Interactive Touchscreen Displays

Static displays are a thing of the past. Today’s attendees crave interaction and engagement. By integrating touchscreen displays, floors, or tables, companies can offer dynamic presentations, interactive product demos, or even gamified brand experiences. Taggbox Social Wall provides complete solutions to create and display social media walls (aggregated from more than 15 platforms) on every screen for anyone to see what people are Tweeting or posting about your event.

AI Robotic Bartender

Whether you are looking for refreshments or just want to offer your attendees an innovative and unique experience, robotic bartenders might be the answer. Cecilia.ai, for example, is an interactive, robotic bartender, perfect for these types of events. “She” can handle mass traffic by mixing 120 cocktails an hour while interacting with the crowd to make them laugh or talk about your company or event’s agenda. Cecilia isn’t just about serving drinks; she’s about crafting experiences. With Cecilia.ai, events can offer a unique blend of tech and hospitality, ensuring attendees have stories to share and memories to cherish.

Hybrid Live Translation and Transcribing

Breaking language barriers is crucial in our globalized world. With live translation from companies like Wordly, events can cater to a diverse audience, ensuring inclusivity. This technology provides live AI translation into audio and captions, making sessions accessible to all, in the event or live viewers attending from home, regardless of language. The result? It’s a truly global event that everyone can be a part of.

Augmented Reality (AR) Experiences

Mentioning AR (or VR) when it comes to event technology trends may seem corny in 2024, but it’s still a thing, and the audience digs it and always must “try it out.” AR offers a bridge between the digital and physical realms. Companies like Onirix develop tailor-made AR solutions so attendees can interact with digital overlays, explore products in 3D, view a map of the venue, or even participate in AR-driven games. This immersive technology ensures that the brand’s message is not only seen, but also experienced.

Coffee with a Twist

Forget about the boring drinks. The startup Ripples has transformed the drinking experience by turning each cup (or, more accurately, the top of it) into a work of art. Whether it’s a brand logo, a personalized message, a social media hashtag, or intricate designs, every sip becomes a conversation starter. Grab people’s attention when they grab a cup of coffee or a cocktail, and turn every customer into an influencer with share-worthy drink prints!

Virtual Swag Bag

Handing out virtual swag bags is a trend that started post-COVID outbreak, where conferences went online or hybrid, but it’s useful these days as well. Digital goodies offer a sustainable and innovative alternative to traditional giveaways that you must carry all day. Attendees can check the event agenda on their phones, expand their knowledge with eBooks, enter a competition, or choose from a curated range of digital offerings such as food delivery or Amazon coupons.

Wearable Tech and Smart Badges

More than just an ID, smart badges are about enhancing the attendee journey and turning conferences into captivating experiences. One example is Klik SmartBadges by Bizzabo. These badges enable easy entrance to the event or specific rooms and swapping details seamlessly with other attendees instead of exchanging business cards. Moreover, these badges are known for their flashing lights, coloring each SmartBadge with a different color to divide into groups, or launching custom light cues during a keynote, bringing a concert vibe to your corporate event.

Portable Podcast Studio

Everyone has a podcast nowadays, and probably your company has one, but what about your event? Live content creation adds a dynamic layer to events. With a portable podcast studio, brands can engage attendees through live interviews, discussions, or sessions. It’s about capturing the event’s pulse, amplifying it to a broader audience, and giving your attendees a chance to speak their minds!

The future of events lies in the harmonious blend of technology and human touch. Companies and event organizers can create experiences that resonate on many levels by integrating these event technology trends, ensuring attendees leave with more than just memories but a deeper connection to the company as well. The companies that embrace innovation will stand out in the evolving events landscape in 2024 and beyond.

The post 8 Event Technology Trends to Make Your Event Stand Out in 2024 appeared first on GKI Group.

We’ve been pretty busy collecting and calculating the amount of money that flowed and has been invested in Israeli startups and got surprised every single time. We still haven’t processed all the data and we’ll try to publish our report later this month, but in the meantime, we can tell you that Israeli startups raised more than $27 billion in 2021. THAT’S A LOT.

That number also includes the last month of 2021, where 37 Israeli companies raised over $2.235 with some mega investments, new Unicorns, and new inventive companies on the rise- as usual.
We’ve got some of these companies covered for you:

On top of the list, with an incredible $400 million Series E investment, we have one of the leading industrial cybersecurity companies, Claroty. Their platform covers all areas such as industrial (OT), Enterprise IoT, and Healthcare (IoMT). To support the latter, the company used the current investment for the acquisition of the medical devices security startup Medigate for $300 million. Speaking of yearly summaries, we’ve mentioned Medigate in our 2020 report.

The next one is clearly a huge achievement and a record-breaking number.
Rehovot-based cultured meat company Future Meat raised a historic $347 million investment, the largest single fundraising for a cultivated meat company and probably one of the largest investments in the Foodtech sector in general. Future Meat is planning to take the funding to make cultivated meat more commercialized and affordable, and begin producing cultivated chicken as well.

Tipalti, the automated accounts payable platform, raised $270 million in December and skyrocketed to an $8.3 billion valuation. Tipalti’s platform, as their Hebrew name suggests, handles payments, procurements, and other financial operations, and reduces companies’ workload by 80%. Trusted by over 2,000 paying enterprises like Canva, Roblox, GoDaddy, and National Geographic, it’s no surprise that Tiplati had made it this far.

Let’s turn waste into treasure with the next company on our list. Cleantech startup UBQ Materials developed a technology that enables them to take unsorted trash, of every sort, and turn it into a plastic-like material called UBQ, “the most climate-positive thermoplastic on the market”. Looks like the company also knows how to turn inventive ideas into money, and raised $170 million this month to continue the development of its vision. Good luck! 

Time for a Unicorn – meet Noname Security, a proactive API security platform, that saves your code and software from using APIs with security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and design flaws. Noname made a name for itself this month after securing a $135 million investment that brought the company up to a $1 billion valuation. 

The First Digital Bank, now branded as One Zero, is the first new independent bank in Israel after 40 years and was founded by Mobileye’s Amnon Shashua. One Zero already has more than 60K customers on its waiting list (including me), hoping to see how this digital bank battles with the big ones. To support that move, the bank raised $120 million from a line of investors like Tencent and SBI. Good luck!

After listing out B2B cyber security startups for enterprises and industries, we skipped ahead a bit to tell you about new cybersecurity that aims to protect you, the end-user. Guardio is a lightweight extension designed to help you browse quickly and securely. Just add to it your browser, like Chrome, and it will block harmful sites, monitor data leaks, stop unwanted notifications, or remove malicious extensions. After being installed by more than one million users, Guardio raised $47 million. Cool!  

Too much time on the ground- let’s head over to space. HiSky is an Israeli company developing low-cost voice, data & IoT satellite communication solutions called Smartellite to make satellite communication accessible and affordable, even in the most remote places on earth. HiSky raised $30 million in Series A this December. 

Remember Powermat, one of the pioneers in wireless charging products? Well, it turns out that the company is still active, and totally rocking it, as you can find its technology in more than 800 million smartphones, 40 million embedded accessories, and 8 million cars worldwide. The company charged its batteries with a $25 million investment this month to scale wireless charging tech and enable it for robotic solutions, among its variety of uses.   

The farmers’ arch-nemeses are, apparently, weeds, as they threaten crop production worldwide. Up until now, the farmers had to spray herbicides indiscriminately across the field, which contaminates the soil and water, exposes people to health issues, and costs a lot of money for the farmers. Greeneye Technology developed an AI and deep learning solution that turns every sprayer into a smart machine, to reduce the use of these chemicals and stop the wasteful and harmful spraying. The company raised $22 million this month. Farmers, your sprayers have been answered (excuse the pun). 

The gamer in you might feel excited about this one: Edge Gaming lets you generate and share real mini-games (called Playables) from your gaming highlights that your fans and anyone else can play and compete in. While we’re not entirely sure how this cool idea might work, it seems like the people of Playtika who invested $10 million in the startup – really saw its potential. GAME ON! (and on, and on…)  

Can you predict the next biggest hit series on Netflix or the huge blockbuster that’ll draw anyone back to cinemas like “Spiderman: No Way Home” did? You probably can’t, and so are the studios that use a lot of guesswork (or huge marketing campaigns) rather than algorithms. Israeli startup Vault AI, which raised $8 million this month, uses artificial intelligence to predict customer insights and responses and helps the networks or producers realize who their audience is, how to approach them, and how big the show or movie is gonna be.

Are we humans, or are we influencers? Better ask Israeli startup Humanz that question. Founded by Israeli military intelligence alumni from Unit 8200, who decided to use their knowledge in algorithms for marketing rather than cybersecurity, Humanz is a smart influencers marketing platform that helps brands choose the perfect influencers and content creators for the job and product that needs some boosting. Working with companies like Unilever, Adidas, ZARA, and McDonald’s, no wonder the company raised $8m this month. 

WAKE UP! This is our last company for 2021, with a $4 million investment. Meet Ansā, formerly known as Griin, a coffee machine that roasts beans from the inside out, making it a zero-pollution solution for coffee lovers at home or in the office. So, if you’re into quality coffee and the environment, this might be the product you’ve always needed. 

Well, what else is there to say? It’s hard to believe that 2022 will be as grand as 2021, but life is full of surprises and, apparently,  some spare money to invest in Israeli companies.
See you soon,
Startup Israel Community. 

The post Grand Finale: 37 Israeli startups raised over $2.2 billion in December 2021 [Infographic] appeared first on GKI Group.

There’s tough and ruthless competition out there in the food and beverage industry. Many managers and owners, from small boutique cafes to large hotel food chains, are always looking for new ways to reinvent, to market, to spice up their food and drinks menus, and to deliver a better dining experience for guests. Luckily, in the past few years, many startups and technology companies were founded specifically to solve the industry’s most burning issues.
On today’s special, we have made you a list of 10 Israeli FoodTech startups and innovations to help you upgrade your menu and services. We’ve split it into two categories: products that can automate the process; refresh the dishes; or help your brand stand out, and software for kitchen management and smart analytics.

Israeli FoodTech Startups For An Upgraded Customer Experience

Hyper Food Robotics – The First Autonomous Fast Food Store

Co-Founded by the owner of Pizza Hut Israel, a guy who knows a thing or two about fast-food chains, Hyper Food Robotics is aiming to bring the automation revolution into the field.
While restaurants these days are struggling to find cooks, sellers and maintenance teams, Hyper is solving that problem with an autonomous fast food store. The store is actually a robotic container divided into four areas: storage, production, packing, and collecting – ready to be picked by a customer or a delivery service. The store can be customized to make pizzas, burgers, salads, and more. Sounds promising. 

Ripples – Print on Beverages

You probably ran into Ripples’ product at least once in your life, when you went to a cafe or attended an event, but you just had no idea. The Ripple Maker is a machine capable of “printing” on top of foamy beverages like coffee and beer. Combined with the software, you can easily customize and serve every drink with your logo, promote your #business, or just wish customers a good morning. Sure, it will disappear after the first sip, but it will surely be remembered and published on social media. A terrific way for restaurants, bars, and nightclubs to increase sales and customer loyalty. 

Cecilia.ai – Robotic and Interactive Cocktail Maker

A smart and interactive robotic bartender that can be found in hotels, cruise ships, lounges, and more to expand the menu with delicious, automatically-made cocktails.
Powered by conversational AI and voice recognition abilities, Cecilia also chats with customers, guides them through the menu, tells jokes, promotes your business, and provides an unforgettable experience to new and returning visitors.
This robotic bartending unit is easy to install and customize, has secured payments, takes a small footprint, and can operate 24/7 to make every hour a happy hour. 

Milkit – Milk on Tap

Another Israeli FoodTech startup that can upgrade your restaurant is Milkit, a patented milk tap solution that saves time, energy, and money.
With its unique 17L milk bag, the Milkit device pours precise amounts of milk, saves up to 4 seconds per coffee cup, and eliminates the need for storing milk bags. In fact, this solution that you didn’t even think was necessary until you’ve opened your own restaurant is already being used by several Israeli restaurants and hotels, as well as Starbucks in Germany. Milking it, indeed!

Talking Bread – Turn your bread into a media

If the printing on top of beverages, as the startup aforementioned does, doesn’t talk to you – maybe a talking bread will. Talking Bread is a FoodTech startup with a patented solution for imprinting on top of baked and pre-baked products using nothing but heat. You can add your logo or a painting to buns, loaves, pita bread, burgers, and every other bad carb that brings customers joy. 

Solato – Countertop Gelato Maker

Love ice cream? Based in Israel and Canada, this startup has developed Solato, which looks like a Nespresso machine for ice cream, leading the gelato-making evolution with the “smoothest, creamiest gelato made fresh in a moment.”
This countertop device makes authentic artisan gelato, fruit sorbets, frozen yogurt, and iced coffee using biodegradable capsules, which can also be used as the serving bowl. Solato is ideal for small cafes and restaurants looking to upgrade their menu with fresh ice cream without wasting precious space and money. 

Israeli FoodTech Startups For Kitchen Management

Tastewise – Use data to know what’s trending   

Ever wondered what foods, drinks, and recipes are trending these days without watching videos on TikTok or exploring Michelin-starred restaurants?
With Tastewise, you can harness the power of AI to turn billions of data points from recipes, menus, and social media into actionable insights that will help you grow your brand. Ease out, save precious time on research, let the platform find the next best flavor or dish, and discover marketing strategies to learn from competitors and create better content. Although the company’s main clients are CPGs, they also aim for kitchens that are constantly seeking food innovations and beating the competition. Tastes good! 

Tabit – A 360° MobileFirst Restaurant Solution

If you’re in the F&B business in Israel, you’re probably familiar with Tabit’s technology, currently “taking over” every restaurant and cafe and improving them. If you see waiters and waitresses taking your order with tablets – that’s probably Tabit right there.
Tabit’s platform helps restaurant managers with a cloud-based solution that handles all of the operations: ordering, payments, online orders, delivery systems, reservations, guest management, analytics, and more. All that’s left for you to do is just make sure that the food and service are outstanding.

Weissbeerger – Know what your clients are drinking

Acquired by the world’s largest brewer AB InBev in 2018, Weissbeerger is still here under the radar to provide the food and beverage industry with their leading data analytics solution. Using their smart  taps and aggregated data, bar owners can learn about the customers’ consumption patterns and optimize their sales and operations. Weissbeerger developed a smart B2B marketplace called BEES, which helps pubs, restaurants, convenience stores, and other retailers to purchase goods and stock from one single online shop. BEES is selling thousands of products, not just from AB InBev, and it has become one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the world.

EatEat – Reinventing the Menu Experience

Founded in 2020, EatEat’s mission is to help restaurants upgrade their restaurant offerings and menu with a little help from AI. The company offers its Menu.ID product to kitchens for free to help them easily manage online menus across multiple platforms with just one click. Smart.Menu, also offered for free, can be integrated in any website to aid diners by providing them with a personalized experience and learning from their preferences to match them with the perfect meal. We’ll keep following that one!

Before we wrap up, let’s not forget the heroes of the pandemic: Israeli food delivery services. Companies like 10Bis (acquired by Takeaway.com) and Haat, which specializes in food delivery to remote areas and Arab villages. Without these services (and global companies like Wolt), many restaurants would have never survived the quarantine.

Foodtech startups and innovations, as those mentioned above, can be beneficial for both your business and its customers. Combining AI, cloud services, data collection robotics, and automation makes one hell of a successful recipe for your business’s success.

So, are you ready to order? 

The post Boost your menu and services with these 10 Israeli FoodTech startups appeared first on GKI Group.

Hey everyone,
After some insane months in which Israeli startups raised over $2 billion, broke records, and became Unicorns, it’s finally time for a break and return to the old, regular numbers.

WHO ARE WE KIDDING?
Yup. Even in July, Israeli startups crossed the $2 billion mark. To be more precise, 49 startups and well-established scale-ups raised $2.571 billion.
That truly makes us wonder if there’s any more money left in the world.

On top of the list, we have the cryptocurrency infrastructure startup Fireblocks with a $310 million funding round, following their previous $133 million C Round only four months ago. Fireblocks turned into a double unicorn, as their valuation rose up to $2.2 billion. Damn, crypto is hot!

The famous Cybereason is just as unstoppable, with a fresh $275 million F Round that has resulted in the company’s total investments to $660 million, as well as the acquisition of another Israeli security analysis Empow at an undisclosed amount.

The face recognition startup AnyVision raised $235 million, but actually made headlines after the company’s CEO said that tech employees in Israel get paid too much. Ouch.

Recommendation platform and one of the largest Adtech companies in Israel (and the world), Outbrain, just went public this month! Woohooo!
But, wait, before that happened, they’ve raised an extra $200 million to boost things up before the IPO.
Well, congratulations on both!

Wiliot is developing innovative Bluetooth tags that can turn every product into a smart, connected product with no batteries necessary. The Wiliot IoT Pixel is a tag which can be placed on foods, goods, medicine, and more to collect data and transmit it to the cloud. That idea gave them a $200 million investment, and a fresh Unicorn status and valuation. Cool!

Another entrant to the Unicorn club is the cyber insurance startup At Bay, which raised $185 million. At Bay covers companies and enterprises from digital risks like ransomware, system failures, cryptojacking, and more.

The future is meatless and cruelty-free, or at least that’s what the numbers are telling us: Aleph Farms, a magical startup that makes slaughter-free cultivated meats, just raised $105 million– the largest funding round for a Foodtech startup in Israel.

Aiming for the moon once more: SpaceIL, the Israeli non-profit organization that built the spacecraft Beresheet and failed to land it on the moon in 2019, has raised $70 million to focus on project Beresheet 2. Time to reach for the stars!

Tailor Brands, the company that aims to eliminate the need for graphic designers with automatic branding and logo creation powered by AI, raised $50 million from GoDaddy! Kind of an interesting partnership…

Uniper Care, a startup that we gladly wrote about a while ago and featured on our “Startups for Seniors” blog post, finished a $14.5 million A Round this month.

Tax evaders? You better watch out. The new startup IVIX (currently in stealth mode) raised $13 million to help governments and authorities fight tax evasion with help from AI. Well… good luck!

The world is going contactless, and so are the grocery stores and supermarkets. Shopic developed a clip-on device that can turn every cart into a smart cart using computer vision to enable customers a frictionless experience on their way to self check-out. Shopic added a $10 million investment into their cart. 

In the spirit of the Olympics, time for some sports-tech. Zone7 is a platform that uses AI to predict injuries for athletes- based on medical information, wearable devices, and more- and helps teams manage their players to reduce chances of injuries by 75%.
Zone7 raised $8 million. That’s one for next year.

Continuing with sports tech, let’s race down to the bottom of the list and meet Griiip, an interesting startup that gripped an undisclosed investment from Porsche. The startup developed a Racing Media Platform that transmits motorsport data from the racing car, so viewers can also know what’s going on inside. 

And that’s what you came in for – the monthly infographic:

That’s it! See you next month!

Also, don’t miss out on our interview with Hyper Food Robotics – an interesting autonomous fast food robot that will probably star on this list someday! 

The post Unbelievable: 49 Israeli startups raised more than $2.5 billion in July 2021. appeared first on GKI Group.

Why?

Because this month, as well, 46 Israeli-founded startups (that we know of) raised more than $2.34 billion! Some of them broke a new record (we’re looking at you, Transmit Security) and new Unicorns were born. You could say it’s not so exciting anymore, but it’s actually even more exciting when it happens EVERY MONTH! 

So, on the top of the list, way above the other companies, we have the cybersecurity startup Transmit Security with a jaw-dropping $543 million Series A round at a pre-money $2.2 billion valuation. That’s probably the largest Series A round for a cybersecurity startup, and one of the largest financing rounds in Israel. Transmit Security, founded in 2014, is aiming to eliminate passwords and develop new, safer methods for user authentication. 

Another record was broken by Gong.io, which raised another $250 million in Series E that tripled the company’s valuation to $7.25 billion – the highest ever valuation for an Israeli startup.
Gong.io, in case you haven’t heard of the company, is used by more than 1,300 customers to automatically analyze sales calls and increase win rates. 

Transcribing startup Verbit, a regular guest on our startup list, grabbed $157 million and turned into a lovely Unicorn with more than $1 billion valuation. The company employs 30K freelance transcribers all around the globe, serves more than 400 customers, and will use the new funds to conquer the $30 billion-worth transcribing industry.

Claroty, founded in 2014, is the leading industrial cybersecurity platform that enables its customers to identify, manage, and protect their OT (operational technology), IoT, and IIoT assets. Claroty is also a new member in the Unicorn club after securing a $140 million investment at over $1b valuation. Welcome!

Time to congratulate Firebolt and its fresh $127 million Series B financing. The startup, which has only recently emerged from stealth mode, is a Cloud Data Warehouse as a Service that enables users to analyze big data faster than any other platform.

Another regular guest on our list, Bringg, raised its highest round up to date – $100 million– and also joined the Unicorn club this month. Bringg, which saw a meteoric rise during COVID-19, is the #1 unified delivery & fulfillment cloud solution to making last-mile delivery seamless and quick.

Say hello to Hailo, the developers of breakthrough AI microprocessors for edge devices, and probably the next billion-worth acquisition you’ll hear about. Hailo began mass production of its Hailo-8 processor for autonomous cars, smart cities, smart retail, and more. The company has completed its $100 million C round and has reached a $1 billion valuation, which makes it a… Unicorn. What a surprise. 

One of the most interesting companies in Israel is Venn, a new platform aiming to connect neighborhoods and turn them into thriving communities. Venn manages homes and shared spaces and connects everyone with an app: landlords with residents, residents with local businesses, and locals with other locals through real-life activities and events. The startup, which saw a 1200% growth during COVID-19, was connected to a $60 million investment this June.  

What happens when you mix WordPress with Wix? You get the website building platform Duda. Duda is aimed at professionals who wish to make every website their own by combining no-code drag-n-drop with developing additional elements using JavaScript, CSS, HTML and APIs.
According to the company, every 17 seconds, a new website is created on Duda. Meaning, by the time you finish reading this paragraph, another two or three are created. No wonder the startup raised $50 million.  

We’ve introduced you too many times to JoyTunes, the developer of educational apps for teaching children and adults how to play musical instruments, so we just want to congratulate the company for raising $50 million and becoming a Unicorn. It’s fun when companies like this do it!

From fun, to more fun – Comunix is the startup behind Pokerface, a popular online poker game with video and audio chat. It’s like a Zoom meeting, but without wasting your precious time. Their hit game has been downloaded by over eight million players, mostly thanks to the pandemic and quarantine, and made investors go all-in with a $30 million A round. A sure bet!

While we can’t tell you much about the MR (Mixed Reality) startup Mutilnarity, because it’s still in stealth mode, we can tell you that the company has raised $28 million – the biggest seed round in Israel. One of the founders worked in Magic Leap, but let’s hope that Multinarity will show better results. 

Call 911! We have an emergency – an Israeli startup raised $20 million! Carbyne is a company with a mission to redefine emergency collaboration and act as a channel between emergency call centers and first responders to worried citizens or people who need critical assistance from the police, medical team, or fire departments. Carbyne’s platform also allows callers to transmit a live video to the corresponding teams, without needing to download any app.   

Ready for the food of the future? Equinom is breeding seeds with AI, rather than genetic modification (GMO), to “turn regular food into super food”. The company is producing legumes, sesame, quinoa, and pea (coming soon) in crops of 100,000 acres in six continents. Equinom has raised $20 million C Round (sorry, seed round was a long time ago so that pun is gone). Bon appetit!   

Shhh! Can you hear that? That’s the sound of Silentium adding another $20 million D Round to its total investments. Silentium, founded in 1998, has developed a patented Active Noise Control (ANC) technology that can reduce unwanted noise (like a car engine, industrial machines, etc.) by 90%. 

Let’s wrap up this list with a startup fighting the worst and most dangerous insect on earth – the mosquito. Diseases like dengue, malaria, and zika- all spread by mosquitoes- are killing over 700,000 people every year. Diptera.ai raised $3 million to develop an affordable AI-based solution for sterile insect technique (SIT) and control mosquito populations. As VentureBeat accurately titled, “How AI and mosquito sex parties can save the world”. 

Not mentioned in the infographic, but also worth bringing up are the Israeli-founded, US-based companies Exabeam, with a $200 million funding round, and car loan financier Lendbuzz, which raised $300 million in credit and $60 million in equity. In addition, Next Silicon, a 3-year-old semiconductor startup hoping to beat Intel one day, raised $120 million and became a Unicorn. The funding round took place in October 2020, but the company has only now been publicly revealed. 

Well, what more can we add? Let’s hope that this “boom” of investments will continue, and we’ll see more tech employees in Israel laughing all the way to the bank. Nothing bad about innovation.

The post Israeli startups raised over $2 billion this month. Yes, again. [Infographic] appeared first on GKI Group.

By signing up, you agree to join our mailing list and receive a monthly newsletter with tech news and company updates. No spam, pinky swear! 

Just to give you a small teaser:

406 startups (in about 440 rounds), that we know of, scored approximately $9.9 billion in 2020. The top sector was Cybersecurity (no surprise there), with 66 startups raising about $2.57 billion.

Have a look at the biggest startup investments of 2020:

But that’s not all!

In the full report, you will find further information about the cybersecurity and healthcare sectors, see which startups were given funds to fight COVID-19, our top picks for the most interesting startups, and most importantly – the entire list of 406 startups.

To get the full report for FREE, enter your email address, and the download link will be available on the next page, and in your email (innovative, we know). 

By signing up, you agree to join our mailing list and receive a monthly newsletter with tech news and company updates. No spam, pinky swear! 

Have a great year!

GKI Group

The post Israeli startups raised $9.9 billion in 2020! [Report] appeared first on GKI Group.

44 Israeli startups made it to the list this month, but we’re short on time and you’re short on patience, so picked those that we found most interesting.

The ultimate winner of this month (and probably this year) is the cybersecurity scale-up SentinelOne, which raised a $267 million E Round at more than $3 billion valuation!
SentinelOne is the developer of Singularity, an AI solution aiming to replace the old-fashioned Antivirus and autonomously protect all end-point devices, data centers, and cloud. They should thank COVID-19 for the increased need in online protection. Since 2013, the company has grabbed a total of nearly $700 million.

Let’s cut the numbers in half and head to the second one: Cato Networks, with a $130 million E Round and a fresh Unicorn status. Cato Networks is “the world’s first Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform Converges SD-WAN and Security into the Cloud”. We have no idea what it means either, but to put it in simpler terms, it helps users connect to the network from any location. Cato Networks should be thankful for COVID-19 as well. 

A bit below, with $125 million, we have the fraud prevention platform Forter that helps eCommerce customers like ASOS, Priceline, Nordstrom, and more fight fraud in real-time by verifying real users, and protecting them as well as the entire purchasing process. 

We’re headed to number #4, and we’re still with 9-digit rounds. Inuitive is an Israeli chip developer based in Israel and China, focusing on the development of 3D imaging camera technologies for AR, mobile devices, and robotics. Chinese consortium Yinniu Microelectronics has invested $106 million in the company. Way to go, Inuitive, you really got it Yinniu.

Next up is a startup that I think we’ve already mentioned a couple of times – Verbit. Verbit is a transcription service, combining AI and professional transcribers to provide customers with 99% accuracy. Verbit employs 22K on-demand transcribers, serving over 400 customers such as courts, conferences, e-learning, and more. They’ve successfully transcribed more than 30 million minutes last year! No wonder they scored a $60 million investment this month, and $125 million in total.

Autonomous drone solution Percepto announced a surprising collaboration with Boston Dynamics’ robot-dog Spot, and a not-so-surprising $45 million B round investment.
The company has developed a solution for industrial sites, enabling its Percepto Sparrow drones to perform tasks like inspection and security autonomously. The latest integration with Boston Dynamics will allow their system to control both the Sparrow and Spot to collect data from the air, ground, and sea. AWESOME!

Here’s an idea that was made for COVID-19 times, but the company was actually founded in 2008. ControlUp developed one simple console to manage all the virtual desktops in real-time. ControlUp provides a spreadsheet-like status dashboard showing assets like desktops, virtual machines, and servers that automatically updates every 3 seconds. This year, with the rising need for remote desktop software, the company raised $27 million.

Every startup Amnon Shashua, founder of Mobile, is associated with, arouses much interest from investors as well, and AI21 Labs is no different – it raised $25 million this month. The company’s mission is to create AI systems with an unprecedented ability to understand and create natural language. Wordtune, their first product, helps you rework your thoughts into properly-structured writing. And yes, of course, we used Wordtune to revise this passage.

US Citizens? You better check this one out. Obligo is an Israeli Fintech startup founded in 2016 to help you say goodbye to security deposits. Obligo rids both landlords and renters from the burden of security deposits and makes the move-in process as simple as checking in to a hotel. It’s a safe and secure solution for both sides, and last month they’ve secured a $15.5 million investment. 

With all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness, you need someone or something to fulfill the orders and handle the item collection in the warehouses. That something is the high-speed warehouse fulfillment system made by Caja Robotics, which picked a $12 million investment this month. What’s unique about the company’s solution is that it’s adaptive, scalable, and can fit in almost any warehouse and infrastructure. 

We fought so many viruses in 2020, that we nearly have forgotten to fight bacteria. Luckily, someone is doing it for us. Founded in 2015, Omnix Medical is a biopharmaceutical company developing the next-generation of antibiotics for the treatment of life-threatening infections involving drug resistant bacteria. After successfully completing testing on animals, the company will use its latest $8.5 million in funding to begin clinical trials with humans. 

Store owners? You better stick around for this one. Glue is a new Israeli startup, founded earlier this year and already raised $8 million to automate customer loyalty programs. The solution will help both big and small chains keep their customers with a branded members club, loyalty features like coupons, and a point earning system, and it’s all fully-automated and taken care of, so store managers won’t have to.

Motorcycles deserve their own life-saving system like Mobileye too, and that’s exactly what Ride Vision is doing. Using its Collision Aversion Technology, riders get alerted on possible collisions, distance keeping, blind spots, and more. It can be installed on any motorcycle to save lives as well as save on insurance costs. Ride Vision has completed a $7 million A Round this month. Will they become the next Mobileye? Only time will tell. 

If it looks like an egg, tastes like an egg, can be used for cooking like an egg, but doesn’t hurt any chickens or the Earth like an egg – It must be Zero Egg.  The new, revolutionary Israeli Foodtech startup makes a plant-based egg substitute that can be scrambled, baked, and fluffed just like an ordinary egg. Zero Egg raised $5 million this November, and a total of $6.5 million.
It can be perfectly combined with the cultured-meat startup Meatech 3D, which raised $7 million this month as well. 

If you’re fond of quality content like we are, you better check out the new startup Listory, founded earlier this year by Outbrain’s founders. You can bet that these guys know a thing or two about content; Listory is the world’s first content refinery, helping you read articles curated especially for you and your needs without wasting any precious time, while encouraging you to ACTUALLY read it. Listory is now available on the web or the app, and it just raised $4 million. Happy reading. 

With a line of customers like Verizon Media, Hillary Clinton, BBC, Spotify, and Disney, it’s a bit surprising that Riverside.fm has decided to come out of “stealth” only recently. They’re the company that raised “only” $2.5 million. Riverside.fm is the easiest way to record high-quality audio and 4K video interview-podcasts, in studio quality, anywhere. The host only needs to share a link with his guests and let the recording begin. 

Saving the best for last, and also because they raised $2.2 million, OutSense Diagnostics is an IoT sensor for toilets that automatically analyzes… poop. Well, you can laugh as much as you want, but by analyzing human waste, you can reveal hidden blood, dehydration, and other life-threatening diseases. The song from the TV-show Scrubs was right- everything comes down to poo. 

As usual, here’s the full infographic:

That’s it for now. Can’t wait to see what the last month of 2020 will hold for us. 

The post 44 Israeli startups raised more than $1.1 billion this November! appeared first on GKI Group.

BOO!

Halloween is here, the fun holiday for kids and grownups, going trick or treating, dressing up in scary costumes, and watching horror movies. However, not only do monsters exist in movies and costumes, we are also surrounded by them in real life. New startups and entrepreneurs are facing them every day, hoping that their company will be “the one that makes it out alive”. 

So, in this “spooky” article, we’ll go over the scary monsters every startup faces. 

Zombie – Your startup is dead but keeps on walking anyway

Zombies, the slow-walking creatures that are always looking for brains, are pretty similar to a startup that failed a long time ago, but is somehow still trying to stay alive. Startups become zombies when there are no more new users, the growth is stuck, funds keep running out, and there’s nothing you can do to attract new or your existing investors. You just keep on walking dead, waiting for a miracle. Instead of shutting it down like you should have a long time ago, , you’re still looking for “the brain”: a brilliant idea or buyer that may save your startup, and give you something to live on.

But hey, even if your startup is a zombie, not everything is lost. Take a look at InnerSloth, the developers of the game Among Us. The three developers sitting in the company launched the game for iPhone and Android back in 2018, and probably were really bad at marketing, or had no funds for it. They had only 30 daily users, had to spend all their savings to keep the game alive, and release updates to the few users they had. Earlier this year, probably thanks to Coronavirus, Among Us suddenly became noticed. Popular YouTubers and gamers began streaming their gameplay online, and the game totally “blew up”. Now, they have over 80 million users and incomes of millions of dollars. Looks like they’re no longer a zombie.

Ghost – When Your Startup “Disappears”

Becoming a ghost means disappearing, turning barely visible (or visible to people with supernatural powers), and while not all ghosts are as friendly as Casper, most of the startups are not as successful as Casper.

Your startup may start slow, or it may start with a bang, but fading out is practically inevitable unless you do things right. There are many causes of disappearing: Your app or game was interesting for a week or month and then users got tired of it, a new competitor took all the attention, your product became obsolete compared to the market, or other shifts and turns in the world made your idea suddenly useless (Hello there, travel startups).

Always prepare yourself for the real world. Read the reviews. Understand your users. Don’t let the customers “ghost you”, and don’t become a ghost yourself. But most importantly, don’t let these failures haunt you. Try and learn from them. 

Vampire – Your Startup keeps on sucking your blood and savings

Vampires have become pretty popular in recent years. The blood-sucking night creatures (with so many dumb weaknesses like garlic or holy water) are no longer scary. Vampires are now “sexy”, just like starting your own company and joining the startup life. 

Unfortunately for the founders, there’s nothing sexy about a startup that turns into a vampire. They soon begin to realize that the project is sucking their “blood”, their free time, quality time with the family, and all their savings at least until the investors arrive. Just like a vampire, you probably won’t see the sunlight. You work so hard until you can’t even see yourself in the mirror. 

What should you do? Slay the vampire. Try maintaining a stable work-life balance. Your startup will be fine, your sanity won’t.

Werewolf – A Pivot Turned Bad

Werewolves are human. Well, at least most of the time. They can shift themselves into werewolves, or are cursed to become one uncontrollably, once a month, when a full moon is rising.

Startups also shift, sometimes. Sometimes they shift because the founders found a better and more profitable idea they could achieve with their product, and sometimes they shift because they have no other option: pivot or die. 

While history tells the story of some undeniably successful pivots like Slack (it was a game!) or Instagram (just a regular photo editor with filters), there are some startups whose pivot turned deadly. Kik Messenger was a pretty successful private messaging app founded in 2009, with millions of active users, but in 2017 they decided to focus on the next big thing – cryptocurrency – and launched Kin. After a successful $100 million raised in ICO for the new coin, troubles began. Last year, The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Kik for allegedly running an unregistered securities sale, hence hiding information from new or existing investors. 

Kik Messenger nearly shut down last year, to focus on the lawsuit and try to make the most of Kin. 

They turned into a werewolf and lost all their identity and integrity. 

Mummy – All wrapped up in paperwork from head to toe

Starting a new business is exciting and challenging, but one of your roles as a Founder and CEO also includes dealing with lots of paperwork: from legal paperwork to finance, from business strategy to product characterization, and it never seems to stop, not even after you hire a team to do it for you.

Getting tangled up with the paperwork and presentations may lead to sleepless nights that suck out your joy and will to live until you become a “zombie” wrapped up in paper: just like a mummy. 

Trolls – The most annoying creatures on the internet

A troll is an ugly and scary dwarf from Scandinavian folklore, but it’s also the nickname for the most annoying people to ever exist since the invention of the internet. 

Internet trolls mean trouble mostly for social networks, apps, forums, and wherever user-generated content is the main feature of the platform. But they appear in any online community that enables leaving comments. Internet trolls can hit you online, wherever you are, whether they simply want to or are getting paid for it.

They’ll cyberbully other users, publish off-topic or offensive content, slander your product or other users, or spam the hell out of your platform. It’s annoying, unpleasant, and might be deadly for some startups.

One example of a startup that shut down due to its thriving trolls community is the Secret app. The anonymous social network app launched in 2013 to enable users to “say whatever is on their mind”, without identification and without restraints. It was a HUGE success, but with all the amazing content,  the internet trolls were soon to follow, using anonymity to shame, harass, and cyberbully other people. Secret couldn’t handle the bad news coverage and the ditching of users (to its competitor, Yik Yak) and they shut down the business in 2015, just 18 months after it launched.

It’s hard to get rid of trolls, and you can’t make them disappear completely. However, there are ways to reduce the damage: Hire moderators to filter content and work nonstop, use AI to block spam and blacklisted words, add a report feature, make registration harder and for verified users only, and don’t let in anonymous users. If you’re being trolled on another website (product reviews, article in a news website, etc.), the best thing you could do is contact the owner. 

Grim Reaper – May your startup Rest in Peace

The Grim Reaper is the most famous embodiment of “Death”, if it had a “human” form. You know how it goes – once the grim reaper shows up, someone is going to die. This someone is your startup.

After losing battles with zombies, ghosts, trolls, vampires, werewolves, and mummies, sometimes the best you can do for yourself, your employees, and your company is to kill it. Shut it down. But don’t you worry – just like death, it’s totally natural. More than 90% of startups never make it to the end. Not all of the endings are equal; some shut it down because they’ve failed or went bankrupt, and others shut down for legal reasons. Some shut down after six months and others after 20 years, but there’s always a reason.

What’s left is just to let go. Learn from your mistakes and move forward. Start a new business, use your experience to join a company, or even find a new direction in life and become a yoga instructor. 

The startup may rest in peace now. Your life has only just begun. 

Well, if you’ve reached the end of the article, you’ll most likely survive a zombie apocalypse or global pandemic. The text may seem pessimistic, but, eventually, all monsters can be beaten. You just need some good people on your side, listen to advice, and listen to yourself. Don’t let yourself suffer. Don’t sit through 90 minutes of a B-rated horror movie in the cinema. It’s sometimes okay to quit.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The post 7 SCARY MONSTERS THAT HAUNT EVERY STARTUP appeared first on GKI Group.