The unique model of this text was revealed on Linkedin.
The phrase “Firgun” (pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is an off-the-cuff trendy 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
It’s the Jewish vacation of Simchat Torah, on the similar time final yr (within the Jewish calendar) is when the October 7 assaults occurred, taking the lives of 1,200 Israelis (could their reminiscence be a blessing). Sadly, over a yr later, Israel is now defending itself from threats throughout 7 fronts and there are nonetheless 101 Israelis held hostage in G**a. We should #BRINGTHEMHOME
It’s been a slower information week in Israeli startups because of the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Most youngsters are off college, however however, a number of founding rounds have been introduced over the primary half of the week in addition to two new funds.
Within the wider tech world, Anthropic upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and launched a brand new mannequin, Claude 3.5 Haiku (which is performing higher than GPT4-01). The corporate additionally launched “laptop use“, the place builders can direct Claude to make use of computer systems the best way folks do—by taking a look at a display screen, transferring a cursor, clicking, and typing textual content. OpenAI plans to launch its subsequent large AI mannequin by December (codename: Orion). Additionally, two OpenAI researchers revealed a paper describing a brand new continuous-time consistency mannequin (sCM) that will increase the velocity at which multimedia together with photos, video, and audio will be generated by AI by 50 occasions in comparison with conventional diffusion fashions. TMSC began making chips in Arizona, with yields increased than Taiwan. Common Catalyst raised a brand new $8 billion enterprise fund, the most important quantity by a US VC agency in additional than two years. Google launched SynthID Textual content, which lets builders watermark and detect textual content generated by AI fashions. The corporate additionally launched MusicFX DJ and in addition up to date Music AI Sandbox, a collection of experimental music instruments which might streamline creation. ElevenLabs launched Voice Design, the flexibility to generate a singular voice from a textual content immediate alone. The precise listing is for much longer:
However that’s all I’ve time to cowl this week!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We at all times overestimate the change that can happen within the subsequent two years and underestimate the change that can happen within the subsequent ten.”
Invoice Gates
NEW VENTURE ROUNDS
- Congratulations Tomer Shussman and workforce OneStep on elevating a $36M sequence B to advance your AI-driven care platform, powered by smartphone movement intelligence!
- Properly accomplished Roey Dor and workforce Obligo on securing a $35M sequence C to help renters and landlords with a safety deposit different utilising bank-issued Letters of Credit score!
- Kudos Or Shoshani and workforce Stream.Safety on securing a $30M sequence B in your cloud detection and response platform!
- Superior information Omer Slavin and workforce BiltOn in your $15M sequence A in your building operations and danger administration platform that already serves 70% of the native market!
- Strategy to go Raz Zohar and workforce Mave in your $2 pre-seed in your AI Assistant for the Actual Property Trade!
NEW FUNDS
- Congratulations Gili Raanan and workforce Cyberstarts on the brand new (and fourth) $60M fund to put money into seed stage Israeli cybersecurity startups!
- Properly accomplished Eyal Malinger and Oren Peleg and workforce Resurge Progress Companions on the primary closing of an funding car centered on serving to firms caught between the enterprise capital and non-public fairness worlds.
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
From VC Cafe:
- Q3 2024 rising tech sector evaluation: diving into generative AI, spatial computing, gaming, crypto and TMT
- What comes after LLMs for VC Investing – as foundational fashions are beginning to plateau, the place will AI investments go subsequent
- ICMYI: The booming Voice AI panorama: A VC Perspective
Israel:
- Israel’s influential area within the creator economic system – ISRAEL21c — Good Information From Israel together with quotes by me and that includes a number of of our Remagine Ventures portfolio firms
- Per week after everybody else, LinkedIn revealed the listing of prime Israeli firms in 2024, primarily based on job development, candidate curiosity, and many others
- Former CEO of Sodastream gives Gazans $100,000 for each stay hostage launched
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
Essentially the most wanted Israeli startups in accordance with Linkedin
Near $100 billion has been invested in AI firms, with the vast majority of that cash invested in US firms. In complete, generative AI firms obtained $35 billion in 2024.AI firms have reached a mixed worth of $9 trillion. (supply)
The fashionable advertising information stack 2025 – How main entrepreneurs are thriving in a world redefined by AI, privateness and information gravity (supply)
Based mostly on their income streams, Anthropic emerges as an infrastructure participant, whereas OpenAI operates extra like a consumer-facing firm.
Going to be fascinating to see the place every firm is a couple of years from now.
Creators now symbolize about 7% of the US workforce as there are 12 million full time influencers (supply) The rebound in funding for creator startups was brief lived. Funding for U.S. creator economic system startups fell practically 16% to $253.1 million in Q3 yr over yr. World funding additionally dropped. (supply). Associated: Israel’s particular place within the creator economic system
That is an AI generated video of Fauda – the lego model… credit score to Timmy Turtle
That’s all for this week. Thanks for tuning in.
There’s so much to have fun in our “small” neighborhood! Carry on creating.
I am a former normal companion 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 help of Room to Learn. Since inception in 2012 we have constructed 11 faculties and 50 libraries within the creating world.
