Liquidity Group raising $200 million for sixth debt fund. The Israeli fintech company currently manages five debt funds and two dedicated investment vehicles, for which $2 billion were raised, and one equity fund, for which $500 million were raised. Read more

Delinea acquires cyber startup Authomize for several tens of millions of dollars. Authomize employs 38 people who will join Delinea and form the base of its R&D center in Israel. Read more

Anecdotes raises $25 million Series B to boost compliance operating system. According to the company, it has more than threefold its ARR over the past year, primarily driven by the expansion of the U.S. customer base, which now includes prominent names such as Lifelabs, Snowflake, Coinbase, Aristocrat, SoFi, Grafana, Payscale, and more. Read more

Insurtech startup DigitalOwl raises $12 million from insurance giant RGA. The Israeli startup’s platform provides automated reading, summarization, and analysis of medical records for insurance companies and lawyers, providing real-time, highly accurate assistance in their underwriting, claims settlement, and fraud prevention processes. Read more

Unity laying off another 25% of workforce. Unity Israel, formerly ironSource, is set to cut dozens of jobs as part of the layoffs. This is the fourth round of layoffs the company has conducted since July 2022. Read more

From battlefront to boardroom: Return of Israel’s reservists will propel tech recovery. With the war in Gaza entering a new phase, the IDF is adjusting deployment plans and sending reservists home, many of which will also be returning to their jobs in high-tech. Read more

Cancer care startup C2i Genomics acquired by Veracyte for up to $95 million. The Israeli company, which has developed a test platform using whole-genome tumor sequencing, had previously raised $112 million. Read more

COSCO decision not to dock in Israel raises fears of domino effect in shipping industry. The decision of the Chinese shipping giant to suspend its operations in Israel may lead other companies to take a similar step. The shipping industry is divided on whether COSCO’s move is due to the Chinese embrace of Hamas or is a cold business consideration. Read more

UAE-based Technology Innovation Institute to open Israeli AI/IR Research Center headed by Yoelle Maarek. “I am opening in Haifa, Israel, an AI/IR Research Center for the Technology Innovation Institute (TII). TII is the UAE-based institute that invented Falcon, one of the leading open-source Large Language Models,” Maarek wrote on LinkedIn. “We will work on some of the most interesting challenges in AI and at the same time contribute to the vision of scientific collaboration articulated in the Abraham Accords.” Read more

Crypto security in 2024: Looking beyond last year’s dollar drop. “Cybersecurity is always a game of cat and mouse. One side outpaces the other for a time before the roles reverse. This is why anyone involved in crypto security can never afford to have an inaccurate view of where that security stands,” writes Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. Read more

Claudine Gay, Neri Oxman, and MIT caught in Ackman’s plagiarism crossfire. Billionaire’s social media feud expands, elevating accusations of copying and inaction. Read more

“An agreement with the Palestinians is inevitable because they will acquire nuclear weapons.” Prof. Joel Mokyr paints a nightmare scenario where both Israelis and Palestinians, and many others, have nuclear capabilities. But he also thinks that this is what will lead Israel to an agreement with the Palestinians. Read more

What’s the real reason Mobileye’s shares plummeted by 25%? Was the dramatic drop in the stock of the autonomous vehicle technology company a transient setback or a precursor to graver issues? Read more

One Zero to launch digital bank in Italy with Generali; replacing CEO, cutting over 30 jobs in process. Amnon Shashua’s digital bank is setting up operations in Italy, with current CEO Gal Bar Dea to leave his role and take charge of the international expansion. Simultaneously, the bank plans to streamline its operations in Israel, including layoffs of 30-40 employees. Read more

Chinese giant COSCO halts shipping to Israel. The fourth largest shipping company in the world maintains a weekly line for transporting containers to the port of Haifa, and its announcement creates uncertainty in the industry. COSCO did not publish reasons for the decision, and the shipping industry wonders whether it stems from the threat of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, even though they did not attack Chinese ships, or the warm ties between China and Iran. Read more

Aqua Security raises $60 million at over $1 billion valuation. The cyber unicorn, which has now raised $325 million since its founding in 2015, said the new funding is an extension of its Series E from March 2021. Read more

Cyber unicorn Orca Security laying off 15% of workforce. Orca, which has raised $640 million to date and was last valued at $1.8 billion, is parting ways with around 60 employees. Read more

2023 resilience sets stage for more Israeli cyber M&As in 2024. Total fundraising among Israeli cybersecurity startups last year amounted to $1.9 billion in 71 investment rounds, marking a 41% drop compared to 2022. However, the average Seed round rose to $9.8 million in 2023 and 21 Israeli cyber companies were acquired, compared to 16 in 2022. Read more

“When the time is right, China may be able to stop the operations of critical infrastructures in Israel.” The hostile attitude of the Chinese government towards Israel since the outbreak of the war with Hamas led to a demand from the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss the extensive Chinese holdings in the country’s infrastructure. Read more

Dramatic drop in Seed funding doesn’t bode well for future of Israeli tech. According to data from Start-Up Nation Policy Institute (SNPI), Israeli startups raised $7.3 billion in 2023, the lowest since 2018 and a 60% decrease from 2022. There was also a 50% decrease in the number of companies who raised a Seed round compared to 2022. Read more

CTalk | Rothschild & Co. Israel Head: “High tech will continue to be a major sector for growth.” Gerry Livnat, Managing Director of Rothschild & Co.’s Israel office, spoke to CTech at Calcalist’s 2024 Forecasts event about the strength of Israel’s high tech sector. Read more