At the moment is Valentine’s day and reminder to have fun the folks we love. The unique model of this article was revealed on Linkedin. Subscribe to get the following version straight to your inbox.
The phrase “Firgun” (pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is a casual fashionable Hebrew time period and idea in Israeli tradition (initially Yiddish), which describes real, unselfish delight or pleasure within the accomplishment of the opposite individual. It’s the other of “schadenfreude”. Firgun is all about genuinely feeling and expressing happiness, pleasure, or admiration for another person’s accomplishments, luck, or well-being. Extra about Firgun and why it issues on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p
The situation of the three male Israeli hos**ges launched final week shocked the world. They’ve been starved and tortured bodily and psychologically. There are nonetheless many held within the G**a tunnels, their destiny unknown. We should #BRINGTHEMHOME NOW ??
A brand new report on the Israeli startup ecosystem (see hyperlinks part beneath), means that 657 startups might want to safe funding quickly, with 431 requiring instant capital to outlive. The tech sector is significant for the Israeli financial system and exports, and whereas the 2024 figures had been extra optimistic than anticipated, it’s nonetheless arduous for worldwide traders to journey to Israel and get offers carried out. I imagine that the Israeli tech sector will come out stronger from this disaster however it requires Worldwide investor help. That’s why initiatives like Startup Nation Central, the Israel Export Institute ???? ????? and grassroots efforts like Israel Tech Mission are so necessary proper now.
Within the wider tech world, there’s not a uninteresting second. Within the AI motion summit in France, US Vice President JD Vance warned in opposition to extreme AI regulation. Elon Musk made a bid to amass OpenAI for $97.4 billion, and urged he’ll withdraw his bid if the corporate returns to its non-for-profit standing. Sam Altman responded that OpenAI will not be on the market and hit again at Musk (see media of the week part beneath). TikTok was returned to the cellular app shops within the US. Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI is in speak to lift billions for Secure Superintelligence Inc. at a worth topping $20bn and opening the corporate’s workplace in Tel Aviv. Apple is rumoured to launch a brand new iPhone in Feb and is exploring humanoid robots. Arm plans to launch a brand new AI chip this summer season to compete with NVIDIA. YouTube Shorts provides Veo 2 to let creators make GenAI movies. Baidu, Inc. plans to open supply its Ernie 4.5 AI mannequin. Anthropic is alleged to develop “hybrid AI” mannequin combining LLM, reasoning to tackle OpenAI. Meta laid off round 5% of the workforce and received criticised for labelling workers as low performers.
Lastly, Trump spoke with Putin and Zelensky and goes to work with each events to barter an finish to the battle in Europe.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“True innovation comes from the identical place as deep love – the braveness to be susceptible and the energy to persist when others doubt.”
– Steve Jobs
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Congrats Ido Wiesenberg and crew Voyantis on securing a $41M sequence B to help corporations with AI pushed advertising and marketing spend and income prediction!
- Kudos Roi Tiger on elevating a rumoured $20M seed spherical for a brand new cybersecurity startup nonetheless in stealth!
- Mazel tov Avinoam Rubinstain and crew Carrar on elevating an $18M sequence B for for EV battery manufacturing line in Sderot, Israel!
- Nicely carried out Ouriel Ohayon ?? and crew Zengo Pockets on elevating a strategic, undisclosed sequence B to scale your crypto pockets!
- Mazel tov Ron Shafran and crew FLYZ Robotics on securing an undisclosed seed spherical for a brand new sensor system revolutionising drone capabilities!
EXITS
There have been no Israeli exits recorded this week.
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
ISRAEL
- A new report on the Israeli startup ecosystem confirmed that This fall/24 emerged as one of many strongest fourth quarters in 5 years (excluding 2021), with funding rebounding to close This fall/22 ranges, regardless of the battle. Additionally, repeat founders are driving business stability, securing 46% of complete 2024 funding whereas main solely 31% of startups
- Sender Cohen is main an effort to increase $800M to create “Nevo Labs” in Israel, akin to Bell Labs again within the day to deliver again prime brains to Israel and assist them mix AI with arduous sciences.
- AI startup Secure Superintelligence leases Tel Aviv places of work
- Bonus: eToro recordsdata for IPO
GLOBAL
- The State of Enterprise 2024 by AngelList – An in depth look into enterprise efficiency all through 2024, clarifying unsure occasions and offering actionable knowledge and candid evaluation for GPs, LPs, and founders.
- Who’re the AI Brokers at every line of the P&L? by Madrona
- Attention-grabbing stat: about 10% of Y Combinator corporations achieves an exit – by Lenny Rachitsky
- Bonus: opening strikes in international AI – report by Dealroom.co
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
The capital quantity of M&As within the vary of $100-$500m and $500-$1000m in Israel elevated sharply, setting a decade document.
Early stage Israeli startups are in pressing want of funding, in accordance with new report by Dealigence
generative AI is the second largest tech cluster in Israel, following Cybersecurity
10% of YCombinator startups exit
A snapshot of China’s AI ecosystem by IMD
2024 had much less, however bigger rounds in accordance with Carta knowledge
Nevertheless, startup M&A exercise rises throughout all phases in 2024
CBInsights knowledge confirmed 48% of U.S. seed-stage tech startups raised a second spherical, whereas 14% exited and 38% failed to lift
Listed below are the top-valued non-public LLM builders primarily based on CB Insights knowledge
This AI generated video preventing Antisemi**sm went viral. It was created by
That’s all for this week. There’s a lot to have fun in our “small” group. Carry on creating.
I am a former normal companion at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google’s first bodily hub for startups.
I am additionally the founding father of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing collectively the startup ecosystem on biking challenges in help of Room to Learn. Since inception in 2012 we have constructed 11 colleges and 50 libraries within the creating world.
