Israel High Tech Scene Week In Review June 27 – July 3
Tel Aviv at sunset, Israel
New Startups / VC Funding
Israeli Startup Noname Security Raises $60 Million for API Vulnerabilities
Noname Security is an Israeli enterprise API security cybersecurity company. The company just announced a $60 million Series B led by Insight Partners, with Next47, Forgepoint, and The Syndicate Group (TSG) joining the round and existing investors Cyberstarts and Lightspeed Venture Partners participating as well. The round brings Noname’s total funding to $85 million since emerging from stealth in December 2020.
Israeli Startup Tonkean Raises $50 Million Led by Accel
Tonkean is an Israeli startup which offers an Operating System for Business Operations of the same name. The company just raised $50 million in Series B funding, led by Accel.
BreezoMeter Raises $30 Million for Air Quality Improvement
Israeli startup BreezoMeter delivers street-level air quality, pollen, pollutants and fire data to consumers through connected devices in more than 100 countries. The company just closed a $30 million Series C funding round led by Fortissimo Capital, an Israeli private equity investment group. The new funding brings BreezoMeter’s total funding to date to $45 million.
Zencity Raises $30 Million to Improve State and Local Government Efficiency
Israeli startup Zencity offers a community insights and analytics platform for state and local governments. The company just closed an additional $30 million investment from existing investors TLV Partners, Vertex Ventures Israel, Salesforce Ventures, M12 – Microsoft’s venture fund, and Canaan Partners Israel. This investment brings Zencity’s total funding to over $50 million.
IPOs and Unicorns
Startup Nation Adds 7 New Unicorns in June
Call Startup Nation Unicorn Nation now. Israel had seven new unicorns in the month of June alone. These unicorns have a combined estimated value of $9 billion. Startup Nation has now had 18 new unicorns since the start of 2021, and the year is only halfway through
SentinelOne Worth $9 Billion After Successful NYSE IPO
This is a major win after SentinelOne had much lower expectations. SentinelOne, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, has had a huge payday from its initial public offering in New York today, Wednesday, coming away with a whopping $8.9 Billion valuation. While not record setting, this is one of the biggest exits ever had by a company coming out of Startup Nation. Globes reports that SentinelOne raised $1.2 billion from its NYSE IPO.
Outbrain Announces IPO Filing
Outbrain Inc., an Israeli startup which offers content recommendation to businesses, announced that it has submitted the formal paperwork with the SEC ahead of its planned IPO. The number of shares to be offered by Outbrain and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Outbrain has applied to list its common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “OB.”
G Medical Suffers IPO Woes As Stock Slides
The company’s stock slid 30%. Israel’s G Medical Innovations medtech startup held its initial public offering IPO on the NASDAQ. While Startup Nation seems to have had an unbroken string of successful exits recently, even during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, G Medical has hit a bump on the road. The company’s stock slid 30% on its first day of trading. And this was take two for G Medical’s IPO after a failed attempt last year.
$4 Billion Plus IPO Exits for Startup Nation in June
Call it Startup Nation or IPO Nation, Israel is booming with successful exits these days. Seven Israeli companies held successful IPOs in June alone and four startups hit billion dollar plus valuations. The four billion plus startups are Talkspace, Monday.com, SentinelOne and Walkme. Combined these four startups hit $20 billion in total valuations from their IPOs.
Mergers and Acquisitions
JFrog Buys Out Vdoo for $300 Million
JFrog boasts that its products seamlessly integrate with practically any development environment on Earth. Israeli liquid software company JFrog (Nasdaq: FROG) has finalized a deal to acquire to acquire Israeli cybersecurity firm Vdoo Connected Trust Ltd. in a cash and stock-based deal valued at approximately $300 million — $210 million is in cash and $90 million is in JFrog shares. JFrog currently holds a market cap around the $4.7 billion mark.
Hewlett Packard Buys Israel’s Zerto Cybersecurity Firm for $374 Million
Zerto helps beat ransomware. Zerto, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, is to be bought out by Hewlett Packard Enterprises for $374 Million. Zetro specializes in assisting with ransomware attacks. The acquisition is being made by HPE GreenLake which states that this will help the company continues their shift to a cloud-native, software-defined data services business.
Home365 Has AI Based Platform for Residential Real Estate, Buys SlateHouse
Home365 just raise $24 million. Home365 is a PropTech/InsureTech residential real estate investment and property management company founded by Israeli and based in Santa Clara California. The company just closed a $16.3 million round led by Greensoil PropTech Ventures II (GSPV II). This brings Home365’s funding to date to a total of $24 million.
Other Business Stories
IAI Signs $50 Million Deal to Upgrade Sri Lankan Air Force Jets
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has made entered into an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defense to upgrade that country’s Kfir aircraft. The contract is worth $50 million. The deal includes replacing the aircraft’s basic avionics with the advanced 4+ generation fighter aircraft avionics in order to one day integrate advanced radar, sensors, communication systems, and new helmets. The upgrade process will also include transfer of knowledge and skills for refurbishment to Sri Lankan Air Force personnel. The upgrades will be completed in cooperation with Sri Lanka’s Air Force and in their local facilities.
NVIDIA Israel to Provide All Employees Full Financing for Adoption and Surrogacy proceedings Regardless of Gender or Orientation
“There will be no employee here who wants to be a parent and gives up on the dream for a financial reason.”
NVIDIA develops artificial intelligence chips and platforms for a variety of industries and markets. Any and all gamers out there as well as people who are serious about the graphics quality of their computers know about NVIDIA.
Scarlett Johansson Launching Her Own Beauty Brand
Scarlett Johansson is not only finally getting to see the long anticipated, and long delayed, release of her very own Marvel super hero movie, “Black Widow,” but the recent double Oscar nominee is also starting her own beauty line. Johansson will make her first venture into entrepreneurship with a skincare brand expected to come to market in early 2022. The new brand was developed together with co-founder, entrepreneur and beauty/fashion executive, Kate Foster, and was funded by The Najafi Companies.
Adam Mosseri – Instagram No Longer Just For Pics
Instagram’s Israel head Adam Mosseri has stated that the social app is no longer just for photo sharing anymore. His announcement comes after Instagram parent company Facebook stated that it wants the popular app to become more like TikTok and YouTube.
“We’re no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app,” said Mosseri.
