After raising $600 million, proptech startup Veev is on the verge of closure. Veev, which informed its staff of the impending closure on Sunday, is believed to be in negotiations to sell its activity and assets. Read more

“The entrepreneurial community in Israel rallies in times of crisis and really gives their best to each other.” Prof. Dafna Kariv from Reichman University studied the effects of crises on young entrepreneurs and found that there are unique characteristics of entrepreneurs in Israel that allow local high-tech to grow time and time again. Read more

Elon Musk expected to visit Israel this week amid Gaza war and X antisemitism storm. There is no detailed schedule for the visit yet, but IDF sources say that he is expected to visit a closed military area during it. It is possible that Musk will enter the Gaza Strip to see the war with Hamas up close, or he will visit one of the towns attacked by Hamas on October 7. Read more

Rise in hate crimes against Jews shows that antisemitism has no right or left. The surge in antisemitic incidents in Europe and the US since 7/10 have proven once again how deeply embedded it is in the West. Antisemitism has intensified in Europe in the last decade at the same time as Muslim immigration has risen. Read more

“Feelings of absolute fear can prevent employees from coming to the office.” Simplex 3D has joined CTech to share how the company and its employees responded to the horrors of October 7. Read more

“Palo Alto Networks didn’t invest a billion dollars in Israel as a show of solidarity.” Liran Grinberg, Managing Partner at Team8, which invested in Israeli cyber startups Dig and Talon, talks about marking a huge exit in the midst of the war and the danger of cyber threats to Israel. Read more

Private entrepreneur raises $40 million for IDF soldiers: from helmets and ceramic vests to tank cameras. Eran Efrat’s initiative has purchased tens of thousands of helmets, bulletproof vests and other tactical gear for the roughly 300,000 reservists mobilized since 7/10. It is one of many civilian-led initiatives that has filled this gap, with many asking why it was necessary for them to do so. Read more

Data dump from Radware hack raises cyber eyebrows for the future of warfare. The hackers claim they will abide by the current ceasefire, but gigabytes of files have already been dumped on Telegram exposing sensitive information belonging to millions of Israelis. Read more

Lawyering up: Leading US attorney makes case for Israel. Richard Rosenbaum, one of the top lawyers in the United States and one of the leaders of the protest against anti-Semitism in universities, recognizes the awakening of Jewish identity among young people in America, undertakes to check not only grades, but manifestations of anti-Semitism of job applicants, and recalls the days when he could not say his last name in front of clients. Read more

“Israel was just another tool for Putin, and now his true face is revealed.” Like with Hamas, Israel was also deeply wrong about Vladimir Putin. Russia experts explain why the Russian President sided with Hamas, his KGB-shaped worldview, his alliance with Iran, and desire to rival the US. Read more

The battle to highlight crimes against women in Hamas’ attack on Israel. In the wake of global silence and denial of Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women, efforts are being made across multiple echelons to raise awareness, including a civil commission to document the crimes, international diplomacy, and a campaign by tech industry executives. Read more

Biomed company CartiHeal acquired by Smith & Nephew for up to $330 million. The Israeli firm, which develops a biocompatible, coral-based, off-the-shelf implant for damaged joints, will initially receive $180 million in cash and up to a further $150 million contingent on financial performance. Read more

Database optimization startup EverSQL acquired by Finland’s Aiven. The Israeli company, which has been bootstrapped since it was founded three years ago, aims to transform and automate database performance analysis through the use of AI. Read more

Musk: X to donate all revenue associated with war in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza. Musk noted that X “will track how funds are spent and go through Red Cross/Crescent” to ensure they don’t end up in Hamas hands. Read more

Inside UBQ Materials’ “crisis, recovery, and resilience plan” for 7/10. The company shifted focus from its broader mission to build ‘a world without waste’ and directed its efforts to help its immediate employees. Read more

AI21 takes Series C to $208 million with additional $53 million in funding. The AI company’s additional funding, including from new investors Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures, was raised at a $1.4 billion valuation. Read more

“An investor swiftly grasped the Israeli situation when he saw me in uniform.” In 2023, Colors AI emerged from stealth with a pre-seed round of $200,000. Soon after, its founders found themselves serving the country in the battlegrounds. Read more

Nvidia’s Israel-1 supercomputer up and running two months ahead of schedule. Country’s most powerful AI system begins operations to advance local R&D initiatives. Read more

Moody’s: Israel’s rating may drop if Hamas war escalates. The credit rating agency, which last month placed Israel on “negative watch”, published the full report, noting that apart from the development of the war, the rating will also be affected by the government’s conduct in navigating the economy during this period. Read more

Microsoft and OpenAI: Navigating a complex partnership post-shakeup. At this stage it is not yet clear what exactly the effect of the removal of the outgoing CEO Sam Altman from OpenAI will be on the company, but one thing is certain – this move was particularly beneficial to the investor Microsoft, which announced ahead of time that it would hire Altman and the members of the OpenAI management who left after his firing. Read more

Iron Beam laser defense system set to become operational earlier than expected. The security establishment sees the war in Gaza as an opportunity to test Rafael’s laser interception system in the hope of making it operational as early as next year. At the same time, Rafael and IAI are accelerating the development of systems that should provide multi-layered protection from space as well. Read more

BioCatch enters unicorn club as valuation crosses $1 billion in latest secondary deal. The company, which specializes in software development for identifying and preventing bank fraud and money laundering, secured around $70 million from Sapphire Ventures. Read more

“Nobody in the Western world would normalize ISIS. Why should we do that to Hamas?” The Israel-Gaza war is being fought on multiple battlegrounds – why have some become so sympathetic to terrorists online? Read more

Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hired by Microsoft to lead new AI research team. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman will be joining the company and confirmed that ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear has been named as OpenAI’s new CEO. Read more

Lasso Security nets $6 million Seed funding for Gen AI and LLM cybersecurity. The Israeli startup provides cybersecurity for Large Language Models (LLMs), safeguarding against threats across all LLM touchpoints. Read more