CyberArk Chairman Udi Mokady. (Photo CyberArk)
From bad news from credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings to an unchanged interest rate, it was a mixed month for business in Israel. There was a court victory for Israel’s Bright Data against Elon Musk’s X, and one Israel Startup Nation firm went bust.
Here is the Jewish Business News list of the ten biggest business stories in Israel from the month of May, 2024.
Bank of Israel Leaves Interest Rate Unchanged At 4.5%
The Bank of Israel on Monday said that its Monetary Committee decided to leave the interest rate unchanged. The rate will remain at 4.5%.
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The decision not to raise the rate can be taken as a good sign, meaning that inflation is in check and has not gotten worse. At the same time, the decision not to cut the rate means that there are still concerns about inflation; however, the decision also means that the Bank of Israel does feel… read more here
Standard And Poor’s (S&P) Gives Israeli Economy Gloomy Forecast
The global credit rating agency S&P (Standard and Poor’s) reported that it expects the Israeli economy to see a slow recovery. This would be even after the war against Hamas comes to an end.
In its report, S&P pointed to an estimate of Israel’s first-quarter GDP released by the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on May 16, which it said was “broadly in line with our latest economic projection. We maintain our below-consensus… read more here
Is Israel Falling Behind In The AI Race?
Israel may be known as Startup Nation for all of its high-tech success stories, but it is apparently lacking in one very important and newly expanding field – Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is what the researchers from RISE Israel, in collaboration with Google, say their study determined.
It’s a bit hard to swallow. The idea that Israel, a country known for innovation in just about every aspect of life, from agriculture to defense, seems absurd. Especially in a field that will dominate just about everything… read more here
Joonko Goes Junk – O, Declares Bankruptcy
Joonko, an Israeli startup that offered a human resources service that aids firms in reaching their diversity recruiting quotas, has finally gone bust. The firm which reportedly raised as much as $0 million filed for bankruptcy in Delaware after a year of turmoil.
It will not be so difficult to dismantle what is left of Joonko considering that the company already let go of all of its employees. Ilon Band, who… read more here
Lawsuits
Israeli Bright Data Wins Suit Against Musk’s X In Web Scraping Battle
In a closely watched case with implications for the future of web scraping, Israeli data collection company Bright Data has emerged victorious in its legal battle against social media giant X Corp. (formerly known as Twitter).
X Corp. filed the lawsuit in late 2023, accusing Bright Data of using automated tools to scrape millions of user profiles, follower information, and posts… read more here
Israeli Titans to Continue Battle
The legal battle between two major Israeli firms, Orca Security an Israeli cybersecurity startup that specializes in cloud services security and Wiz an Israeli unicorn that offers an API security platform, alleging copyright infringement, is set to move forward. Calaclist reported that a Delaware court rejected Wiz’s request to dismiss the lawsuit which seeks to block Wiz from signing any new businesses with technologies that Orca Security alleges Wiz infringed on its patents and seeks unspecified… read more here
Mergers and Acquisitions
Israeli Unicorn Noname Security Acquired by America’s Akamai Technologies for $450 Million
Israeli cybersecurity startup and unicorn Noname Security was acquired by America’s Akamai Technologies. Akamai has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding equity of Noname for approximately $450 million, after customary purchase price adjustments. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to occur in… read more here
Pango Makes a Power Move: Acquires Gett for $175 Million
In a move that shakes up the Israeli transportation scene, Pango, the leading Israeli parking app, has acquired taxi-hailing giant Gett for $175 million. The deal was signed on Thursday, marking a significant consolidation within the mobility sector.
Gett’s shareholders will receive approximately $175 million… read more here
Israeli Cybersecurity Behemoth CyberArk Acquires Venafi for $1.4 Billion
CyberArk, one of Israel Startup Nation’s biggest successes in the cybersecurity field and now a publicly traded corporation worth more than $10 billion, entered into an agreement to acquire Venafi, a firm in the field of machine identity management, from Thoma Bravo. The deal is worth $1.4 billion – $1 billion in cash and approximately $540 million in shares.
The explosion of machine identities in cloud-based environments… read more here
Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone Buys Israel’s Priority Software
Priority Software, an Israeli provider of mission-critical business software, is being acquired by Stephen Schwarzman’s private equity firm Blackstone. While the details of the acquisition have not been revealed, it will reportedly leave Priority Software with an $8 billion valuation.
Blackstone is an alternative asset manager with more than $1 trillion in assets under management including global investment strategies focused… read more here
