The original version of this newsletter was published on Linkedin.
The word “Firgun” (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
Donald J Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States of America, with the Republican party getting a majority also for the Senate and the House. I hope his presidency brings stability to Israel, the quick return of the hostages and a new era of prosperity for America and its allies. We must #BRINGTHEMHOME now. More about the election in the links section.
A shocking organised Pogrom against Jews took place in Amsterdam last night. Dozens of Maccabee Tel Aviv football fans were attacked by Pro Pa*******an mobs after the match ended. They were targeted on the streets, and the assailants filmed themselves running over Jews with cars, kicking Israelis on the ground unconscious and throwing a person to the river. The police took hours to settle the situation and Israel is sending two rescue flights to get them out. It’s scary how Antisemitism has spread in Europe. #STOPANTISEMITISM
Israeli startups raised $987 million in October alone, across 26 deals, with 3 companies completing rounds of over $100M .
In the wider tech world, the Fed cuts rates by 25 bps to 4.50% – 4.75%, as Powell vows not to leave. Global VC hit a new high with $32 billion invested in October 2024, Bitcoin crossed the $75K mark since Trump became president, an all time hight. AI robotics startup Physical Intelligence raised $400M from the likes of Jeff Bezos and OpenAI, Mistral AI launched an API for content moderation. Amazon discussing new multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic as long as the LLM uses its inference chips. Chinese Baidu, Inc. plans to unveil AI smart glasses with cameras, voice support next week. Netflix appointed Mike Verdu as VP of GenAI for Games. OpenAI paid a reported $20M, the highest amount ever paid for a domain name, to acquire chat.com.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
Abraham Lincoln
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Congratulations Kevin Hykes and team Augmedics on your $30M series E to give surgeons “x-ray vision” using cutting-edge augmented reality technology!
- Well done Dani Cherkassky and team Kardome on securing a $10M series A for spatial hearing AI technology!
- Mazel tov Yehuda Vidal and team Lidwave on securing a $10M seed round for 4D LiDAR-on-chip technology!
- Kol hakavod Sigal Kalmanson Cusnir and team Starget Pharma on raising $5.1m to develop precision peptide radioligand therapies!
- Way to go Chalom Malka and team Siit on securing a $5M seed round to redefine internal service desk and ticketing!
EXITS
Massive congrats Maor Bin and team Adaptive Shield on the exit to CrowdStrike for a reported $300M (the company raised $34M in total).
APPOINTMENTS
- Kudos Nofar Amikam on being appointed managing partner at the Glilot Capital Partners seed/pre-seed fund!
- Well done Adiel Gopas on joining Third Point LLC to expand the Israel office!
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
Israel
- Israel’s AI expansion Blueprint report by F2 Venture Capital, Deloitte and Google Cloud
- Israeli startups raised nearly $1 billion in October 2024. The real numbers are likely to be much higher as Israeli startups choose to stay in stealth mode more than ever before.
- There has been no better time to invest in Israel, according to Juan Delgado-Moreira, co-CEO of $870 billion asset management firm Hamilton Lane – I agree!
From the blog
- Finding Product Market Fit is more than just ticking boxes – and how to tell the difference between real and fake PMF
- The emerging Israel AI expansion in 2024 – my coverage of the latest Israeli AI report
- Non-consensus investing – how to unlock venture capital’s hidden gems
Global
- We blew it, Joe – the The Free Press on why Trump won
- What will Donald Trump’s second term in office look like? by Gideon Rachman at the Financial Times
- Inside the Coming AI Market “Supercycle” – interesting report by Battery Ventures The Battery Ventures 2024 State of OpenCloud Report
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
Global VC funding hits 2024 high in Oct., at $32B. +11.5% YoY in global VC funding from $28.7B a year ago.
AI led all sectors, attracting $12.2B, or 38% of the month’s total funding. +94% YoY in AI funding in Oct. from $6.3B a year ago.
Half of all new Israeli startups in 2023 are companies leveraging AI. These new Israeli AI landscapes were added to my 2024 Israeli startup landscape collection on VC Cafe
October 2024 was a strong month for private funding with Israeli startups raising over $940M, driven by significant contributions from the cybersecurity sector. These achievements indicate strong investor interest and are a signal of business continuity in Israeli innovation.
AI proponents are betting that $1.5T of services spend can be turned by AI into high gross margin software … along with another $1.5T of human labor into software … that would 3x the TAM for software to $4T overall.
‘Demystifying the Crypto x AI Stack (source)
The AI native applications market map by Sapphire Ventures (source)
AI x Parenting Thesis by Andreessen Horowitz (source)
We ain’t going back to 2021
Finally, some comic relief
Thank you all for reading the #Firgun newsletter. I always appreciate the feedback. If you know someone that might benefit from this – please share #Firgun with them!
There’s a lot to celebrate in our “small” community. Keep on creating!
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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