CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News July 18, 2023
Fintech unicorn Vesttoo faces alleged billion-dollar fraud scandal. Following an initial inspection conducted over the weekend, it was discovered that the billions of dollars in collateral presented by the company were fraudulent. Read more
IBM laying off dozens of storage software developers in Israel. IBM operates a substantial development center in Israel focused on storage technology, employing hundreds of workers. The center was established after IBM acquired the Israeli startup XIV in 2008. Read more
TLV Partners raises $250 million to invest in early-stage Israeli startups. The VC firm, which has previously invested in the likes of Aqua Security, Next Insurance, Aidoc, Quantum Machines, and Zencity, has reached $1 billion in assets under management. “The subject of the judicial overhaul came up in every conversation with the investors,” said Managing Partner Rona Segev. “The government of Israel has declared war on the high-tech sector.” Read more
Unicorn K Health raises $59 million in down round. The startup, which was valued at $1.4 billion in 2021, has developed a platform that uses AI to combine professional medical knowledge with patient clinical data, providing doctors and users with information about the diagnoses and treatments of others with similar symptoms and conditions. Read more
3D Systems moves into pole position in battle to control Stratasys with $2 billion deal. Stratasys says 3D Systems’ new offer could be superior to the $1.8 billion all-stock union it agreed with Desktop Metal two months ago. Read more
“We won’t get eternal life. Scientists who promise it are just selling BS.” Forget about anti-aging treatments or drinking red wine. Prof. Charles Brenner bursts the balloon inflated by the booming longevity industry, and explains why there is no way to defeat death. Read more
Nevia Bio is using AI to early detect “silent killer” ovarian cancer. Co-founder and CEO Dr. Inbal Zafir-Lavie spoke to CTech about Nevia Bio’s mission to democratize preventative medicine and make ovarian cancer screenings accessible to all. Read more
Fintech startup CapStack raises $6 million in pre-Seed to improve cooperation between banks. The startup is developing an integrated operating system for banks that is meant to provide them with visibility into one another’s portfolios. Read more
The Ego Wars: Musk vs. Zuckerberg over Threads’ meteoric rise. Examining Threads’ potential challenges and controversies in light of its exceptional growth. Read more
The battle over end-to-end encryption: Legislation threatens user privacy. A new law proposed in Britain, aimed at protecting children’s safety, could set a dangerous global precedent for accessing encrypted messages, jeopardizing the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, diplomats, and all users. Read more
“There’s definitely a decrease in the number of new startups but the quality of startups has increased.” Nofar Amikam, General Partner at Glilot Capital Partners, spoke with CTech as part of the project “Where do we go from here?”, which aims to examine how the Israeli VC industry is dealing with the crisis in the sector. Read more
Declining results, a crashing stock, and a CEO under duress – what is going on at AudioCodes? The Covid-19 pandemic propelled AudioCodes, which specializes in communication solutions for digital work environments, to a record valuation of over $1.3 billion in 2020. The founder had plans for an exit, but that led to a conflict with an old friend, and as the epidemic waned, demand weakened, and the company’s stock plummeted. Read more
Can AI Public Benefit Corporations truly serve the public? A “Public Benefit Corporation” is a nice branding idea, but the primary unanswered question remains: what benefit, and for whom? Read more
Despite innovation, cultured meat is still far from reaching your plate. While cultured meat products were recently approved in the U.S., this alternative to the pollutive meat industry is far from competing on a mass scale. Read more
Opinion | 10 things to consider before adopting AI technology in the OR. Before implementing any new AI tech in your hospital’s ORs, there are a few key considerations you should bear in mind. After all, evaluating AI-based solutions requires a very different set of criteria than, say, trying out the latest surgical stapler, writes Dotan Asselmann, Co-Founder & CTO at Theator. Read more
Orca Security suing Wiz for patent infringement in cloud security unicorn showdown. Orca is seeking a ban on the sale of products that it claims infringe its patents, which it alleges were copied by Wiz. “Instead of facing competition and earning the trust of customers, it seems that the company has resorted to the desperate step of filing a lawsuit,” Wiz said in response. Read more
Startup funding drops 62% YoY in Q2, but 11% increase from Q1 provides reason for optimism. Looking at the first half of the year compared to the corresponding half in 2022, there was a 24% decrease in funding volume among Israeli startups and a 17% decrease in the number of rounds, bringing the industry back to the pace of the first half of 2019. Read more
What’s next? | “The Israeli entrepreneur will fight to get this train back on track, but at what price?” Itay Rand, General Partner at 10D, spoke with CTech as part of the project “Where do we go from here?”, which aims to examine how the Israeli VC industry is dealing with the crisis in the sector. Read more
“There will be no investments here because the government is turning Israel from a democracy into a dictatorship.” Erel Margalit, founder of the JVP venture capital fund, added that “everything is now coming to light, and it can no longer be hidden. It’s not just President Biden who sees this; it is evident in Europe and the IMF. Everyone is raising questions about it.” Read more
NOGAFem: Bringing gendered medicine to the forefront. Co-founders of NOGAFem, Dr. Michal Sela and Dr. Ronell Klingman, spoke to CTech about their efforts to bring a gendered lens to healthcare and innovation. Read more
Web intelligence startup Cobwebs acquired for $200 million by private equity firm Spire Capital. The Israeli startup specializes in developing cyber intelligence solutions for enforcement bodies, national security agencies, and financial services worldwide. Read more
Software unicorn Sisense sacks 100 employees, 15% of workforce. The current layoffs are another shock in a long series of negative developments at Sisense, beginning with the departure of senior executives last year and followed by relatively small-scale layoffs and a halt in recruitment. Read more
Fireglass founder back at it, raises $22 million Series A for new cybersecurity startup SAVVY. The Israeli startup’s platform reports real-time actionable insights and metrics to security teams, enabling them to identify high-risk areas and user risk profiling to pinpoint which roles and teams require more support. Read more
Opinion | Trust in the high-tech nation is gone, for good. Trust is a component that takes a long time to cultivate and an even longer time to restore after a crisis. When citizens, entrepreneurs, investors, and the leaders of the international community lose faith in the country and those who stand at its head, the damage is permanent. Read more
Maryland hopes to attract Israeli tech with its educated workforce and low cost of living. The Maryland/Israel Development Center helps Israeli companies find a home on the American east coast. Read more
