CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News 5-13-22
The global domino effect is shaking up high-tech complacency and is rapidly approaching Israel. The sharp declines in capital markets over the past month are changing the playing conditions for high-tech companies. After years of enjoying almost unlimited money, companies are preparing for selective investments and a freeze on new hires. Read more
Solidus Labs secures $45 million Series B to monitor crypto market integrity and risk. The Israeli startup’s crypto-native risk monitoring suite serves dozens of leading crypto and DeFi platforms, financial institutions, and regulators, monitoring more than 1 trillion trading events per day in more than 150 markets. Read more
First quarter of 2022 was the best in Rapyd’s history, but we’ll soon begin feeling the new reality, says decacorn CEO. The Israeli company recently opened new offices in Dubai, but CEO Arik Shtilman knows it won’t be long before the financial slowdown reaches his company. “The small and medium-sized businesses will suffer from the rising interest rates, which will hurt their growth. That will also affect our growth,” he explained. Read more
CyberArk launches $30 million fund to invest in cyber startups. The new fund, CyberArk Ventures, will invest in early-stage cyber startups (Seed and A round) and has already invested in three companies: Dig Security, Enso Security, and Zero Networks. Read more
Komodor raises $42 million Series B for Kubernetes reliability platform. The Israeli startup’s automated approach to incident resolution accelerates response times and helps dev teams resolve issues. Read more
UK government opens gateway for Israeli tech companies interested in the NHS. The UK-Israel Tech Gateway program will open channels for collaborations and adaptation of Israeli healthcare tech for UK citizens. Read more
devOcean raises $6 million Seed round for cloud native security platform. The Israeli startup helps to collect security insights from all cloud and security tools, exposing each risk and its corresponding effect on every part of the cloud application. Read more
SOSense raises $4 million for life-saving underwater solutions. The Israeli startup has developed an underwater sensor that detects, with the help of audio signal analysis, prohibited entry into the water and alerts pool owners. Read more
CTalk | “These are interesting times, the past two years have been quite hectic.” Hamutal Meridor, Partner at Vintage Investment Partners, joined CTech at Meet&Tech to discuss her experience in the field. Watch full video
“Trigo is changing the retail market.” Michael Gabay, CEO at Trigo, joined CTech to share the company’s plans for the future. Watch full video
Opinion | How to tackle late-night meetings. Global Engineering Days let the AI and Data team at Intuit to address collaboration across time zones. Read more
Redefine Meat raising $250 million to expand 3D-printed animal-free meat substitutes. The Israeli startup raised $135 million just four months ago to fund production lines in Israel and the Netherlands as it builds on the development of its technology that replicates the texture, flavor, and eating experience of beef and other high-value meat products. Read more
Nexite raises $67 million Series C for connected merchandise platform. The Israeli startup’s platform comprises battery-free, long-range communication technology that provides a continuous stream of data,
automatically and in real-time. Read more
Travel insurance startup Faye raises $8 million in Seed funding. The Israeli company’s platform covers travelers’ trips, health, belongings, and even their pets, all via an app that sends real-time proactive alerts. Read more
Israeli government not investing enough in R&D, reveals Innovation Authority report. Israel was in first place in the OECD in R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 2020, but was in last place in government expenditure. According to the report, there are currently 360,000 people employed in high-tech in Israel, 235,000 of which are Jewish men. Read more
Quantum hub and Leumi Partners launching $30 million Q Fund. The firm will invest mainly in startups from the automotive, mobility, Industry 4.0, and logistics fields, which have been part of the Quantum hub program. The Q Fund will serve as the program’s financial arm, and be led by Liav Ben Rubi and Dana Taigman Koren. Read more
“In this period of dramatic structural change, I do not care about technology.” “Tech is the least important part of the next 20 years,” Paul Donovan, Chief Economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said at Calcalist’s Meet &Tech event. “The economic transformation, the economic change, does not come from technology, but how we use it.” Read more
“We need to develop leadership skills in order to handle remote management.” Stella Voulgaraki, Chief People Officer at Kaizen Gaming, was speaking during a panel at the WorkTech conference, discussing the
evolution of the HR world together with Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, and Anja Leschly, Chief Human Resources Officer at Conscia. Read more
“Even people with families are turning into digital nomads.” Fiverr’s COO Hila Klein was speaking during Calcalist and HiBob’s WorkTech conference. “Now the entire world is a technology hub, and Europe is turning into the new Silicon Valley,” she added. Read more
Novu raises $6.6 million Seed to build open source notification infrastructure for developers. The Israeli startup’s open source infrastructure aims to remove the time and complexity of building and maintaining product notifications. Read more
CTalk | How did Optibus take the top spot in Calcalist’s annual startup ranking? Optibus Co-Founder and CEO Amos Haggiag joined CTech at Meet&Tech to discuss the company’s ranking as the country’s most promising tech company. Watch full video
“There is a clear demand and clear need for space.” Calcalist’s third most promising Israeli startup of 2022, Ramon.Space, spoke with CTech about its place in a steadily growing market. Watch full video
Qualcomm closing on $300 million acquisition of Cellwize. The U.S. chip giant has already invested in the company through its investment arm, but is now interested in buying the startup which develops a smart RAN automation and orchestration platform that can help accelerate deployment of 5G networks. Read more
Augury acquires process-based AI company Seebo for $100 million. The Israeli unicorn will add to its machine health solutions Seebo’s process-based artificial intelligence which helps manufacturing teams optimize processes in the face of multiple, often-conflicting objectives such as improving quality, throughput and yield. Read more
YL Ventures announces $400 million fifth fund, the largest Seed stage cybersecurity-focused fund ever raised. The fund will be used to both lead the Seed rounds of approximately 10 startups at a pace of three
startups per year, and to invest in the companies’ follow-on rounds. Read more
proteanTecs raises another $45 million for deep data analytics of electronics. The Israeli company provides advanced cloud and edge enterprise solutions that monitor the health and performance of electronics. Read more
Sequentify raises $7 million to enable larger-scale DNA sequencing. The biotech startup will supply its next-gen sequencing libraries and software for cancer diagnostics, carrier screening, and Covid-19 monitoring. Read more
Oriient secures $11 million Series A funding for indoor positioning technology. The Israeli startup has developed proprietary algorithms that use Earth’s magnetic field, smartphone readings, and AI to accurately pinpoint any user inside a building. Read more
BookAway raises $35 million to digitize ground transportation industry. The Israeli company has acquired four consumer-facing digital brands over the past year that allow travelers to book buses, private transfers, ferries, and trains in advance and online. Read more
Telefonica’s venture arm Wayra touches base in Israel looking for investments. Its mission is to help the Spanish telecom giant with its innovation efforts. Read more
Micro-climate technology startup Sencrop raises $18 million led by JVP, will expand into Israel. The French company, whose data-driven precision app enables more than 20,000 farmers to have a crop-oriented
vision of the weather conditions, disease and pest risks, and their irrigation needs, will open an extension in the International Foodtech Center in the Galilee. Read more
CTalk | “People who have different ways of thinking about the world are absolutely critical.” Paul Donovan, Chief Economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, spoke to CTech at Meet&Tech to discuss the importance of diversity in the workforce during the 4th industrial revolution. Watch full video
Round B | Why trying before building is essential to every startup. “In startups, which are limited in resources, there is no choice but to use a little impudence, creativity, trial and error, to refine what is worth investing in and what is an idea that sounds good but is not yet ripe to invest in,” writes Shaul Olmert. Read more
Pyramid Analytics raises $120 million Series E for decision intelligence platform. The Israeli company’s platform delivers data-driven insights, providing instant access to any data and enabling automated governed self-service. Read more
BridgerPay raises $6 million Seed round for self-onboarding payment operations platform. The Israeli startup allows businesses to autonomously connect their website to a PCI DSS Level 1 end-to-end payment operations platform with over 500 ready-made connections. Read more
Former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo Joins NanoLock Security Advisory Board. Pardo, who will be advising CEO Eran Fine and the company’s senior management both on technological and commercial matters, was part of XM Cyber until its acquisition for $700 million last November. Read more
Leumit Start teams up with WeCcelerate to create a digital health accelerator. Leumit Health Services has signed an agreement to create an accelerator aimed at mentoring startup companies and entrepreneurs,
starting from the initial idea and ending with a functioning product with sales. Read more
“The record activity of 2021 will be difficult to repeat.” Alain Dobkin, Israel Country head for investment bank Stifel, is bullish on the local market. “The markets here have matured significantly and I believe Israel is well-positioned to continue with its success on the global stage.” Read more
BioGenCell raises $16 million Seed round led by Marius Nacht for microvascular diseases treatment. The Israeli startup uses stem cells from the patient’s own blood to treat microvascular diseases and is aiming to develop products that may be usable to restore tissues damaged by diabetes, kidney failure, pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, stroke, blindness, and more. Read more
4th industrial revolution is bringing the decline of political parties, warns UBS Global. Paul Donovan, Chief Economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, spoke to CTech ahead of Calcalist’s Tech@Work conference about the political impact of digital disruption. Read more
BiblioTech | Rome’s fall and its humble reminder for startups. Daniel Avital, Chief Strategy Officer at CHEQ, shares insights after reading “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon. Read more
Opinion | The risks and opportunities of metaverse digital twins. “Porting real-life experiences into the metaverse’s immersive environment will raise novel ethical, legal and social questions,” writes Dov Greenbaum. Read more
Suddenly everyone wants to be a Soonicorn. The current reality is teaching everyone that before pushing a startup to become a unicorn, it must be taught to gallop, that is, to generate revenue and profits and be a business, not just a company. This new animal, which shows maturity and responsibility, even has an excellent name: Soonicorn, “Soon to be Unicorn.” Read more
Gett valuation plummets to $265 million as company faces uncertain future. Investor VNV Global revealed that it is currently valuing its 24% ownership in the corporate ground transportation management company at just $63.6 million, based on a forward-looking revenue adjusted for the recent announcement of Gett that it would exit the Russian market. Read more
Investment firm Plus Ventures suing unicorn Lusha, claims it was defrauded of holdings. The firm claims it invested in a previous reincarnation of Lusha. The unicorn, which raised $205 million at a $1.5 billion valuation last year, said it has no connection with the plaintiffs and that its product was built based on independent intellectual property. Read more
Tel Aviv Municipality and Tel Aviv University opening joint workspace for startups. The Kiryat Atidim-Connect complex will cover a 780 square meter area and will be located near the CityZone program, which is home to over 20 startups that are developing smart-city solutions. Read more
BlueSnap preps Israeli startups for international success with new financial services license. It marks the first time an international company has received the license from Israel’s Capital Market Authority. Read more
SafeBreach welcomes Mor Lakritz as Chief Financial Officer. The cyber company’s platform continuously executes attacks, correlates results to help visualize security gaps, and leverages contextual insights to highlight remediation efforts. Read more
Opinion | Reigniting the passion: How to retain a company’s HR edge. “Only employees who are connected to the company’s story will want to stay for a long time. After a long learning process, it is clear to us
that our story is passion,” writes Checkmarx CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen. Read more
CTalk | “We are bringing the fashion industry into the world of technology and into the cloud.” Avihay Feld, CEO at Browzwear, spoke to CTech about how the worlds of fashion and technology are merging.
Watch full video
“Therapists rarely collect data – what happens in treatment is private and sacred but also a black box.” Dr. Shiri Sadeh Sharvit and Alon Rabinovich, Chief Clinical Officer and Co-Founder and CTO at Eleos Health, joined CTech to discuss their analytics platform for therapists. Watch full video
