CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News April 9, 2024
Foreign investors active in Israeli tech plummet by 23%: Troubling trend or temporary setback? In the six months since the outbreak of the war, the number of foreign investment entities active in the country plummeted, and the number of foreign VC funds investing also dropped by 20%. Read more
Why did Perion Network shares plummet over 40% in one day? The Israeli adtech company published a severe profit warning revealing that it now expects 2024 revenue in the range of $590 million to $610 million, against its prior expectation of $860 million to $880 million. Read more
Israel’s electricity sector is woefully unprepared for the looming threat of regional war. According to senior energy and security officials, Israel is light years away from being adequately prepared for an attack on electricity infrastructure that could come in a full-scale war with Hezbollah or Iran. Read more
Cosgrave returns as Web Summit CEO six months after stepping down over Israel war crimes accusations. Cosgrave apologized and resigned last October after blaming Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, accusations that led to the likes of Google, Meta, Intel, Amazon, and Stripe all pulling out of the conference. Read more
“The painful events of the past year are indeed also a potential springboard for 2024.” Avichay Nissenbaum and Roy Katzenelson from lool Ventures have joined CTech to share insights into the current state of the VC ecosystem in Israel. Read more
Israeli cyber exits hit all-time high of over $7 billion in 2023. The total sum of exits in the Israeli cyber sector in 2023 was the highest ever, but the number of exits decreased by 35% compared to its peak in 2021. The volume of funding rounds was the lowest in the past five years. Read more
Why going from R&D ace to tech manager isn’t as straightforward as it may sound. Newly-appointed tech team leaders who have been promoted on the basis of their technological skills find themselves very quickly facing new and completely different challenges as managers. Read more
Disturbing graphic images from Israel-Hamas war are becoming AI training model material. Tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft-backed OpenAI initially used reams of data scraped from the internet for free to train generative AI models like ChatGPT that can mimic human creativity. But at the same time, these tech companies are also quietly paying for content locked behind paywalls and login screens, giving rise to a hidden trade in everything from long forgotten personal photos from faded social media apps to images from freelance photographers in Gaza. Read more
Group 11 venture fund registers 16% loss in 2023 after markdowns. According to Group 11’s reports, most of the decrease in the value of assets in 2023, amounting to $33.6 million, is due to markdowns of assets. The fund explains the decrease by saying that in the last year none of the fund’s holdings IPO’d and none are expected to go public this year either. Read more
Opinion | Combating disinformation: Responsible AI and opportunities for the Israeli ecosystem. “Israel has the opportunity to become a beacon and leader in the field of AI, particularly in developing AI systems adept at identifying and neutralizing disinformation,” writes Adv. Hila Hubsch, VP of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs at Microsoft Israel. Read more
Taboola CEO Adam Singolda: “I want to be the Robin Hood of journalism on the open internet.” The content recommendation giant Taboola has gone through a series of upheavals since its dream IPO in 2021: the bubble burst, the stock crashed, the company expanded into new areas, Yahoo bought a quarter of it, and Apple signed a strategic agreement with it. CEO Adam Singolda explains how to make a business grow in a crisis, what he hates about TikTok and Facebook and how difficult it is to be a proud Israeli in New York after October 7. Read more
Tiger Global and Viola sell $200-300M worth of Redis shares at over $2B valuation. The shares were sold in a secondary transaction to Generation Investment Management and a number of existing investors. Read more
SolarEdge acquires Israeli EV charging management startup Wevo Energy. Wevo is a software startup specializing in EV charging optimization and management for sites with large quantities of EV chargers such as apartment buildings, workplace carparks and public charging locations. Read more
GPS disruptions hit central Israel as country braces for potential Iranian retaliation. Residents of central Israel have reported that navigation apps like Waze, Google Maps, and Apple Maps are mistakenly locating them in the Beirut area. Read more
Why are Teva shares surging and how does it plan to keep it up. Since the beginning of the year, Teva’s shares have risen by about 36%, and are among the best performing stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Why is this happening and how is the company’s CEO planning to build on the momentum? Read more
Four Wiz founders enter global billionaires list with $1 billion each. According to Forbes, CEO Assaf Rappaport, CTO Ami Luttwak, VP Product Yinon Costica, and VP R&D Roy Reznik are now among the world’s 2,781 billionaires. Another new entrant is monday.com co-CEO Roy Mann with $1.3 billion. There are 36 Israelis on the list in total, with Eyal Ofer leading the way with $24 billion. Read more
Former senior Intel exec raises $24 million in Seed funding for AI-powered video security platform. Lumana’s platform analyzes organizations’ video in real-time to provide visibility when critical events occur. Read more
Spatial AI biomarker startup Nucleai raises $14 million led by Merck’s VC arm. Leveraging AI and machine learning, Nucleai analyzes pathology images and spatial data at the cellular and tissue levels. The proprietary technology extracts detailed patterns and features from medical images, offering insights into the tumor microenvironment, cellular morphology, and spatial relationships between different cell types. Read more
“Heavyweight tech companies operating in Israel are doubling down,” says Cardumen Capital. Gonzalo Martinez de Azagra and Nimrod Brandt have joined CTech to share insights into the Israeli VC space. Read more
Has Israeli tech’s March Madness got the sector back on track? Also on our AI-native show: A new report reveals the Israeli tech sector has raised $3.1 billion and seen $3.7 billion in M&As since the war began and Pango nears $200 million acquisition of Gett. Read more
The Israeli startup developing the first new, non-hormonal contraceptive in 60 years. Hervana Bio Founder and CEO Rachel Teitelbaum spoke to CTech about their innovative new non-hormonal contraceptive with no side effects and with added protection against STIs, and about why funding is needed to access the $25 billion contraceptive market. Read more
