Israel High Tech Scene March 2 – March 8

Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel

Israel High Tech Scene March 2 – March 8

New Startups / VC Funding
Israeli Startup Claroty Raises $100 Million for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Protection
Claroty, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, secured $100 million in strategic growth financing for cyber-physical systems protection. This comes in addition to the $635 the company already raised to date. Claroty also broke the $100 million mark in ARR – Annual Recurring Revenue.

The funds will be used to scale Claroty’s platform approach to cyber-physical systems (CPS) protection across key verticals including the public… Read More Here

Former Israeli Cybersecurity Leaders Raise $33 Million for Sweet Security
Sweet Security, an Israeli cybersecurity startup founded by former leaders of the Israeli military’s cybersecurity units and that offers a runtime security suite to “usher in a new era for cloud security,” raised $33 million in a Series A funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners. Sweet Security was established by retired IDF Brigadier General Dror Kashti (CEO), who served as the IDF’s CISO (chief information security officer), retired Colonel Eyal Fisher, former head of the Cyber Department at Unit 8200 (the IDF’s elite cybersecurity department) and Orel Ben-Ishay, former R&D Cybersecurity Group Leader at the IDF’s Special Operations Division… Read More Here

IPOs and Unicorns
Israeli Unicorn Deel Hits $500 Million ARR, Buys Africa’s PaySpace
Deel, an Israeli startup and unicorn that deals with payroll solutions for firms with international staff, is acquiring African-based payroll and HR solution company PaySpace. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Deel also hit $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), this within five years of its founding. A year ago Deel hit a $12 billion valuation… Read More Here

Science/Culture
Crows Like Humans – Believe It Or Not
The Covid shutdowns helped in some ways, including providing the opportunity to study animal activity at a time when people are not around. It seems that crows and ringneck parakeets become less active when people are not around. Conversely, the graceful prinias, who are generally considered shy, increase their activity in the absence of human activity. This is according to a new study from scientists at Tel Aviv University.

People have a negative image of crows. Think of scarecrows. Their job is to scare the crows away because they damage crops on farms. And generally, in pop culture… Read More Here

Israeli Scientists Make Breakthrough with Ondine’s Curse
Prof. Gad Vatine of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Dr. Avraham Ashkenazi of Tel Aviv University (TAU) teamed up to help children with a rare form of sleep apnea called congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), also known as Ondine’s curse. Their collaboration, they say, has yielded important new information about the cause of CCHS, which could lead to future treatments.

Vatine is an expert in studying rare disorders using patient-specific stem cells, and Ashkenazi is an expert in tri-nucleotide repeat expansion disorders and protein clearance pathways… Read More Here

Mergers and Acquisitions
Cycode Acquires Bearer to Expand Application Security Posture Management Services
Cycode, an Israeli firm offering Application Security Posture Management (ASPM), has acquired the American firm Bearer, which offers AI-powered SAST, API discovery and data leak protection. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) is a holistic approach to securing applications throughout their entire lifecycle, from development to deployment and operation. It involves continuous assessment, management, and improvement of the security posture of an organization’s applications. ASPM provides a single source of truth for application security by aggregating data from various sources. ASPM also continuously monitors applications for new… Read More Here

America’s CrowdStrike Buys Israel’s Flow Security for $200 Million
Israel Startup Flow Security, which develops a cloud data runtime security solution, has been acquired by American cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. The financial details of the deal have not yet been revealed, but Calcalist reported that it could be above $200 million.

Crowdstrike seems to be high on Israeli firms. Flow Security is the third Israeli startup the company has acquired in the past few years. At the end of 2023, CrowdStrike bought out Bionic.Ai, an Israeli startup that offers a platform to help organizations operate and protect applications. And in 2022, CrowdStrike bought out the Israeli firm Reposify Ltd., a provider of an external attack surface management (EASM) platform that scans… Read More Here

Other Business Stories
Despite 130% Increase, Israeli Women Still Woefully Underrepresented In Israeli High-Tech
Israel has seen a “significant” rise (more than double) in women’s representation in Israel’s Startup Nation high-tech R&D positions. According to a new report issued by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), there has been a 130% increase in women’s involvement in such roles over the past decade.

Unfortunately, even with this increase, a report released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of International Women’s Days showed that in 2023 only 151,000 women were employed in Israel’s Hi-tech sector, as… Read More Here

Ahead of International Women’s Day: Israeli Women Do Better Than Men In Education, But Underrepresented In High-Tech
On the eve of International Women’s Day to be observed on Friday, March 8, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released data on the women’s population in the country, including education and the number of women who are professionally employed. Unfortunately, while Israeli women are doing much better than men in the rate of success and achievements in education, they still lag far behind men in fields such as high-tech, as well as in their average annual incomes.

At the end of 2023, there were 4,949,800 women in Israel, of whom… Read More Here 

Energean Signs New 15 Year Natural Gas Deal with Israel
Energean, the British energy company that operates Israeli natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea, signed a new agreement for the sale of gas in an initial quantity of 0.6 BCM annually to Israel’s Eshkol power station. So, Israel’s own offshore natural gas reserves are being sold back to the country’s power plants.

The deal is for a term of approximately 15 years, for a total contract quantity of up to approximately 12 bcm and represents circa $2 billion in revenues over the life of the contract. The contract contains provisions regarding floor and… Read More Here

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center Makes Newsweek’s List of Worlds 10 Best Hospitals
Israel’s Sheba Medical Center is once again ranked among the world’s ten best hospitals. Newsweek ranked Sheba at number nine overall. It came in behind four American medical institutions that are among the most renowned in the world” The Mayo Clinic, The Cleveland Clinic, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The ranking is especially significant this year as Sheba Medical Center has been at the center of treating the soldiers wounded in the fighting in Gaza… Read More Here