CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News Dec. 13, 2022
Playtika confirms lay off of 610 employees, 15% of team. The gaming giant announced it is making significant cutbacks, which will include redeploying staff, winding down non-core initiatives and consolidating studios. Read more
Foodtech startup Equinom raises $35 million. The Israeli company breeds non-GMO varieties of the plant-based food industry’s primary source crops including pea and soy, optimized specifically for food. Read more
Meaningless words: Dangerous conversations with ChatGPT. ChatGPT, OpenAI’s eloquent chatbot, has managed to grab the internet’s attention with the confident dialogue it simulates. But the sophistication obscures the fact that the bot has no understanding of the world and that the texts it produces have no meaning. Read more
2022 VC Survey | Team8: “Here’s why Israel is more immune to global changes.” Global recession, inflation, and geopolitical tensions – it’s nothing that Israel can’t handle, says the VC firm. Read more
Hetz Ventures launches network of engineering and cyber experts to help foster startup growth. The Hetz Executive Network has more than 200 international members and is designed to help companies scale at their early stages. Read more
CTalk | Google Israel, Playtika, and Reichman University announce partnership for gaming sector. Google Israel VP of Marketing Hanit Marinov joined CTech to talk about the new partnership aimed at educating students for a career in game design. Watch full video
Playtika CTO: “The next big thing is synergy between humans and artificial intelligence.” “As soon as we achieved AI capabilities, we added a concept called Human-Machine Team,” said Playtika CTO Erez Rachmil. “It’s a team of people and machines that have three vectors between them – the human, the machine and the relationship between them.” Read more
“The gaming industry will shrink in 2022 but will grow next year.” According to Assaf Vaknin, Industry Head, Export, Apps, at Google Israel, the reason for the expected 6% contraction of the industry is that “the external environment has changed.” Read more
“We are looking to strengthen the connection between the users and the games.” “What can Web3 do for Playtika? If the players become owners of items in their games it strengthens the connection between the users and the games,” added Lior Kenan, VP of Web3 at Playtika. Read more
“In a changing environment you need to remain flexible and adaptable.” “Data was very important to companies in creating profitable campaigns. Now that there are gaps in data, companies need to find new ways to measure and optimize information in order to remain profitable,” explained Maya Henkin, Director, Client and Partner Solutions, at Google Israel. Read more
Opinion | Don’t take Israeli high-tech for granted. An open letter to the next Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. Read more
High-tech layoffs are in full swing with no respite in sight. The race to complete layoffs before the end of the year is set to see many more employees lose their jobs in the coming weeks. Read more
Game over? Playtika layoffs are just tip of the iceberg for gaming giant. The company is embarking on a second round of layoffs in six months after the cancellation of the deal in which Joffre Capital was supposed to purchase 25.5% of its shares. Playtika insists there is no connection between the two. Read more
Computer vision startup Brodmann17 closes down. Almost 30 employees were laid off after the crisis forced the six-year-old startup to cease its operations. Read more
“The problem is not the existence of a Startup Nation, but the way it is run.” Prof. Sibylle Heilbrunn, an expert in organizational sociology, points out Israeli tech’s failures and recommends considering raising taxation on capital. Read more
2022 VC Survey | “Global spend on healthcare is, by and large, recession-proof.” aMoon Velocity’s Roy Wiesner and Yaniv Sadka joined CTech to share some predictions for the year ahead. Read more
Cyprus wants in on the Startup Nation game. The Cypriot government is making efforts to turn the country into an Israeli tech partner – and invited CTech overseas to show us how. Read more
Recession hits cybersecurity companies hard as layoffs mount. The latest reports from the likes of SentinelOne, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks revealed the crisis is already beginning to hit even the supposedly immune cybersecurity industry. Read more
Otonomo ousts almost 50% of its remaining workforce. The autotech company has lost over 95% of its value since going public via a SPAC merger at a $1.26 billion valuation. Read more
Cybersecurity startup CyCognito cuts 15% of jobs. The Israeli company is laying off around 30 employees one year after raising $100 million at an $800 million valuation. Read more
Cybersecurity unicorn Armis axes 25 employees. The Israeli company, which raised $300 million at a $3.4 billion valuation one year ago, will be parting with 3.5% of its team. Read more
You have reached your destination: Google elegantly says goodbye to Waze. The technology giant purchased the Israeli navigation app in 2013 to serve as an incubator for innovation and ideas. But Google never invested in the promotion of the app, preferring to attract users to Google Maps, and now, after being folded into the Geo group, it is living on borrowed time. Read more
The Squad model: The solution for ‘big fish, small pond people’. Adina Eckstein, COO at Lemonade, and Ori Barzilay, Senior associate at Pitango First, shed light on the solution used by mid-to-large companies looking to stay agile. Read more
2022 VC Survey | “Now is a great time to invest and even greater time for contrarian investments.” Qumra Capital Managing Partner Erez Shachar has joined CTech to look at the 2023 investment space. Read more
Opinion | Can we talk? OpenAI’s new chat bot opens a Pandora’s box. OpenAI, an AI research lab co-founded by Elon Musk, released its latest AI natural language processing (NLP) creation, ChatGPT, the legal consequences of which must be considered. Read more
2022 VC Survey | NFX: “Generative Tech will be a big sector this coming year.” General Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss has joined CTech to discuss some of the tech trends to look out for in 2023. Read more
Mapping Israel’s foodtech sector. Many are suggesting the appetite is over for the foodtech meal. Israel is showing there’s a bigger thirst than ever. Read more
Unhappy new year: High-tech HR budgets signal 2023 will open with layoffs. “Companies are waiting until after the holidays, but the big blow will be in the first and second quarters of the year,” said Sivan Avihud, founder of Link2USA. Read more
Game On: Wilco’s realistic simulator helps developers develop their skills. Co-founder and CEO On Freund shares his personal journey from WeWork to Wilco and what the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed got right – and wrong. Read more
Gankster raises $4.25 million for its all-in-one competitive gaming platform. “We offer a comprehensive and accessible environment for professional growth for every gamer in the world,” said Uriya Schwarz, Gankster CEO. Read more
Mobileye announces 38% increase in revenue to $450 million in first report since IPO. The Israeli company’s first report since its split from Intel revealed that most of its revenue still comes from assistance and alert systems and not from fully autonomous vehicle systems. Read more
Opinion | After a challenging 2022, what will 2023 hold for the technology industry? “Our base case scenario envisions a high probability of consumer recession between the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023. We believe we need to wait for the second half of 2023 for stability across different end-markets,” writes Gerry Livnat, Managing Director of Rothschild & Co’s Wealth Management Representative Office in Israel. Read more
NeuReality raises $35 million Series A to accelerate AI. The Israeli AI hardware startup’s solution includes hardware, software, and tools that work together to boost efficiency and simplify the adoption and deployment of AI in a wider range of real-world applications. Read more
Israeli startup raises $10 million for CO2 capture solution. RepAir Carbon has attracted investments from the likes of Shell and Equinor for its Direct Air Capture technology to remove CO2. Read more
2022 VC Survey | “2023 will be a return to fundamentals,” says Greenfield Partners. The firm’s Managing Partner, Shay Grinfeld, has joined CTech to share his predictions for next year. Read more
Rezonate receives $8.7 million investment for cloud identity protection platform. The Israeli startup’s platform aims to create a unified view across identity and cloud infrastructure providers, giving security and DevOps teams the ability to detect, prioritize, and remediate identity-based threats in real time. Read more
Axiom raises $7 million Seed round for IAMOps platform. The Israeli startup has developed an Identity and Access Management platform that automatically orchestrates Cloud and SaaS operations. Read more
Cybersecurity unicorn Perimeter 81 parts with 8% of team six months after raising $100 million. The startup, which reached a $1 billion valuation in its Series C in June, is laying off 20 of its 250 employees. Read more
BondIT raises $14 million for development of investment technologies in bonds. The Israeli fintech company has developed a system that allows institutional entities to automatically manage their clients’ bond portfolios. Read more
