CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News Feb. 28, 2022
Russia-Ukraine conflict presenting Israeli tech with real-world challenges. While the world’s eyes are glued to the news, Israeli high-tech companies with centers in the Ukraine attempt to move hundreds of their workers out of the country. Read more
Tnuva launches foodtech VC fund. Tnuva NEXT will conduct 2-3 investments each year either in the incubator or to support post-Seed and Series A rounds. Read more
Spotlight | Compete is helping companies win the battle over talent. The husband-and-wife founders are rethinking human resources recruitment practices by streaming their insight-laden platform to tech companies, helping them gain a competitive edge in the job market. Read more
Playtika looking for a buyer just one year after IPO. The Israeli gaming company announced that it has initiated a process to evaluate its potential strategic alternatives, including a sale of the company. Read more
Appointments | Former Unit 8200 cyber head joins Sygnia to lead Incident Response Division. Amir Becker was previously Head of Cyber Operations at Unit 8200, the IDF’s cyber and intelligence unit. Read more
Opinion | Brand loyalty is dead: long live the era of the modern apps. “The term ‘brand loyalty’ is fast becoming a thing of the past to be replaced by the desire for an outstanding digital experience,” writes Dor Zakai, EMEA Senior Director of Solutions Engineering at F5. Read more
Opinion | Recruiting talent in the era of remote working: the power of virtual reality. “In order to successfully recruit new employees in our time, one must utilize technology and understand the virtual space,” writes Tali Cohen, Director of HR at Natural Intelligence. Read more
After being bitten by Wall St. bears – what’s next for Israel’s Unicorns? The unicorns that were born and bred in Israel and quickly found themselves on the U.S. stock exchanges are waking up to a harsh reality as the pandemic begins to wane. Investors, who are not content with anything less than phenomenal growth, have lost patience with the rise in expenses and the mounting losses. Read more
Insight Partners announces new $20 billion fund, remains buoyant on Israeli software. The U.S. VC has invested in around 75 Israeli companies to date, including the likes of Armis Security, monday.com, JoyTunes, and Lightricks. Read more
Spotlight | As Russia-Ukraine violence escalates, CYREBRO’s security efforts cross the digital into the physical. The company, which usually helps clients with their cybersecurity needs, is facing its second crisis in its second country in its second year. Read more
Boarding Pass | Frontitude’s battle against UX copy fatigue. The company’s $1.6 million funding is already serving more than 5,000 registered users from Payoneer, Yotpo, and more. Read more
Spacecom, Israeli government to invest NIS 400 million in space tech incubator. The “Earth & Beyond” incubator will be the first of its kind in Israel and will provide space tech and communications startups with funding to develop deep-tech. Read more
Varos emerges from stealth with $4 million Seed round for its competitive analytics platform. “We envision a world in which companies don’t constantly have to reinvent the wheel, but rather learn from each other,” said Yarden Shaked, co-founder and CEO. Read more
Appointments | Sayata expands senior management with two new hires. Maayan Sanderovitz Eshed is its new VP of Operations in Tel Aviv and Upasana Unni was appointed Chief Commercial Officer in Boston. Read more
SecuriThings bolsters management team with three leading women. The Israeli startup’s Horizon platform provides real-time security and operational efficiency to improve system availability, organizational compliance, and cyber protection. Read more
Aporia raises $25 million Series A to make AI ethical and responsible.
The Israeli startup’s customizable ML observability platform enables data science and machine learning teams to monitor, debug, explain and improve their machine learning models and data. Read more
Fintech company Pontera raises $45 million, changes name from FeeX. The new name reflects the company’s aspirations to create a bridge between individuals and pension advisors, with its solution allowing financial advisors to securely and compliantly manage their clients’ held away accounts. Read more
anecdotes raises $25 million Series A for compliance operating system platform. The Israeli startup’s platform continuously collects and maps data from dozens of the most often-used systems and tools and leverages the data to power various applications for virtually any compliance need. Read more
Island announces partnership with cybersecurity icons. The news comes following the announcement that the company emerged from stealth with nearly $100 million for its Enterprise Browser. Read more
Crypto payments in Israel are on the rise, but still only NIS 21
million annually. Four local businesses dominate the crypto transactions space, being responsible for processing payments with a total value of NIS 8.3 million during 2021. Read more
Astrix Security emerges from stealth with $15 million Seed round to secure third-party applications. The Israeli startup provides full integration lifecycle management, starting with an immediate inventory of all third-party connectivity to enterprise applications, enriched with contextual data for exposure assessment and mitigation. Read more
Appointments | Cybersecurity startup Dazz appoints Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer. The company is currently building its go-to-market and operations organization, including sales, marketing, customer success and operations in the U.S. Read more
Opinion | Soft skills are crucial to Israeli tech maintaining its edge. “In the high-tech industry and other industries as well, emotional social skills have become one of the important criteria in the recruitment process and in the corporate culture,” writes Eran Feigenbaum, Oracle Israel Country Leader. Read more
CHEQ enters Unicorn club with $150 million Series C at $1 billion valuation. The Israeli Go-to-Market Security startup helps organizations looking to secure their business from invalid traffic. Read more
Cybersecurity startup Zero Networks raises $20 million. The Israeli company has developed a solution that manages access to each of the parts of the corporate network, so that only authorized persons and devices can access them at their permitted times. Read more
Smart mobility startup Valerann raises $17 million Series A. The company’s technology combines multiple data sources, including navigation apps, IoT sensors, cameras (machine vision), social media, and connected vehicles to provide real-time, accurate road intelligence. Read more
Israel Innovation Authority announces winners of NIS 500 million incubator program. Among the winners are Strauss’ food-tech Incubator, and other incubators in the fields of sustainability and space. The groups will collaborate with huge global corporations, which will accompany about 150 start-ups in their early stages. Read more
Fintech startup Kenbi raises $5 million in Seed to legitimize credit card transactions. The Israeli company’s technology can help recuperate some of the $800 billion lost due to incorrectly declined payments. Read more
Boarding Pass | Simetria’s $1.5 million investment to transform alternative assets in Israel. Simetria is backed by Tim Draper who led the Seed investment round via Draper Goren Holm VC. Read more
Asaf Azulay joining Team8 as VP of Marketing. Azulay will be leaving Bank Hapoalim where he currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer. Read more
Appointments | Glilot Capital appoints VP of Marketing, Investment Manager. The venture capital firm, which manages over $700 million in assets, made the appointments as part of its expansion. Read more
From the poker table to the yeshiva to revolutionizing the accounting world. He lived in Macau where he played poker for profit, came to Israel and became religious, married the daughter of a two-time Oscar winner, and is now attracting the biggest international investors to his Israeli startup aiming to revolutionize the accounting world. So, who exactly is Issac Heller? Read more
Selling out? Why startup employees are dumping their options. Some Israeli hi-tech employees seem to be in a hurry to unload their company options as quickly as they can, even at the cost of compromising on their startup’s valuation. Could this be one of the first signs of air starting to escape from the startup bubble? Read more
Amiti Ventures raising new $130 million fund. The fourth fund will be led by Ben Rabinowitz and Maya Pizov, with Managing Partner Modi Rosen electing to part ways after partnering with the VC three years ago for its third fund. Read more
The next work perk: Will Israeli high-tech move to a shortened work week? Sage’s development center in Israel will begin a pilot where they will work Monday through Thursday, will others follow suit? Read more
The VC aiming to be the “family and friends” of early-stage founders. Fresh.Fund offers pre-Seed funding to early-stage founders looking to penetrate Startup Nation. Read more
Appointments | Staircase.ai appoints Sivan Michaeli-Roimi as VP of Marketing. Michaeli-Roimi will help Staircase.ai focus on its global marketing and strategic efforts in 2022. Read more
“I think Silicon Valley is a state of mind more than a physical place.” Shuly Galili, Co-founding Partner at UpWest, speaks to CTech about the changing roles of California and Startup Nation for Israeli companies. Read more
Google to invest $25 million over next five years to diversify Israeli tech workforce. Google’s newest initiative builds upon its existing programs and partnerships which include Adva, a two-year computer science training program for ultra-Orthodox seminary girls, as well as a program beginning this month to integrate final year Arab engineering students into high-tech in collaboration with Tsofen. Read more
Boarding Pass | Salvador Technologies expects to create a new category in cybersecurity. Here’s how. The company has received $3 million to provide the world’s fastest recovery capability for critical OT systems. Read more
Interview | Food giant Strauss Group, Aviv Labs launch hummus-filled capsule to space. The Israeli corporation, which has supported numerous foodtech accelerators and startups, dished out a significant sum to send its chickpea plant experiment to space and encourage sustainable farming methods ahead of the next-Israeli astronaut’s March mission. Read more
Spotlight | Aurora Labs fighting recalls by optimizing automotive software development. The Israeli company’s vehicle software intelligence platform utilizes AI to improve car software quality, safety and security. Read more
Out of the Bubble | “We are trying to impact the technologies that most of us have to deal with on a daily basis.” Prof. Dan Blumberg, Ben Gurion University Vice President for Regional and Industrial Development, spoke to CTech about its place in the global fight for a better world. Read more
“It’s clear that all of us, by 2050, need to have net-zero.” During CTech’s visit to Beer Sheva, Khalil Abu Rabeah Ph.D. outlined what the Negev can bring to the fight against climate change. Read more
Appointments | Glassbox appoints Gabriela Koren as Chief Revenue Officer. Koren will lead the company’s commercial efforts to accelerate enterprise growth in key vertical industries and new locations. Read more
BiblioTech | CTech’s Book Review: 7 ways to transform your organization and win big. Assaf Eisenstein, Co-Founder and President at Lusha, shares insights after reading “7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy” by Hamilton Helmer. Read more
Opinion | A Better Place for directors and officers? “The Supreme Court made a clear statement to the Israeli startup community: Israeli courts will not intervene in informed decisions made by directors and officers in informed decisions made by directors and officers in good faith and without conflict of interest,” writes Adam Maimon. Read more
