CTECH – Israel’s Latest Technology and Innovation News
Kaltura’s Nasdaq IPO called off due to low demand. The Israeli company had intended to go public at a $2 billion valuation. Is Israeli tech losing its shine on Nasdaq? Read more
Next Insurance eyeing more acquisitions after announcing $250 million funding at $4 billion valuation. Next has doubled its valuation since its last round in September 2020 and plans to use the new money to make additional acquisitions after completing two purchases in the past six months. Read more
Spiral secures $14 million in funding and debuts banking app for charity. Former Morgan Stanley and Skype execs co-founded the company with the aim to seamlessly combine banking and charitable giving. Read more
Audioburst launches new platform to help bring podcasts to any app.
Tuning into the audio craze, the company has launched Platform for Apps, a podcast feed for mobile apps. Read more
HR Post Covid | What HR tools are NVIDIA using to hire 600 Israelis? The computing and AI company is about to increase its employee headcount by 25%. Read more
Microsoft Israel execs rocked by Project Nimbus setback. The tech giant didn’t even make it past the first round of the tender for Israel’s flagship project for providing cloud services for the country’s entire public sector, including the military. Read more
Airwayz is reaching for the skies to help drone fleets fly safely. As more private companies prepare autonomous delivery fleets, Airwayz is setting itself as the air traffic controller of drones. Read more
Interview | U.K. Ambassador to Israel: 80% of the embassy’s activities involve economics. “Most of our time is devoted to technology,” Neil Wigan tells Calcalist. He estimates that Brexit will improve trade between the two countries. Read more
Israel launches first virtual real estate fair. Blue-and-white real estate event kicks off online during Passover holiday, visitors can “virtually” tour homes. Read more
Thoma Bravo acquires Applitools for $250 million. The new deal is the U.S.-based firm’s fourth in Israel. Read more
Capitolis raises $90 million in series C round for financial solutions. The fintech startup’s software platform drives resource optimization for capital markets, and enables financial institutions to more efficiently allocate their capital. Funds to be used to recruit additional employees, expand operations. Read more
ClimaCell announces $77 million in new funding alongside name change. The weather prediction company aiming to revolutionize the forecasting game is now called Tomorrow.io. Read more
Project Nimbus: Microsoft looks to be out, with Amazon and Google in it for the win. Israel is expected to select two providers for government services through the cloud. Read more
Zoomin raises $52 million series C, just four months after its previous round. 2020 saw a 300% increase in the volume of product content served through its platform. Read more
Partner TV becomes first Israeli provider to offer its customers access to Amazon Prime. CEO Isaac Benbenisti says the move strengthens Partner TV’s position as a super-aggregator of content. Read more
Augmedics raises $36 million led by Almeda Ventures for AR x-ray vision. The medical device company’s augmented reality system shows patients’ CT scans during real-time surgery. Funds to be used for developing next generation device and expanding marketing operations. Read more
Inside VOOM’s mission to be the ‘Lemonade for Mobility.’ Its CEO believes the mobility ecosystem is changing even faster than the insurance industry – and there’s a new space to dominate. Read more
Israel’s defense industries owed NIS 1 billion by country. The absence of a budget and the delay in the approval of the IDF’s multi-year plan are preventing the transfer of funds from the Ministry of Defense to Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit and Rafael. Read more
Rivery raises $16 million series A to expand SaaS DataOps platform.
The Israeli startup is the latest company to ride the shift to the cloud and plans to use the money to scale its solution, including data ingestion, orchestration, and transformation capabilities. Read more
Moshe Hogeg sues Samsung Ventures over nixed StoreDot shares deal. The Israeli businessman claims the VC fund is shirking its agreement to sell him its shares in the company for $13 million. Read more
HR Post Covid | During Covid-19, Elementor helps web creators be “the superheroes of the present.” When the whole world moved online, it was the e-commerce and online education sectors that were revolutionized – and Elementor was there for them. Read more
“One investor told us: you look like nice girls, you should go do something else.” After their VC fund iAngels marked two dream exits in a week, Mor Assia and Shelly Hod-Moyal discuss the secret to managing a successful firm while maintaining a work-life balance. Read more
Chip giant Nvidia set to recruit 600 new employees in Israel. The company’s announcement is expected to further intensify the battle for local tech talent. Read more
How Israel’s SuperSmart hopes to win where Amazon lost. Amazon’s ‘checkout-less’ stores were considered a failure – so how does a small Israeli company expect to revolutionize the global supermarket industry? Read more
Jolt and TALMA launch new program to close Israeli techies’ English language gap. A recent survey found that 3,000 applicants missed out on job opportunities due to below-par language capabilities. Read more
Pitango and Chemi Peres launching $230 million SPAC. The new special acquisition company, backed by VC funds Pitango, Amplify, and Sphera, has been named Israel Amplify Program and is targeting a merger with a technology company in Israel. Read more
Interview | From the Tel Aviv party scene to a successful Silicon Valley startup. Naama Alon’s path from graphic designer and party-thrower to co-founder of HoneyBook was anything but ordinary. She shared how she came up with the idea behind her startup, which was chosen by Glassdoor as one of the best companies to work for in the U.S. Read more
AnD Ventures raises $30 million for new seed investment fund. The fund aims to invest $1 million to $1.5 million in 17 early stage startups. Read more
Automakers showcase pandemic-resistant innovation in Tokyo. Covid-19 has spurred automakers to add some surprisingly sophisticated gadgets and update older vehicle models, befitting the escape-like mentality. Read more
Israeli startups stampeding towards alternative meat solutions. Can these 4 companies overcome the triple challenges of product texture, pricing, and regulation in the quest to transform the food industry’s holy grail? Read more
A good gamble: How Israel became a social casino powerhouse. They are scorned by gamers and puritans, but social casino games are the backbone of the country’s thriving gaming industry. Read more
Tech salaries continue to climb, highlighted by particularly sharp increases outside of Tel Aviv. Salaries of tech employees have increased by 5% overall in Israel over the past year, with demand climbing especially in the north of the country. Read more
Employer Branding | “We were happy to roll with the punches” during Covid-19, states Binah.ai. It’s not easy building an established and professional team during Covid-19. Here’s how Binah.ai is doing it. Read more
Opinion | There’s a new wave of Israeli startups out there: meet the pioneers in B2C, B2SMB, and Passionware. At Benson Oak Ventures, we have a core investment thesis around the concept of the ownership / passion economy. We dub “passionware” as the new category of software tools and platforms enabling anyone to be an entrepreneur, run a business to earn a living and, at the same time, fulfill one’s passions. Read more
Just as flights were grounded, Israel’s tech sector recalibrated and took off. The rapid response to the pandemic reality was the key to Israeli tech’s record year. Read more
Israeli blockchain startup StarkWare raises $75 million series B. The Netanya-based company has developed a cryptographic solution it believes can solve the problems of scalability and privacy hampering distributed ledger technology. Read more
Online trading platform Plus500 appoints Jacob Frenkel as its new chairman. The former Bank of Israel Governor and JPMorgan Chase International chairman says the company can help make financial markets more accessible to all. Read more
Israeli startup Osu raises $3.2 million to help self-employed workers in the UK. The company helps self-employed and freelancers accept and manage payments through an app. Read more
TASE-listed Big-Tech 50 invests $5.5 million in three mature startups. The R&D partnership has invested in Outbrain, Trax and Kenshoo, marks a 33% increase in stock price since its February listing. Read more
Morphisec raises $31 million to fortify clients’ remote work defenses.
The Be’er Sheva based cybersecurity company adds former Symantec and Intuit CEO to their board of directors. Read more
Optimove launches real-time segmentation capabilities for its CRM journeys. The new capabilities are a direct result of the company’s acquisition of event streaming platform Axonite last year. Read more
HR Post Covid | Covid-19 has made office interactions more formal, Cadence has found. Popping into someone’s office is not the same as carefully drafting an email, which makes communication that much more difficult. Read more
Appointments | Visa and Capital One alum Cetin Duransoy named as COO of Israeli fintech company Fundbox. Fundbox has experienced accelerated growth during the Covid-19 pandemic and is reportedly eyeing a Wall Street offering in the near future. Read more
Are Israel’s institutional investors late to the tech investment party? Senior executives at The Phoenix explain their strategy when it comes to investments in private companies and admit they missed the insurtech craze. Read more
IronSource quietly launches spin-off Rise shortly before $11 billion SPAC merger. Rise provides solutions to help maximize digital assets, create business growth and scale audience. Read more
Twitter acquires Israeli startup Reshuffle to advance new API. Social media giant believes small Israeli team headed by CEO Avner Braverman and CPO Amir Shevat can further advance the building of the new API introduced last year. Read more
Wix partners with Google to make it easier to manage business profiles. Wix’s existing partnership with Google already includes Google Analytics, Workspace, and more. Read more
Israel’s Tictuk acquired by Yum! Brands, owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. The company’s ordering and marketing platform is already in use in 900 restaurants outside the U.S. Read more
Suridata helps companies find their needles in data haystacks. As more companies grow and migrate to cloud services, locating your data can be overwhelming. That’s where Suridata comes in. Read more
Satellite software startup Utilis raises $6 million to detect terrestrial water leaks. The company’s analytics were first used to detect water on Mars. Funds will be used to accelerate growth and help reduce climate crisis. Read more
Pangea to help Israeli companies find ‘Green Pass’ forgers. With nearly half the Israeli population vaccinated, Green Passes are in hot demand. Read more
Elbit’s fantastic Covid-19 year: $4.7 billion in revenues, $11 billion in new orders. The company’s 2020 net income rose by 4.3% to $238 million. “I’m hoping for political stability in Israel which will enable us to receive approval for our multi-year defense contract with the military, and the Ministry of Defense to pay off its debts,” says CEO Betsalel Machlis. Read more
Israel’s IDENTI Medical will provide its AI-driven solutions to 1,000 French hospitals. The solution, which connects smart cabinets to a mobile app, will begin implementation next month. Read more
Round B | The tech sector has expanded far beyond its techie core. A film school graduate managing a startup? Sure that adds up. Read more
Opinion | Tips for women eyeing the AI industry. “Women should be fearless in their pursuit and don’t get discouraged if they’re the only woman in the room,” writes Ashley Kramer, Chief Product & Marketing Officer for Sisense. Read more
Opinion | 5 business insights and trends on China – Israel relations in the year of the Ox. “We believe that China will promote the discussion regarding the free trade agreement with Israel this year.” Read more
