CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News Feb. 14, 2024
HR unicorn HiBob acquiring British payroll platform Pento for $40 million. Pento focuses on real-time payroll systems and boasts a client base of over 400 businesses. HiBob raised $150 million last October at a $2.7 billion valuation. Read more
Izhar Shay: “They came to destroy, and we are here to build.” The former Minister of Science & Technology and veteran tech investor spoke to CTech ahead of Calcalist’s upcoming Mind the Tech conference in New York about his ‘Next October’ initiative, inspired by the death of his son, Yaron, and the other victims of 7/10. Read more
Casual game developer Everybuddy enters bankruptcy after accumulating over $4 million in debt. The Tel Aviv District Court appointed the company a trustee to examine proposals for the sale of the company or its assets. The Israeli startup, which raised a $15 million Series A in November 2022, has just seven employees remaining after once employing over 70 people. Read more
Seal Security secures $7.4 million Seed funding to secure open source with GenAI. With software supply chain attacks on the rise, the Israeli startup’s platform leverages generative AI to provide customers with a remediation solution to this growing challenge. Read more
F-35s, Iron Dome: IDF’s wishlist reveals US arms procurement plans. The US aid package that is awaiting approval is supposed to fund new squadrons of fighter jets and helicopters. In the meantime, with the help of the regular annual aid from the US, the Air Force will expand in the coming months. Read more
“There has always been an element of risk around the Israeli tech industry.” Managing Partner of TAU Ventures Nimrod Cohen joined CTech to discuss VC trends in 2024 amid a variety of uncertainties. Read more
Monday.com eyeing acquisitions, 600 new employees, despite underwhelming 2024 outlook. The enterprise software company beat forecasts for 2023 with $729.7 million in revenue and 41% growth, but its outlook for 2024 disappointed investors. Read more
Profits are at record highs, so why are tech companies laying off so many workers? The technology giant Cisco is set to announce a restructuring move that will include layoffs of thousands of employees. And it is not the only one. Since the beginning of the year, 141 technology companies have laid off 34,300 employees, despite most of them displaying excellent financial results. So why are workers still being fired, even when all the data indicates that it’s time to go back to hiring? Read more
Australian investment giant Macquarie acquires $32 million-worth of BioCatch shares. The Israeli unicorn completed its third secondary deal in less than a year, with Sapphire Ventures and Permira Growth Opportunities purchasing $70 million and $40 million in shares, respectively, last year. Read more
From battlefield to bargain bin: IDF soldiers flood online market with unused combat equipment. The severe shortage of combat equipment since October 7 led to a flood of private donations, and many surpluses, which are now being sold online, on second-hand sales platforms. Read more
API security startup Wib acquired by F5 for tens of millions of dollars. The Israeli startup’s platform provides complete visibility across the entire API landscape, from code to production, and will become part of F5’s Distributed Cloud Services. Read more
Quiet quitting on the rise amid tech layoffs. Dissatisfied high-tech employees could once easily move to another company, usually with a higher salary and perks. But today’s poor job market means that most ‘quietly quit’ instead. Read more
Despite aiming for similar valuations, Reddit and Astera IPOs tell very different stories. Veteran social network Reddit, which less than a year ago was valued at $16.6 billion, and the relatively young and profitable semiconductor developer Astera Labs, are expected to go public next month. Both aim for a similar valuation, but the differences between their financial performances show how much the technology sector has changed. Read more
Chipmaker Tower hoping to set up $8 billion plant in India. Tower, seeking government incentives for its plan, is looking to manufacture 65 nanometre and 40 nanometre chips in India, according to the Indian Express. Read more
AI is the death knell for thumbnail designers. The thumbnail, that small image that accompanies videos on YouTube, has created an entire industry of designers and developers whose job it is to attract clicks. Now, artificial intelligence is endangering those whose entire work was focused on one tiny image. Read more
Mapping Israel’s emerging spacetech ecosystem. There are currently 105 startups operating in Israel in the field of space applications. These companies raised a total of $314 million in the past year. Read more
CyberArk reaches record $10 billion market cap on back of identity security boom. The veteran cybersecurity company predicts that in 2024 it will come close to the $1 billion revenue threshold, reflecting an annual growth rate of 22%-24%, similar to its growth in 2023. Read more
Meta suspends Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Meta has removed the accounts for “repeatedly violating” its “Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy.” Khamenei has called to wipe Israel off the map numerous times and praised the horrific October 7 attack by Palestinian terror group Hamas. Read more
Smart label startup Sensos raises $20 million Series A. The Israeli startup’s globally-connected labels, which are the size of a credit card, report 6-dimensional telemetry shipment data in real time, without requiring any additional infrastructure. Read more
TAU produces more unicorn founders than any other non-U.S. university. “I strongly believe we will prevail and eventually, we’ll become much better than we actually were,” said Moshe Zviran, Professor and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at Tel Aviv University. Read more
Microsoft uncovers extensive Iranian AI-based cyber ops against Israel amid Gaza war. “Amid the rising potential of a widening war, we expect Iranian influence operations and cyberattacks will continue to be more targeted, more collaborative and more destructive,” warned Microsoft’s report. Read more
Are emergency grants for startups merely postponing their inevitable end? The Israel Innovation Authority established an emergency grant program after the outbreak of the war with the aim of extending the runway for startups, but the money often arrives too late. Read more
Blockchain unicorn Fireblocks parting with 3% of team in second round of layoffs. Fireblocks, which also parted ways with around 30 employees last February, said: “In the last 6 months, Fireblocks has been working to restructure our go-to-market and customer support operations in an effort to provide our customers with a more efficient and streamlined service, and to position the company for expansion into new geographies.” Read more
Will NSO employees soon be barred from entering the US? The US announced that it would restrict visas of individuals involved in the misuse of commercial spyware. In 2021, Israel’s NSO and Candiru were placed on a blacklist which prohibits American companies from doing business with them. Read more
What if Shwed had managed Check Point more like Zuk’s Palo Alto Networks? “If there is something that the investors are signaling to Shwed and whoever will replace him in the position, it is that in the long term they still prefer phenomenal growth and bold moves, provided they succeed, of course, over conservatism that sanctifies profitability.” Read more
Gil Shwed stepping down as Check Point CEO after 30 years. “I feel it is the right time for me to focus on the evolution of Check Point and its next stage. I intend to transition into the role of Executive Chairman charting the future of Check Point and the cyber security market,” said Shwed after the company announced that it ended 2023 with revenues of $2.4 billion, a 4% increase from 2022, and a net profit of $840 million. Read more
Gil Shwed: “This is the perfect time to step down. We have peaked on all levels.” After 30 years at the helm of Check Point, Shwed announced on Tuesday that he will be leaving the role of CEO. “I was 24-years-old when we started the company, and now, especially after the last quarter, the timing is perfect,” noted Shwed. Read more
Innovation under fire: Israeli reservists’ app is helping save soldiers’ lives. Ami Reiss, the keyboardist and music producer of the well-known band Knesiyat HaSechel and Yan Gaitsgory, a strategic consultant, volunteered for the reserves and are behind the development of a unique military application that helps to compile medical data of soldiers wounded in the field to improve their treatment and save lives. Read more
IONIX adds $15 million to Series A to expand threat exposure management platform. The Israeli startup’s platform allows security teams to visualize and prioritize hundreds of attack surface threats into a manageable set of specific, actionable insights. Read more
Adam Neumann wants to buy back WeWork. Neumann’s new real estate company, Flow Global, has sought to buy WeWork or its assets, as well as provide bankruptcy financing to keep it afloat. Read more
