Weekly #FIRGUN Newsletter

It's?#Firgun?time!

As every Friday, it's my pleasure to share a weekly summary of the movers and shakers in Israeli tech and venture. If you're not yet subscribed, click the button get the next edition straight into your inbox.

"Firgun" (Hebrew: ??????/ pronounced 'feer-goon')?is an informal modern Hebrew term and concept in Israeli culture (originally Yiddish), which describes genuine, unselfish delight or pride in the accomplishment of the other person. It's the opposite of schadenfreude. More about Firgun and why it matters on?VC Cafe:?https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p

Naturally, I had to ask ChatGPT to help me with the definition of "Firgun" and how it's used in practice. Here's the answer

"Firgun" is a Hebrew term that is often translated as "altruistic pleasure" or "kindness" or "generosity." It refers to the act of feeling happy or satisfied when others succeed or are fortunate, and is often used to describe a person who takes pleasure in the success or happiness of others. In practice, firgun can be expressed in many ways, such as by offering congratulations, expressing appreciation, or by taking actions that help others achieve their goals. It is an important value in many cultures, and is particularly prevalent in Israeli culture.

"With A Healthy Disregard For The Impossible, People Can Do Almost Anything" - Larry page

The latest weeks have been a struggle for many Israeli friends and colleagues. They find themselves feeling the need to campaign to prevent rulings that would basically strip the power of the courts. The picture in this week's edition is 100,000 people demonstrating in Tel Aviv against this judicial change. Several statements calling for equality and democracy were made by International and Israeli venture capital funds and startups this week.

NEW INVESTMENT ROUNDS

- Congratulations?to Peter McKay and team Snyk on the $25M series E extension from ServiceNow !

- Mabruk? Itamar Jobani and team PayEm on your $20M series A extension to scale your business spend automation and procurement management platform!

- Well done? Yuval Bachar and team ECL for coming out of stealth with a $7M seed round for the world’s first fully-sustainable, hydrogen-powered, off-grid data center-as-a-service!

- Good stuff Tal Lutzky and team Plantopia Bio. on your $6M seed round for cow-free milk and cheese made with lettuce!

- Kudos Yotam Pappo and team PeerPlay on the $5M seed round to build fun and engaging mobile games! Rooting for you!

- Way to go Israel (Iz) Shalom and team Ollie: AI Photo Assistant on raising a $3.5M seed round for your photo curation mobile app!

- Mazel tov Tali Gross and team SixtyFive on coming out of stealth with $1M in funding to help seniors turn their home equity into a reliable source of income!

EXITS

- Congratulations? Ariel Dan and team Cloudify.co on the $100M exit to Dell Technologies to bridge the gap between application and cloud environments!

- Best of luck Zvi Schreiber and team Freightos on going public in NASDAQ via SPAC that values the company at $500M!

- Kudos Asaf Somekh and team Iguazio (Acquired by McKinsey) on the $50M acquisition by 麦肯锡 and for becoming their Israel R&D centre!

LAYOFFS TRACKER

9,365 Israelis were laid off from tech startups/companies in 2022 (source).

Layoffs announced by? Tenable Israel ?(30 people),? Wandz.ai (Formerly Namogoo) ?(30 people) and? 咨科和信 ?(450 people), 谷歌 (unknown yet),

Let's help all affected land new jobs fast

LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER

1) The state of gaming in 2023 and my impressions from PGC London by me on VC Cafe packed with data from the top 2023 gaming reports ??

2) Every major content provider in the world will need a generative AI strategy - by the Financial Times

3)?The Hybrid Manifesto - a good read for employers who are managing the hybrid workforce by Kadence

CHART(s) OF THE WEEK

Where is all the money going in Generative AI (by CB Insights ) - more about this in my post on Investing in Generative AI tools

Morgan Stanley's report on the private markets shows the state of VC right now. A bit quieter, slower and saner. Great companies are built in down cycles.

Chess is experiencing a huge rise in popularity, with Chess.com passing the 10M monthly active users. Why is that happening?

This is depressing. With eight days to go, this January has had more mass shootings than any other January on the Gun Violence Archive’s records. https://wapo.st/3H272Ph

Take a moment to be grateful

That's all for this week! Remember, we have a lot to celebrate in our "small" community! Keep on creating!

Warm regards,

Eze

#tech #israel #startups #venturecapital #vc #telaviv #gaming #generativeAI