Startup Nation Adds 7 New Unicorns in June

NextSilicon shows off office expansion

Call Startup Nation Unicorn Nation now. Israel had seven new unicorns in the month of June alone. These unicorns have a combined estimated value of $9 billion. Startup Nation has now had 18 new unicorns since the start of 2021, and the year is only halfway through.

A unicorn is a startup which is still a privately held company that has already reached a billion dollar plus valuation. The valuation of a startup, which is a new company that has neither yet held an IPO, gone public as thy say, nor has been bought out by another company, is determined by the startup’s total funding to date against a percentage ownership in the firm. So if someone is willing to pay $100 million for say a 10% stake in a startup them that means that said startup is worth $1 billion. While this may only be a valuation for a startup on paper, as any economist will tell you, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

SJD Accountancy recently conducted a survey of unicorns by country based on total number of such successes and their total combined valuations. It found that the U.S. is number one overall for unicorn startups. America’s unicorns have a total valuation of $1.194 trillion. Israel came in seventh overall with unicorn startups holding a combined valuation of $25 billion.

Exabeam, an Israeli security analytics and automation startup, hit unicorn status in June with a $2.4 billion valuation. The coveted status of unicorn came when Exbeam raised $200 million in a Series F growth round led by the Owl Rock division of Blue Owl Capital and supported by existing investors Acrew Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.

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Founded in 2014 by Nir Polak, Exabeam helps security teams “outsmart the odds” by adding intelligence to their existing security tools – including SIEMs, XDRs, cloud data lakes, and hundreds of other business and security products.

Israeli startup NextSilicon followed Exbeam as a unicorn with a $1.5 billion valuation. The company reached this milestone after recently completing a $120 million round led by Third Point Ventures. Nextsilicon, which designs computer chips and offers what it calls an innovative solution to boost supercomputers, has raised a total of $200 million to date, according to Calcalist. Founded in 2018 by Elad Raz, NextSilicon boasts that it offers a radically new approach to HPC architecture that drives the industry forward by solving its biggest, most fundamental problems.
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Verbit, an Israeli developer of an AI-powered transcription and captioning platform, is another Israeli startup to coveted unicorn status. Verbit broke the $1 billion valuation mark with a $157 million Series D round of funding.
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Verbit combines both artificial and human intelligence to provide a smart transcription and captioning solution. Built on adaptive algorithms, the company boasts that this is the only technology that generates detailed speech-to-text files to provide over 99% accuracy, delivered at record-breaking speed. Smart AI technology supports on-demand CART services for real-time results.

The company says that its vision is to provide a technology that fuels a world where all media shared in classrooms, workplaces and online platforms are inclusive. “We’re dedicated to providing universities and businesses with the tools they need to make all video and media accessible to all individuals,” declares Verbit.

Bringg, an Israeli startup and provider of cloud-based delivery and logistics services, closed a $100 million Series E financing round led by Insight Partners with participation from existing investors including Cambridge Capital, GLP, Harlap, Next 47, Pereg Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Viola Growth. The funding brought Bringg’s market valuation to $1 billion, making it a unicorn.

Founded in 2013 by CTO Lior Sion and Raanan Cohen, who stepped down as CEO in 2018 after a strong five years. Guy Bloch succeeded him. The company employs 200 people, 120 in Israel and 80 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Bringg plans to hire 100 additional people this year.

Claroty is an Israeli industrial cybersecurity startup. The company raised $140 million in new funding in June. While Claroty did not give its full valuation, Calcalist reported that the round was done giving the company a $1 billion valuation. So Claroty is now a unicorn too.

Founded in 2015, Claroty calls itself the industrial cybersecurity company which is trusted by the world’s largest enterprises. Claroty helps customers “reveal, protect, and manage their OT, IoT, and IIoT assets.” The company’s comprehensive platform connects “seamlessly” with customers’ existing infrastructure and programs while providing a full range of industrial cybersecurity controls for visibility, threat detection, risk and vulnerability management, and secure remote access—all with a significantly reduced total cost of ownership.
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Finally, Israeli startup JoyTunes, which offers a music education service, hit the coveted unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation after raising $50 million in fundraising led by GV –formerly Google Ventures and with participation by Qualcomm, reported Calcalist. GV invested $25 million.

JoyTunes has now raised a total of $93 million. The company’s main apps are Simply Piano and Simply Guitar which help novices learn to play an instrument using AI and algorithms.
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So how is a company which that deals with education reach such a high valuation? Well JoyTunes hit $100 million in revenue in 2020. And the company is now looking towards an IPO which will leave it with a $1 billion plus valuation officially, not just based on estimates.

Founded in 2011 by CTO Yigal Kaminka and CEO Roey Izkovsky,, JoyTunes says that it is reinventing the way to learn, play and experience music, “making it possible for anyone to learn to play a musical instrument.” The company combines music education methods and note recognition, with their patented MusicSense acoustic engine. JoyTunes says that this helps millions learn piano, guitar, singing, or any instrument they always dreamed of playing.