CTECH – Latest Israeli Innovation & Tech News Aug. 26, 2026
Alice raises $140 million at $700-800 million valuation after betting that AI will need a new security layer. The Israeli company is applying years of intelligence on malicious online behavior to the rapidly expanding market for AI model and agent security. Read more
Nayax acquiring smart parking company IPS for $350 million. The fintech and payments company will acquire IPS in an all-cash deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter; The acquired company operates parking solutions in more than 250,000 parking spaces and is expected to end the year with revenues of more than $90 million; Natyax will finance $150 million of the deal with new debt and the balance from its own cash. Read more
A Security: “An attack against closed commercial software used to take months of work.” Alex Mor, Security Research Manager at A Security, explores the impact of AI and autonomous agents on cyber threats, as part of CTech’s Security Researchers series. Read more
University of Haifa in financial crisis: 170 lecturers fired or had positions reduced. The university waited with a recovery plan until the budgetary pension fund was empty. Now the university is embarking on a plan to cut 160 million shekels over four years. The main victims: the junior faculty lecturers. The university: “We are in academic prosperity and financial strength.” Read more
Average cost of a reservist to the economy: 53,000 shekels per month. The new estimate is about 10% higher than that published in 2024. According to the study, the wages of reservists aged 25-44 are 42% higher than those of workers who were not absent due to reserve duty. Read more
After raising $51 million, Minimus shuts down as Twistlock founders return remaining cash to investors. The cybersecurity startup failed to gain enough commercial momentum to continue operating. Customers will have 60 days to migrate before the company’s registry is switched off. Read more
Intel expands Israeli R&D role as it unveils next-generation server architecture. Diamond Rapids will support up to 256 cores and use modular computing units. Read more
SanDisk cuts dozens of jobs in Israel despite AI-fueled surge. The memory-chip company is worth $230 billion after a 3,500% stock rally, but employees at its Israeli development centers have been laid off. Read more
Estonia weighs David’s Sling in billion-euro missile defense decision. The Baltic state is comparing Israel’s system with the U.S. Patriot and European SAMP/T, while delivery times and ammunition availability complicate the choice. Read more
NewCore: “The OpenAI and Hugging Face incidents signal where things are heading.” Ido Hoorvitch, Security Researcher at NewCore, discusses the double-edged sword of AI agents in security research, as part of CTech’s Security Researchers series. Read more
Sam Altman admits he underestimated how slowly the economy would embrace AI. The OpenAI CEO says he expected much faster disruption from AI, but companies and consumers have proved far more resistant to changing established habits. Read more
AppsFlyer secures $400 million credit line from Bank Leumi. The new financing follows a more than $1 billion transaction involving Google, Meta, Unity and Moloco that also provided liquidity to some of the company’s long-time investors. Read more
Wi-Charge shuts down after 14 years trying to make wireless power a reality. The Israeli company developed room-scale wireless energy transmission and sold its technology in dozens of countries, but struggled to overcome slow adoption, hardware costs and a persistent chicken-and-egg problem. Read more
The 9-to-5 is fading. AI is making work a 24-hour operation. As flexible schedules and hybrid work blur the boundaries of the traditional workday, AI agents are taking the transformation further by continuing to work after their human colleagues go home. Read more
Decart’s $7 billion Anthropic deal could become far more valuable after the IPO. The Israeli AI startup is expected to receive most of the reported $7 billion consideration in Anthropic shares, giving its founders and investors a potential windfall if the Claude maker goes public at a higher valuation. Read more
Wix shares have more than doubled in two months. Base44 is driving the comeback. Wix remains down 18.7% this year and is still grappling with heavy AI-related costs, but its rapidly growing Base44 business is giving investors a reason to rethink the company’s value. Read more
Israel wants more Apaches, CH-53Ks and missiles. Its defense industry needs cash now. The military is preparing a major procurement push while defense companies warn that several missile and artillery production lines could stop operating within weeks without funding for new orders. Read more
Base44 doubles ARR to $200 million in just five months. Maor Shlomo says the AI startup has added another $100 million in annual recurring revenue since March, as its push into its own AI models gives Wix a rapidly expanding growth engine. Read more
From $1.35 billion unicorn to $575 million sale, At-Bay says the math has changed. CEO Rotem Iram says the cyber insurer has built a much larger business since 2021 while surviving a dramatic reset in technology valuations. Read more
Israel-U.S. strikes on Iran put Polymarket’s military betting problem in focus. More than 150 wallets made highly successful bets on military and defense markets, according to new research, raising questions about insider information and national security. Read more
After his daughter’s brain hemorrhage, Bill Ackman commits $400 million to brain research. The billionaire investor says his daughter Lucy’s recovery convinced him that medicine and technology can do more for patients with catastrophic brain injuries. His new nonprofit will focus on rehabilitation, neuroscience, brain-computer interfaces and longevity. Read more
Flights resume at Ben Gurion, but airlines warn bags may be left behind. After a two-and-a-half-hour halt caused by severe baggage congestion, operations are gradually returning. But with hundreds of flights delayed and the sorting system overloaded, some passengers are being asked to fly without their luggage. Read more
Munich Re to acquire Israeli startup At-Bay for $575 million. The German insurance giant is buying the cyber insurtech at less than half its 2021 valuation, as insurers increasingly seek to combine coverage with technology that can prevent cyber losses. Read more
Before Armis and Wiz were worth billions, Rappaport and Dibrov wrote each other $100,000 checks. The two cybersecurity entrepreneurs first met in the IDF’s elite Unit 81 before becoming early investors in each other’s startups, which went on to produce two of Israel’s biggest technology exits. Read more
UVision CFO exits as suicide-drone maker’s $3.5 billion Nasdaq IPO hits valuation hurdles. Ronny Barak has left the company as defense stocks retreat, raising pressure on owner Aaron Frankel to lower his IPO ambitions. Read more
Israel launches consortium to build communications networks safe from quantum computers. Nine technology companies and six universities will work on post-quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution and hybrid systems across multiple layers of communications infrastructure. Read more
The forces pushing the shekel higher are bigger than the dollar. Israel’s currency has strengthened against a broad basket of currencies, highlighting the growing impact of exports, foreign investment, tax revenues and institutional investors. Read more
Hacker arrested after allegedly planting malware in dozens of Israeli companies. Police say the Ashkelon man acted alone and used malicious software to collect sensitive information from companies across multiple industries. Investigators have not yet determined the full scope of the information allegedly stolen or the suspect’s motive. Read more
Anthropic revenue run rate tops $65 billion as IPO looms and Decart deal advances. The Claude maker has more than septupled annualized sales since the end of 2025 while projecting up to $200 billion in revenue by 2028. Read more
Nvidia accounts for 90% of Israel’s production abroad, and it’s reshaping the GDP numbers. Production outside Israel has climbed to NIS 25.4 billion, widening the gap between headline economic growth and activity taking place inside the country. Read more
Ondas expands Israeli defense operations with $33 million Aran acquisition. The U.S. defense technology company will acquire Aran Defense in its first purchase of operations from a company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, paying entirely in Ondas shares. Read more
“We still have a lot to improve”: Irregular on AI models escaping cyber simulations. Irregular co-founder Omer Nevo spoke to Calcalist about the incident, saying the company is shifting its focus from understanding how frontier models escaped a controlled simulation to helping the industry prepare for increasingly powerful AI systems. Read more
Israel puts another $33 million behind its quantum computing ambitions. The Innovation Authority is seeking proposals for new national infrastructure as the first government-backed quantum center serves more than 30 customers, including all of Israel’s leading research universities. Read more
Iron Dome and Iron Beam developer Rafael was hit with a $422 million bill. The court rejected it. The Haifa District Court ruled that Kiryat Yam can collect development levies from Rafael but canceled the NIS 1.245 billion demand after finding that the municipality’s calculations were flawed and produced an unreasonable result. Read more
