Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel Startup Israel
Israel High Tech Scene September 23 – September 29
New Startups / VC Funding
Stampli Raises $148 Million for AI Backed Fintech
Stampli, an Israeli startup that utilizes artificial intelligence for fintech, raised $61 million in a Series D round of funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone. The startup has now raised $148 million to date. And PerfectScale, another Israeli startup that develops a Kubernetes (K8s) Optimization and Automation platform, raised $7.1 million in Seed funding led by Blumberg Capital, bringing its total funding to $10 million.
Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It was originally created by Google, but is now maintained by… Read More Here
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Vyzer and Cyviation Make Small Raises
Cyviation, an Israeli startup that is the first cybersecurity company focusing on aircraft security, raised $4 million. The company also reached the commercial stage of its SkyRay solution, ahead of time. Meanwhile, Vyzer, an Israeli fintech startup that has developed a digital wealth management platform, raised $6.3 million in a Seed round of funding.
Co-founded in 2021 by Litan Yahav, Tomer Salvi, and Guy Gamzu, Vyzer is a digital-first, holistic platform designed to “simplify and optimize your wealth journey.” The company boasts that it provides comprehensive… Read More Here
IPOs and Unicorns
Israel’s Lendbuzz Hits Unciron Status At $1.1 Billion Valuation
Israeli fintech startup Lendbuzz, which offers an AI based auto finance platform for people seeking a line of credit, is just the latest Israel Startup Nation firm to achieve the coveted unicorn status. The company hit a $1.1 billion valuation with a $345 million raise led by Group 1001 that included $45 million in equity funding.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Amitay Kalmar and CTO Dan Raviv, Lendbuzz uses Big Data analytics to “significantly” improve access to credit for international students and professionals living in the US. The Israeli founders explain that they decided to found the company while living in the U.S. themselves. There they saw…. Read More Here
Science/Culture
Israeli Scientists Produce New Revolutionary Optical Sensing Device
Prof. Doron Naveh and his team at Bar-Ilan University have developed a small device that aims to replace large and complex optical sensing devices that can be used to measure blood sugar levels on smartphones. This device is still in the proof-of-concept stage, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way that people with diabetes manage their condition, and so much more.
The device is a tiny AI-powered component optical sensing device that can be used to conduct a variety of tests with personal devices is a significant breakthrough. This technology has the potential to revolutionize… Read More Here
Israeli Scientists Make Breakthrough in Understanding the Onset of Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease
Researchers at Israel’s Technion in Haifa made a major breakthrough in understanding the onset of sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease; they uncovered the mechanism that causes the accumulation of proteins involved in the disease’s development. Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form, occurring in people with no family members who have suffered from it as well.
The study of Alzheimer’s Disease was led by Professor Michael Glickman and Dr. Inbal Maniv from the Faculty of Biology at the Technion and their… Read More Here
Mergers and Acquisitions
NICE Acquires LiveVox for $350 Million
NICE, the Israeli founded firm that offers customer experience services, has acquired LiveVox, an AI-driven proactive outreach provider. LiveVox stockholders will receive $3.74 in cash for each share of LiveVox common stock. And the deal is worth as much as $350 million.
NICE said that the LiveVox tech will enhance NICE’s own platform CXone… Read More Here
Palo Alto Networks Looks to Acquire Dig Security for $400 Million
Palo Alto Networks, an American cyber security firm, is looking to buy Israeli cloud data security startup Dig Security for as much as $400 million. Reports indicate that talks for a buyout have been going on for months and are now in their “most advance stage.”
The news comes just after reports indicated that Palo Alto Networks was looking to acquire another Israeli cybersecurity firm, Talon Cyber Security…. Read More Here
Other Business Stories
The OECD Calls On Israel to End Subsidies To Non-Working Ultra-Orthodox
The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) issued a report on how its member countries can improve their standards of living by implementing reforms in the fields of labor, education and competition. On Israel, the OECD made it perfectly clear that the country needs to change its policies towards its ultra-orthodox (Haredi) community starting with ending subsidies for those who study in Tora academies known as Yeshivas.
In Israel, where military service is compulsory, the ultra-orthodox choose not to serve in the IDF. They can obtain deferments as long as they study in t=yeshivas, or until such time they reach a certain age or have a certain number of children. As a result, they cannot study in universities or build careers and… Read More Here
Delek Group’s Ithaca Energy Gets Green Light to Drill for Oil in North Sea
Israel’s Ithaca Energy, a subsidiary of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group, together with Norway’s Equinor have taken the final investment decision to progress Phase 1 of the Rosebank development on the UK Continental Shelf, together investing $3.8 billion in the development. The move came after the North Sea Transition Authority (“NSTA”) granted consent for the development of the field on 27 September 2023. Ithaca Energy owns a 20% working interest in Rosebank.
The BBC called the Rosebank oil and gas field the UK’s “largest untapped… Read More Here
IAI and Azerbaijan Space Agency Azercosmos Strike Satellite Deal
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Azercosmos, the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan entered into a cooperation agreement for the sale of two of IAI’s multi-spectral electro-optical satellites. IAI said these satellites have better than 0.5-meter native resolution with a long life span and high imaging performance.
The IAI-Azercosmos deal is a significant step forward in space technology and cooperation between the two companies. It is also a testament… Read More Here
Israeli Entrepreneur Nir Zuk Launching New TV Venture
Nir Zuk, an Israeli entrepreneur behind huge successes like Palo Alto Networks, is bringing to Israel a new television channel called Relevant. He says the media venture will have a liberal slant and that its style is based on that of MSNBC.
Relevant will be a streaming service that will offer programming on news and current affairs, so – an Israeli 24-hour news channel. The irony here is biting for anyone who knows anything about Israel. The country’s three broadcast channels are basically already 24-hour news channels in that at least 80 percent… Read More Here
