CTECH – Israel’s Latest Technology and Innovation News
Israeli arms and defense companies invited to Abu Dhabi for Middle East’s largest exhibition of its kind. As part of the agreement, companies from the Gulf’s defense sector will also take part in ISDEF 2021, which is scheduled to be held in Israel in June of next year. Read more
Qwilt partners with Cisco to tackle increasing video streaming demand. British Telecom is the first company that will integrate the new development in its infrastructure. Read more
Study: 82% of workers think AI can support their mental health better than humans. 2020 has been the most stressful year in history and people want robots to help them, claims new Oracle study. Read more
SiteAware announces $10 million round A to promote AI construction solution. The Israeli company has developed a standard it has named digital construction verification (DCV) that verifies completeness of work on building sites and identifies deviations in real-time. Read more
Real estate startup Samson Logic raises NIS 1.5 million to increase safety at construction sites. The startup earned a place in the first cohort of the Proptech Zone Startup Accelerator, designed to promote startups in a variety of industries. Read more
“Seamless for Fitness”: How Gudu aims to adapt an old-fashioned business for the Covid-19 era. After 40 years of long term subscription models, Covid-19 forced gyms and fitness instructors to adopt an online marketplace strategy. Read more
After two years in the shadows, Rami Beracha is raising a new fund in the UAE. The former Pitango partner who left because of allegations of harassment seeks to cultivate innovation in the Gulf state. Read more
Taking Control: Israeli cyber firm uncovers flaw that could have left 18 million Comcast remotes open to spying. According to GuardiCore, any hacker with a cheap RF transceiver could have used it to take over an XR11 remote; Comcast says it has patched up the vulnerability. Read more
Israeli cyber company Illusive Networks completes $24 million series B. The company’s solution creates a hostile environment for attackers, depriving them of the means to progress toward critical assets. Read more
Elbit’s U.S. subsidiary secures $50 million Army contract. The company has closed $118 million in contracts since the beginning of October. Read more
Israel’s REE Automotive hits the track with three electric, fully modular, next-generation platforms. REE showcased the P1 platform geared for last-mile inner-city delivery applications, the P2, designed to transport passengers and cargo, and the P4 which is uniquely built for the North American market delivery segment. Read more
HR Post Covid | In a post-Covid-19 world, Sisense’s HR Manager asks: what does success look like? Continuing our series on how HR Teams pivoted in a post-Covid-19 world, Sisense’s HR Manager Liron Prizant talks to CTech about how the company adapted to prepare for the future of work. Read more
Curv partners with BNP Paribas on secure digital asset transfer. The Israeli-founded startup completed a proof of concept with the French banking giant to transfer security tokens using the ERC1400 standard. Read more
Round B | When it comes to startups, it’s not wise to get too attached to your initial idea. Shaul Olmert thinks back to a messy lunch in New York and explains why execution often trumps inspiration. Read more
$150 million in four days: Tipalti completes a series E round at a valuation of more than $2 billion. Tipalti has developed a solution that allows companies to complete payment transfers automatically, even globally. Read more
Joe Montana among seed investors in Israeli startup Walnut. The company, which is also backed by NFX, aims to provide sales teams with a fully customizable demo platform. Read more
Israel’s Butterfly Medical raises $7 million to fund FDA clinical trials for enlarged prostate implantable device. Butterfly develops an implant that is positioned in the prostatic urethra for men suffering from BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) symptoms. Read more
Israel’s OurCrowd signs MoU with Phoenix, a UAE-based business development company. The partnership between OurCrowd and Abdullah S Al Naboodah follows the appointment of Dr. Sabah al-Binali as head of the VC’s Gulf region operations. Read more
Opinion | This research was sponsored by Amazon: How ‘Big Tech’ is compromising academic integrity. After ‘Big Tobacco’ and ‘Big Oil,’ it is now the tech giants’ turn to try their hand at influencing the public debate by contributing to research institutes. Read more
Israeli and Russian researchers reveal rare malware that targets UEFI firmware. Hackers associated with China used the difficult-to-remove malware to spy on diplomats and NGOs, say Kaspersky researchers. Read more
Israel’s ElectReon inks deal with transport infrastructure giant Eurovia to install wireless electric road systems in Europe. ElectReon has developed a technology that enables electric vehicle batteries to be charged while the car is in full motion using copper coils placed under the middle lane of the road. Read more
Israel’s AccessFintech completes $20 million round led by Dawn Capital. Deutsche Bank and existing investors J.P. Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs also participated in the new round after Covid-19 pandemic resulted in cancelation of round planned for February. Read more
Appointments | Urban Aeronautics appoints Nimrod Golan-Yanay as new CEO. Golan-Yanay was previously the company’s Vice President of Business Development and has 25 years of Israeli Air Force experience. Read more
Israel targeting local production of Visby’s portable Covid-19 PCR test kits. Minister of Science in contact with the company’s Israeli founder to gain access to the kits that are in great demand across the globe. Read more
Israel announces emergency stimulus program to boost employment in tech and industry. The NIS 60 million program aims to quickly train 3,000 job seekers for R&D positions and R&D support roles. Read more
Facebook suing Israeli company BrandTotal for harvesting users’ data. The social media giant claims BrandTotal and Israeli-founded Unimania scraped data from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Amazon, in order to sell “marketing intelligence” and other services. Read more
Interview | Delegating the IIA to a government ministry would be an act of madness, says outgoing CEO. After four years at the head of Israel’s tech investment arm, Aharon Aharon shares his successes and failures. Read more
Game Changers: The evolution of Israel’s video game industry. Is the local gaming ecosystem ready to make the leap from casual mobile games to Triple-A titles? Read more
Israel’s aMoon leads $110 million funding round in SOPHiA GENETICS. The new funding aims to boost the medtech company’s penetration in both the U.S. and Asian markets. Read more
Sonovia claims tests prove its facemask eliminates more than 99% of Covid-19 particles. The results come after the Israeli company conducted a test with the ATCC Testing laboratory. Read more
Employer Branding | For Citi, attracting top talent meant disrupting its traditional business focus. Amit Baruch, who heads Citi’s Innovation Lab in Israel, talks to CTech about how the company pivoted from conventional banking to become a modern-day Fintech supporter. Read more
“Remote learning is failing our children”: Education expert warns of a lost generation. Video calls are no substitute for in-class education, underprivileged communities bear the brunt, says Ben-Gurion University researcher. Read more
Israeli tech entering a new age with the influx of local institutional investors. The program to incentivize investment in Israeli tech companies in early stages of sales and growth is set to result in more than $1 billion in investments in the coming year alone. Read more
