Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel
Israel High Tech Scene July 12 – July 28
New Startups / VC Funding
Adaptive Shield Gets Investment from Blackstone While Brevel Raises $18.5 Million for Alternative Proteins
Adaptive Shield, an Israeli cybersecurity startup providing SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) services, is getting $10 million in investment from Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone private equity firm. Meanwhile, fellow Israeli startup Brevel, which develops microalgae-based alternative protein, completed a Seed funding round of $18.5 million.
Founded in 2017 by three brothers Yonatan (CEO), Matan (COO), and Ido (CTO) Golan, Brevel says that it provides sustainable protein for a better future on this planet and boasts that the firm’s “unique” microalgae based protein is flavor and color neutral, has a full amino-acid profile, is highly functional and is… Read More Here
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Akooda Raises $11 Million for New AI Tech
Akooda, an Israeli startup boasting the world’s first Operations Intelligence platform, raised $11 million in seed funding from NFX, Atlassian Ventures, Village Global, Founder Collective, and others. Akooda’s platform leverages artificial intelligence to effectively locate, access, and analyze critical data scattered across an organization – and help solve business challenges in real-time. The company plans to use the funding to further develop its product suite and expand its customer base.
Founded in 2020 by Yuval Gonczarowski, Akooda says its platform can quickly find what a user needs and who can help, across a client company’s digital… Read More Here
Israeli Startups NeoLogic and Cyclops Make Small Raises
Cyclops Security, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, raised $6.4 million in Seed funding round led by Merlin Ventures, Insight Partners, Tal Ventures and toDay Ventures. And fellow Israeli startup NeoLogic, which has developed a chip technology for higher computing power, raised $8 million in Seed funding led by Maniv Mobility venture capital fund with lool Ventures and M-Ventures.
Co-founded in 2022 by cybersecurity veterans CEO Eran Zilberman, CTO Elay Gueta and CPO Biran Franco, Cyclops’ technology collects metadata from the cyber security stack, cloud and on-prem. It then normalizes, correlates… Read More Here
Mergers and Acquisitions
Imperva Sells to Thales for $3.6 Billion
Israeli-founded cybersecurity company Imperva is getting bought out by French multinational company Thales for $3.6 billion. Imperva is currently owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which bought the company for $2.1 billion in 2018.
Thales said that with the acquisition of Imperva the firm is taking its cybersecurity business to the next level. Imperva, said Thales, will enable growth in data security and Thales’ entry into the attractive application security market. Thales total… Read More Here
Sale of Israel’s Phoenix Insurance to Abu Dhabi State Fund Falls Through
The move by Abu Dhabi Development Holding Co. (ADQ) to buy a controlling interest in Israel’s largest insurance concern, Israel Phoenix Holdings, has failed. In December 2022, ADQ revealed plans to acquire a 25% stake in Phoenix for roughly $680 million.
In a notification made to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Phoenix Insurance said, “The parties have come to a mutual understanding regarding termination of the Term Sheet inter alia in light of the potential regulatory limitations that would have arisen from the acquisition of the controlling stake by the Consortium resulting in potential restrictions for several members of the Consortium to… Read More Here
Israel’s Nuance Hearing Bought by EssilorLuxottica
Trustmi, an Israeli fintech startup offering protection for financial transactions, came out of stealth with $17 million in investments led by Oren Zeev and from people like Chen Amit, co-founder and CEO of Tipalti, and Assaf Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of Wiz. At the same time Israeli startup Nuance Hearing, which develops hearing aid tech, was acquired by the world’s largest eyewear manufacturer EssilorLuxottica in a deal said to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
EssilorLuxottica, the maker of such famed brands as Oakley and Ray-Ban, plans… Read More Here
Other Business Stories
Moody’s On Israel: “The Situation Becomes Dangerous and Complicated”
The credit rating agency Moody’s published an unusual unscheduled report for investors regarding Israel this evening (Tuesday), following the passage of the legislation in the Knesset yesterday.
The report warned there is a “real risk that political and social tensions will continue to harm the Israeli economy.” It also noted that the volume of Israeli high-tech investments is at a 4-year low, which is a sign that… Read More Here
Netanyahu’s Government Unconcerned by Rating Agencies Downgrading Israel’s Status
Major international financial firms like Moody’s and Morgan Stanley have already moved to either downgrade or issue warnings about the state of the Israeli economy after Monday’s passage of new legislation that limits the powers of the country’s Supreme Court. While the same agencies recently preserved Israel’s positive ratings, the moves came as little surprise as they had also warned of future problems should the government push through its controversial judicial reform plan.
In response to the news, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich released a joint statement in which they downplayed the significance of the moves and asserted that Israel’s economy… Read More Here
Israel’s Economy in Trouble Due To Government’s Judicial Reforms
Israel’s economy could be in big trouble now that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in passing the first part of its judicial reforms on Monday. The so-called “reasonableness” amendment to Israel’s basic law on the courts passed in a vote of 64 to 56 on party lines. And the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s (TASE) Tel Aviv 35 Index fell, losing 2.21%. And after rebounding somewhat after a recent low, the Shekel began to drop again against the US Dollar.
This is exactly what many financial experts have predicted would happen because many are expected to lose confidence in Israel’s political stability and so foreign investments could dry up. This is because they agree with the… Read More Here
Judicial Reforms Destroying Israel Startup Nation – Report
The controversial judicial reforms being pushed through the Knesset by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be causing irreparable damage to Israel’s high-tech sector – its startups in particular. If a new study from the organization Start-Up Nation Central is accurate, then Israel may soon cease to be known as Startup Nation.
It has been widely reported how many Israeli firms already took funding out of the country, transferring assets to foreign banks. And rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s have been warning for months that passage of… Read More Here
