CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News Jan. 26, 2022
Hunters raises $68 million Series C, taking funding to nearly $100
million in five months. The Israeli cybersecurity startup is developing a POC platform designed to protect organizations from intrusion and unidentified attacks on the cloud, the corporate network, and endpoints. Read more
Ridge raises $12 million Series A for flexible cloud architecture. The
Israeli startup’s cloud is built upon existing infrastructure in hundreds of data centers across the globe, partnering with the likes of T-Systems, NTT and INAP. Read more
ChickP completes $8 million Series A for its chickpea protein isolate.
The Israeli company also announced the hiring of Liat Lachish Levy as its new CEO. Read more
NSO Chairman quits company amidst ongoing turmoil. Asher Levy, who
served as Chairman since April 2020, has left the embattled company behind the Pegasus spyware. Read more
Spring Games raises $7 million Seed round to develop NFT-powered
games. Playtika led the round in the Israeli startup, which is building Play-to-Earn games on blockchain infrastructure. Read more
SpaceIL and Parasol Foundation launch NIS 1.5M program to boost women in space industry. The Parasol Foundation Women in SpaceIL program will provide scholarships to female engineering students, graduates
and allow them to take part in construction of next lunar spacecraft. Read more
Addionics closes $27 million Series A for next-generation batteries. The Israeli company is focused on redesigning battery architecture,
replacing the electrode’s traditional 2D layered structure with an integrated 3D structure. Read more
Appointments | Noogata appoints Dr. Guy Zinman and Cholit Bachrach to executive positions. The two additions will be the company’s new VP of Product Strategy and VP of HR. Read more
Opinion | The key steps for SMBs to stay safe from cyberattacks. “The
building blocks of a well-thought-out cyber resilience plan are being able to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyber threats,” writes Rotem Shemesh of Datto. Read more
Mapping the Israeli Metaverse startup landscape. The Metaverse is the
hottest buzzword in tech, both globally and in Israel. New research by Remagine Ventures has mapped the close to 50 Israeli companies and
startups that are already active in building Metaverse technology. Read more
Insurtech startup Sayata adds $35 million to Series A. The Israeli company, which streamlines the quote-bind-issue process for insurance brokers, took its Series A to a total of $52 million. Read more
Global call center giant Webhelp establishes operations in Israel,
hiring 500 employees. Webhelp, which employs more than 95,000
employees in over 50 countries, serves over 1,300 clients. The French company’s Israel office will be led by Einat Benjamini, who established Golan Telecom’s operations in the country. Read more
Next Israeli astronaut’s 35 experiments revealed. Needle-free blood tests, cosmic lightning, super-vegetables, and nano-ghosts are just a few of the innovative experiments Eytan Stibbe will test during his February mission to the International Space Station. Read more
Pandemic pushes techies lunch money to new highs. While more employees are working from home, money set aside for subsidized meals has risen by 18% over the past two years. Read more
Opinion | The rise in secondary deals is great news for the Israeli
tech sector. “Recognizing secondary-share transactions as a legitimate, worthy, and valuable process for various industry players can drive the high-tech market one step further,” writes Moran Chamsi of Amplefields Investments. Read more
Appointments | Five Sigma expands team with four new appointments. The insurtech startup appointed a new CMO, COO, VP of HR, and VP of Product. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Exploring the 6 habits that define high performers. Ran Korber, Co-Founder and CEO of BreezoMeter, shares insights after reading “High-Performance Habits” by Brendon Burchard. Read more
“The secondary celebration will not continue. The market of 2021 is
over.” Shlomo Kramer is the godfather of cybersecurity. Since founding with his partners the pioneering Check Point, he has built two more giant companies, his latest being Cato Networks. He’s also invested successfully in dozens of startups, several of which have already become unicorns. Read more
A deep dive into Israeli tech’s record-breaking year. A new report by
Viola reveals that total funding by Israeli tech startups reached $27 billion in 2021, with $8.1 billion being raised in a record-breaking fourth quarter. Read more
Israeli police used NSO’s Pegasus to spy on local mayors, their
relatives. Police tapped phones of three heads of local authorities, whom law enforcement suspected of engaging in corrupt activity, but no evidence was found and no indictment filed; some were detained, with their homes searched. Read more
Impala’s Impact Intelligence platform brings innovation to the
nonprofit sector. The company received $1.05 million from investors Oren Ze’ev, Zack Rinat, and Amnon Landan to create a unique BI tool for nonprofits. Read more
Asterra is looking to the stars for the answers. “From the stars to the ground, our mission is to help humanity better understand what’s going on on our planet by using synthetic aperture radar,” says Asterra CEO. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: The 3 must-have traits to be a successful leader. Liav Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Humanz, shares insights after reading “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers” by Ben Horowitz. Read more
Opinion | Israeli innovation is up for the sustainability challenge.
“Israel is putting a concerted effort into becoming the go-to hub for climate change-battling innovation, aiming to make up in its ingenuity what it lacks in size,” writes Yael Weisz Zilberman of Start-Up Nation Central. Read more
Step-by-step: How Israel Police used NSO’s Pegasus to spy on citizens. Marking the target, hacking the phone, filing the information, real-time tracking and data analysis – Calcalist reveals what every step of the spyware operation looked like. Read more
Israel Police used Pegasus to track activist’s secret use of gay dating app. Police officer who was in charge of tapping activist’s phone with NSO’s spyware, called individual a ‘danger to democracy’, claimed info on his use of Grindr while married ‘serves as leverage’ in investigation. Read more
Vertex Ventures strikes $150 million deal with StepStone for fourth
fund holdings. Among the startups included in the Israeli VC’s fourth fund are several promising unicorns, including OwnBackup, Verbit, Yotpo and Axonius. Read more
National Center for Innovation and Blue Economy to be established in
Haifa. The City of Haifa, through hiCenter, has approved a NIS 10 million investment for the establishment of the new center. Read more
Appointments | Earnix names Kyle Caswell as Chief Revenue Officer. The financial executive has extensive experience in the insurtech sector and was brought on to help accelerate the Israeli unicorn’s growth. Read more
Opinion | An international crisis hits the education system, and
workplaces pay the price. What is the connection between the school crisis, high-tech challenges and the problems of the labor market? What can be done about this, and how does it relate to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals? Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Managing our information overloads in our social media age. David Lavenda, Chief Product Officer at harmon.ie, shares
insights after reading “Too Much To Know: Managing Scholarly Information Before the Modern Age” by Ann M. Blair. Read more
The mysterious Israeli cybersecurity startup that has raised $100
million under the radar. Island, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Dan Amiga together with Michael Fey, the former CTO of Symantec and McAfee, is developing a secure browser for organizations. Read more
Move over NSO: Israeli police is paying private hackers to spy on
citizens. The police’s cyber division employs external hackers to collect intelligence on targets. The hackers don’t have security clearance, were not trained as police officers, and are exposed to extremely private and secret information. Read more
Viola Ventures announces new $250 million fund for early-stage
investments. Eight of the Israeli VC’s portfolio companies reached unicorn status and beyond in 2021. Read more
Secret Network announces $400 million in ecosystem funding. Israeli
startup SCRT Labs, the core development team behind Secret Network, announced a new $225 million ecosystem fund and a $175 million accelerator pool. Read more
OpenWeb acquiring Hive Media Group for $60 million. The acquisition
follows the Israeli company’s $150 million Series E at a $1.1 billion valuation two months ago. Read more
Polar Security leaves stealth with a $8.5 million Seed round to protect cloud data. It is the first solution to automate discovery and
classification of known and shadow data and their flows, helping teams
regain control of cloud data. Read more
Orca acquiring web application security startup RapidSec. The unicorn
is purchasing its fellow Israeli company in a deal estimated to be valued at $5 million. Read more
Insurtech startup Honeycomb raises $15.4 million. The Israeli digital
insurance provider has developed a technology stack for multi-family properties with the aim of assisting landlords and condo owners associations seeking insurance. Read more
Fintech company Personetics raises $85 million from Thoma Bravo. The Israeli firm has developed a data-driven personalization and customer
engagement platform and partners with over 80 financial institutions in 30 global markets. Read more
Truecaller acquires Israeli phone call verification tool CallHero for
$6.5 million. CallHero’s headquarters in Israel will be transformed into Truecaller’s local cloud telephony department and R&D center. Read more
Pentera wins government tender for cyber testing and validation.
Speaking ahead of Calcalist’s online Cyber 2022 event, Pentera’s Sivan Harel joins CTech to discuss the company’s recent accomplishments. Read more
Appointments | Mixpanel appoints Ofer Polivoda as Country Manager, Israel. American company Mixpanel has made its official move to Israel and Polivoda will lead all of the company’s local activities. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: Let’s change the way we think. Noam Brezis,
Co-founder and CTO at Pecan AI, shares insights after reading “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant. Read more
