AI21 Labs riding GenAI wave with $155 million Series C at $1.4 billion valuation. The Israeli startup, founded by Prof. Amnon Shashua, Prof. Yoav Shoham, and Ori Goshen, earned unicorn status thanks to its text-based generative AI services for enterprises. Investors include Google, Nvidia, and co-founder Shashua. Read more

“If in 2021 every second company could raise money, now the standard is much higher.” Lee Moser, Managing Partner of AnD ventures, 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

Junior high-tech roles: 84% drop in front-end openings; salaries fall across the board. Data by Israeli recruitment firm Ethosia on junior roles in tech shows that the number of open positions and salaries have decreased, while the job search length has risen dramatically. Read more

Amiti Ventures appoints Zoe Ofer as Senior Associate. Ofer will be responsible for the relationship with the fund’s investors (LP), alongside accompanying the fund’s investments in startups from the first stages. Read more

SentinelOne terminates cooperation with Wiz amidst takeover talk. Wiz expressed its intention to acquire SentinelOne this past weekend despite being a relatively young startup while the latter is a decade-old public company employing almost three times its workforce. Read more

Rising demand for weapons bolsters Israeli defense companies’ sales to all-time highs. Data for the second quarter of 2023 reveals the growth of the defense industries, which are thriving globally while high-tech continues to take hits. Read more

QuantHealth announces $15 million Series A to use AI to enhance success of clinical trials. The Israeli startup’s AI platform predicts efficacy and safety of clinical trials to try and optimize trial design, and identify key response population. Read more

Tech titans’ private city vision: Innovative urban dream or dystopian nightmare? The widow of Steve Jobs, the founder of LinkedIn and former CEO of GitHub, are just a few of the tech entrepreneurs involved in the initiative to develop a mega-private city in the Montezuma Hills in California. Read more

Why Meta’s open source is not really open. Aligning with the times, Meta released Code Llama, but instead of promoting a free and transparent market, this is another way in which technology giants strengthen their position based on the work of external developers. Read more

Vesttoo founders officially fired by board after conclusion of fraud investigation. After being placed on paid leave earlier this month, CEO Yaniv Bertele and Chief Financial Engineer Alon Lifshitz have been sacked, with the board hinting they were involved in the alleged fraud at the company. “The investigative body singled out the founders from the outset. Despite an extensive investigation, no evidence has been found against them, let alone presented,” Bertele and Lifshitz said in response. Read more

Israel’s new laser defense system to become operational in 2024. “One year from now – Israel will be the first country to have partial laser protection. In two years there may be complete protection,” said Rafael Advanced Defense Systems chairman Yuval Steinitz. Read more

Israel Innovation Institute launches new innovation management and ecosystem cultivation unit. CatalystIL aims to facilitate the identification of challenges, systematic comparison of solutions addressing global issues, and the precise implementation of innovation processes. Read more

Opinion | Rumors about the death of fintech are overblown. Fintech, more than any other industry, is influenced by macroeconomic trends. But the current downturn in investments is largely a market correction, presenting a great opportunity for fintech growth, writes Ronen Assia, Managing Partner at Team8 and co-founder of eToro. Read more

Wiz and SentinelOne merger will create a global cyber giant – What stands in its way? Market estimations suggest that SentinelOne will not agree to a deal for less than $18-20 per share, equating to around $6 billion and 25% above the current value. Read more

Court rules Vesttoo can’t make compensation payments to fired staff. Vesttoo, which laid off around 75% of its workforce last month, received approval to make payments of over $2.78 million to its remaining employees, but was told it currently can’t spend an additional $2.2 million related to compensation payments. Read more

Air defense system sales propel Rafael to record earnings, $10.8 billion order backlog. During the first half of the year, the company’s sales increased by 28% in comparison to the first half of 2022, totaling around $1.61 billion. Read more

US Marines adding Iron Dome to arsenal, planning to buy three batteries and over 1,800 interceptors. The deal with the Marines, who tested the systems last year, could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Rafael. Read more

How did Aura Air go from $60 million valuation to bankruptcy. The District Court in Tel Aviv has approved the Israeli air filtration company’s request for bankruptcy due to debt of approximately $13 million. Read more