CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News Jan. 19, 2022
Israel police uses NSO’s Pegasus to spy on citizens. Mayors, leaders
of political protests against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former governmental employees, were among those tracked by police without a search or bugging warrant authorizing the surveillance. Read more
Entrée Capital raises $300 million for new Israel-focused funds. The
VC’s fourth early-stage fund and second early growth fund bring the firm’s total assets under management to $1 billion. Read more
Walnut raises $35 million Series B for sales and marketing demo
experience platform. The Israeli startup’s no-code platform enables
customer-facing teams to create customized product demos. Read more
Israeli startup April raises $10 million in Seed funding for U.S tax
platform. The startup is currently rolling out its tax-as-a-service platform with a number of financial institutions, right in time for the U.S. tax season that starts in January and ends in April (hence the company’s name). Read more
NVIDIA to recruit hundreds of employees in Israel for new CPU division. The new division will hire local engineers and developers from different hardware and software fields. Read more
Israel’s Hexa partners with Microsoft to leverage Snap’s tech for 3D
retail shopping. Hexa has an entire infrastructure that can support data needed to create and distribute 3D models, 360-degree experiences, and AR at scale. Read more
Opinion | Israeli tech should fully embrace the FemTech revolution. “Many years of neglect and overlooking feminine needs are finally
ending with solutions burgeoning at an unprecedented rate,” writes Sharon Handelman-Gotlib, director of business development at Sompo Digital Lab Tel Aviv. Read more
Appointments | OpenWeb appoints Peyton Marcus as Chief Operating Officer. The media industry veteran will help the company fight
toxicity online, scale operations. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: A search for health, wealth, and happiness. Moshe Shlisel, CEO and Co-founder at GuardKnox, shares insights after reading “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson. Read more
The man who’s restoring common logic to artificial intelligence. After
uncovering the inconvenient truth about AI, Yaron Zinger decided to walk away from a promising career at Harvard and set up start-up Robust Intelligence with a mission to reduce the risks that companies take on when they install AI systems. Read more
Blockchain security startup Redefine raises $11 million Seed round for crypto firewall. The Israeli startup develops a DeFi security platform
catering to institutional investors to help them manage investment risks. Read more
KPMG survey finds employee shortage isn’t prime concern in tech
market. According to the accounting firm, the greatest challenge for Israeli tech companies at the growth stage is expanding overseas and then raising capital. Read more
Medtech VC eHV raises $30 million for new fund. The new fund plans to
raise a total of $40 million to invest in early-stage medtech companies. Read more
Analysis | From a unicorn to a penny stock in 180 days. Several of the
Israeli companies that hit Wall Street at 10-figure valuations last year have seen their share price plummet to such an extent that they could soon find themselves in the unenviable position of being considered speculative. Read more
PresenTense and The Galilee Society launch life science and climatech accelerator for Arab researchers. ScienTech will assist leading STEM researchers translate science into innovative ventures and is being
supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI). Read more
A Day in a Life | The Zen-Shiatsu therapist perfecting Weka’s
high-performance computing platform. Kfir Lev, a Senior QA Engineer at
Weka, loves science and spirituality and tries to combine both for a holistic worldview. Read more
Opinion | Scaling up sanely in a world of hiring madness. “We are in a
time that demands questioning, a cold and deep inspection of the “lay of the land” and a constant improvement of the skills of our recruitment teams and other HR personnel,” writes Gal Shor of Lightrun. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Assessing the importance of nonviolent
communication. Ehud Yalin-Mor SVP, WiseStamp GM at vcita, shares insights after reading “Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life” by Marshall B. Rosenberg Ph.D. Read more
fly high.” Nayax, which manufactures payment terminals, became last year the first Israeli unicorn to go public in Tel Aviv rather than the U.S., but it took it many years to reach that point. Read more
Supersmart raises new investment for autonomous fast checkout system. The Israeli startup’s funding round was led by publicly traded R&D partnership Millennium Food-Tech. Read more
Lane Bess joins Sepio as Chairman of the Board. The entrepreneur and
venture capitalist was formerly an exec at Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks. Read more
Appointments | NeuraLight appoints Dr. Gil Shklarski as Scientific
Co-founder and Board Observer. Before joining NeuraLight, Dr. Shklarski served as CTO of Flatiron Health, a healthtech company focused on cancer treatment and research. Read more
Opinion | Digital health startups facing rapidly transforming business
models in 2022. “It is more important than ever for digital health startups to have an in-depth understanding of the market dynamics and tackle a real business problem,” writes Nadav Shimoni of Arkin Holdings. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: How to hire winners during a tech talent
shortage. Yair Green, VP of R&D at Syte, shares insights after reading “Who: The A Method for Hiring” by Geoff Smart and Randy Street. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: A call to raise our children without gender constructs. Shachar Orren, Co-Founder of EX.CO, shares insights after reading “Brave, Not Perfect” by Reshma Saujani. Read more
Startup Spott announces arrival with digital insurance platform for e-commerce sellers. The Israeli company’s insurance enables e-commerce
businesses to protect their stores against claims and comply with up-to-date insurance requirements from leading marketplaces, most notably Amazon. Read more
Shield announces $15 million Series A for AI communications compliance platform. The Israeli startup has developed a platform that helps enterprises and financial institutions manage and mitigate communications compliance risks. Read more
“We have changed online shopping for consumers and retailers.” Despite being appointed as the CEO of Syte just five months ago, it is clear
Vered Levy-Ron feels at home at the product discovery platform. Read more
As Google bans third-party cookies, publishers find new ways to gather data. Storycards is an Israeli company giving power back to publishers
who are expecting to lose their advertising methods next year. Read more
Round B | A word of advice on advisors. Entrepreneurs need to think
long and hard before bringing in an advisor to their startup as it is rarely justified, argues Shaul Olmert. Read more
Appointments | Former Airbnb and PayPal executive joining NEXT
Insurance as CFO ahead of potential IPO. Teodora Gouneva supported
successful IPOs at both PayPal and Airbnb and also has extensive acumen in M&A, equity and debt financing, international expansion and new product launches. Read more
Appointments | Eleos Health appoints three healthtech veterans to its leadership team. Julie Merritt will serve as Vice President of Sales, Chuck Tepper as Vice President of Public Partnerships, and Merav Ben Ari as VP of People. Read more
Trigo piloting frictionless stores with largest U.S. supermarket co-op. The Israeli startup already partners with the likes of the UK’s Tesco and Germany’s REWE, Aldi NORD and Netto, but the Wakefern announcement marks its first foray into the U.S. Read more
Opinion | When it comes to investors, bigger isn’t better. “Smart founders know they need to have a robust group of people on board as possible to help them fulfill their vision,” writes Yoav Anaki. Read more
BigPanda enters unicorn club with $190 million funding at $1.2 billion valuation. The IT management company raised the sum in two rounds over a month-and-a-half in late 2021. Read more
Placer.ai raises $100 million at $1 billion valuation. “Our valuation has tripled since our last round six months ago,” said Noam Ben-Zvi, CEO of the location analytics and foot traffic data platform. Read more
Eureka raises $8 million in Seed for security in expanding cloud data
use. The company claims to create the industry’s first data cloud security management solution. Read more
Second Nature raises $12.5 million for its AI-powered interactive
sales coaching platform. The company offers a software platform for
immersive sales simulations in natural language with an AI-powered
conversation partner named ‘Jenny’. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Learning to overcome life’s inevitable
challenges. Irad Eichler, Founder and CEO of Circles, shares insights after reading “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Read more
A Day in a Life | The baker helping Nexar build for a future of
connected driving. Assaf Lavi is a father of two who loves baking bread, but he is also Infrastructure Team Lead at Nexar, a company he’s proud to be part of as it is making a difference in people’s lives every day. Read more
Tnuva doubles down on protein substitutes ahead of IPO. The food
manufacturer understands that in order to stay relevant it needs to increase its investment in cultured food products. Read more
Appointments | Liat Ashkenazi appointed as Senior VP of Engineering at OwnBackup. Ashkenazi previously led data security at cybersecurity company Imperva and also served as an R&D director at Harman. Read more
