Israel High Tech Scene February March 5 – March 11

Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel

New Startups / VC Funding
H2Pro and Kardome Make Japanese Deals
Two Israeli startups cut deals with Japanese firms this week. Israeli cleantech company H2Pro reached its agreement with Japanese Fortune Global 500 conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation to partner on a variety of green hydrogen initiatives in a deal valued at $250 million. And Kardome, an Israeli voice technology startup, brought in a $1 million investment from the Tokyo based Automotive Fund.

Founded in 2019, Kardome boasts that its patented Spatial Hearing technology simultaneously enhances speech signals from multiple speakers in real time, isolating the target speech with unsurpassed accuracy and enabling users to achieve high-quality results. The company says its audio experts… Read More Here

Assured Allies Brings In $65 Million for Aging and Retirement Platform
Assured Allies, an Israeli insurtech startup, raised $42.5 million in a Series B round of funding co-led by FinTLV Ventures and existing investor Harel Insurance. The company has now brought in $65 million to date. Its platform combines machine learning and predictive analytics with the latest science of aging and essential human support, to offer, they boast, successful aging programs to reduce the risk of disability, and next-generation retirement products that make long-term care insurance “accessible and financially sustainable.”

Scientific breakthroughs, explains Assured Allies, have led to a situation where Americans now live longer, with 10,000 adults turning 65 every day. However… Read More Here

Click-Ins and Autobound Make Small Raises
Autobound, a San Francisco based generative AI startup founded by two friends from Hebrew school, raised $4 million in funding to automate the tedious workflow of writing personalized sales emails. And Click-Ins, an Israeli insurtech startup, completed a $7.5 million funding round.

Founded in 2014 by Eugene Greenberg, Dimitry Geyzersky, Ronen Abergel and Zeev Hazan, Click-Ins boasts its technology transforms digital photos into information that machines can “read “. We use more than just AI and combine multiple disciplines and sciences including Photogrammetry… Read More Here

Balena Offers Biodegradable Shoes That Can Become Compost
Balena, an Israeli green/eco-friendly startup, has come up with an amazing new way to limit garbage and enhance the environment at the same time: a bio-degradable shoe that can be put into the ground to enrich the soil or used for a home garden. Yes, you heard that right!

Now imagine that for a second! One of the biggest environmental problems the world faces is tied to waste management. All that garbage needs to be collected, and processed, and sent to landfills. This is all at taxpayers’ expense and the use of carbon-emitting energies. And the… Read More Here

D-ID’s Generative AI to Power Online First Response for Victims of Domestic Violence
D-ID, an AI-driven creative media startup, and Spring ACT, an award-winning non-profit organization that leverages technology to eliminate global injustices, are backing a campaign to use Generative AI to strengthen global online support for victims of domestic violence. Leveraging D-ID’s technology, Spring ACT will bring its untraceable online domestic violence chatbot, Sophia, to life – animating the photorealistic interactive avatar to make it more accessible to populations of all literacy and resource backgrounds by enabling victims from anywhere in the world to actually talk, not just chat, with her in 13 languages. Through its Philanthropies program, Microsoft is supporting the Sophia campaign… Read More Here

IPOs and Unicorns
Hub Security IPO A Bust
A week after Hub Security, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, finally completed its SPAC Deal with Mount Rainier Acquisition Corp and held its long awaited NASDAQ IPO, the company is already in trouble. The company did not reach anywhere near the promised $1.3 billion valuation, currently has a market cap of only around $150 million – down from $205 million – and its stock price plummeted more than 80% since the IPO.

So, what went wrong?

It could be simply that the ongoing financial crisis the world has been… Read More Here

Science
TAU Develops World’s First MRNA Vaccine for Deadly Bacteria
For the first time in history, a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research have developed an mRNA-based vaccine that they say is 100% effective against a type of bacteria that is lethal to humans. The study, conducted in an animal model, demonstrated that all treated animals were fully protected against the bacteria. According to the researchers, their new technology can enable rapid development of effective vaccines for bacterial diseases, including diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria… Read More Here

Kid Develops Accessible Car Seat for Kids with Autism
The second winner of ADI’s third “Make the Change Challenge” STEM accessible design contest was won by a schoolchild from Florida named Naomi Ghitelman who developed a specialized car seat for children with autism. The student from the Posnack School in Davie, Florida won a $1,000 prize for her work.

ADI, an Israeli organization, says its mission is to care for the most precious members of our society – those who cannot care for themselves.

Ghitelman, described as a “kind and creative student” prevailed with her “Massaging Car Seat,” an adapted comfort and communication-focused car…. Read More Here

Other Business Stories
Moody’s Sees Economic Ruin for Israel If Judicial Reforms Pass
Moody’s, the top world credit ratings agency, announced Tuesday that it was keeping Israel’s rating at A1; however, it did so with one big caveat regarding the country’s judicial reform legislation currently before the Knesset. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently promoting reforms that it says are needed to “restore” Israel’s democracy and undo years of what it asserts were “undemocratic” moves by Israel’s Supreme Court to take powers for itself at the expense of the Knesset and government.

But Israel’s opposition charges that the reforms, which would greatly inhibit the ability of Israel’s courts to serve as a “check” on the government of Israel… Read More Here

Israel Aerospace Industries 2022 ‘Best Year Since Inception’
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) – a major defense contractor – reported almost $5 billion in sales for 2022. This, said IAI, made last year its best since the company’s inception.

Some observers cite the ongoing war in Ukraine as one of the reasons for the increase. But there has also been a significant increase in demand all over the world for Israel’s advanced anti-missile system known as the Iron Dome, which IAI works on. And there is also its Arrow III anti-missile… Read More Here

Riskified Pulling $500 Million Out Of Israel Over Judicial Reforms
Israeli startup Riskified, which offers e-commerce fraud prevention services, announced that the company would withdraw $500 million -all of its cash reserves – from banks in Israel. It is doing so out of concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s planned judicial reforms currently before the Knesset.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government’s proposed judicial reform plan would dramatically curtail the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court and attorney general. So, opponents say that this would leave the government…. Read More Here

Is Germany Getting The Arrow 3?
It was a year ago that reports first indicated Germany is considering buying Israeli missile defense technology, IAI’s Arrow 3 anti-missile system. Now, according to Globes, reports indicate German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while visiting Washington Friday, was given the approval of President Joe Biden to go ahead with the procurement.

Germany would incorporate the Arrow III into the European Sky Shield Initiative the country heads. Denmark and Sweden joined the initiative just last…. Read More Here

Azrieli Group Building $780 Million New TikTok Data Center
Azrieli Group is spending $780 million on the construction of a new data center in Norway for the use of the controversial social media app TikTok. Specifically, the center will be built for TikTok Norway AS by Azrieli subsidiary Green Mountain, which the firm acquired in 2021 for $850 million. Azrieli said the customer will be provided with a total power capacity of 90 MW. The complex will form part of the customer’s European hub.

The data center campus is to be made up of several buildings that will be built in several stages. The first 30 MW are expected to be supplied… Read More Here