The phrase “Firgun” (pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is a casual fashionable Hebrew time period and idea in Israeli tradition (initially Yiddish), which describes real, unselfish delight or satisfaction within the accomplishment of the opposite particular person. It’s the alternative of “schadenfreude”. Firgun is all about genuinely feeling and expressing happiness, satisfaction, or admiration for another person’s accomplishments, luck, or well-being. Extra about Firgun and why it issues on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p
Earlier this week, marked the one yr anniversary of October seventh, one of many darkest days in Jewish historical past. We should bear in mind the +1,200 victims, sadly, lots of them younger folks and households, and never solely bear in mind, but additionally act swiftly for the discharge of the 101 Israeli host**es held in G**a, together with ladies and youngsters. We should #BRINGTHEMHOME Now.
Q3 2024 studies are beginning to come out. One factor that caught my consideration is that European enterprise funding within the first 9 months of 2024 was down 39% to $10B in Q3 2024, from $16.6B a yr in the past. By comparability, Israeli funding within the first 9 months of 2024 was UP 32%-40% in keeping with preliminary studies by IVC Information and Insights and LeumiTech, in contrast the equal interval in 2023 (pre-war). That is one other instance of how Israeli tech continues to ship #NOMATTERWHAT.
Within the wider tech world, it’s been one other momentous week. The Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics have been awarded to AI scientists and Google’s (Geoffrey Hinton, John Hopfield and Demis Hassabis) – is a testomony of how AI is already impacting science. Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi, an autonomous electrical taxi, and Optimus, its humanoid robotic that may have the ability to carry out duties at dwelling. OpenAI up to date its income to $4 billion, however is on its strategy to dropping $14 billion by 2026 in keeping with The Data(yikes!). Meta previewed a brand new ‘Film Gen’ AI video creation instrument, Google launched video technology instruments in Google Procuring’s product studio and in addition now you possibly can search by video, Hugging Face launched OpenAI-Gradio, a brand new instrument enabling the creation of AI-powered net apps utilizing OpenAI’s fashions in simply minutes with minimal code.
Much less talked about is that the US is being ravaged by Hurricane Milton, which is estimated to trigger $175B in damages. Hoping that persons are secure and that the storm passes rapidly. This night marks the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. I’d wish to want a Gmar Hatima tova and straightforward quick for these observing.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Within the midst of chaos, there may be additionally alternative.” — Solar Tzu
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Congratulations Elad Kedar and crew Orasis Prescription drugs on the $78M sequence D to assist presbyopes looking for a break from studying glasses!
- Kudos Ari Goldfarb and crew Kando in your $10M sequence B to optimise wastewater high quality administration with AI!
- Effectively completed Michael N. and crew Prime Safety in your $6M seed spherical to to construct safety guardrails into the software program design section, leveraging AI!
- Mazal tov Shabtay Negry and crew TechnoPulm in your $1.5M seed funding to develop a handheld system able to performing full lung perform checks!
EXITS
- Kudos Oren Becker and crew Upstream Bio in your IPO, valuing the corporate at $830M! Upstream bio developed therapies for superior respiratory situations!
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
Israel:
- Why traders are nonetheless bullish on Israel even in battle time?
- A yr of battle: How has the Begin-Up Nation’s hi-tech sector been impacted? – specialists
- Guardian pulls controversial October 7 documentary evaluate that didn’t ‘meet editorial requirements’
International:
- First Minimize—State of Non-public Markets: Q3 2024 by Carta
- Generative AI’s act o1 – unlocking a brand new cohort of agentic functions by Sequoia Capital
- European VC Funding Drops To Lowest Quarter In 4 Years – by Crunchbase
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Singapore lead by way of world enterprise exercise as share of GDP. “These 3 nations tempo forward of the US by way of VC as a proportion of total financial exercise, suggesting they’re punching above their weight by way of fostering startup exercise.” (supply)
International AI index nation comparability
Q1-Q3 2024 Israeli M&A – most Israeli firms get acquired by US corporates
General enterprise investments in Europe have been down 39% in Q3 2024. The one European nation that noticed a siginificant uptick was Germany (supply)
Tax the wealthy… lose the wealthy. ?? The latest wealth tax enhance in Norway was anticipated to carry a further $146M in yearly tax income.
As a substitute, people value $54B left the nation, resulting in a misplaced $594M in yearly wealth tax income. A web lower of $448M+ ? (the UK is heading in the identical course)
What are the businesses that may reinvent the Web for the AI period?
What CEOs talked about in Q3 incomes calls present an growing concentrate on pragmatic AI options and renewable vitality methods, indicating a subtly rising shift from hype to motion
AI Brokers – the subsequent frontier by Capgemini
Elon Musk debuted the Optimus humanoid robots yesterday. “At scale, you must have the ability to purchase an Optimus robotic for $20,000 – $30,000.” “It may well stroll your canine, mow your garden, get the groceries, simply be your buddy.”
A wonderful tribute by Nissim Louk, Shani Louk’s (z”l) father, on the sunshine she delivered to the world. Could her reminiscence be a blessing.
That’s all for this week, thanks for studying. Now we have rather a lot to have a good time in our “small” group. Carry on creating!
Eze Vidra
I am a former normal associate at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google’s first bodily hub for startups.
I am additionally the founding father of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing collectively the startup ecosystem on biking challenges in assist of Room to Learn. Since inception in 2012 we have constructed 11 faculties and 50 libraries within the growing world.
