Israel High Tech Scene and Other Business Stories June 3 – June 9

Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel

Israel High Tech Scene and Other Business Stories June 3 – June 9

New Startups / VC Funding
Former Shin Bet Director’s Opora Technologies Goes Under
Opora Technologies, an Israeli cybersecurity startup founded by none other than former Shin Bet (Israel’s General Security Services) head Yuval Diskin, is shutting down according to a report in Calcalist. On the lighter side of the business news this week, Comeet, an Israeli startup that develops an applicant tracking and candidate management platform, is merging with Spark Hire, a firm that… Read More Here

Israeli Startups WaveBL and Onebeat Make Small Raises
WaveBL, an Israeli startup that offers services for providing electronic Bills, raised $26 million in its latest funding round which was led by NewRoad Capital Partners. And Onebeat, an Israeli startup that offers tech to help retailers analyze and understand their customers in real-time using AI and big data tools, raised $10 million in a Series B round of funding led by Magenta Venture Partners.

Founded in 2018 by Dr. Yishai Ashlag and Avihai Shnabel, Onebeat is… Read More Here

Humanz Raises $17 Million for AI Marketing Platform
Humanz, an Israeli startup offering an AI-based influencer marketing platform, raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding led by strategic investors, including Yuval Tal, the founder of fintech company Payoneer. Humanz has now raised $17 million to date.

OK, so we have all heard about AI – artificial intelligence. One of the big AI pioneers – Sam Altman who started OpenAI – is currently visiting Israel and has met with its… Read More Here

Israel’s MyAir Releases Nutrition Coach
Israeli herbal medicine startup myAir uses alternative medicine techniques to offer its customers a new kind of health bar to reduce stress. And the company has just released what it says is the world’s first Generative AI nutritionist focused on the “food for mood” concept.”

Israel Startup Nation is known for its many… Read More Here

Israel’s Pulsenmore’s Tech Powering First Ever Virtual Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital
Technology developed by Pulsenmore, an Israeli medtech firm that offers a home ultrasound device for use by pregnant women, is being used by Sheba Beyond in its new venture – the world’s first virtual department of gynecology and obstetrics. Sheba Beyond is a branch of Sheba Hospital, the largest hospital in Israel and ranked amongst the top 10 best hospitals in the world.

Sheba Beyond manages over 130 virtual clinics… Read More Here

IPOs and Unicorns
Intel to Sell $1.5 Billion Worth of Mobileye Shares
Intel is set to sell off 35 million shares in Israel’s Mobileye, a company that develops automated driving systems. The sale is expected to bring in $1.5 billion. And that is not all. The stock being led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley could see the sale of an additional 5.25 million shares at a later time.

After the sale, Intel will still own 88.7% of Mobileye which is valued at about $34 billion. And this is even after the company hit a bump in May, seeing a drop in value after a 15% decline in sales forecasts. And its shares… Read More Here

Mergers and Acquisitions
BlackRock Buys Kreos Capital for $400 Million
Kreos Capital, a private debt management firm co-founded by Raoul Stein which does a great deal of business in Israel working with more than 100 companies there including many Israeli startups, has been sold to BlackRock. The details of the deal were not disclosed, but Calcalist said that it has learned that it is for $400 million.

BlackRock said the acquisition of Kreos adds… Read More Here

Stratasys Object of 3D Systems Takeover Bid
3D Systems confirmed its intention to acquire Israeli 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys in a cash and stock merger that would convert each Stratasys share into $7.50 in cash and 1.2507 newly issued shares of 3D Systems common stock. 3D Systems declared that should the merger go forward it would create an “additive manufacturing industry leader,” with Stratasys shareholders owning 40% of the combined company and receiving approximately $540 million in… Read More Here

Snyk Acquiring Enso Security for Estimated $50+ Million
Snyk, an Israeli cybersecurity startup and a unicorn in the field of cloud native application security, is acquiring fellow Israeli security startup Enso Security, developer of the first Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) solution. The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but Calcalist reported that it could be for more than $50 million. Enso Security has raised less than $10 million to date.

Interestingly, the acquisition… Read More Here

SentinelOne and Outbrain Make Cutbacks
Outbrain Inc., an Israeli firm that offers content recommendations to businesses, is laying off about ten percent of its workforce in a sign that Israel Startup Nation is not yet out of the woods when it comes to business woes caused by the worldwide financial crisis. And SentinelOne, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, is laying off about 100 people, or 5% of its total worldwide workforce. The move comes as the company lost 35% of its share value after reporting a…. Read More Here

Two Israeli Startups Sold: Indeni Acquired By BlueCat and Bablic Taken By Unbabel
Indeni, an Israeli startup that offers a network infrastructure monitoring and automation platform, was acquired by BlueCat, a provider of mission-critical network and cloud infrastructure software for reliable and secure DNS, DHCP, and IP address management. Also, Tel Aviv-based Bablic, an Israeli startup that offers localization and translation services for websites and apps… Read More Here

Other Business Stories
Israel Issues World’s First Ever Digital Bond
The State of Israel made history with the world’s first digital bond ever issued. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and the office of the Accountant General at Israel’s Ministry of Finance together completed the “successful the Proof of Concept (PoC) phase” for Project Eden, what they call a “groundbreaking collaboration showcasing the immense potential of innovative technologies such as DLT, smart contracts, and tokenization in reducing risk and improving efficiency and transparency in the… Read More Here

OECD Forecasts Moderate Economic Growth For Israel
The OECD has basically joined the chorus of financial organizations, like Standard and Poor’s and Fitch in predicting that Israel will continue to see economic growth, albeit at a much lower rate than in recent years. It also warned that domestic political issues, specifically the judicial reforms proposed by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, could cause harm to the country’s economy. This was also cited as a caveat when Fitch and Standard and Poor’s both reaffirmed their high credit…. Read More Here

EHANG and Air Zero Give Israel It’s First Ever Air Taxi Tests From
Israel’s National Air Drone Initiative (INDI) conducted the first air taxi takeoff and landing test ever held in Israel. It did so with the eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing), an autonomous aircraft that can carry passengers and heavy cargo is expected to serve as public transportation in the aerial dimension. Dronery, a subsidiary of Cando Drones, operated the EH-216S model manufactured by EHANG, while AIR flew the AIR ZERO model that is designed… Read More Here

Sam Altman Meets with Israel’s President
King of artificial intelligence Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI which brought the world the controversial ChatGPT service, is currently visiting Israel where he met with the country’s President Isaac Herzog. When speaking with the President and in other places, Altman declared that he firmly believes Israel Startup Nation is a central place for the future development of artificial intelligence technologies.

Sam Altman told President Herzog… Read More Here