Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel
Israel High Tech Scene January 26 – February 2
New Startups / VC Funding
Sarona Ventures Establishes TechShield So People Can Support Israel Through Investments
Sarona Ventures, an Israeli VC firm, has established a new fund called TechShield that is intended to promote investment in Israeli startups in a more personalized fashion. After the October 7 massacre enacted by the Hamas terrorist group in which more than 1,200 innocent people in Israel were murdered, there is a new way to show your support for the country through direct investments in its startups.
Toot Shani, the founding managing partner at Sarona Ventures, spoke with Jewish Business News about what the firm hopes to accomplish… Read More Here
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Oasis Security Raises $40 Million for Cybersecurity
Oasis Security, an Israeli startup that offers non-human identity management (NIM) solutions, raised $35 million in a Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital. The company has now raised $40 million to date.
Non-human identity management (NIM) solutions are becoming increasingly important as the number of non-human identities, such as service accounts, API keys, tokens, and certificates, explodes in modern hybrid and multi-cloud environments. These identities lack the traditional usernames and passwords used by humans, and managing them manually is nearly impossible… Read More Here
Israel’s Aion Labs Establishes TenAces to Develop New Molecular Glue Therapies
AION Labs, an Israeli organization that is the first-of-its-kind venture studio “spearheading” the adoption of AI technologies and computational science to solve therapeutic challenges, formed the new venture TenAces Biosciences. TenAces is a startup developing what it describes as a novel approach to discovering new molecular glue therapies, leveraging machine learning to enhance the development of treatments for a range of conditions.
Molecular glue therapies are an exciting new branch of drug development that utilizes small molecules to modulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Imagine them as tiny, targeted pieces of molecular velcro, bringing together… Read More Here
Founded By IDF Cyber Unit 8200 Grad, Aim Security Offers a GenAI Security Platform
Aim Security, an Israeli cybersecurity startup that offers a GenAI security platform for enterprises, raised $10 million in Seed funding led by YL Ventures, with participation from CCL (Cyber Club London).
GenAI is actually not entirely distinct from AI, but rather a specific subset of it. When people talk about AI, they often refer to a broad field encompassing various techniques and methods for allowing machines to exhibit intelligent behavior.GenAI, on the other hand, focuses on a particular type of AI, known as Generative AI… Read More Here
Israel’s Joyned Shopping Platform Raises $8 Million
Joyned, an Israeli startup that offers a software-as-a-service SaaS platform that helps retailers provide social shopping experiences directly to their consumers, raised $8 million to complete its Series A round of funding led by Reach Markets, an Australian private equity and financial services company.
Jonathan Abraham, CEO of Joyned, said the company is proud to have received the funding from “leading funds,” including Reach Markets, Sentor Investments and Velocity Ventures, along with Lucerne Investment Partners… Read More Here
Mergers and Acquisitions
Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners Buys Huge Stake in Israel’s Shlomo Group
Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners has sealed the deal to acquire 15% of the Israeli firm Shlomo Group’s auto and credit operations. The deal is worth $110 million and leaves Shlomo Group with about a $750 million value.
The deal, first raised in September, was closed after the October 7 Hamas massacre. But because of that the two firms decided to delay their announcement.
The firms said that the goal of this investment is to expand the… Read More Here
Other Business Stories
Israeli Firms Innoviz and Proofpoint Both Making Layoffs
In a double blow to Israel Startup Nation, Innoviz Technologies, an Israeli provider of high-performance, automotive-grade LiDAR sensors and perception software, is laying off 13% of its workforce. At the same time, Israeli cybersecurity firm Proofpoint is laying off 6% of its workforce, or 280 employees.
Is this related to the ongoing Iron Swords War in Gaza? Probably not… Read More Here
European Investment Bank Investing $275 Million with Bank Leumi For Greentech Projects
The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) is working with Israel’s Bank Leumi to invest 250 million Euros ($275 million) in Israeli green projects. Globes reported that the two banks signed a memorandum of understanding on this deal which is part of Bank Leumi’s plan to provide up to $10 billion in credit for green projects through the year 2030.
The new agreement comes after, in February of 2023, EIB and Bank Leumi signed a deal for 500 Million Euros in support of green projects in Israel… Read More Here
Asaf Peled and Jeff Zucker Are Potential Sports Illustrated Suitors
Sports Illustrated is failing, as are most print publications in the world today. But the iconic American sports magazine still has potential suitors as it seeks new ownership and these include former CNN and NBC Entertainment boss Jeff Zucker’s Front Office Sports. And so is Asaf Peled’s Minute Media.
Minute Media was founded in 2011 in Israel by Asaf Peled and has a portfolio that includes 6 global sports and entertainment brands… Read More Here
