CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News Jan. 4, 2023
2022 VC Survey | “The pivot away from Russia and China in the tech sector is hard to overstate.” Moshe Friedman, Head of Amdocs Ventures, speaks about how geopolitics plays a role in investments. Read more
She-Inspires | “I wouldn’t recommend anyone skip or neglect their dreams for anything.” Galit Lubetzky, Co Founder & CTO at Wing Security, talks about the need to go with your heart and advance your career, even as a mother. “The challenging way is at the end of the day the rewarding way.” Read more
CTalk | “It’s a great time to be an investor, there are many opportunities out there.” “We expect the current atmosphere to continue into 2023 and we are hoping we will see a more optimistic outlook in the first half of 2024,” added Inbar Haham, Managing Partner at INcapital Ventures. Watch full interview
“Harvesting meat is one of the most polluting human related activities on earth.” “We isolate cells and we can grow them in a cultivator mimicking the conditions inside the animal,” added Didier Toubia, Co-Founder & CEO at Aleph Farms. Watch full interview
Round B | Hop on the bandwagon or stay the course? A startup’s dilemma. While it’s tempting to drop everything and follow the twinkling star in the market’s sky at a given moment, Shaul Olmert warns startups that trends sometimes disappear as quickly as they appear. Read more
Opinion | Can fashionable also be sustainable? “The use of novel technologies in the fashion industry to reduce its negative impact on the environment raises a number of non-trivial ethical, legal and social considerations,” writes Dov Greenbaum. Read more
Amdocs axes 700 employees, 3% of workforce. Despite coming off an excellent year in which its share price climbed in contrast to the rest of the tech market, Amdocs decided to begin 2023 with cutbacks. Read more
Only half of Israel’s unicorns are still worth $1 billion. According to research by venture capital fund Viola, the fact many unicorns haven’t raised new funds in a long time raises question marks regarding their actual growth rate and technological progress. Read more
Year of the robot? Back to working at the office, AI, and layoffs – this is what awaits employees in 2023. After a year of layoffs and inflation, the fight for the right to work at home vs the office will reach a conclusion. Plus, the rise of AI may threaten certain jobs requiring creativity and knowledge. Here’s a look at the trends which will affect work this new year. Read more
2022 VC Survey | Companies “should take more conservative approaches” to fundraising in 2023, says AnD Ventures. The firm joined CTech for its 2022 VC Survey series to share some of its insights for the year ahead. Read more
CTalk | “You should invest for the right reasons, not because of FOMO or because others are doing it.” “2022 showed us there are no shortcuts. Learning and moving into 2023 it is back to basics,” added Jonny Saacks, Managing Partner at VC F2. Watch full interview
“I think the next six quarters are going to be tough. In the second half of 2024 we will see markets going back to normal.” Arieh Fishburn, CEO at Redemption Capital, believes there is still plenty of more pain to come for the tech market. Watch full interview
“Our bets would be on modernization and cost cutting technologies.” Ori Israely, Managing General Partner at Magenta Venture Partners, shared his predictions for 2023. Watch full interview
The year of Black Swans: Over $30 trillion lost on global stock markets in 2022. Sentiment is expected to remain negative in the first half of 2023, but a recovery may begin in the second half in anticipation of the halt in interest rate hikes. Read more
Israel Innovation Authority making major push to develop quantum computing technologies. The IIA has announced the formation of the largest consortium in its history to develop quantum computing tech with a budget of over $30 million. Read more
Matrix acquires Israel’s Zebra Technologies. Zebra is a value-added distributor that provides network and cybersecurity solutions. Read more
CTalk | “We are going through a sanity check and it’s a positive thing.” “I looked for metrics I knew from before entering the high-tech industry, but no one was speaking about such things as EBITDA and positive cash-flow,” added Limor Ganot, Managing Partner at Gefen Capital. Read more
“The 2020 crisis prepared us for this year.” “We have seen a lot of companies adapt to change and there will be ups and downs. There is a lot of good that happened this year and we will see more innovation happening next year,” added Michael Reitblat, CEO and Co-Founder at Forter. Read more
“AI has immense potential for the foodtech sector.” “Israel’s entrepreneurial culture and being an immigrant society, where we are open to cultures and tastes (fusion), is the basis of our innovation around food,” added Noga Sela Shalev, CEO at foodtech incubator Fresh Start. Read more
“Founders should look for the next big thing. Making things only a bit better is not good enough.” Aviv Zeevi, VP, Technological Infrastructure Division at the Israel Innovation Authority, explained why innovation is not in danger and shared his tips for the future. Read more
2022 VC Survey | “Tech and innovation are about to bring the human race into its next big stage.” Or Haviv, a Senior Partner and Head of the Innovation Department at Arieli Capital, shares his optimistic view of the future. Read more
Israeli startup funding cut by almost half in 2022, falling to $13.9 billion. According to figures collected by Vintage Investment Partners, funding plummeted in the second half of the year, totaling $3.5 billion in the third and fourth quarters combined, compared to $13.7 billion over the same period in 2021. Read more
CTalk | “I think we are going to be seeing longer funding cycles.” “At the early stages, startups need a plan that looks further into the future, trying to get funded for longer periods of time and trying to prove that what they are building is real,” explained Rotem Eldar, Managing Partner at 10D. Read more
“Generative AI will mature soon,” says Director of AI at NVIDIA. Gal Chechik added: “Today you can create fantastic images, yet they are still hard to control. We will be seeing other types of control where you can doodle or sketch, making it easier to create content.” Read more
“We are not looking for charity. We are training the best programmers and bringing them into the high-tech sector.” Liat Weiss-Shahaf, VP Strategy and Development at Appleseeds, was speaking on a panel focused on diversity and inclusion, with Ruth Polachek, Founder and CEO at she codes, Moshe Friedman, Co-Founder at KamaTech, and Batsheva Moshe, Chairman at Yozmot Atid and Board Member at Ofanim. Read more
“The future of generative AI will be in its precision.” “Many generic things can satisfy you. However, as you go beyond these experiences you will need to be precise. If you write an email to a customer you can’t get it wrong,” explained Yoav Shoham, co-founder of AI21 Labs. Read more
“A panic sale of high-tech companies will begin in the second half of 2023.” The big question of 2023 is what will win out – the need to make investments or fear? Read more
2022 VC Survey | From a sprint to a marathon: How companies need to prepare for 2023. Partner and Head of DTCP Israel Irit Kahan drew the comparison taking part in CTech’s series, 2022 VC Survey. Read more
“Good companies will be able to grow back into their valuations.” Rotem Eldar, Managing Partner at Israeli VC 10D, joined CTech to share insights and predictions for the early-stage space in the year ahead. Read more
ThyssenKrupp to invest millions of euros in Israel’s Vsense Technologies. The agreement between Vsense and ThyssenKrupp subsidiary Atlas Elektronik will enable the Israeli company to develop production, maintenance, inspection, and repair capabilities for equipment installed on Israeli navy submarines. Read more
Innovation Authority CEO: “The government needs to reduce regulation so that deep-tech develops in Israel.” “If we want Israeli high-tech to be at the forefront of the world,” said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, “we need to promote the deep-tech industry and meet global demand.” Read more
From Metaverse to NFT: The disappointing tech hypes of 2022. A sober look at the big technological hopes of 2022, plus a glimpse at the big, promising, successful hypes which will fill our dreams in 2023. Read more
