Israel High Tech Scene July 6 – July 12

Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel

Israel High Tech Scene July 6 – July 12

New Startups / VC Funding
Israeli Startup Volumez Aims To Transform Cloud Data Management With Innovative Technology
Volumez is an Israeli cloud-aware data infrastructure startup. The firm completed its $40 million Series A financing round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT). This additional $20 million funding comes after a first tranche of $20 million funding led by KDT in April 2023.

Founded in 2020 by CTO Jonathan Amit and led by CEO Amir Faintuch, Volumez is a Cloud Volume Orchestrator that says it is on a mission to drive cost, complexity, and risk out of modern cloud data infrastructure. Volumez boasts that the company turns public and private clouds into one easily managed data… Read More Here

Israel Ranks Among Leading AI Innovators, Stanford Study Reveals
Stanford University’s Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence’s AI Index Report 2023, its sixth annual such report, found that Israel is one of the countries in the lead in the development of new artificial intelligence technologies.

Stanford’s AI Index report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence… Read More Here

Innovative Israeli Startup Nagish Developing Accessible Smartphones For Hearing Impaired Users
A smartphone for the deaf? Why not in this day and age? Nagish is a new Israeli startup offering just that with a new revolutionary type of app. To that end, Nagish just raised $16 million in a Series A led by Canaan Partners to transform communication for over a billion people with hearing loss.

Is there anything that Israel Startup Nation can’t do?

Nagish is the Hebrew word for “Accessible” and the company says that… Read More Here

Innovative Aortic Aneurysm Treatment: Israeli Medtech Startup Endoron Offers Endograft Stapling Technology
Endoron is an Israeli medtech startup specializing in endograft stapling solutions for endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. The firm closed its $10 million Series A funding round led by Sofinnova Partners.

Endoron’s innovative stapling device tackles the problems of sealing and keeping endografts in place, especially in complex cases. This technology ensures a tight seal and secure attachment of the endograft, preventing leaks and the need for high-risk open surgery in the long run.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are a weakening and… Read More Here

Other Business Stories
Israel’s Central Bank Holds Interest Rate Steady: Economic Impact And Analysis
On Monday, the Monetary Committee of the Bank of Israel announced that it has decided to leave the interest rate unchanged at 4.5 percent. Usually, a national bank will raise the interest rate if it feels the economy is too hot or when there is inflation. A bank will cut rates when there is a recession in order to stimulate the economy. By not cutting the rate the Bank made an implicit statement that Israel’s economy does not need a stimulus right now.

In explaining its decision, the Bank said that the recovery of economic activity in Israel moderated in the second quarter of 2024. Supply constraints are making it difficult for activity to converge to the trend that characterized the economy… Read More Here

IAI Secures $1 Billion Contract: Morocco To Acquire Advanced Spy Satellites From Israel
French newspaper La Tribune reported that Israel and Morocco finalized the billion-dollar defense deal in late 2023. The agreement involves Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) supplying an advanced satellite to Morocco within five years. This new satellite will replace Morocco’s existing Airbus satellites, Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B. Analysts believe this move is part of Morocco’s broader strategy to strengthen its air, land, and sea defenses.

Morocco is one of the four Arab nations that signed peace treaties with Israel as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords. The first two countries to join the Accords were… Read More Here

Meta Updates Hate Speech Policy: ‘Zionist’ Term Under Scrutiny To Combat Antisemitism
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is implementing a new policy on how the word “Zionist” is used on its platforms. Meta said that it will now screen posts that use the word because its research found that the term tends to be used to refer to Jews and Israelis with “dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence.”

In a statement, Meta explained that over the past few years the company has repeatedly reviewed the use of the term “Zionist” in discussions on its platform. In March 2024, they held a Policy Forum to gain a deeper understanding. This forum included consultations with external experts from diverse backgrounds across… Read More Here

Politics
Is Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Being Forced Out By His Own Party
Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, a former general in the Israel Defense Forces and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, might be on his way out of the government. According to a report on Israel’s Channel 12 News, the inner circle around Netanyahu is not happy with Gallant.

On Wednesday, Yoav Gallant was forced to respond to attacks from members of his own party as he spoke before the Knesset Plenum. And Channel 12 cited sources that say the people around Benjamin Netanyahu are “debating” whether or not… Read More Here
October 7 Attack: Intelligence Chief Accused Of Ignoring Warning Signs, New Report Reveals
It seems that every day more information is revealed about the failures of the Israeli security establishment in the days before the October 7 Hamas terror massacre. In yet another report on the matter, Israel’s Chanel 12 Television News revealed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) vaunted cybersecurity Unit 8200 failed to live up to its reputation in the lead up to the attack. Specifically, insiders placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the unit’s commander, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, saying that he failed to act on warnings of an … Read More Here