CTECH – The Latest Israel Technology and Innovation News
Three young cyber companies are about to join Israel’s stable of unicorns. The oldest of the companies eyeing a billion-dollar valuation has been around for less than three years. Read more
Axonious raises $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. U.S.-based Stripes led the round together with existing Israeli and American backers. Read more
Women’s Day 2021 | Women: Say yes to your place at the table! In a world in which women’s voices are not heard as much as men’s, it is time to turn up the volume and put women at the center of the stage. Read more
HR Post Covid | MeMed’s Leadership classes came in handy during Covid-19. During the pandemic, managers were faced with unprecedented new challenges. The Biotech company decided to do something about it. Read more
ForeBio is on its way to Nasdaq at a $500 million valuation. The company aims to raise $100 million in an April IPO, while Pontifax and OrbiMed who previously invested $21 million for a 12.5% stake in ForeBio’s shares are expected to make a $120 million profit. Read more
Elbit Systems scores major deal to sell Hermes 900 UAVs to East-Asian country. Elbit beat out Israeli rival IAI, which will reportedly have to settle for a smaller order from the Indian air force. Read more
New public partnership Unic-Tech eyes TASE IPO, offering investments in private unicorns. This marks the first time in Israel that there will be a public partnership for investing in the global secondary market. Read more
Interview | “Everyone’s flocking to our game, but without restaurants and cruises our value is declining.” Playstudios offers a drastically different gaming platform that grants players prizes, perks, and tickets to Las Vegas, but that is all declining due to pandemic travel restrictions. Read more
Moon Active raking in the money as Coin Master crosses $2 billion income mark. Coin Master was the fourth-highest revenue-generating mobile game worldwide last year, bringing in $1.2 billion in 2020 alone. Read more
Phishing attacks in Europe soared 718% in 2020, according to Allot.
The network intelligence and security solutions company cited Covid-19 as a leading cause for the sharp increase. Read more
Opinion | The ugly side of the tech cash splash. The big money being thrown at early-stage companies can often sidetrack entrepreneurs. Read more
Appointments | Wind Israel appoints Itay Ezra as new CEO. Ezra will join the micro-mobility company after two years as a senior manager at AnyVision. Read more
Opinion | Can Tesla conquer Israel without storefronts? “Covid-19 pushed car purchases further down the road of digitization. Although consumers are still somewhat hesitant about fully online automotive sales,” says Aharon Horwitz. Read more
Israeli-founded SentinelOne targeting historic IPO. The cybersecurity company is preparing for an initial public offering at a value of around $10 billion, which would make it the largest ever by an Israeli-founded cyber firm. Read more
Yotpo seeking unicorn status with new $200 million funding round. The new round comes only six months after the Israeli marketing services company raised $75 million. Read more
Interview | Seven months after being acquired by NetApp, Spot CEO says he has no regrets. The American giant paid $450 million for 31-year-old Amiram Shachar’s startup last July, and it has only gone from strength to strength since. Read more
MyHeritage turned down a chance for bigger exit by holding off on going public. The genealogy company has long been profitable, and could have raised more money by going public, but preferred to remain private, quadrupling its investors’ earnings. Read more
“By 2025, 55% of our products will be made of recycled plastic,” says Keter co-CEO. Iftach Sachar talks about how his company is trying to lead the way when it comes to making plastics more sustainable. Read more
Moovit partners with Israel Railways and Carmelit to pay for train rides across the country. The Mobility-as-a-Service app was selected by the Ministry of Transport to provide trip planning and payment options for riders. Read more
Elta Systems to lead Israel’s new smart mobility cybersecurity center. The center is being founded as part of the preparations for vehicles that will be able to communicate with users as well as transport infrastructure like traffic lights, command and control centers, and charging facilities. Read more
Israel’s RedHill Biopharma testing oral pill that cures Covid-19 symptoms. Israeli pharmaceutical company creates treatment to help severe and moderately-ill patients; company has generated over $90 million in sales annually. Read more
High demand for tech talent has put Israeli job seekers back in the driving seat. HR executives say the market today is similar to what it was prior to the pandemic, with applicants demanding high salaries and the ability to work from home. Read more
HR Post Covid | Covid-19 “got our creative juices flowing,” says EX.CO. Big problems require big solutions. Here’s how the content technology company kept its employees safe and sane during the pandemic. Read more
Priority Software is acquiring Edea AMC for an estimated NIS 142 million. “Edea’s platform is based on our software, so it makes sense to link the two companies in order to increase our product offerings,” says CEO. Read more
Hogeg bringing Bitcoin to Tel Aviv Stock Exchange via shelf company. The Israeli entrepreneur believes the cryptocurrency market will continue to surge over the next few years and is aiming to make it more accessible to both private and institutional investors. Read more
Individualism vs. Collectivism: How a country’s culture determined the severity of Covid-19. Research from IDC Herzliya and Yale University has shined a light on how citizens view their role in society – and it shows some worrying trends about how countries deal with a global pandemic. Read more
Israel’s Medi-Tate acquired by Japanese powerhouse Olympus Corporation for $300 million. The Israeli manufacturer of non-surgical solutions for BPH had previously raised $37 million from private investors. Read more
Interview | Startup’s pop-up antennas slash price of satellite communications. NSLComm engineers pop-up dishes, antennas and are looking to partner – not compete with major communications companies to help supply broadband, agritech IoT services, at a fraction of the cost. Read more
Opinion | Time to agree on how to interact with ET. “It remains counter-intuitive as to why we have yet to develop a comprehensive set of universally accepted and binding protocols for how to both send out and respond to other potential civilizations,” says Dov Greenbaum. Read more
Moderna’s resigning CMO says he achieved what he cared about. Tal
Zaks: I never imagined that I’d develop a vaccine for the worst pandemic of our times. Read more
Moderna CMO suggests Israel is on its radar for new vaccine production facility. Tal Zaks says the drugmaker has already produced a booster shot to counter the South African variant, says his mom in Israel received the competition’s vaccine. Read more
These are the big names that benefited from MyHeritage’s $600 million sale. Some of the Israeli investment scene’s major players will take home handsome portions of the acquisition by Francisco Partners. Read more
Medisafe raises $30 million in Series C led by pharma giant Sanofi.
The company expanded its platform in 2020 with the launch of Medisafe Care Connector, which digitally connects patients and doctors. Read more
Rafael announces successful tests of I-Derby ER electromagnetic air-to-air missiles. Rafael’s I-Derby ER missile has a dual-pulse rocket motor and an active radar seeker, providing combat aircraft with performance advantages both at short ranges or beyond visual range. Read more
HR Post Covid | Our employees take initiative professionally and personally, says HP Indigo. Even though employees work from home, it doesn’t stop all 2,500 of them find a sense of satisfaction in their communities, says HP Indigo’s HR Israel Country Manager. Read more
Round B | A CEO for all seasons. Shaul Olmert weighs the pros and cons of startup founders sticking around as long-term CEOs. Read more
Intel’s Uri Frank leaves the company weeks after being promoted.
Company thanks him for more than 20 years of service; associates say he received a lucrative offer elsewhere. Read more
Appointments | Decama Capital Ltd. appoints Professor Lior Elbaz as Chief Development Officer. The appointment comes at a time when the Israeli investment company explores opportunities in renewable energy. Read more
Francisco Partners to acquire genealogy company MyHeritage in $600 million deal. Founded in 2003, MyHeritage enables users to create family trees by searching through historical documents such as census, immigration, marriage, and burial records. Read more
Pliops completes $65 million investment round led by KDT and Nvidia. The Israeli company aims to improve data center efficiency with its soon to be launched storage processor. Read more
VidMob set to hire dozens of Israelis following new $50 million funding round. The global company will further establish its presence in Israel as it hires for its creative and content teams. Read more
SoftBank and Adam Neumann squeezing WeWork for all that it has. After a much-publicized fallout and with a public offering beckoning, the Japanese conglomerate and the Israeli entrepreneur are nearing a settlement. Read more
Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) establishes formal ties with two more Israeli government entities. The agreements with Invest in Israel and Israel Innovation Authority are part of a series of strategic initiatives following the Abraham Accords. Read more
Israel’s ChickP commercializes novel protein for “the mighty chickpea.” The company has also appointed a new VP of Sales and Business Development to manage the expansion into the U.S. Read more
Bio-Fence raises $3.8 million in capital for its disinfectant technology. The company is planning to enter the tourism and aviation markets after Covid-19 subsides. Read more
Analysis | Israel is lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to e-commerce regulations. The Ministry of Justice has started formalizing the relations between Israeli consumers and foreign e-commerce sites, with the big question being will Israeli laws protect them? Read more
HR Post Covid | Forter’s ‘Appreciation Sundays’ initiative helps alleviate Covid-19 stress. How does a company with more than 270 employees in three time zones help each member with their wellbeing during a pandemic? Read more
Israel-based Acumen raises $7 million in seed for engineering solutions platform. Customers of the engineering intelligence platform include Bizzabo, Cloudshare, and Logz.io. Read more
Israeli transportation company Dan raising $11 million in R&D partnership IPO. The partnership will focus on investing in startups in the smart mobility sector. Read more
FINTECH 2021 | “Our new product will be the Wolt of the banking world,” says Discount Bank CEO. Speaking at Calcalist’s Fintech 2021 Conference, Uri Levin addressed the massive changes taking place in the financial world, calling the revolution “unstoppable.” Read more
Appointments | Inspira Technologies appoints Benad Goldwasser as Chairman of the Board. Professor Goldwasser has more than three decades’ experience as a surgeon and healthcare entrepreneur. Read more
Tel Aviv University establishes first Israeli AI and data science academic branch. The center aims to promote multidisciplinary research collaborations with other universities around the world. Read more
PerimeterX raises $57 million for expansion into new verticals. “It gives us the runway to extend our market reach beyond our core into new industries such as financial services,” says CEO. Read more
Team8 expands its fintech portfolio leading $12 million series A of FundGuard. The company aims to use the new capital to increase its headcount by 75% over the coming year. Read more
Remote IT management company Atera secures $25 million investment from K1. “We onboard our clients through Facebook and Google and our strength rests mostly in the simplicity and ease of use of our system,” says CEO Gil Pekelman. Read more
Amid a 400% recruitment boom, only 14% of OurCrowd companies are expecting to return to the office full-time. According to the venture investing platform’s Jobs Index from the last quarter of 2020, Israel’s startup scene is expecting a bounce-back – just not in the ways we expect. Read more
Stock options marketplace EquityBee raises $20 million on back of accelerated growth. The Israeli startup offers a marketplace where startup employees who lack the necessary funds to exercise their stock options can find investors, in return for a part in future gains. Read more
Israeli startup develops solution to secure booming DeFi market. “More than $41 billion worth of assets are locked in DeFi apps, yet their security solutions are still consumer-oriented,” said Hub Security CTO and co-founder, Andrey Iaremenko. Read more
Employer Branding | Diverse companies must consider language and culture, says SkyX. Covid-19 has allowed companies to hire from anywhere, but they mustn’t lose track of diversity. Read more
Tips | Want to build your own startup? Prepare to be flexible. The year 2021 is set to pose challenges for new entrepreneurs who aim to build their own startup, but senior executives believe they can succeed if they follow a few tips. Read more
FINTECH 2021 | “Fintech is the best thing to happen to the banking system.” Arik Frishman, Head of the Digital and Data Division at Israel Discount Bank takes part in a panel on Fintech fundamentals along with Melio CEO Matan Bar, Tipalti CEO Chen Amit, and TLV Partner’s Eitan Beck. Watch full video
“By 2035, at least 30% of mortgages will be issued by non-banking entities.” TARYA CEO Shahaf Erlich offers bold predictions at Calcalist’s Fintech 2021 Conference. Watch full video
“The world of virtual assets will be divided into two lists, one white and one black.” Dr. Shlomit Wagman-Ratner, Director General at Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority discusses cryptocurrency regulation in Israel. Watch full video
“When working with large numbers, Big Data is the name of the game.” Mimun Yashir executives Ronit Peter and Eran Golan talk about how companies have come to depend on user-generated data. Watch full video
