After witnessing a terror attack in Tel Aviv and seeing the aftermath of a mass shooting in the US, Yoni Sherizen realized there was a huge need for better responses in crisis situations. The chaos that often unfolds in these scenarios can become the biggest threat, he explains. Sherizen shares that wanting to detect threats quickly and empower the people nearby led him to co-founding Gabriel, where he is CEO. Gabriel is a software platform that automates the processes that need to happen quickly during an emergency while providing greater visibility and communication for first responders.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1v6hseks

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What is exactly going on at Playtika? A second round of layoffs in six months, held in embarrassing proximity to a flamboyant party that took place last Thursday at the Tel Aviv port, is only a hint of trouble at the Israeli gaming company. From reports submitted by the company to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week, it appears that squabbles and disagreements between the company and Joffre Capital already began in July after it was announced that the latter will purchase a 25.5% (106 million shares) share in Playtika.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/fw032a1b4

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'There have been many changes when it comes to online privacy over recent years and it started with consumer sentiment,' said Maya Henkin, Director, Client and Partner Solutions, at Google Israel, speaking at the Calcalist gaming conference in partnership with Google and Playtika. 'Users wanted to understand how their data was being used and from there it entered into regulation.'In an interview with CTech Editor-in-Chief Elihay Vidal, Henkin noted that by 2024 some 75% of the world's population will be under some regulatory framework in regard to online privacy.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byl6n1soo

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Over the last month or so, many of our conversations, be it with other funds, startups or other collaborators, have begun with a discussion on what the Venture Landscape will look like in 2022. The main impetus for these discussions has been, as you would expect, the sharp declines in valuations of publicly traded SaaS companies of late: The Nasdaq Emerging Cloud index has lost over 25% of its value in the last 6 months, with many significant names down by 50% or more. Multiples have reverted from record-highs back to their long-term trend: in fact, forward revenue multiples in high-growth cloud companies are now essentially back to where they were in mid-2019 or the first couple months of 2020.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjfgivkg9

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'The sophistication of cyberattacks has grown rapidly, and with it the risk to users, companies and countries,' said Guy Caspi, founder and CEO of Deep Instinct, speaking at Calcalist's Mind The Tech London conference, of which his company is one of the sponsors."Each of you has probably been hacked, whether directly or through your employer or the service you use," Caspi warned. "The known threats are easy to stop, but their mutations create a huge challenge to the ability to respond in time, and produce more complex and dangerous attacks.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1xge5umq

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Product: AI language proficiency assessmentsFounders: Eitan Noiman, Chanan Kupietzky Before we even begin our interview, the first thing Eitan Noiman, co-founder and CEO of Speak, an Israeli startup developing an AI-based online test of English proficiency, does is apologize for his accented English.Noiman's story, and that of his co-founder Chanan Kupietzky, begins in the IDF's elite Duvdevan unit, where the pair served together for five years and became close friends. While Kupietzky comes from an American family and speaks English like a native, Noiman doesn't.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/P6IM8B5GE

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'Being an entrepreneur, on one hand, I see everything with very optimistic eyes,' explained Liad Agmon, Managing Director at Insight Partners. 'You come to me with a pitch for an idea and I can immediately imagine how it can become a world-changing company. On the other hand, I also recognize how difficult it is to go from an idea or an early-stage company to a growth-stage company. So it comes with both sides of the brain, the part that gets super excited but also the part that recognizes the years of challenges and hard work.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byqgislr5

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Israeli venture capital firm Team8 officially opened this year's Cyber Week with an event that took place in Tel Aviv on Sunday. The event, which included international guests and cybersecurity professionals, showcased the country and the industry as a powerhouse in relation to Startup Nation. Opening remarks were made by Niv Sultan, star of Apple TV's ‘Tehran', who also moderated the event. She then welcomed Gili Drob-Heinstein, Executive Director at the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC) at Tel Aviv University, and Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder of Team8 and Managing Partner of Team8 Platform to the stage.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/synffalc5

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Despite the economic crisis and wave of layoffs, European venture capital firm Index Ventures is expanding its presence in Israel. Index had already been very active in Israel over recent years, investing $350 million in 27 Israeli companies (and those founded by Israeli founders) including Wiz, Fireblocks, Gong, Capitolis, Dazz, Outbrain, MyHeritage, and Elastic. Its goal now, following the appointment of Juriaan Duizendstraal as a Partner based in Tel Aviv, is to grow its activity significantly and invest in at least five Israeli companies in the coming year.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rj11ytkkbj

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Israeli cybersecurity company Tufin announced on Tuesday the appointment of Raymond Brancato as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Brancato, who previously served as the company's CRO, replaces Ruvi Kitov, who is retiring from the role after 19 years. Kitov will continue to serve on Tufin's Board of Directors and as a senior advisor to Brancato during the transition and to the company on an ongoing basis.Tufin laid off 55 employees this past August, including 25 in Israel. The company currently employs around 500 people, 260 of which are based in Israel.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1g4ngi5s

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The Israeli innovation sector is extremely crowded, often resulting in several startups targeting the same solutions. This is most evident in cybersecurity, but another such sector is demo experience platforms built to help SaaS sales teams, with startup Demostack announcing on Tuesday that it has raised $34 million in its Series B financing round. The round was led by Tiger Global Management with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Amiti Ventures, GTMfund, Operator Collective, and StepStone.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byusrgnn9

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"We have to educate people for jobs that have not yet been created, to use technologies that have not been invented yet, to solve social problems we can not yet imagine. Simple training for a job is no longer enough.' Prof. Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD and one of the organization's senior executives, explains in a special interview ahead of the Calcalist "Academia that Works" conference in collaboration with the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation on May 24 at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sybigovp9

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The BARD (U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund) approved $6.5 million of funding for grants and fellowships for joint Israel-U.S agriculture research and development earlier this week. In total, 21 research projects will receive financing as BARD will also grant six postdoctoral fellowships through the Va'adia-BARD fellowship program, two graduate student fellowships, and a BARD senior research fellowship that supports an American scientist conducting research in Israel.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjwu9p2d9

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Lightricks, which develops a platform for content creators and developers of leading photo and video editing tools, announced the acquisition of Popular Pays, a Chicago-based software company that connects brands with creators. The sum paid by Lightricks was not revealed but is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.'This announcement is a first step in Lightricks' strategy to become a single resource for creators and brands alike, bringing together advanced tools and monetization opportunities for creators and providing brands access to the largest community of content creators across the globe, large and small,' Lightricks said in a statement.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bkjgkttfq

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'Those that raised at huge valuations based primarily on hype or top-line momentum rather than true underlying long-term differentiated value, will likely see a heavy correction in valuation,' explained Ben Wiener, Managing Partner at Jumpspeed Ventures. Speaking about the state of the VC ecosystem following a turbulent year, he joined CTech to discuss what to expect next year. 'What goes up irrationally will come down; many companies ramped up so quickly fueled by cheap, prevalent capital and based on irrational growth plans, that they will have to shed employees,' he continued.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1im1akij

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At the end of June 2021, ironSource made history, with the largest IPO by an Israeli company, going public at a valuation of no less than $11 billion (via a SPAC merger). Israeli high-tech was in euphoria. "This deal is another sign of Israeli technology companies breaking the glass ceiling," said Shlomo Dovrat, a veteran investor in Israel and one of the first investors in ironSource. "This will have a significant impact on the high-tech and Israeli economy in terms of employment, knowledge and the ability to build huge global companies operating from Israel.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/vu864o8iu

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"Even before Covid, we made sure that our employees are being taken care of and we put their well-being at the top of our priorities,' explained May Binstock Oron, Head of Employer Branding at WalkMe. 'All employees, and we have over 1,200 employees worldwide at 10 different sites. All of them, no matter their position, get five days off in addition to the mandatory days according to the law.'According to Binstock Oron, employees who take advantage of the RefreshMe program tag WalkMe on Instagram - an account that she herself manages - highlighting all the ways that they rest when they have time for themselves.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjm5800xpq

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In 2015, the Israeli tech ecosystem was rocked by a reprt on the high failure rate among Israeli startups. The study by IVC claimed that only 4% of startups have succeeded overall and that of the current crop of active companies, only 2.5% could be considered successful based on revenues of $100 million or 100-plus employees. This rose to 6% if the criteria included a valuation of $50 million or more or companies that were sustained by sales and did not need to raise capital anymore.Even with the birth of so many unicorns in the last two years, critics have pointed out that these only represent around 1% of the total number of startups while most companies have made little or no contribution to investors' returns.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sk6cc1195

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The Jewish holidays were a time for illusions in Israeli high-tech, a time when the industry was mainly busy with family vacations, away from all the noise of the world. But in the meantime, companies have been planning big moves whose main goal is survival for the next year or two.Israeli companies and companies that have operations in Israel, as a rule, will not fire employees during the holidays. With the exception of multinational companies that are less aware of this sensitivity, most companies will wait as long as they can for the end of this unique period in Israel, and this is what has happened.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjjq11axei

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Israeli property management platform Guesty continued its shopping spree on Wednesday, announcing the acquisition of Spain-based vacation rental software company, Kigo, and Australian property management software company, HiRUM. These latest acquisitions come on the back of the purchase of hotel-focused revenue and distribution platform, YieldPlanet, two weeks ago.The acquisitions follow Guesty's $170 million Series E funding round last month, from investors Apax Digital Funds, MSD Partners, and Sixth Street Growth, with existing investors Viola Growth and Flashpoint also participating.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjxkon11gj

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Xtype, a DevOps platform that accelerates ServiceNow app development, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $5.8 million in Seed funding in a round led by Columbia Capital with participation from Inner Loop Capital and SaaS Ventures. The company will use the funds to accelerate its product roadmap by growing the development team, as well as increase its presence in the U.S. market, expanding its sales and customer success teams.As enterprises undergo digital transformation, the need for business apps has skyrocketed.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1vttmy11s

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Remitly Global, a global digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring Rewire, an Israeli fintech startup that has developed a services platform for migrant workers. Under the terms of the agreement, Remitly will acquire Rewire for approximately $80 million consisting of a mix of cash and stock. This is the largest acquisition in the history of Remitly, which is traded on the Nasdaq at a market value of about $2 billion.Rewire was founded in 2015 by entrepreneurs Guy Kashtan (CEO), Saar Yahalom (CTO), Adi Ben Dayan (VP R&D), and Or Benoz.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjgqbmf09

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'I think we're in a very unique place when it comes to gaming, considering everything that is happening in the world. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are going to shut down,' said Eitan Reisel, Founder and Managing Partner at vgames. 'Gaming is a very stable environment, historically, and I'm sure in the future as well. I am thankful we chose gaming and not other sectors to play in.'vgames was founded in 2020 and has recently started investing from its new fund. Today, it is one of the most active gaming investors in the world.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1lehuo00o

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'Heart disease is by far the biggest problem in healthcare. It is the number one cause of death and a staggering 48% of Americans have hypertension, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol,' explained Maayan Cohen, CEO at Hello Heart, at Calcalist's Roadshow event. 'And the biggest problem with that is that you can't see it or feel it until you have a heart attack or a stroke. A lot of people just ignore it and a lot of people disappear overnight.'Cohen shared how her uncle, who died at 40 in his car, never knew something was wrong.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1xeoygdi

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Up to 50% of people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide over their lifetime, and estimates indicate that up to 20% may succumb to suicide. NRx, an American pharmaceutical company co-founded by Israeli citizens Jonathan Javitt, MD, and Daniel Javitt, MD, is aiming to significantly reduce these figures by developing therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, specifically suicidal depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).NRx has announced that it has begun trials on a new medication that significantly reduces the risk of suicidality in Biopolar Disorder.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1kv2lfwo

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For much of her career, Tami Mazel Shachar, CEO at Incredibuild, was the only woman in meetings and in management. 'I felt I was fighting a battle for people that were not with me and that was frustrating.' So when Shachar joined Incredibuild, which creates hybrid development acceleration platforms for developers and DevOps teams, she decided that this time things will be different. She delivered on that promise and Incredibuild's management has over 60% women. 'When you hire people you find yourself preferring those that are similar to you.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1wspst00i

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Founders: Sagi Rodin, Aviad MizrachiInvestors: Stripe, Insight Partners, Pitango First, Global Founders Capital, i3 Equity Partners'Take a cybersecurity company that wants to go to market - they need to build a product around their technology,' explains Sagi Rodin, CEO and Co-founder of Frontegg. 'So to build their product there are two parts. There is the core aspect of the product, the cyber things, but you also need to do all the user experience capabilities and the management capabilities within the product.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/xudj7plrb

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Company name: Pick a PierField of business: FintechCompany description: Pick a Pier is a digital infrastructure for the recreational boating industry.Founders: Asaf Cohen, Idan Cohen.Amount raised: $4 millionInvestors: Sarit Firon, Eyal Waldman, Micha Kaufman and more Pick a Pier was part of the Israeli startup squad that participated in Calcalist's Mind the Tech London 2022 conference. Calcalist's "Dream Team" to London included early-stage startup companies in the fields of Fintech, Cyber, E-Sport & Gaming, Data & AI, and Retail & E-Commerce.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/by9700oszq

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Less than four months after peaking at a valuation of around $20 billion and becoming Israel's highest-valued company for a short time, fintech company Pagaya is now in danger of being delisted by Nasdaq.The surge in Pagaya stock earlier this year never seemed sustainable, but the fall back down to Earth has been even more painful than expected. The company has lost over 97% of its value since peaking at the beginning of August, falling to a market cap of $681 million entering Thanksgiving.Pagaya went public on Nasdaq at an $8.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1djs1auj

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Ten Israeli startups have been selected for the sixth cohort of Google's Startup Growth Lab, a program launched by Google Israel in 2018 that now runs in 16 countries.Riverside, Masterschool, Theranica, Guardz, Karma, Peech, OneStep, Anchor, Lexense, and Fundit will participate in Google's 4-month exclusive program for B2C and B2SMB startups aiming to accelerate the startups' businesses. 44 startups have participated in past cohorts, among the graduates are Melio, Papaya Global, Orcam, Oribi, Elementor, Workiz, AI21 Labs, Connecteam, Marble, Lili, Bookaway, Lumen and more.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/9464c11v4

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