CTECH – Israel’s Latest Technology and Innovation News
Salesforce invests in Israel’s AppsFlyer at $2 billion valuation. Israeli startup’s $210 million round D was led by General Atlantic. Read more
Insurtech startup Hippo secures $350 million investment from Japanese insurance giant. The Israeli-founded company raised $150 million in July and plans to use the new funds to help it achieve its goal of reaching 95% of the U.S. homeowners population in the next year. Read more
Boston Dynamics’ robo-dog gets Israeli Percepto’s drone capabilities.
Autonomous drone startup also announced $45 million series B funding round. Read more
Researchers discover solution to stop blood cells from aging. Scientists at Tel Aviv University found that using hyperbaric oxygen treatment can actually halt blood cells from aging. Read more
Emerging from stealth, cloud security platform Lightspin raises $4 million in seed. The Israeli startup’s technologies were designed after former white hat hackers ‘thought’ like real intruders. Read more
Israeli researchers uncover potential fraud scheme on Spotify users.
vpnMentor’s Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, unearthed an ‘Elasticsearch’ database containing more than 380 million records, including login information. Read more
Insurtech startup Novidea raises $15 million in series B round. “We’re seeing a growing demand in the world for a smart platform that translates insurance data into business insights in real-time, advanced analytic capabilities and information that users can act upon,” said CEO Roi Agababa. Read more
IBM fires dozens of employees in Israel office. IBM already began sacking thousands of its employees across the world back in May. Read more
Loyalty management platform Glue raises $8 million in series A. The investment will bring AI-driven automated customer loyalty to millions of local businesses. Read more
Logz.io completes $23 million round E. Open-source company is growing at a rapid pace and added a record number of new clients in 2020. Read more
New innovative vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer are safe, says top Israeli virologist. “There isn’t any need for alarm,” says virologist about new coronavirus vaccines. Read more
“The gaming industry’s biggest growth opportunity comes from the cloud.” The remarks, made by Global X CEO Luis Berruga, were made at Calcalist and Google’s gaming conference. Read more
Anheuser-Busch firing 20 employees in Israel. World’s largest brewery implementing structural changes in the development centers that it set up in Israel as part of digital transformation. Read more
Meet the Israeli company that is revolutionizing Disney’s streaming distribution. The entertainment giant will use technology developed by Qwilt to improve its streaming quality and free up bandwidth; Qwilt CEO calls the deal a “significant breakthrough.” Read more
Israel named by Mastercard as the best country for women entrepreneurs. Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs for 2020 highlighted Israel’s success in institutional backing for SMEs and its goal of doubling the number of female entrepreneurs within two years. Read more
Chinese consortium invests $106 million in Israeli 3D imaging semiconductor company Inuitive. Inuitive has developed technology that optimizes consumer experiences and enhances competitive advantages in the areas of robots, drones, augmented reality, and virtual reality. Read more
Novotalk sets out to become ‘Duolingo’ for people with speech disorders. Using a blend of human clinicians and artificial intelligence, users can practice speech therapies to overcome stuttering. Read more
Survey finds Israelis love online shopping but some are hesitant to do so for fear of fraud. While 66% of Israelis plan to purchase online during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, another third is hesitant due to increased fraud, finds survey. Read more
American VC Ibex Investors raises $100 million fund to invest in Israeli tech. “The leveraging of our vast network of contacts in the U.S. and our specialty in public markets allows us to help our portfolio companies to enter the global market,” said vice president Nicole Priel. Read more
Appointments | The Floor appoints Elisha Wiesel as Chairman, bringing 25 years of Wall Street with him. The former Goldman Sachs Chief Executive will help take the fintech platform to its next stage of growth. Read more
Business as usual: Vast majority of Israeli tech companies planning to raise salaries in 2021. Despite Covid-19, a new report shows that 84% of Israeli tech firms intend to increase wages next year. Read more
After a coronavirus vaccine is approved, what happens next? On Dec.
10, the FDA is expected to announce whether it will approve Pfizer’s new vaccine, but 2 trillion people will not receive it until the end of 2021. Read more
U.S. firms set to be barred from Israel Aerospace Industries’ $5 billion IPO. A fear of litigating in American courts means Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company will be looking for funding elsewhere. Read more
A peek into Microsoft’s green new Israeli mega campus. The campus, which spans 46,000 square meters, will serve thousands of local and visiting Microsoft employees. Read more
Survey: This holiday season Americans are flocking to digital gift cards. In a study conducted by Rise.AI, consumers are adopting digital gift card payments to help boost local economies while maintaining social distancing measures. Read more
Work-from-home fatigue? Cybereason told employees to get off Zoom. For one week every quarter, cybersecurity company Cybereason ended all Zoom meetings to avoid fatigue. Here’s what happened. Read more
DiplomaTech | Israeli tech companies should heed China’s calls to ‘Go West’ urges Chengdu trade envoy. Agriculture, water, life sciences, cleantech, medical equipment and automotive are among the leading sectors in which Israeli companies are active in southwest China. Read more
Who needs an office? Working outside is Israel’s hottest fall trend.
With people weary from sitting at home, public gardens, sidewalks, and parks give ‘open space’ a new meaning. Read more
Analysis | Eytan Stibbe will blast off toward a new future of spaceflight. With plans for the next Israeli astronaut to fly aboard a SpaceX craft, commercialized spaceflight is bringing about a new era. Read more
Opinion | 40 years on, we can thank the Bayh Dole Act for enabling
Covid-19 vaccines. The law effectively allows universities, small business, and non-profits to claim the ownership of patented inventions developed with US Federal research dollars. Read more
Round B | Even when they’re dead wrong, the customer is always right. Shaul Olmert breaks down the importance of putting your product in front of real people as early in the development process as possible. Read more
Appointments | Mark Oun named as CEO of Gett Delivery. Oun will aim to build on the recent growth experienced by the company while also continuing in his role as CEO of Gett-IL. Read more
UAE views Israel as a strategic cybersecurity partner, says head of national cyber authority. “Israel has the best talent in the field and we are working together in order to protect the digital space,” said Mohammad Al Kuwaiti. Read more
Israel’s Forter gains unicorn status following $125 series E. The online fraud prevention company has doubled in size and revenues as the ecommerce world comes into its own. Read more
Verbit raises $60 million to expand automated transcription software. The company’s software combines artificial intelligence and human intelligence in order to provide a smart and quick professional level transcription solution. Read more
Israeli fintech BondIT acquiring Germany-based Scorable. The acquisition will be carried out as a shares exchange, estimated to be worth $12 million to $16 million. Read more
InvestiNation launches new platform to democratize investment opportunities. American-based accredited investors can invest in opportunities without the need for a VC or family office. Read more
OurCrowd announces $60 million strategic investment from Japan’s ORIX. Over the past several years, Japan-Israel trade has increased significantly with Japan becoming one of the largest investors in Israeli tech. Read more
Israel’s BeyondMinds raises $15 million for AI-as-a-Service platform.
The startup is focused on the difficulties companies have in the development, integration and maintenance of AI solutions. Read more
AI21 Labs completes $25 million round led by Pitango. AI21 Labs’ first product, Wordtune, which was launched last month, is a writing companion powered by AI technology that is capable of understanding context and meanings. Read more
Demand for tech workers in Israel has nearly returned to pre-Covid-19 levels. Uncertainty about the future and reduced government aid has kept demand for employees low in other sectors. Read more
For ‘Aterans’ strength lies when they’re in a group. Atera’s VP of HR, Shani Brounshtein, joined CTech to discuss how the remote-first IT management company keeps its sense of community while working from home. Read more
Israel Aerospace Industries privatization set to go ahead in first half of 2021. The shares of the publicly-owned company are expected to be issued at a planned valuation of NIS 12 billion. Read more
Opinion | The fruits of peace will pass through Israel’s seaports.
Collaboration and mutual investments by the Israeli and UAE seaports meet the definition of sustainable economic fruits and the best interest of the entire Israeli economy and public. Read more
Survey: Working from home may cost Startup Nation its innovative edge. Newly released Startup Snapshot report based on data from over 200 Israeli startups has highlighted the many disadvantages of remote work. Read more
K Health raises $42 million at a $700 million valuation. Amid Covid-19 Pandemic CEO says demand has risen by 1,000% in the last year. Read more
Israeli blockchain security startup Fireblocks announces $30 million round as Bitcoin spikes. Since launching in June 2019, Fireblocks has facilitated the transfer of over $150 billion in digital assets for enterprise and institutional customers in Asia, Europe and North America. Read more
Israel’s build.security completes $6 million seed round to simplify enterprise authorization. The round was led by YL Ventures and CrowdStrike co-founder and CEO George Kurtz. Read more
Opinion | Three things they didn’t tell you in Netflix’s ‘The Social Dilemma’. The documentary is a case of good intentions that got a little off course and could use some fine-tuning. Read more
Obligo raises $15.5 million to push adoption of security deposit solution. The fintech startup offers an alternative that allows renters to provide landlords with a limited billing authorization based on open banking technology and backed by credit. Read more
Israeli VC announces first investment in UAE micro-mobility company Fenix. Maniv Mobility invested $3.8 million in the Emirati company’s seed round to launch scooter operations in Abu Dhabi and beyond. Read more
NSO Group: The needs of each employee are different in lockdowns. When all your employees are sent to work from home, they each face unique challenges that they need to overcome, explains NSO Group’s Chief People Officer. Read more
Analysis | Ransomware victims are in the eye of the storm. A new U.S. Department of the Treasury advisory is threatening to shake up the way cybersecurity companies handle ransomware attacks. Read more
Mind The Tech 2020 | Covid-19 is an accelerator, not disruptor, says former NSA Director. Speaking with Nimrod Kozlovski for Calcalist and CTech’s Mind The Tech 2020 event, Michael S. Rogers shares how the pandemic changed investment strategies. Watch full video
MTT | Startup Nation to Scaleup City: Insight Partners shares the key difference. Hilary Gosher, Managing Director at Insight Partners, shares how Israeli companies can grow once they secure their market. Watch full video
MTT | YL Ventures announces $6 million investment in build.security during Mind The Tech 2020. Speaking with Calcalist and CTech’s Ron Friedman, Yoav Leitersdorf shared the news alongside Crowdstrike’s Amol Kulkarni, whose CEO is also an investor. Watch full video
MTT | Israel’s leading water company has just entered the tech space. Mekorot, Israel’s national water supplier, discusses the ways it overcomes the country’s unique challenges. Watch full video
MTT | Bring on SaaS IPOs: After Covid, Israeli software companies are charting a new course. The pandemic has played an important role in the boost experienced by the SaaS sector, says JFrog CEO Shlomi Ben Haim. Read more
