Weekly #FIRGUN Newsletter

"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.

Greetings from very sunny Israel. This week Gartner officially confirmed that Generative AI has reached the peak of hype cycle, and an Israeli gaming startup raised a $100M round.

My quote of the week is:

"Focus on 100 people that love you, rather than getting a million people to kind of like you" - Brian Chesky

NEW INVESTMENT ROUNDS

- Congratulations? Gal Goldstein ?and team Candivore on your $100M investment round, after hitting $200M in revenue! Israeli gaming FTW!

- Well done? Eyal Meron ?and team? spherex technologies ?on your $8M seed round for web3 cybersecurity protection, to help crypto users block suspicious transfer!

- Mabruk? Neatsun Ziv ?and team? OX Security ?on your $8M round for your software supply chain security solution!

- Kudos? Peleg Porat ?and team? Configu ?your $3M seed round to allow developers to store and orchestrate their configuration data across environments!

- Nice job? Lia Ofek ?and team? ALTHEA MEDICAL LTD ?on your $1.5M seed round for your new approach to treat pulmonary embolism!

EXITS

- No exits recorded this week

LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER:

1)?New on VC Cafe -

• It's official - generative AI reached peak hype according to Gartner's 2023 emerging technologies - but don't assume that it's all hype and no value...
• Interning at Remagine ventures - a guest post from Max Sonenshine on his experience with us at Remagine Ventures this summer

2)?The Economic Case for Generative AI and Foundation Models - by Andreessen Horowitz

3)?This was another big week of generative AI progress

• 谷歌 's AI search experience adds AI-powered summaries, definitions and coding improvements?
• Google DeepMind is reportedly working on 21 different tools that will offer life advice
• Perplexity launched their 2.0 version, as a 'knowledge assistant' for research
• Meta prepares to introduce free coding generating software using LLaMa 2
• OpenAI makes first disclosed acquisition - Global Illumination, Inc is a New York based agency leveraging AI to build creative tools, infrastructure, and digital experiences.?The company also shared GPT-4 for content moderation.
• 亚马逊 announced that it will start leveraging generative AI to enhance product reviews
• IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the company will replace ~8k jobs with AI, largely in non customer-facing roles across departments like HR, finance, and accounting.
• PlayAI 2.0 (AI Voice) seems can carry a conversation just like a human, use filler words, and express emotions – all in real-time. Try it.
• Human generator - Create hyper realistic high resolution photos of humans in real time

The list goes on, but check the 'housekeeping' section if you want to stat more frequently informed.

HOUSEKEEPING

?? I got very positive feedback on my?#GENAI?Whatsapp group but I'm considering where to take it next. Rather than 'come as you are' I'm going to make a new group that's invite-only and more curated.?Fill this short form?to express interest.

???Please subscribe?to my new?Youtube Channel?and?TikTok channel?- I post videos regularly on Generative AI, startups and venture capital

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Warren Buffet on the art of investing - finding your sweet spot

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

Generative AI officially hit peak hype, according to Gartner 's 2023 emerging technologies hype cycle (more on my latest blog post)

And related the top 30 technology trends (based on Dealroom.co )

The global generative AI market is expected to reach $42.6 billion in 2023. This sector is the top trend observed from where recent VC funding goes

Pre-Seed Fundraising Check Sizes (according to Carta )

Emerging LLM application architecture (source)

And finally, on a lighter (but sad) note... a sign of the times?

That's all for this week. There's a lot to celebrate in our "small" community! Keep on creating.

Yours,

Eze Vidra

#technology #startups #venturecapital #vc #israel #founders