Weekly #FIRGUN Newsletter

It's #Firgun time.

The word "Firgun" (Hebrew: פירגון/ 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". Firgun is all about genuinely feeling and expressing happiness, pride, or admiration for someone else's accomplishments, good fortune, or well-being. More about Firgun and why it matters on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p

Earlier this week, marked the one year anniversary of October 7th, one of the darkest days in Jewish history. We must remember the +1,200 victims, sadly, many of them young people and families, and not only remember, but also act swiftly for the release of the 101 Israeli host**es held in G**a, including women and children. We must #BRINGTHEMHOME Now.

Q3 2024 reports are starting to come out. One thing that caught my attention is that European venture funding in the first 9 months of 2024 was down 39% to $10B in Q3 2024, from $16.6B a year ago. By comparison, Israeli funding in the first 9 months of 2024 was UP 32%-40% according to preliminary reports by IVC Data and Insights and LeumiTech , compared the equivalent period in 2023 (pre-war). This is another example of how Israeli tech continues to deliver #NOMATTERWHAT.

In the wider tech world, it's been another momentous week. The Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics were awarded to AI scientists and Google's (Geoffrey Hinton, John Hopfield and Demis Hassabis) - is a testament of how AI is already impacting science. Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi, an autonomous electric taxi, and Optimus, its humanoid robot that will be able to perform tasks at home. OpenAI updated its revenue to $4 billion, but is on its way to losing $14 billion by 2026 according to The Information (yikes!). Meta previewed a new ‘Movie Gen’ AI video creation tool, Google launched video generation tools in Google Shopping's product studio and also now you can search by video, Hugging Face released OpenAI-Gradio, a new tool enabling the creation of AI-powered web apps using OpenAI’s models in just minutes with minimal code.

Less talked about is that the US is being ravaged by Hurricane Milton, which is estimated to cause $175B in damages. Hoping that people are safe and that the storm passes quickly. This evening marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. I'd like to wish a Gmar Hatima tova and easy fast for those observing.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity." — Sun Tzu

NEW FUNDING ROUNDS

• Congratulations Elad Kedar and team Orasis Pharmaceuticals on the $78M series D to help presbyopes seeking a break from reading glasses!
• Kudos Ari Goldfarb and team Kando on your $10M series B to optimise wastewater quality management with AI!
• Well done Michael N. and team Prime Security on your $6M seed round to to build security guardrails into the software design phase, leveraging AI!
• Mazal tov Shabtay Negry and team TechnoPulm on your $1.5M seed funding to develop a handheld device capable of performing full lung function tests!

EXITS

• Kudos Oren Becker and team Upstream Bio on your IPO, valuing the company at $830M! Upstream bio developed treatments for advanced respiratory conditions!

LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER

Israel:

1. Why investors are still bullish on Israel even in war time?
2. A year of war: How has the Start-Up Nation's hi-tech sector been impacted? - experts
3. Guardian pulls controversial October 7 documentary review that didn’t ‘meet editorial standards’

Global:

1. First Cut—State of Private Markets: Q3 2024 by Carta
2. Generative AI’s act o1 - unlocking a new cohort of agentic applications by Sequoia Capital
3. European VC Funding Drops To Lowest Quarter In 4 Years - by Crunchbase

MEDIA OF THE WEEK

United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Singapore lead in terms of global venture activity as share of GDP. "These 3 countries pace ahead of the US in terms of VC as a proportion of overall economic activity, suggesting they are punching above their weight in terms of fostering startup activity." (source)

Global AI index country comparison

Q1-Q3 2024 Israeli M&A - most Israeli companies get acquired by US corporates

Overall venture investments in Europe were down 39% in Q3 2024. The only European country that saw a siginificant uptick was Germany (source)

Tax the rich... lose the rich. 🇳🇴 The recent wealth tax increase in Norway was expected to bring an additional $146M in yearly tax revenue.

Instead, individuals worth $54B left the country, leading to a lost $594M in yearly wealth tax revenue. A net decrease of $448M+ ↓ (the UK is heading in the same direction)

What are the companies that will reinvent the Internet for the AI era?

What CEOs talked about in Q3 earning calls show an increasing focus on pragmatic AI solutions and renewable energy strategies, indicating a subtly growing shift from hype to action

AI Agents - the next frontier by Capgemini

Elon Musk debuted the Optimus humanoid robots yesterday. "At scale, you should be able to buy an Optimus robot for $20,000 - $30,000." "It can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend."

A beautiful tribute by Nissim Louk, Shani Louk's (z"l) father, on the light she brought to the world.

That's all for this week, thank you for reading. We have a lot to celebrate in our "small" community. Keep on creating!

Eze Vidra

#Israel #startups #venturecapital #founders #AI #genai #innovation #entrepreneurship