CTECH – Israel’s Latest Innovation & Technology News
“The world has lost all proportions, I hope these are not the last
days of Pompeii.” Despite selling LiveU for $400 million, Eran Gorev, President of Israel and Senior Operating Partner at Francisco Partners, is concerned with recent high valuations and warns “it could come back and bite the whole high-tech ecosystem.” Read more
Tailor Brands raises $50 million, led by GoDaddy, for small
businesses. The company is used by 700,000 new businesses each month and has raised a total of $70 million. Read more
YOOBIC raises $50 million to help frontline employees. In the last 12
months, YOOBIC’s platform has seen a 200% increase and now has 1 million activities per month. Read more
Israel’s athletes ready to confront opponents at Tokyo Olympics, on
the field and online. “We will provide the Israeli delegation with all the tools they need to keep them calm about their data, keep their head in the game, and help them focus on winning medals,” said Eyal Gruner, CEO and Founder of cybersecurity company Cynet. Read more
B2B social media marketing platform developer Oktopost secures $20 million investment. With its first major investment received, the Israeli startup is expected to scale up its operations and plans to grow its workforce by 50% by the end of the year. Read more
Stor.ai partners with Toshiba to provide a white-labelled, SaaS online storefront solution. The partnership will facilitate the full offering and integration of the Israeli startup’s platform within the retailer’s environment. Read more
Fabric to provide Instacart with automated fulfillment solutions as
part of strategic partnership. The Israeli company will integrate software and robotics solutions with Instacart’s proprietary technology and growing shopper community to create new e-commerce services for retail partners. Read more
The first EMEA Agtech Forum kicks off, connecting VCs and
entrepreneurs. The event took place online but the forum hopes to meet in person later this year in Dubai. Read more
Israel PM Bennett calls for global ‘defense shield’ against cyber threats. “Today we invite all like-minded good countries across the world to join forces in the global cyber defense shield,” said Bennett. Read more
Kaltura finally hits Wall Street, raising $150 million at a reduced valuation of $1.3 billion. Israeli-founded video creation and distribution company will begin trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday after postponing IPO at $2 billion valuation back in March due to insufficient demand. Read more
Israel Water Authority taps SIGA for cyber protection of the country’s water supply. The authority aims to enhance existing security following last year’s cyberattacks against Israel’s water utilities. Read more
UVeye raises $60 million at almost $1 billion valuation. American used car trading company Carmax joins Israeli investors in backing UVeye, whose AI technology is used for vehicle automated external scanning. Read more
Travel startup Bookaway secures $35 million in funding after bouncing back from Covid-19 crisis. The Israeli company downsized its staff at the start of the pandemic but now plans to scale up the operation of its road-travel booking platform. Read more
Betalin Therapeutics receives EU equity investment for its alternative insulin therapy. The Biomed startup seeks to eliminate the need for insulin injections and glucose testing. Read more
Kameleon Security adds investment from Xilinx for hardware cybersecurity. The companies have previously partnered to create the industry’s first proactive Security Processing Unit. Read more
E-commerce 360 | 10bis delivers growth as covid era brings “crazy increase in demand.” Nurit Shaked, Israel’s country manager of the food delivery company, spoke with CTech at Calcalist’s E-commerce 360 conference, pointing that “demand did not decrease while everything was open.” Watch full video
E-commerce 360 | The e-commerce boom is ongoing, says Pitango partner. “Today, we’re seeing the convergence of online and offline businesses,” said Ayal Itzkovich, Managing Partner at Pitango, speaking at Calcalist’s E-commerce 360 conference. Watch full video
Opinion | The Internet needs a new sheriff. Trust and Safety online is a problem so large and complex that it employs presidents, activists and major advertisers. Tech giants and regulators are extremely concerned and are actively trying to find solutions – a golden opportunity for Israeli startups. Read more
NSO CEO exclusively responds to allegations: “The list of 50,000 phone numbers has nothing to do with us.” “I’ll give you a simple
statement: Journalists, human rights activists, and civil organizations are all off-limits,” said Shalev Hulio. Read more
Cybereason acquires empow, enhancing its XDR offerings. The acquisition of Israeli startup empow will integrate patented prediction technology into Cybereason’s XDR. Read more
Sysdig set to acquire Israel’s Apolicy for infrastructure-as-code security. The announcement comes following Sysdig’s $188 million funding in April. Read more
“Infrastructure needs to be green, social, and smart.” “There’s a need to move away from the more traditional and head toward more green infrastructure,” says Freek Spoorenboorg, who serves as Head of Product Strategy for Infrastructure Equity at BlackRock, during Calcalist’s National Infrastructure conference. Read more
Mobileye testing autonomous vehicles in New York City. State permit in hand, Mobileye AVs are getting advanced driving experience across New York City’s congested streets. Read more
TripleW receives $2.6 million grant from EU for its lactic acid for food waste. The Israeli company received €2.2 million out of the total
€6.7 million awarded to all of the companies in the consortium. Read more
New construction technologies can make infrastructure more environmentally-friendly. Companies can rely on new technologies that reduce the consumption of materials, and make processes more energy-efficient, says Sergiy Lesyk of FTSE Russell. Read more
E-commerce 360 | E-commerce companies need identity protection solutions to combat fraud. “E-commerce is a large market that is growing, where fraud and security solutions need to be in place. Wherever there is a lot of money, attacks are waiting at the front door,” says Cyberstarts General Partner Lior Simon, speaking at Calcalist’s E-commerce 360 conference. Read more
Israel Post targeting transition to becoming advanced supply chain company. “When looking at more mature markets like the U.K. or China, e-commerce has already reached more than 50% of the total retail market. This will continue to increase,” says Israel Post’s Chief Commercial Officer Gilad Tirosh, speaking at Calcalist’s E-commerce 360 conference. Read more
Appointments | Gong names Kelly Breslin Wright as President and COO. “Gong is transforming the world of sales for the better. With its category leadership, customer engagement, and phenomenal team, the opportunity at Gong is like a dream come true,” said Wright. Read more
Opinion | The non-disclosed disclosure that jeopardizes M&A transactions. “Non-disclosure agreements are so ancient and basic that businesses execute them without thinking of a future M&A and they tend not to add a provision allowing disclosure in an event of an M&A,” writes Efrat Shuster. Read more
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Israeli tech sets yet another record, raising $11.9 billion in H1 of 2021. According to the IVC-Meitar Tech Review, Israeli companies surpassed the total amount raised in 2020 ($10.3 billion) in the first six months of 2021. Read more
Cybereason raises $275 million led by Steven Mnuchin’s VC fund. The Israeli cybersecurity company didn’t state at what valuation it raised the funds, but it is estimated to be in the region of $3 billion. Read more
Outbrain targeting lower than expected $1.4 billion valuation in Nasdaq IPO. The company is planning to raise around $200 million after announcing just last week that it had secured $200 million in funding from Boston-based investment manager The Baupost Group. Read more
NoTraffic raises $17.5 million for real-time traffic management platform. The Israeli startup’s autonomous platform identifies, categorizes, and tracks all road users – including passenger and non-passenger vehicles, bikes, e-scooters, buses, and pedestrians. Read more
What I Learned | The key lessons I learned from SentinelOne’s journey from our first check to a Wall Street IPO. Shuly Galili, Founding Partner at UpWest and an early investor in SentinelOne, tells CTech about the company’s 8-year journey from a dream to NYSE. Read more
Woman2Woman mentoring program encourages younger women to aim high. Opening event featured Chairwoman of the Israel Securities Authority, former head of the Central Bank, former Chief Scientist, among other notable female speakers. Read more
IVIX secures $13 million in seed round. The Israeli fintech company, whose platform assists authorities to counter tax evasion, is aiming to more than triple its workforce. Read more
E-commerce 360 | “The Covid crisis brought a lot of people to change things in their supply chain management.” Speaking at Calcalist’s E-commerce 360 conference, DHL Israel CEO Yair Bitton spoke about the condition of global shipping and the changes forced by the pandemic. Watch full video
A Day in a Life | Cobwebs’ macaroon-baking coder. Alon Almog, a software engineer at Cobwebs, is into baking, Beyonce and weightlifting, but only when he’s not coding. Read more
Enso Security unveils AppSec Map, a free industry collaboration initiative. The live, interactive map presents vendors and community projects related to application security. Read more
Geely’s Geometry C coming to Israel in 2021. The launch of the electric model developed by Volvo’s parent company has been brought forward from 2022. Read more
PlayBeyondBio names nine healthtech startups for mentoring and development program. The program examined dozens of candidates, seeking to identify and promote mature, active companies, with track records and proven potential. Read more
Round B | The startup as a laboratory. Startups should not decide too much, too soon, rather experiment and let the users and the market guide their way to success. Read more
FinTech 2021 | “There is massive interest from traditional fintech in the crypto world.” Speaking at FinTech2021, CEO and co-founder of ZenGo, Ouriel Ohayon, discussed how both extremes of the industry are starting to speak to each other and collaborate. Watch full video
Appointments | Start-Up Nation Central appoints Avi Hasson as new CEO. Hasson previously served as Chief Scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry, and as Founding Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). Read more
Former Learfield IMG College CEO joins Pixellot Board. Greg Brown will try to help expand the US market share of the AI automated sports video and analytics solutions company. Read more
Forescout co-founder Oded Comay to serve as chief innovation officer. Comay to drive product innovation, solving customers’ critical cybersecurity challenges. Read more
