Tel Aviv’s startup scene underwent a transformation around 2019, shifting from a “holy grail exit” system to, as Startup Link CEO Eli David puts it, “creating companies that don’t want sell to Google immediately”.
As has always been the case, the military remains the main source of founders – not only because almost everyone goes through it, but also because of its focus on problem solving and cybersecurity. , AI and robotics. Web3, gaming and productivity startups are on the rise as countries like India come online as customers. “We have a brain drain problem,” admits Michel Abadi, managing partner at Maverick Ventures Israel. “But we have a lot of patience.”
immunity
“We map the immune system and all of its different parts, from cell types to cell states, to provide researchers with a complete map and a comprehensive understanding of the immune system,” says Luis Voloch. , who co-founded Immunai with Noam Solomon in 2018. The platform combines single-cell multiomics, machine learning, and functional genomics with high-quality patient data to identify and validate novel drug targets, reduce costs, and increase cure rates. successful drug development. A total of $295 million was raised in three rounds from Viola Ventures, Dexcel Pharma and Koch Disruptive Technologies. Immunai has 25 academic collaborations with institutions including Harvard, Stanford and Memorial Sloan Kettering and 30 partnerships with Fortune 100 pharmaceutical companies. The company, with offices around the world, achieved unicorn status in October 2021 – less three years after its founding – and acquired San Francisco-based computational biology startup Dropprint Genomics and Swiss bioinformatics company Nebion. Plans include developing the company’s own drug discovery pipeline from the compounds it has acquired. immunai.com
Sara Safra, CEO and co-founder of Beewise, on the robotic hive.Photo: Jonathan Bloom
be wise
According to co-founder Sar Safra, “I have some of the clearest KPIs of any company I’ve started. “For every dollar we earn, we save two bees.” According to Safra, 75% of all fruits and vegetables are pollinated by bees, while 35% of bee colonies disappear each year. BeeWise, launched in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Safra and beekeeper Elijah Radziner, is on a mission to prevent colony collapse disorder. How? A robot that can shut down a hive if it detects pesticides, provides food when a colony is weak, and regulates temperature to keep bees alive. The company has raised $120m in four rounds involving local VCs Lool Ventures and Fortissimo Capital as well as US backers Corner Ventures and Insight Partners. It is opening new factories near larger bee populations and claims to reduce fallout from 35% to 8% where they are deployed. beewise.ag
Execute: AI
Run:AI has created a special virtualization layer for deep learning that can train AI models running on GPUs much faster than usual, using fewer resources. Since GPU accelerators are among the most expensive devices in a data center, efficiency is key. In 2018, Omri Geller and Ronen Dar launched Run:AI to control workloads from the cloud, pooling resources from large clusters of GPUs and between different AI workloads by automatically assigning computing power required for each task. share. “We’re doing the same thing for AI hardware that VMware and virtualization did for traditional computing,” Dar says. The company has raised $118 million in three funding rounds backed by Insight Partners, Tiger Global, TLV Partners and S-Capital VC. Since launching the product in 2020, the company’s revenue has grown ninefold, and future plans include managing inference workloads — AI trained like facial recognition software — from the cloud. run.ai
sympathy
Empathy combines technology and human support to help family members bereaved by military actions and emotional trauma following the death of a loved one. The app can help with funeral arrangements and validating a will, say founders Ron Gura and Jonathan Bergman, but the human support of care managers who offer emotional support is key. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $43 million in two rounds of funding from entities like Entire Capital and Aleph, as well as angel investors including Fiverr co-founder Micah Kaufman. Empathy reports that 92% of users said they felt better after using the app, and US Empathy users saved an average of $3,007. The company has now partnered with Goldman Sachs and New York Life to help employees. sympathy.com
neurality
Most neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease, require highly subjective and insensitive symptom examination and diagnosis, which hampers rapid diagnosis, drug development, and accurate care. Neuralite, founded in 2021 by CEO Mica Brakestone and CTO Edmund Anonymous, is building the world’s largest symptom database, measuring over 1,000 volunteers to date. Neuralite recently secured its first commercial contract with a publicly traded pharmaceutical company to aid in therapeutic discovery for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The company raised $30.5 million in two rounds from Koch Disruptive Technologies, Samsung Next, Operator Partners and VSC Ventures. Three trials with patients with Parkinson’s disease and MS are planned for this fall, in collaboration with major hospitals. neurallight.ai
lusix
LUSIX produces laboratory-grade diamonds for the gemstone market and industrial applications in its solar-powered laboratory. Company raises $135m – LVMH Luxury Ventures led the company’s recent $90m seed round, which aims to expand its production capacity in Israel with a second all-solar facility commissioned this summer . The company was founded in 2016 by physicist Yossi Yayon and entrepreneur Benny Landa as a spin-out from digital printing company Landa. “The journey of lab-grown diamonds has only just begun and is being increasingly embraced by consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z,” Landa says. lusix.com
best juice
Better Juice uses enzymes from microorganisms to convert the sugar in fruit juices into indigestible fiber, which is said to reduce up to 80% of all sugars in the juice. Founded in 2018 by Eran Blachinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, it received $8 million in seed funding led by iAngels, as well as Food Tech Lab and The Kitchen Hub. Blachinsky says his process does not affect the smell or taste of the juice, although it does reduce sweetness. Manufacturers can design processes to select the amount of sugar they wish to eliminate. The recent round will fund other product lines, such as ice cream, soft drinks and jams. best-juice.com
Yanib Maur, founder of Tavel.Photo: Jonathan Bloom
travel
“Farmers around the world are struggling to recruit fruit pickers, a situation that puts the entire industry at risk,” says Tavel founder Yaniv Maur. The company recently raised $32.1 million from agricultural equipment manufacturers, including Japan’s Kubota and China’s Forban, for its fleet of drones for picking, thinning and pruning in orchards. A single unit consists of a wheeled vehicle made up of four quadcopter drones that are electrically attached to the vehicle and equipped with meter-long mechanical claws and AI-powered eyes that can differentiate between fruits and their sizes . and measure maturity. The company plans a commercial rollout in southern Europe in late 2022. tevel-tech.com
aivf
Since 1978, more than 8 million babies have been born through IVF – however, with around 3 million IVF cycles each year, the birth treatment ratio could be better, says embryologist Daniela Gilboa and fertilization specialist in vitro Daniel Seidman, founder of the AIVF. , The company combines AI-based computer vision with a database of previous studies to identify embryos most likely to be successfully fertilized without the need for invasive testing. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $35 million in multiple rounds from investors including Insight Partners and Adam Newman’s Family Office. After obtaining the European CE mark in 2021, the company is now planning to expand into the United States. aivf.co
trig
For a startup founded in 2018, Trigo picked a tough target to beat: Amazon, which opened 70 frictionless outlets. “We are the only company capable of converting existing stores into stand-alone stores,” says Michael Gabe, CEO and co-founder of Brother, Daniel. The company’s computer vision systems include camera hardware and encrypted “to-go” software that allows customers to pick up items and receive invoices before leaving the store. Trigo has secured $104 million in a series of rounds with backing from 83North, Vertex Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners and Tesco, which opened its first till-less Trigo store in London in October 2021. Trigo is based in Germany, the United States. Netherlands. , and the UK in 2022. trigoretail.com
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