Israel High Tech Scene February 2 – February 10

Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel

Israel High Tech Scene February 2 – February 10

New Startups / VC Funding
Israeli Startup Oobit Raises $25 for Mobile Payments In Controversial Cryptocurrencies
Oobit, an Israeli startup that offers a mobile payments app for cryptos (Cryptocurrency), raised $25 million in a Series A round of funding led by the investment arm of Tether, CMCC Global’s Titan Fund, 468 Capital and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, to advance the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.”

Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning they are not subject to government or financial institution control. Bitcoin, the first and most… Read More Here

Israel’s Sensos Raises $20 Million for Supply Chain Tech
Sensos, an Israeli startup that provides supply chain services, raised $20 million in a Series A round of funding led by Mitsui-backed Magenta Venture Partners. This is more good news for Israel Startup Nation as it tries to move forward as the Iron Swords War in Gaza against the terrorist group Hamas continues.

This is also a testament to the fact that Israel is not just about cybersecurity firms.

Founded in 2022, Sensos is “moving supply chain management… Read More Here

Politics
IDF Forces Find Mock Ups of Israeli Towns Hit On October 7 In Hamas Base
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) had what was no less than a major success on Sunday when forces from its Givati Infantry Brigade carried out a raid on the central headquarters of Hamas’s Khan Yunis terror brigade in Gaza. The headquarters was not only used as a base for the training of the terrorists who enacted the barbaric Hamas terror attack on October 7, it also served as an office for senior Hamas official Mohammad Sinwar, brother of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar.

The two are believed to be currently hiding in a bunker somewhere in… Read More Here

Over Concerns War Will Escalate U.S. Senior Advisor to President Biden Sent To Meet With Senior Israeli Officials
Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant met with U.S. Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden Amos Hochstein at the Ministry of Defense Headquarters in Tel Aviv Sunday night. Hochstein is in Israel to convey to Israeli leaders the Biden Administration’s concerns that the current tension with the terrorist group Hezbollah could expand into a second war.

Since the start of the Iron Swords War in Gaza Hezbollah has been firing rockets indiscriminately at civilian targets in Israel from its bases in Lebanon. Most have either been intercepted by Israeli defenses or fell harmlessly in… Read More Here

IPOs and Unicorns
Israel’s CyberArk Breaks $10 Billion Market Cap
CyberArk, one of Israel Startup Nation’s biggest successes in the cybersecurity field, hit a $10 billion plus market cap on Wall Street this week. Trading on the NASDAQ, CyberArk is now the eighth most valuable publicly traded Israeli company, behind behemoths like Check Point Software and Mobileye.

This came after CyberArk reported that its subscription revenue was $150.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 70 percent from $88.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company expects to reach…. Read More Here

Israel’s Papaya Global to Air Super Bowl Ad
Papaya Global is going to the Super Bowl. The Israeli fintech unicorn that offers a cloud based platform for companies to handle their payrolls, is set to be the only Israeli firm to advertise during Super Bowl LVIII.

The ad is called “Small Balls. Big Game.”

The Super Bowl has long since been the best time and place of the year to have a television commercial, anywhere in the world. The price of airtime during the BFL’s championship game, which is watched by more than a billion people live worldwide, goes up every year. This year it will cost advertisers $7 million for just a 30-second ad during the game which will be aired in the U.S. on the CBS network… Read More Here

Mergers and Acquisitions
Adam Neumann Wants To Buy Bankrupt WeWork
Adam Neumann wants to buy back WeWork, if the extraordinary reports that say so are accurate. The same man who probably killed the company now wants it back – now that it is bankrupt.

Well, considering that WeWork is bankrupt he can probably get a good bargain on whatever is left. And why not take it back? This is the man, remember, who copyrighted basically any conceivable two-word phrase starting with “We,” or so it seemed at the time.

According to the report… Read More Here

Other Business Stories
Sheryl Sandberg Is Releasing Movie on October 7 Hamas Sexual Atrocities – Screams Before Silence
Sheryl Sandberg, the former Meta/Facebook executive, is personally narrating a new documentary about the barbaric Hamas massacre of October 7. “Screams Before Silence” tells the story of the rapes and other horrific acts of sexual violence committed by the terrorists on that day.

Due to be released in April, the hour-long film brings new testimonies from Israeli women freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza and survivors… Read More Here

Facebook ‘Cancels’ Iranian Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei
The “Supreme Leader” of Iran Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei has had his Facebook account suspended. The decision to suspend his account was made by Meta/Facebook after Khamenei made repeated calls for Israel’s destruction in the months after the barbaric attack carried out by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

The suspension also applies to his Instagram account where Khamenei had more than five million followers on his Persian language account.

“We have removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy,” said a Meta… Read More Here

Vesttoo Gets $197 Million for Settlement Pay Outs from Aon
Aon, a major brokering firm, acknowledged that it needed to pay out $197 million to cover settlements related to civil suits leveled against the troubled Israeli insurtech startup Vesttoo. The settlements were related to what were determined to be fraudulent letters of credit used by Vestoo.

Aon revealed this in its Q4 2023 report.

In September, two of the founders of Vesttoo, Yaniv Bertele… Read More Here
Israel at The Grammys: Awards Show Honors Supernova Music Festival Massacre Victims
The Grammy Awards ceremony was held Sunday night and it made special mention of the barbaric attack on Israel made by Hamas terrorists on October 7. The CEO of the Recording Academy Harvey Mason Jr. spoke about the Supernova Music Festival massacre in which, on that day, more than 360 innocent people were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists and a number were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

“Music must be our safe space. When that’s violated, it strikes at the very core of who we are,” said Harvey Mason. “We felt that at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris… Read More Here