CTECH: Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News Nov. 16, 2022
Unicorn OwnBackup ousts 15% of workforce. The cloud backup company, valued at $3.35 billion last year, is laying off over 150 employees in Israel and the U.S. Read more
Messaging app Rakuten Viber lays off 45 employees, 8% of team. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two countries in which Viber has a major customer base, has significantly impacted the company’s bottom line. Read more
2022 VC Survey | CTech’s comprehensive VC survey for 2022. The massive project with dozens of venture capital investors analyzes the past year, looks ahead to the trends of 2023, and highlights the startups to keep an eye on in the upcoming year. Read more
TAU Ventures: “2022 was a transition year” for the VC space. Nimrod Cohen has joined CTech for its VC series exploring what the sector can expect next year. Read more
Data management platform WEKA raises $135 million at $750 million valuation. The Israeli startup doubled its valuation since its previous round in January despite the dramatic economic downturn. Read more
Loops.ai launches product growth platform with $14 million Seed round. The Israeli startup has developed an analytics tool that helps product and data teams find impactful growth opportunities hidden across product data. Read more
Israeli startup theGist raises $7 million to increase workplace productivity using generative AI. The company’s first solution, theGist for Slack, creates alignment by scanning through hundreds of posts to instantly provide personalized summaries of valuable insights and highlights. Read more
Israel’s Liquidity Group to establish R&D center in Abu Dhabi. Liquidity will be the first Israeli company to join The Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s Innovation Programme. Read more
Checkout.com launches R&D center in Tel Aviv. The cloud-based payments service provider is set to hire around 100 employees in Israel for its product and engineering functions over the next 24 months. Read more
New VC NevaTeam Partners launching $80 million agri-food fund. The VC was established less than a year ago to identify investment opportunities in various companies engaged in the development of innovative sustainable technologies finding solutions to the problem of food production around the world. Read more
“We will lose lots of money in the lunacy of web3.” CYE’s new Field CISO Ira Winkler joined CTech to discuss the future of cyber attacks in a new internet. Read more
CTalk | “Israel’s bright innovators can create amazing things in the proptech industry.” Peleg Davidovitz, CEO & founder of Propdo, was speaking to CTech at PropTech Tel Aviv. Watch full interview
“Proptech is a challenging industry – and it needs disruption.” CTech spoke to Boaz Leviatan, CFO at Lendai, an Israeli startup helping foreign investors looking at American real estate. Watch full interview
High-tech industry coming to terms with sobering reality. With employees being fired, recruitment coming to a grinding halt, and traveling and parties being canceled, there seems to be little doubt that the age of abundance and excess in high-tech is over. Read more
Unicorn Cloudinary cuts 8% of workforce. The company, which has developed a platform to manage media assets, has been bootstrapped since it was founded and announced a secondary investment of $110 million at a company valuation of $2 billion earlier this year. Read more
Israel Police using controversial profiling algorithm at airport in fight against drugs. The AI profiling system being used by police at Ben-Gurion Airport aims to identify who might be smuggling drugs based on undisclosed data and regardless of any actual suspicion. Read more
Opinion | Legal uncertainty holding back metaverse adoption. “More than just another iteration of the internet, the metaverse, and the technologies employed to access it, create a host of potentially novel legal concerns that ought to be dealt with sooner rather than later if we want multinationals to invest in this space,” writes Dov Greenbaum. Read more
Opinion | Foodtech: the morally nutritious sector. There are many industries that seek to change the world, but foodtech has a direct impact on more than just ourselves. Read more
CTalk | Home365 sets sights on creating comprehensive property management solution. “When it comes to managing properties on a technology basis, there’s no real platform that handles everything from A-Z,” Dvir Milo, CTO at Home365, told CTech at PropTech Tel Aviv. “We’re introducing that technology.” Watch full video
The program raising the next generation of proptech entrepreneurs. Teaching students about the industry while exposing them to leaders in the field, Reichman University’s PropTech Program aims to raise Israel’s next generation of proptech professionals. Watch full video
Thoma Bravo: “What crisis? We are in talks to invest in six Israeli cyber companies.” Robert (Tre) Sayle, a Partner on the Growth team at Thoma Bravo added: “The investment market is very active now despite the talk of a slowdown. We will invest in Israel as much as possible.” Read more
Proptech startup Veev cuts 30% of jobs eight months after raising $400 million. The technology-enabled homebuilding company is laying off around 100 employees despite taking its total funding to $600 million earlier this year. Read more
“I want women to say ‘I will prove myself, and because of that you should pay me more’.” Keren Haddad-Leibovich, Head of Research at Navina, discusses her road from research to healthtech, and why she thinks women need to step up to the plate more. Read more
Deloitte Launchpad announces fourth cohort for growth-stage startups. The 10 new startups will join the 23 companies who have already been accelerated by Deloitte and together raised $400 million. Read more
Google to pay over $30 million a year in Israel’s largest ever office rental deal. The tech giant is close to a deal that will see it pay over $300 million over 10 years for 55,000 square meters at the new ToHa2 tower currently being built in Tel Aviv. Read more
CTech’s Book Review: The bible for early-stage entrepreneurs. Ran Ribenzaft, Co-Founder and CTO at Epsagon, shares insights after reading “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore. Read more
CTalk | “Innovation will transform Israel into the proptech hub for the world.” “What sets us apart from other VCs is that we don’t only focus on investment, ” Chen Rosen, Managing Partner at Reality Proptech, told CTech at PropTech Tel Aviv. “We nudge the ecosystem by connecting startups with real estate companies.” Read more
“Proptech will be like cyber.” “The renovation industry is far behind when it comes to technology, ” Homaze CEO Inbal Glantser told CTech at PropTech Tel Aviv. “We enable renovators to work with customers based on data and not just experience.” Read more
“Baby boomers are handing the baton to millennials” in foodtech consumer habits. Spencer Maughan, Partner at Finistere Ventures, spoke to CTech about how the younger generation is driving consumer habits in foodtech and alternative protein. Read more
Covid-19 gave functional food “a big push” in adoption. Adi Vagman, Managing Partner at E44 Ventures, spoke to CTech about the future of foodtech following the pandemic. Read more
Opinion | The financial effect of a cyber crisis: The neglected costs senior executives should take into account. “C-level leaders of organizations and companies need to have timely information and tools in order to calculate the risk, assess investment in cybersecurity, and close the gaps between the two,” write Refael Franco and Gil Baram. Read more
Island extends Series B with another $60 million for its enterprise browser at $1.3 billion valuation. The company, founded by Mike Fey and Dan Amiga, maintained its valuation from earlier this year and has already raised a total of $270 million. Read more
“We are in the midst of a crisis, but the need for more technology is great, so the technology market will grow.” Check Point founder and CEO Gil Shwed explained during the Hi-Tech Effect series by Calcalist and Mobileye his insistence on staying in Israel and why the high-tech crisis should have been expected. Read more
“It is an excellent time to build young companies and an excellent time to invest in new companies.” Ahead of the Calcalist and Poalim Hi-Tech roadshow event, we asked some of the 24 investors who will participate in the event to estimate what the coming year will look like for early-stage high-tech companies. Read more
Assuta’s ‘RISE with US’ launches with six startups looking for international markets. The companies were selected from 101 applicants in the digital healthcare space for the six-week program. Read more
“Israel is at the cutting edge of technology in space.” Speaking at the Ramon GeoInt 360 conference, IAI’s space program director Shlomi Sudari presented existing and future capabilities. “We want to make the vision of knowing everything, exactly where everyone is at any time, a reality.” Read more
Where is the satellite intelligence industry heading next? Noam Segal, CEO of ImageSat International, explained the reasons for the slow development of the satellite intelligence industry. Read more
“We ran the numbers and eventually realized that wellness was the future.” Ophelia Yeung & Katherine Johnston, Senior Research Fellows at the Global Wellness Institute, are the people defining the $4.4 trillion Wellness industry. Read more
CTalk | “There’s no reason Israel can’t be ‘the proptech nation’.” “Technology really did not affect property and construction till now,” LeumiTech CEO Timor Arbel-Sadras told CTech at PropTech Tel Aviv, “so there’s lots of room to make real change and impact.” Watch full interview
“Younger people want to understand what is written on the label.” Dr. Tammy Meiron, CTO at Fresh Start Foodtech Incubator, spoke to CTech about some of the expectations from the next generation with their food. Watch full interview
An insider’s look at the foodtech arms race. Beni Nofech, Founder and Managing Partner at Milk & Honey Ventures spoke during FoodTech 2022 about the future of the sector. Watch full interview
Meta layoffs have global effect, including in Israel. Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that the company will cut 11,000 jobs, and Meta Israel will also be affected. Read more
Nanotech startup Gauzy targeting $600 million Nasdaq IPO. The Israeli company, which develops smart glass technologies, plans to raise $150 million by going public in the first quarter of 2023. Read more
Namogoo lays off 15% of workforce. The Israeli startup, which raised $15 million six months ago to take its total funding to $81 million, is parting ways with 25 employees. Read more
Index Ventures stepping up investments in Israel. The European venture capital firm, which has appointed a Partner based in Tel Aviv for the first time, has invested in the likes of Wiz, Fireblocks, and Gong in the past. Read more
Infront acquires Israeli sportstech startup Pico. Pico has developed a data-driven fan marketing platform helping major league teams, Esports, brands, and organizations turn digital engagement into zero-party data. Read more
Israeli proptech innovation stands tall during Israel Day in New York. The America-Israel Friendship League and Israeli Mapped in NY held an event dedicated to proptech at the New York Stock Exchange as part of Israel Day. Read more
“The crisis will cause investors to be more careful.” Dr. Orna Berry, a leader in the high-tech and science industries, was speaking as part of the Hi-Tech Effect series. Read more
“Employees have become mercenaries rather than devoted teammates.” Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze and VP at Google, spoke about the characteristics of Israeli high-tech and detailed the reasons for the crisis in the field. Read more
Unit 9900 Commander: “The Fortnite players of today are the soldiers of the future.” “We want to receive information simply, using tools similar to Waze, Google Maps and ‘Fortnite,” Brigadier General Erez Askal said at the Ramon GeoInt360 conference, “It’s not just a strategy and a vision, we’re already halfway there.” Read more
“We are building Satellite as a Service, a system that will give additional users access to space.” Avi Berger, head of the Defense Ministry’s Etgar Directorate, was speaking at the Ramon GeoInt360 conference in Tel Aviv. Read more
Intel Ignite announces seventh cohort in Tel Aviv. The cohort includes 10 startups from more than 200 applicants in a variety of tech industries. Read more
CTalk | What happened to Profuse Technology since winning FoodTech 2021? Last year’s FoodTech 2021 competition winner Dr. Tamar Eigler-Hirsh, Co-Founder and CTO at Profuse Technology, joins CTech to share updates on the company. Watch full video
“People know we cannot keep on killing animals just for food. We have to find solutions.” Dana Yarden, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at BioBetter, spoke to CTech after winning FoodTech 2022. Watch full video
