CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News
Crypto giant Coinbase acquiring Israel’s Unbound Security. “We’ve long recognized Israel as a hotbed of strong technology and cryptography talent,” Coinbase said after securing the acquisition, believed to have cost more than $150 million. Read more
Fundbox becomes Israel’s newest fintech unicorn with $100 million
Series D at $1.1 billion valuation. The company, which has developed an AI-powered financial platform for small businesses, said it has crossed a $100 million annual revenue run rate and experienced new customer acquisition growth of over 200% thus far this year. Read more
Welcome to Yabacon Valley: What Nigeria’s tech town is learning from Israel. In recent years, Nigeria has grown a formidable tech ecosystem
in Africa focused on innovation to help solve its local challenges. Read more
Headhunter Heidrick & Struggles opening Israel office. The demand for
C-suite executives in the local tech market has resulted in one of the world’s biggest executive search firms ramping up its activity in Israel. Read more
Cycode raises $56 million Series B for software supply chain security
solutions. The new funding comes just six months after the Israeli cybersecurity company raised a $20 million Series A. Read more
TransitTech company Via raises $130 million at $3.3 billion valuation.
The entire proceeds from the Series G round will enter the Israeli company’s coffers, but it is also expected to embark on a secondary-focused funding round in the near future. Read more
StoreDot CEO: “We are doing what was considered impossible.” Doron
Myersdorf believes a “massive adoption of electric vehicles at a rate we have not seen before” is coming, as his company works on making batteries charge faster. Watch full video
Survey: Post-pandemic tech hiring slowdown expected in 2022. Some 65% of startups on the portfolio of Israeli venture firm OurCrowd said they had hired more aggressively in this past quarter, and the same proportion noted they will scale back hiring to key positions in 2022. Read more
Values & Innovation Conference | Finding the link between liberal
values, innovation, and the startup ecosystem. Calcalist and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Jerusalem Office invites you to a special online conference on Innovation and Startups which have triggered technological revolutions and made life more affordable, safe, and easier for people around the world. Watch full video
Online regulation is “a question of humanism”, says German MP. As
relationships between governments and tech companies tense up, Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Member of Parliament for the Free Democratic Party in Germany, outlines some ideas on how to fix it. Watch full video
“A company that realizes that it’s causing harm to its users must
course-correct.” Rabea Zioud, CEO of Hasoub, a group that connects the Arab population with the high tech industry, was speaking during a panel on Calcalist and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom’s Values & Innovation Conference. Watch full video
“To be innovative…you need to be free.” Speaking at Calcalist’s ‘Values and Innovation’ conference, Julius von Freytag-Loringhoven, Head of the Jerusalem office at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, shared some views on how tech and liberty can co-exist. Watch full video
IoT security company Armis announces $300 million round at $3.4
billion valuation. The Israeli company increased its value by $1.4 billion in just nine months and is raising funds ahead of its U.S. IPO. Read more
TAU Ventures, the VC of Tel Aviv University, raises a second fund of
$50 million. The fund intends to invest in 15 to 25 companies founded by Israeli entrepreneurs, with investment amounts up to $1 million per venture as a first investment. Read more
BioLight to partner with Ichilov Medical Center to develop innovative
ophthalmology technologies. According to the terms of the agreement, the company will retain the primary right to license technologies developed at Ichilov. Read more
Bank Hapoalim to invest $10 million in digital wallet Neema. Hapoalim, which cooperates with the fintech company through its Bit app, is in advanced stages to invest at a company valuation of $40-$50 million. In 2020, Discount Bank acquired 15.5% of Neema’s shares at a NIS 28.5 million valuation ($8.95 million). Read more
Spotlight | Algamed Therapeutics is tapping into nature for a femtech solution. The Israeli company is using algae to create a female-friendly treatment for atrophic vaginitis. Read more
A Day in a Life | Oxeye’s foodie redesigning the cloud AppSec world.
Yuval Krigel, a Software Engineer at cybersecurity company Oxeye, loves having the ability to influence many areas in his work, but when he’s home you are likely to find him in the kitchen. Read more
Opinion | The social platform shopping revolution is underway. The
intersection of two thriving sectors, e-commerce and fintech, has given rise to the social commerce experience. Galia Beer-Gabel, VP of Business Development and Operations at Team8, has identified consumers’ transition from Amazon, Walmart and eBay to Facebook, Tik-Tok, and Google. Read more
R&D chef, culture builder, game enabler: Tech jobs you did not know
exist. These are just a few of the new titles and roles emerging in the Israeli ecosystem, changing it from within. Read more
HomeBiogas is powering homes with recycled natural gas. The renewable energy startup is changing the way people treat waste, by recycling
food waste on-site and using it to power kitchens in homes, restaurants, and refugee camps. Read more
Melio co-founder leaves the Israeli unicorn. COO Ziv Paz is stepping away from the company he helped build, will remain company co-founder,
without an operational role. Read more
Insurtech company LeO completes $5 million Seed round. The round was led by iAngels and Menara Ventures, which will help the company expand
its activities in the U.S. market. Read more
Optimizing AI with AI. Deci AI, which recently raised $21 million, helps developers optimize their models, and reach the market faster. Deci CEO: Our goal is to make AI more accessible and scalable. Read more
Bye, Bye, Billboards: Regev Gur is taking tech advertising to the
influencers. As startups look for new ways to make themselves known to the public, Narrative Group is shaping their stories on social media platforms. Read more
A taste of Napa Valley in Bat Shlomo. Elie Wurtman, an entrepreneur known for numerous exits and IPOs, dreamed of establishing a winery similar to the ones he had visited in Napa Valley. He founded Bat Shlomo Vineyards in the area settled by Baron Edmond de Rothschild near Mount Carmel, transforming a historic house into a Visitors Center that offers wine tastings, chef’s meals, and a luxury hotel. Read more
“Hydrogen was once seen as dangerous, it’s now seen as a savior.”
Speaking ahead of Calcalist’s “The Energy Crisis: Here and Now” conference, Edward Morse, Managing Director, Global Head of Commodity Research at Citi Group, outlined his vision for the future of energy. Read more
Opinion | Prepare for a year of M&As in Israeli life sciences
companies. Massive fund raising, significant growth in M&A deals and even a first Israeli biomed SPAC; Dr. Laurent Choppe, Managing Partner at Cukierman & Co. Life Sciences, explains the current trends behind the sector’s amazing year and discusses what’s next. Read more
skills.” CTech caught up with Noa Zabar, CFO at Artlist; Kineret Karin, Co-Founder and COO at Rider Dome; Racheli Ganot, Founder and CEO of Rachip; and Hanna Yanovsky, GM and CRO at Caja Robotics, to hear their solutions on bringing more women into tech. Read more
Israel defense ministry slashes cyber export list, drops Saudi Arabia,
UAE. The Ministry of Defense has reduced the number of countries approved for export of cyber tools by Israeli companies from 102 to 37. Read more
Nym Health takes on hospital billing with automated AI tools. For
decades, it was almost impossible for hospitals to use artificial intelligence in their medical coding – until now. Read more
Bank refuses to deposit pensioner’s massive Bitcoin savings. 69-year-old Esther Freeman invested around $3,000 in Bitcoin eight years ago, but Israel’s Bank Hapoalim is unwilling to accept her 100x profits, claiming there is a “risk of money laundering and terror financing” as she made her initial purchase in cash. Read more
Appointments | Insurtech startup Parametrix adds four new members to executive team. The Israeli company has named Liran Bouskila as CFO, Jed Alpert as CMO, Sharon Haran as VP Europe, and Daniel Benjamin as VP Insurance. Read more
Opinion | A step toward human-centric health and wellbeing. To achieve human-centric health and wellbeing, individuals should have more control over their data, argues Kineret Muller. Read more
Opinion | When AI goes too far. “The use of AI to help in the hiring process is growing, and it has found an even broader audience because of the pandemic,” writes Dov Greenbaum. Read more
acquisition is expected to strengthen the Israeli fintech company’s platform offering for emerging brands and is intended to further expand its capabilities and customer base in the segment. Read more
Former Defense Minister, IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon to head
UAE-based VC. Synaptech VC was founded by the Avnon group and strategic partners from the Emirates and has already raised $50 million from institutional investors in the Emirates. Read more
Mindspace raises $72 million to expand shared office offering. The
Israeli company, founded in 2014 by Dan Zakai and Yotam Alroy, currently operates 32 branches in 17 cities in seven countries, spread over 100,000 square meters. Read more
UAE Embassy in Israel hosts bi-national innovation conference. The
event, organized in partnership with Start-Up Nation Central and the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, was initiated by UAE Ambassador to Israel H.E. Mohamed Al Khaja. Read more
It All Started With | From developing casual games in a room without a coffee maker to the abundance at Meta. Erez Naveh, a Lead Product Manager at Meta, goes back in time to 2007 when he founded startup
Come2Play and remembers how it all began, what they ate back then, what they wore, who was their main nemesis, how many rejections they received from investors before making their big breakthrough, and also gives young entrepreneurs valuable tips. Read more
Appointments | Cybersecurity startup Hysolate boosts managerial team with three new hires. The Israeli company has named Reut Meirson as VP HR, Lital Grossman as VP Marketing and Sivan Dayan as Director of Finance. Read more
Opinion | Why live streaming is taking over e-commerce. E-commerce live streams used to just be different marketing strategies that big brands implemented to increase their brand awareness or their social media followers. But after the continuous growth we see in Asia – things in the U.S. are starting to change very quickly. Read more
