages AI technology with a human
touch to allow content creators, owners, and distributors to extend their international reach and scale their offerings. Read more
Legit Security raises $26.5 million Series A to protect software supply chains. The Israeli startup protects software supply chains from attack by automatically discovering and securing the pipelines,
infrastructure, code and people. Read more
Appointments | Similarweb announces series of senior appointments. The unicorn, which develops measurement tools for website and application
activity, has appointed three new executives to assist the company in its rapid growth. Read more
Out of the Bubble | Food for thought: Kiinns and the Kinneret’s
foodtech sector. Speaking on CTech’s Out of the Bubble series, Kiinns CEO Tzvika Furman shares insights into working in the north of Israel. Watch full video
The Kinneret Innovation Center is ready to welcome city lovers through its doors. For CTech’s Out of the Bubble series, we become familiar
with the Kinneret Innovation Center. Watch full video
Tricentis acquires SaaS test automation platform Testim for $150
million. The Israeli company introduced its AI-based testing in 2014 to accelerate application delivery by shortening the time it takes to author tests and automatically improving tests, troubleshooting tests, and handling test diagnostics. Read more
Cyberstarts fund I records 300% annual return amidst cybersecurity
boom. 50% of the companies that have raised their Series A round or more on Gili Raanan and Lior Simon’s firm’s portfolio have already become unicorns. Read more
Qwak snags $15 million round for MLOps engineering platform. Through MLOps automation, the Israeli startup accelerates companies’ processes and allows them to manage the models the moment they are integrated into their products. Read more
Scopio Labs raises $50 million Series C for digital microscope. The
Israeli company’s device creates new information that was not available until now thanks to the development of advanced computational photography technology that allows for the first time a fast scan of large surfaces at the highest resolution in the world. Read more
Amplication raises $6.6 million to automate backend development. The Seed round was led by Norwest Venture Partners’ Dror Nahumi and Vertex
Ventures-Israel’s Yanai Oron, who were also among the first investors in Unicorn Gong. Read more
Cybersecurity startup Vicarius raises $24 million for vulnerability
remediation platform. The company’s automated and consolidated platform, TOPIA, assesses, prioritizes, and remediates vulnerabilities in applications, assets, and operating systems. Read more
Canonic Security raises $6 million Seed round for SaaS application
security platform. The Israeli startup automatically maps business applications’ interconnectivity, uncovering harmful, vulnerable, or overprivileged apps and integrations to reduce the risks involved with third-party API access. Read more
Pharma giant Merck inks deal with Israel’s Quris for clinical safety
prediction. The Israeli company which develops predictive technology based on artificial intelligence has signed an agreement worth tens of millions of dollars to test drugs by the pharma giant. Read more
Startup Boarding Pass | Belle AI’s $150 billion opportunity to
personalize online shopping. As part of CTech’s Startup Boarding Pass, Belle AI co-Founder and CEO Dr. Lihi Raichelson shared what inspired the company to shake up the shopping sector. Read more
Out of the Bubble | How the Kinneret tackles the country’s water
shortage. The Kinneret Academic College established a water engineering department to take on the country’s rain shortage – here’s how. Watch full video
“Every time I come up here my heart widens.” As part of CTech’s Out of the Bubble series, BioCastle CEO Gabi Wolkinson discusses working in the Kinneret. Watch full video
Opinion | We must prepare our homework in Artificial Intelligence.
“Our lives are being increasingly affected by Artificial Intelligence systems, we should integrate the acquaintance with this technology into Israel’s education system,” writes Dr. Amitai Armon, Chief Data Scientist, IT AI Group, Intel. Read more
Opinion | Tech at Beijing 2022: Smart beds, robots and their legal implications. Some of the technologies that have been implemented in the winter Olympics have inherent legal implications, from sharing
personal data to robotics. Read more
Retail analytics Unicorn Trax targeting $3-3.5 billion Nasdaq IPO. Trax has been preparing for an IPO for over a year, securing $640 million in a Series E financing round in April of 2021. Read more
Rewire secures $25 million from Migdal Insurance to make insurance
accessible to migrants. The fintech company’s platform will grant immediate access to insurance offerings for 270 million migrant workers, starting with its 600,000 registered users. Read more
Insight Partners adds Israeli Hagi Schwartz as Managing Director.
Schwartz, the former CFO of Check Point, is based in Silicon Valley and serves on the board of several Israeli companies, including Optibus and TytoCare. Read more
Nanotech startup Gauzy raises $60 million, acquires France’s Vision
Systems. The Israeli company, which develops smart glass technologies, will add to its offering Vision Systems’ ADAS and shading solutions. Read more
Innovid acquiring converged TV measurement provider TVSquared for $160 million. The Israeli-founded video advertising company completed a SPAC merger at a $1.2 billion valuation in December of last year. Read more
Out of the Bubble | Israel’s move to the peripheries can mirror the
American city exodus. CEO of Eclipse Ventures Lior Susan talks to CTech about Israel’s peripheries and the similarities between Startup Nation and hubs like Silicon Valley. Watch full video
Deshen-Hatzafon: “It is both a problem and an advantage working in a rural area.” Anat Dor-Cohen, Deputy CEO and COO at Deshen-Hatzafon,
joined CTech to discuss the challenges of working in Israel’s periphery. Watch full video
Out of the Bubble | Talents, education, and breathtaking views – Tech in the Kinneret is fighting for its place in the ecosystem. CTech spoke with a group of entrepreneurs, academics, and investors about what makes the Kinneret such an attractive tech hub in Israel’s periphery. Read more
City overcrowding brings people to the periphery, so there is talent
to be found. Speaking as part of CTech’s Out of the Bubble series, Zorronet COO Dikla Yadid discusses working outside the city center. Read more
The cowboy from the valley who developed a drone to monitor his herds. Speaking as part of CTech’s Out of the Bubble series, BeeFree Agro
cowboy-turned-CEO Noam Azran discusses the benefits and challenges of
operating in Israel’s periphery. Read more
We didn’t wait for budgets or government decisions – the initiative in
the Kinneret started from the ground up. Speaking as part of CTech’s
Out of the Bubble series, Elad Shamir, CEO of the Kinneret Innovation Center, discusses the inspiration behind his initiative. Read more
Startup Boarding Pass | Zoog’s pandemic-driven pivot to generational communication. Zoog has already raised $720,000 to help enhance inter-generational communication through technology. Read more
The American dream could end as a nightmare for Israeli tech hopefuls. The dream of Israeli tech companies, such as Nayax and HUB Security, to be listed on Wall Street remains understandably strong, but local
firms had better keep their eyes wide open, as investors overseas tend
to be far less forgiving. Read more
No one was immune: Israel Police Pegasus surveillance list revealed.
CEOs of government ministries, journalists, tycoons, corporate executives, mayors, social activists, and even the Prime Minister’s relatives, all were police targets, having their phones hacked by NSO’s spyware, prior to any investigation even opening and without any judicial authorization. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Planning your play and playing your plan. Dror
Pockard, Chief Strategy Officer, Earnix Inc, shares insights after reading “Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Read more
Opinion | How is VC financing affecting your startup’s go-to-market
strategy? “On the one hand, venture capitalists are known for their patience and allow teams to invest the time required in the R&D stages, but on the other hand, venture capital firms help entrepreneurs focus on the more important things and therefore, bring the product to market faster,” writes Dor Lee-Lo, PhD. Managing Partner at IBI Tech Fund. Read more
Unlimited vacation: Perk or gimmick? Amdocs announced a new unlimited vacation policy, but while data show that employees take fewer days off they also feel uncomfortable when they do – and it may even harm them financially. How are companies that have adopted such a policy coping? Read more
Sports-tech startup Sidelines scores $25 million funding round. The
Israeli company, which branched off Natural Intelligence, develops a platform for social sports betting experiences. Read more
“Out of the Bubble” – CTech is coming to hi-tech centers around
Israel. In a new series of events, CTech journalists will travel to tech centers throughout Israel to meet the entrepreneurs and the companies that are flourishing outside the country’s center. Read more
Female representation in Israeli tech drops to lowest rate in a
decade. The number of people employed in high tech in Israel has leapt over the past two years by 50,000, but only 13% of all new recruits are women. The result? The percentage of women in the sector has dropped to a low of 33.6% at the end of 2021, increasing the gender pay gap. Read more
Is slew of small cybersecurity exits a sign of things to come? “2022
will be a sobering year in which the leading companies will be separated from those that can’t keep up with the pace of growth,” said Yair Snir, Vice President, Managing Director at Dell Technologies Capital. Read more
Hitting the jackpot: Clawee is the next stage in gaming. The mobile app enables someone in China to operate a claw machine in Petach Tikva and grab a toy that will be sent to the user via mail. Who on Earth needs that? The answer is the 1.5 million people who play Clawee each month, and another million who watch from the sidelines. Read more
Three researchers awarded Na’amat Prize for groundbreaking women scientists. The scholarships are designed to assist scientists in
their field of research, thus setting an example of the struggle for equal opportunity and inspiration for many women. Read more
How one female CEO overcame adversity to find a cure for Uveitis. “I
see us building a large company that will focus on the eye, beyond Uveitis. Our technology has tremendous potential to treat other diseases that cause blindness, and treat millions of patients,” says Dr. Daphne Haim-Langford, who suffers from Uveitis and founded Tarsier Pharma. Read more
Opinion | 5 reasons why Israeli Fintech startups should capture the UK opportunity. “The UK is home to some amazing opportunities for Fintech
companies and one of the world’s leaders in evolving the Fintech global ecosystem having the frameworks and talent to run them,” writes Avital Levitzky of the UK-Israel Tech Hub. Read more
Camels vs Unicorns: Investors wary of cash burning companies.
Following the sharp fall in the Nasdaq, growth rate is still an important parameter, but it’s not everything. Investors are keeping a keen eye on the rate of cash burning to see if companies behave like thrifty camels rather than cash-thirsty unicorns. Read more
CTech’s Startup Boarding Pass – The only place that truly appreciates
even $500K rounds. In the “Startup Boarding Pass” section, CTech will cover the (relatively) small investments made in early-stage companies – as well as the entrepreneurs and startups who have not yet had the opportunity to reveal their stories to the world. Read more
Cynomi raises $3.5 million Seed funding for virtual CISO platform. The Israeli startup launched its AI-based cybersecurity platform aimed at delivering enterprise-grade cybersecurity capabilities at scale. Read more
Onebeat receives $5 million in funding to support retailers by
analyzing trends in real-time. Israeli fashion group Renuar is one of the investors in this round of funding for the retail-tech company. Read more
New $50 million tech fund launched by optics entrepreneur. David
Halperin, co-owner of Optica Halperin – Israel’s largest optics retailer, has set up the new venture capital firm, Contrago Ventures, with Amitay Yamin. Read more
“In five years we’ll look at Zoom and say it looks like the Stone
Age.” “Most of the meaningful future experiences will be in the Metaverse and not through small screens. The Internet has changed forever,” Gil Rosen told a panel at Calcalist’s Innovation Conference. Dr. Tomer Simon added that “a combination of the Metaverse and artificial intelligence can help people with disabilities overcome any barriers.” Read more
Opinion | Blind reliance on AI is not good for healthcare. Artificial
intelligence (AI) helps us better understand medical conditions and is already used to research and develop therapies and technology with the Health Ministry’s blessing. However, advocate Matan Menachem, member of the Ethics Committee at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and healthtech consultant, warns against tragic mistakes these sophisticated systems could lead to. Read more
