CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation and Technology News May 6, 2022
The 50 most promising Israeli startups – 2022. The high-tech market has cooled off, so in this year’s list of the 50 most promising Israeli startups we placed a special focus not only on growth and innovative ideas, but also on business models, actual revenue and the ability to realize potential. Read more
Optibus is bringing public transportation into the 21st century. The Israeli startup started off as an intellectual challenge but is now active in over 1,000 cities, generating tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. Read more
Trigo is competing with Amazon, and giving it a run for its money. The Israeli startup transforms existing supermarkets and grocers into fully autonomous, digital stores, allowing retailers across the world to challenge Amazon. Read more
Even space isn’t the limit for Ramon.Space. CEO Avi Shabtai isn’t shying away from Ramon.Space’s lofty goals. “It is clear to us that regardless of what people might want to do in space, they will need computer infrastructure of the type we develop.” Read more
Startup success starts with self questioning. “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are the ones with the endless passion for the field in which they’re engaged,” writes Verbit CEO Tom Livne. Read more
Profit: Don’t take your eye’s off it. Growth and the rate of revenue are indeed still important to investors, but as euphoria turns more and more into doubt, companies are required to present a horizon of profitability and reduce their spending on wages. Read more
Principles towards success. “John F. Kennedy stated: “I am an idealist without illusions.” Such is the Tower DNA. If one relentlessly pursues high ideals, treats friendships as the treasure most dear with the understanding that friendship and loyalty are synonymous, such a person has a deep fountain of power,” writes Russell Ellwanger, CEO of Tower Semiconductor. Read more
The year that was for last year’s most promising Israeli startups. For the 14th year, Calcalist has ranked the 50 leading private technology companies in Israel. Here’s a look back at last year’s list, which included a dozen unicorns. Read more
Hello Heart closes $70 million Series D to prevent heart attacks. The Israeli startup’s flagship solution is an FDA-cleared blood pressure monitor coupled with an app that allows people to track their blood pressure, pulse, medications, weight, and activity using AI-based technology. Read more
Innoviz lands $4 billion deal with one of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturers. The Israeli company will become the direct LiDAR supplier for the manufacturer, which holds around a 10% share of the global auto market. Read more
Larry Ellison leads $21.5 million Series A in cancer treatment startup Imagene AI. Using only a digitized biopsy image, the Israeli startup’s diagnostic technology delivers real-time molecular analysis, increasing the level of accuracy and reducing the time required for results, from several weeks to just two minutes. Read more
Former NBA player Omri Casspi launches early-stage $50 million VC fund. Casspi began investing during his career in the NBA, becoming an active angel investor in the likes of DocuSign and DayTwo. Read more
Kahoona raises $4.5 million Seed round for privacy-focused data generation platform. The Israeli startup’s solution helps digital businesses protect their users’ privacy by generating user profiles through analysis of their interactions with websites. Read more
LinearB raises $50 million Series B to make software engineering more efficient. The Israeli startup’s engineering efficiency tool correlates data to identify bottlenecks and automate developer workflow optimization. Read more
“Using tech, we discovered soccer player Harvey Elliot’s capabilities before the rest of the world did.” “Our technology enables an athlete to analyze their capabilities compared to other players on the field,” explained Guy Aharon, co-founder and CEO of Playermaker. Watch full video
“Saving the bees is nothing short of a challenge to save humankind.” “Bees are the center of humankind’s food supply, and they’re dying,” said Batel Vallentine Blaish-Sultanik, the CBO of BeeHero during Calcalist’s Cloud and Data conference. Read more
Boarding Pass | “As the metaverse economy develops and grows, the demand for NFT products will increase rapidly.” ART AI has raised $1.8 million for its ‘text-to-art’ generator using AI for NFT designs. Read more
“Achieving net zero carbon emissions is possible.” Capital Nature, a female-run cleantech investment firm, is finding answers to fighting the climate crisis by investing in renewable energy startups. Read more
BiblioTech | CTech’s Book Review: Empowerment and autonomy inspired by Sci-Fi. Raz Abramov, Founder and CTO of EverC, shares insights after reading “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. Read more
CTalk | “Not everyone needs oil but everyone needs water, and the same goes for data.” Or Lenchner, CEO at Bright Data, shares how the company helps 15,000 clients collect data and understand their customers better. Watch full video
How is Dazz dazzling the cloud security space? The company, just more than a year old, already has Fortune 500 companies as clients. Watch full video
Delivery startup Avo firing 500 employees as part of company restructure. Avo, which has raised $80 million to date, will sack around two thirds of its staff after deciding to close a significant part of its residential activity and focus on deliveries to offices and companies. Read more
The Israeli Meme Insider selling Americans their own humor. Kobi Nizri has built an empire of American comedy, making money off viral parody clips, memes, and more. He discusses how he generates revenue from
cute cat pics, how not to offend an American audience, and how it all ties back to his childhood in the peripheral town of Ramle. Read more
“The future is in independent content creators.” evmux is hoping to challenge Riverside in the race to provide services for new media creators. Read more
“Licensing practices are limiting choice and competition on the cloud.” Francisco Mingorance, Executive Secretary of CISPE, explained during Calcalist’s Cloud and Data conference why there is a need for
principles of fair software licensing for cloud customers. Read more
“Once we focused on the cloud, our share price leapt,” says Microsoft Israel Country GM. “The minute we realized we needed to focus on the cloud – within less than a decade – our stock share price leapt by sixfold,” noted Ronit Atad during Calcalist’s Cloud and Data conference. Read more
CTalk | “Globalization is a very big question, and localization is an even bigger question.” Amit Sagiv, Co-Head of Wix Payments at Wix, shares how the company can accommodate the needs of billions around
the world. Watch full video
“With fintech, you get about three times more fraud than what you now get on traditional banking.” Gadi Mazor, CEO at BioCatch, joined CTech at FINTech 2022 to highlight some of the ways users can be protected for digital banking. Watch full video
“We are in a huge and tremendous moment in the recruitment industry.” Yotam Tzuker, Co-Founder and CEO at Team.me, joined CTech at FINTech 2022 to discuss the digitalization of the job search. Watch full video
Appointments | SentinelOne appoints Shani Ginat as VP of Human Resources. Ginat will help the cybersecurity powerhouse implement its global human resources strategy in the face of the fierce cyber talent
recruitment competition. Read more
AU10TIX founders in negotiations to sell company at over $1 billion valuation. Brothers Ron and Gil Atzmon are looking to sell their controlling stake in the company that develops identity intelligence technology aimed at reducing fraud. Read more
Mapping the Israeli cloud landscape. Israeli cloud technology shows no signs of cooling off as investor appetite remains strong and promising startups are continuously emerging from stealth. Read more
California adds 17 Israeli-founded unicorns in 12 months, now home to 32 total. No U.S. state has ever headquartered this many Israeli-founded unicorns at once. Read more
“In the next two years there will be a significant collapse in the fintech field.” Avi Eyal, co-founder of Entrée Capital, said that in the last quarter the amount of investment in fintech fell by 23% and he believes it will continue to fall. Yodfat Harel Buchris, Managing Director at Blumberg Capital, doesn’t agree. “I do not recognize a decline in the trend but a change in the mix.” Read more
CTalk | “There is an increase in sophistication and a depth of understanding of fintech in Israel.” Hadar Siterman Norris, Partner at Team8 Capital, discusses how entrepreneurs and VCs are looking at fintech. Watch full interview
“My 8-year-old kid doesn’t even know what the internet is.” The internet is so ingrained in our lives that Idan Ofrat, Co-Founder and CTO at Fireblocks, argues that the next generation can’t even see it. Watch full interview
“We are regulated and we are not afraid to say that.” Yuval Giveon, CTO at Neema, spoke at FINTech 2022 about ‘the new world’s language’ in payments. Watch full interview
Check Point solidifies position as Israel’s highest-valued company with Q1 results. The cybersecurity powerhouse beat first-quarter forecasts with 7% growth in revenue to $543 million and has seen its valuation climb to $17 billion over recent weeks despite a rocky market. Read more
Record 26 Israeli-founded unicorns now headquarter in NYC. New York continues to lead the way as the city with the most Israeli-founded unicorns outside of Israel. Read more
ARMO raises $30 million for open-source Kubernetes security platform. The Israeli startup’s project, Kubescape, has quickly surged in popularity, becoming one of the fastest-growing open source Kubernetes
security tools. Read more
Deep-tech startup Enervibe raises $3.4 million to convert movement into electrical energy. The Israeli company develops kinetic energy harvesters that enable high energy efficiency for the operation of wireless sensors and IoT devices. Read more
“We always talk about companies and technologies – but it is really a people business.” Liad Agmon, Managing Director at Insight Partners, describes the journey transitioning from entrepreneur to investor.
Watch full video
“The world of open banking has become a fundamental infrastructure layer.” Avi Eyal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Entrée Capital, shed some light on open banking and why it is fundamental to redeveloping the payment rails. Watch full video
“In order to manage a more distributed and sophisticated workforce, you need better tools.” Eynat Guez, Co-Founder and CEO at Papaya Global, made the remarks at Calcalist’s FINTech 2022 conference. Watch full video
“Precisely in places without tech infrastructure, such as Africa and the Philippines, fintech solutions are growing.” At a panel on financial solutions in a world without borders held as part of Calcalist’s 2022 fintech conference, Moshe Kimhi, CEO of Neema, said: “In such countries there are leading giants with millions of users and they are the pioneers of technology efforts”; Yuval Tal, Managing Partner, Team8 Fintech: “The e-commerce stores that will be popular in another five years have not yet been established.” Read more
