The Unicorn March

Welcome to The Israeli Startup Review, a curated newsletter where I share insights from thought leaders, news, and opportunities around Israel's tech ecosystem. Every week you’ll receive timely analysis from off-the-beaten-path, perspectives from the ecosystem, and selected opportunities to further engage with Israel, the Startup Nation.

March, and hopefully with spring around the corner the spread of COVID will continue to decrease. I feel we're nearing the point where hybrid in-person/virtual events will be hosted during the summer. Maybe by the fall we'll have in person events again.

Thank you to those who responded, but the offer still stands for future issues. If you write about Israeli tech or have an interesting Israeli tech related project (not necessarily a startup) and want to be featured in this weekly newsletter respond to this email (or post) directly. I create plenty of content and am grateful to have this platform; if I can help share others’ work, I feel I am exposing the LinkedIn community to the best of the Startup Nation.

For Israeli startups, the new inTulsa website is up! If you’re a growing startup and looking to hire top-tier talent in one of the fastest growing ecosystems in the country please respond to this email/post. You can learn more here.

My latest article in Thrive Global: 3 Ways for Type A Personas to Conquer Pandemic Fatigue

My latest piece in Medium: 12 Subjects I Wish I Learned in School

A big thank you to the JFE team for featuring this piece in their blog: Startup Tulsa

I will be hosting the next Upstream Israel Mixer March 11th at 12pm EST/7pm Israel time. They’re a lot of fun, you’ll hear a speaker, and meet a number of good people all under half an hour. To join the mixer, click here.

As this week's contributor I'll be featuring a piece by Aaron Zucker, the Managing Partner at Sapir Venture Partners. Aaron currently invests in early-stage Israeli- led ventures focused on commercializing innovative science and deep technology. Sapir is active both in Israel and the U.S. with a portfolio of over 20 companies. In addition to his academic research around angel investing, Aaron gained hands-on experience as an early-stage investor at A2Z Venture Partners (an angel fund) as well as serving as a member of the original investment committee at TechU Angels.

The COVID19 Pandemic: Impact on the Israeli Early-Stage Start-Up Ecosystem[1]

By: Aaron Zucker[1] and Dana Rosenfarb[2]

The world has changed. While we yearn to return to “normal”, the impact of COVID-19 on our lives will create long-lasting change. As far as technology adoption, it will hopefully be for the better. Digital health, vaccine discovery and manufacturing, work-from-home, digital educational tools and e-commerce have all made significant leaps towards mainstream adoption in 2020.

The stock market continues to rise and the headlines in the tech industry are filled with IPOs, SPACs and massive investment rounds. Away from the headlines, we felt that the start-up ecosystem seemed ok, maybe even good, but not crazy good or depressingly bad, like the media has made it sound. We decided to take a closer look at the data which might otherwise be obscured by these dazzling headlines.

We started by collecting data from PitchBook and CrunchBase on over 600 companies that had announced fundraising events in 2020. We analyzed the data and scraped it to 150 companies which fit the criteria matching the stage, industries and geographies where we are active investors. This enabled a comparison to what we were seeing out in the field. To compliment this, we conducted a survey to take a deeper dive with a representative subset of over 30 companies which matched these criteria.

At the highest level, PitchBook reported that in 2020, “investors deployed $156.2B into start-ups, liquidated $290.1B of value via exits, and closed on $73.6B [of new capital] in traditional VC funds.”[1] Clearly a frothy market. But where are all those investment dollars being deployed?

Our survey data showed differently. From the responses we collected, the majority of the companies in our survey who successfully raised capital in 2020[2] were early-stage start-ups (pre-seed, seed, seed+). Our survey further showed that 61% of the companies had planned to raise capital in 2020, of which 68% succeeded in doing so. Of those who raised capital successfully during 2020, about 53% raised up to 3 million USD, another 20% raised up to 10 million USD, with the remaining raising either above 10 million USD or preferred not to say.

While pre-pandemic the Series A Crunch was a real concern for seed stage companies looking for their next round, from our analysis it seems that there was a clear reduction in early-stage companies receiving seed, and even pre-seed, investments. The “crunch” seems to have expanded to the earlier stages, raising the bar for receiving funding. Investors were being even more risk averse with their venture capital. We also derived that later-stage companies (series B and beyond) were impacted in a very limited way by COVID-19, far less than was expected at the beginning of the pandemic[3], with late-stage and growth funding up year over year by 4% in 20204.

To address this new/expanded “crunch”, professional pre-seed and seed investors need to be able to move quickly, yet responsibly, to pursue promising opportunities.

The impact of the pandemic goes far beyond capital raising. Over 83% of the companies responding to our survey stated their business operations were affected by COVID-19. The areas that were affected most included sales, marketing, operations and R&D (in that order). Over 76% stated they adopted a work-from-home (WFH) policy with positive results. This corresponds with Pitchbook’s findings[4] showing that more than 80% of US employers said enforcing WFH has been successful for their company, according to a late 2020 survey by PwC which included 133 executives and 1,200 office workers.

A deeper analysis is required to understand who were the early-stage companies that secured funding and growth in 2020. The data lends itself to several hypotheses, including for example the power of top-tier (rockstar) teams and specific industries enjoying hyper-growth pursuant to the changes demanded on our lives due to the pandemic.

In conclusion we asked each founder how they felt about their company going into 2021. Despite COVID19 having a negative impact on most industries, it seems like the tech industry was harmed less: just over 80% of our respondents believe their company is positioned for hyper-growth in 2021, and most respondents declared their company’s valuation has increased over 2020, painting a picture of an optimistic future. We would expect nothing less from a start-up founder pursuing their dreams.

[1] “Venture Monitor, Q4 2020”, Pitchbook, NVCA

[2] 77% of the respondents were early-stage startups: pre-seed, seed, seed+ and Series A.

[3] https://medium.com/sequoia-capital/coronavirus-the-black-swan-of-2020-7c72bdeb9753

[4] “Job market outlook for 2021: More hiring and more remote workers”, Priyamvada Mathur

[1] Aaron Zucker is the Managing Partner at Sapir Venture Partners, a pre-seed/seed stage deep-tech fund which invests in Israeli founders in New York, Boston and Israel.

[2] Dana Rosenfarb is a third-year undergraduate Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[1] The study focused on the Israeli early-stage ecosystem including companies based in New York, Boston and Israel.

Comprehensive overview of cyber circa 2021 thanks to Glilot Capital Partners.

Calling all founders! They want to hear your story! Have your startup success story featured in their report and gain vast exposure across the entire startup ecosystem. From the startups that complete the survey, three stories will be chosen to be featured in the final report. The insights and data points you provide will be shared with the entire ecosystem, as part of the Startup Snapshot initiative dedicated to providing transparency for tech founders. All you need to do is fill out this short survey here.

Bringing the Marketing Community Together: Job Board for B2B Marketers: Marketers everywhere are facing job stress, whether it’s from losing their job or fear that they will soon be laid off or demoted. They hate seeing this kind of stress in their community, so they're doing something about it. Click here.

One Way Ventures Job Board: Their portfolio companies are growing fast and hiring. They’ve aggregated the jobs here so you can easily search by function and location. 190+ jobs and counting! Careers here.

TechAviv Talent Network: 200 rapidly growing TechAviv member startups are hiring for over 6,400 open jobs right now all over the world! Check it out and tell a talented friend here.

Hertz Ventures: Explore 58 open positions. Their companies are recruiting engineers, developers, marketing, customer success, product managers, HR, operations and more.

Rev1 Ventures Job Board: Interested in joining a startup? High-tech, high-growth companies are hiring! Click here.

Chaos Photo Marathon: They invite photographers, designers, artists and creators from all fields which use the language of photography as their tool, to engage in a creative and inspiring 24-hour exploration of various aspects of the “Chaos” theme. They invite you to embrace the chaos of our times and think of it as an engine for innovative, independent creation, a path to the re-examination of our basic assumptions and an avenue for creating work which embodies flexibility, inventiveness, ingenuity, and personal and professional development. Register here.

CHEQ: Business Operations, Team Lead. As the leader of the Business Operations team you will manage the company-wide business systems and processes to enable their growth and business success. Apply here.

Lost Tribe Sports: Lost Tribe Esports (Lost Tribe) is currently searching for a tech savvy, enthusiastic individual to support the Minecraft team and facilitate innovative programming for communities all around the world. The role will be for 15-20 hours per week and will be categorized as an independent contractor. Interested candidates are requested to send a cover letter, resume and references to Lost Tribe Esports’ Director of Gaming, Brian Soileau at [email protected].

TAU Ventures: The seeds were planted and their TAU Ventures portfolio companies are growing! Check out these open positions.

Swimm - Helping engineers contribute to codebases at speed and scale

-Frontend Lead

-Senior Full Stack Developer

-Growth Lifecycle Marketing Manager

-Technical Community lead

XTEND - developing Human Centric Machine Telepresence patented technologies

-Project Manager

-Drone technician

-Bookkeeper

-Android Developer

Cyabra - Breaking Down Online Conversations to Measure Impact and Authenticity

-Data Scientist

-DevOps Engineer

-Senior Software Engineer

CASTOR 3D - enabling manufacturers to reduce costs, utilizing the benefits of industrial 3D printing.

-Dev Ops Engineer

-Sales Development Representative (SDR)

-Sales Specialist

GlobeKeeper - a secure communication platform for law enforcement

-DevOps/SRE

-Product Designer - UI/UX

-Customer Success Advocate

-Sales Development Representative

-Sales Executive

-Community Manager

 Team8: They are looking for a Marketing Operations Manager in NYC or US remote to take charge of their marketing tech stack and work with their early-stage portfolio companies to build their lead-to-cash model. Apply here.

 ThoughtLeaders: They are looking for digital savvy, highly motivated Account Manager to join their agency team, strategizing and implementing budgets for some of the most exciting Digital native brands. Learn more here.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES - most can be long-term remote! 

HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS: NYC or remote, fintech: you have experience in a partnership role in fintech or B2B SaaS

PRODUCT OWNER: NYC or remote: you have been in a relevant role in fintech or SaaS and differentiate from a product manager 

HEAD OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS: NYC not remote post-covid: proptech/fintech: you have built or expanded this function in a company before 

VP MARKETING fintech: NYC or remote: you have a mix of B2C and B2B experience in fintech or SaaS and are creative brand strategist

HEAD OF MARKETING: NYC or remote, fintech: you have B2C experience in fintech or SaaS

DEMAND GEN: NYC or remote, fintech: you have B2C experience in fintech or SaaS

If any roles may be a good match please email your CV to [email protected]

Duality: Content Marketer. Great opportunity for a Marcomms Manager to support the Head of Corporate Marketing in building out inbound and outbound marketing processes. Duality Technologies is a well-funded B2B tech start-up in the field of #dataprivacy and one of the amazing portfolio companies of Team8. Flexible WFH/WFO culture, with 1 – 2 days at the office in Tel Aviv required. Apply here.

OrCam: Inside Sales Development Associate (SDA). OrCam was founded in 2010. At OrCam they have a clear purpose - to empower and provide independence to people who are blind or visually impaired by using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Vision. They created an innovative, smart, and wearable camera with an intuitive interface that enables people to live more independent and productive lives. Apply here.

SentinelOne: A seasoned Quality leader with experience and passion for driving the best of class products and services. SentinelOne was founded in 2013 by an elite group of cyber-security and defense experts. In their R&D offices in TLV, they develop a next-gen endpoint and server protection SW product that uses several layers of protection, including behavioral analysis (with ML on the collected data), anti-exploitation, traps and more in order to stop zero-day attacks that other vendors simply can’t. Apply here.

Touchcast: They are looking for curious, talented, creative, kind and passionate people who want to be part of the future of communication and virtual events :-) They have many roles open on my team and we are looking to find you a new home (we are a remote company so home is anywhere in the world), for you to grow at and be empowered to reach your highest levels.

Event Producer: US hours (100% Remote) - Apply here.

Virtual Event Coordinator: UK hours (100% Remote) - Apply here.

VIP Onboarding Leader: US hours (100% Remote) - Apply here.

Production Coordinator: Virtual Events - US or UK hours (100% Remote) - Apply here.

Lead Designer: US hours (100% Remote) - Apply here.

Event Production Coordinator: UK hours (100% Remote) Apply here.

Starta Investor Showcase Winter 2021: Have you heard? Starta's Winter 2021 Investor Showcase is happening on Thursday, March 4th! Join them virtually or meet with their founders in person. Starta's most recent graduates will present for the first time and joining them are their later-stage seasoned startups with some exciting updates! Thu, March 4, 1:00 PM EST. Register here.

4X4: Startup Must-Have Tools: As you begin your entrepreneurial journey, you should become familiar with some essential tools and practices for success. In this upcoming event, four experts will share their insights about the following topics. Mon, Mar 8, , 12:30 PM EST. Register here.

OU Impact Accelerator Cohort II Demo Day Graduation: The OU Impact Accelerator identifies and advances promising Jewish nonprofits. Through education, mentorship, and collaboration, they empower great leaders committed to strengthening our communal landscape in new ways. March 8th at 8pm EST. Register here.

Fundraising Virtual Workshop: The EcoMotion Annual Investors Event is approaching, and they want to help you get ready for your next round in the best way. They invite Smart Mobility Startups from all different sectors & rounds to a productive workshop day on the most important subjects related to raising your next round. Tue, March 9, 2:30 AM EST. Register here.

INVITATION: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tues March 9th 8pm: ELECTIONS NOTICE: The Salons are a politically unaffiliated, honest-broker organization and as such they do not support any candidate or political party. They are proud to have a long tradition of hosting the leading candidates from all sides of the political spectrum during local and national elections to speak, debate and discuss the important issues that their entire community cares about. Tue, Mar 9, 2021, 1:00 PM EST. Register here.

March: UK-IL Energy Innovation, Research and Regulation: The British Embassy Israel, British Council, UK Israel Tech Hub, Ignite The Spark, and Start-Up Nation Central invite you to the UK-IL Energy Innovation, Research, and Regulation event. March 10th, 12pm GMT/14:00 IL time. Register here.

David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah: Bible and Archaeology: Professor Yosef Garfinkel is the Yigael Yadin Professor of Archaeology of the Land of Israel at the Institute of Archaeology and the Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For many years he was a prehistorian, excavating Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites. As part of his interest in the prehistoric era, he wrote extensively on the evolution of dance. Mar 11, 06:30 PM in Eastern Time. Register here.

NUMA STARTUP SHOWCASE: Join them on Tuesday, March 16th at 12pm (EST) for a Demo Day style showcase featuring 4 of their Winter 2021 Cohort companies, VIPO, iCEIBA, ITILITE, and STRYME! The event will include startup pitches, live audience Q&A, and networking. Tue, March 16, 12:00 PM. RSVP HERE.

A Year Into Covid-19: What's Next for Israeli Startups and NYC Tech?: Join them for a special panel bringing together some of the top tech founders and investors from NYC, as they share their take on what’s next for Israeli startups and New York tech heading into a post-COVID-19 era. From a company building to venture investing and everything in between, they'll cover it all. March 16 | 7:00PM EET. Register here.

Axis Tel Aviv 2021: Axis Tel Aviv is Axis Innovation's flagship innovation conference and is going virtual for 2021. Organized for the past 7 years and recognized as one of Israel's most effective startup events for dealmaking, Axis Tel Aviv is a unique opportunity to meet, learn, and network with global investors and corporations and leading Israeli tech startups. Wed, March 17. Register here.

NEXUS:ISRAEL Dealmakers Summit: Combining the dealmaking power of Landmark Ventures with the cutting edge innovation ecosystem around the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a new partnership has formed in 2021 to co-host NEXUS:ISRAEL Dealmakers Summit. This year’s event will convene a meticulously curated gathering of Funders, Founders, Researchers, Corporate Executives, and Thought Leaders from across the globe for two days of relationship-building, inside access to the technology of the future, unparalleled dealmaking opportunities set against a best-in-class virtual event backdrop. March 23-24. Register here.

THE GSV CUP: EDTECH STARTUPS, APPLY NOW TO COMPETE FOR $1 MILLION IN CASH & CREDITS. Selected semi-finalists will all receive a complimentary ticket to the 2021 Summit for either in-person or virtual and have the chance to compete for $550,000 in non-dilutive capital and $450,000 in Google Cloud credits. The search for the “Elite 200” semi- finalists who will pitch at the 2021 ASU+GSV is underway, read the FAQ to learn more. Apply here.

P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge: Powered by Fusion LA, the goal of the Innovation Challenge is to identify talented entrepreneurs working on innovations that will change consumers’ lives. The final will take place on April 6, and we’re looking for great early-stage consumer-related startups to apply by March 12. Apply here.

The Matchery Program: The program is a UK government initiative dedicated to empowering UK Small & Medium Businesses through proven Israeli technology. They're excited to partner on this event aimed at helping UK small-medium businesses discover innovative & practical digital solutions for today’s challenges, featuring industry experts and leading technologies such as FSB Wix.com Make UK NatWest SAP Concur. Join them March 2nd! Register here.

365x Recruiting Startups for their NYC Programs: 365x is currently accepting applicants for its Scale Up programs, located in Israel and NYC (but both programs will be remote for the spring). They are looking for revenue generating B2B companies. Contact [email protected] for more information.

WOMEN OF AGRIFOOD NATION COMPETITION: The Women of Agrifood Nation provides a platform for recognizing and empowering female-led initiatives in the Agrifood sector. To support the growth of early-stage food startups. We strive to invest in more female-led ventures. Apply here.

Jonathan ‘Yoni’ Frenkel heads Partnerships at Tulsa-based Atento Capital. He leads the effort to assist US and Israeli companies with hiring highly skilled remote workers in Tulsa. He can be reached on LinkedIn here.