CTECH – Latest Israeli Technology and Innovation News
BlackBerry and Verizon lead $20 million investment in cybersecurity startup SAM. The Israeli startup’s technology detects anomalies in device behavior across the network to identify threats and uses aggregated data to ensure safe pathways for legitimate traffic. Read more
Cybersecurity startup Karamba strikes deal with data storage powerhouse Seagate. Seagate will license the Israeli company’s VCode binary analysis security software, using it to improve the protection of its flagship storage systems against cyberattacks. Read more
Research shows which corporate insiders can help you boost returns.
Informative stock purchases made by company CFOs are the best predictor of a future rise in share price, according to research by fintech company TipRanks. Read more
Yad Sarah leverages Bringg platform to tackle logistical challenges.
“Thanks to Bringg’s platform we have managed to increase the efficiency of the shipping and handling and improve our service,” said Yad Sarah Director General Moshe Cohen. Read more
Neuroscience startup CorrActions completes $2.7 million round. The Israeli startup’s software solution decodes natural human motion to analyze subconscious cognition to detect and potentially prevent errors and performance deterioration over time. Read more
Israeli Securities Authority to supervise fintech companies in the payments sector. Finance Minister Israel Katz adopted the ministry’s recommendations to have the Authority supervise innovative payment financial services as well as open banking. Large fintech bodies and digital wallets will remain under the Bank of Israel’s supervision. Read more
Partner VP Strategy Liran Dan steps down, joins executive exodus.
Former Director of Communications at the Prime Minister’s Office follows in the footsteps of departing CEO Isaac Benbenisti, as well the Deputy CEO, CMO and VP of HR. Read more
Analysis | Who gets to define incitement? Israeli requests to remove online content spiked in the wake of the recent Israel-Gaza conflict. However, social media is showing a growing reluctance to comply. So who decides the boundaries of free speech? Read more
Salt Security raises $70 million, completes third funding round in less than a year. The Israeli API security startup has raised a total of $120 million over the last 12 months. Read more
Gifting platform Snappy raises $70 million series C. Snappy’s approach to curated gift collections allows recipients to choose the gift they love before it’s delivered, making environmental and logistical sense. Read more
Lightrun raises $23 million led by Insight Partners. The Israeli startup will use the funding to accelerate its roadmap of enterprise-level features for developer teams embracing the new shift-left paradigm for production code observability. Read more
Appointments | Neha Parikh appointed as new Waze CEO. Parikh is the former President of Hotwire (of the Expedia Group) and replaces Noam Bardin, who announced his departure last year after eight years at the company that was acquired by Google in 2013. Read more
AI chipmaker Hailo wins Edge AI and Vision Product of the Year. The Hailo-8, was named the “Best Edge AI Processor” of the year. Read more
7 Israeli companies recognized in CNBC’s annual Disruptor list. The companies largely operate in the cyber and healthcare spaces – two areas impacted by Covid-19. Read more
Report: Criminal cyber actions are used to cover Iranian strategic operations against Israel. The SentinelOne report names hacker group Agrius as an Iranian agent. Sources said this group was behind the Shirbit and the KLS attacks. Read more
Childhood friends of Moshe Hogeg suing the Israeli businessman for NIS 18 million. Roee Bruchiel, who claims to be Hogeg’s childhood friend and who served as his personal assistant, and Eran Okashi, who worked as a bookkeeper in Hogeg’s VC fund Singulariteam, are suing former boss for fraud. Read more
Contentsquare lands $500 million series E led by SoftBank Vision. In 2019, the French company acquired Israeli firm Clicktale, which specializes in digital analysis of the user experience. Read more
Car importer hops on public transportation tech investment. GM brands importer UMI invests NIS 15 million (more than $4.5 million) in payment and ride planning company HopOn. Read more
RightBound raises $12 million to drive B2B sales. The Israeli startup’s autonomous sales platform addresses the complex prospecting process, transforming manual routines into a data-driven, AI-based autonomous process. Read more
Laguna Health comes out of stealth, raises $6.6 million for post-hospital recovery. The digital recovery company combines data, technology, and behavioral health experts to shorten recovery and prevent readmissions. Read more
Ibex obtains CE Mark for AI-powered breast cancer detection. The Ibex Galen Breast solution can detect multiple types of breast cancer and provide accurate diagnoses. Read more
Insurtech company Parametrix raises $17.5 million led by FirstMark Capital. The Israeli startup’s offering ensures that companies with mission-critical services in the cloud can quickly recover from IT downtime events. Read more
Forter raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation. The announcement comes six months after the company completed its $125 million Series E round. Read more
Wiz raises $120 million from Salesforce and Blackstone. The company’s valuation in the round is expected to be higher than $1.7 billion, at which it was valued in its previous funding round. Read more
Elbit Systems reports a record $11.8 billion in orders backlog. The defense company registered 4.4% growth in the first quarter of 2021 and with more massive deals already made, no wonder its CEO is “very pleased with our results.” Read more
Getty Images leads $16 million investment in Promo.com. Tom More, Promo.com CEO, said the partnership “will enable our user community to market themselves in even more creative and ground-breaking ways.” Read more
BBC Global News chooses Taboola for its content recommendations provider. BBC.com has more than 145 million monthly readers and will use Taboola Feed outside the UK. Read more
Rapid Medical announces $50 million series D. The father and son-led company, which develops neurovascular medical devices, is eyeing global commercial expansion following the fundraising led by MicroPort. Read more
Ramon.Space raises $17.5 million for space supercomputing technologies. The space tech startup plans to expand its technology to transform satellites to become smart and autonomous, extending their lifetimes by providing in-orbit upgrades to applications as well as expand its global presence. Read more
IAI unveils innovative satellite operation management system. SatGuard uses artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning methods to monitor, operate, and manage satellites, extending their life once in orbit. Read more
Automotive chipmaker Valens secures billion-dollar SPAC. The Hod Hasharon-headquartered company has reached an agreement with PTK Acquisition Corp. to go public on NYSE. Read more
ChickP announces expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. The news comes alongside the appointment of Moy Teo as the company’s Business Development Director for Asia. Read more
AnyClip announces $47 million funding round for AI-powered video platform. The Israeli startup’s proprietary visual intelligence technology allows companies to mobilize their latent video by extracting and surfacing the data within them via real-time, AI-fueled tagging. Read more
Appointments | Qumra Capital appoints Sharon Barzik-Cohen as Partner and COO. It is expected that Barzik-Cohen will ultimately become CFO once Daniel Slutzky retires at the end of the year. Read more
Opinion | AI and ML play crucial role in 5G adoption. With 5G, topologies will grow more complex, meaning machine intelligence will play a key role in assisting operators in laying out and operating networks. Read more
Crypto-native risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs announces $20 million series A funding. The Israeli-founded company offers an automated and testable market surveillance and risk monitoring hub tailored for digital assets. Read moreOrganizational learning company Shamaym is reaching for the sky.The Israeli productivity management company, headed by former Air Force pilots, has filed a prospectus ahead of a Tel Aviv IPO. Read moreMagic Software launches solution to help small and mid-sized factories join Industry 4.0 revolution.
The Israeli company’s FactoryEye product collects real-time data from existing machinery and operational systems and transforms it into actionable intelligence. Read moreBuzz off: Israeli startup developing robotic pollinator raises $4 million round A.
Equipped with cameras and AI-based computer vision, Arugga’s robot recognizes flowers ready for pollination and then applies an air-pressure mechanism to the selected flower. Read more
AWS and Google set to generate 3,000 new jobs as part of project Nimbus. Israel’s government announced Monday that the tech giants officially signed the more than $1 billion deal to provide cloud services for the country’s public sector and military. Read moreThetaRay announces its SONAR solution, designed to tackle money laundering risks.
The news comes less than a week after its latest funding round of $31 million. Read moreOpinion | Israeli resilience: That’s how winning is done.
Israel now has more publicly traded companies on Nasdaq than any other country in the world besides the US and China, and more startup tech unicorns than all of Europe combined. Read more
Interview | David Blumberg: When visiting Israel, I leave my heart at passport control and follow my head. For decades David Blumberg has been part of the local tech scene, now in a rare interview, he discusses his vision, Israel, and how come a Jewish, Gay, fourth-generation Californian supports Donald Trump. Read more
Forenza’s ‘digital forensics’ platform can help cops catch TikTok criminals. The subscription service scans public videos to categorize noticeable features. Read more
Good news for job-seekers: the market has shifted in their favor.
According to The OurCrowd High-Tech Jobs Index, Israel’s bounceback from Covid-19 has shifted to favor the job seekers, not the employers. Read more
From the White House to a $30 million seed fund. Lee Moser, AnD Ventures founder, traded the White House for tech investments on her road to success, “pandemic or no pandemic.” Read more
Libra targeting TASE IPO at NIS 400 million valuation. The digital-insurance company became profitable in 2020, less than three years after its founding, and is now looking to raise NIS 50-100 million. Read more
From a kibbutz to Mars. Ricor Cryogenic Systems builds cooling systems for spacecraft, including NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, and it’s doing so from no other than kibbutz Ein Harod in northern Israel. Read more
Taking breaks can actually increase productivity, Microsoft study finds. “For nearly all the companies in the survey, productivity went up once they incorporated a hybrid work model,” says Microsoft-Israel VP of Marketing, David Gal. Read more
Opinion | The next war scares me even more, and it’s not against Hezbollah or Iran. “I still estimate, hope, that most Israelis prefer to live in a democracy. The problem is: They are certain that democracy is here forever, can be taken for granted, is secure. Therefore, they observe the writing on the wall with eyes wide shut,” writes Yoel Esteron. Read more
Israel’s Bright Data to help UK with its national data strategy. “The NDS will put the UK at the forefront of unlocking the full social and economic potential of data,” said Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data. Read more
Opinion | Technology can cure the American healthcare system. “The American healthcare market is facing an inevitable revolution that will be based on innovative and secure technology and on changes in corporate culture due to Covid-19,” writes Oron Afek, co-founder and CEO of Vim. Read more
