The original version of this newsletter was published on Linkedin.
If you’re new here, 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” (which stands for being happy for someone else’s misfortune). Firgun is all about genuinely feeling and expressing happiness, pride, or admiration for members of our community’s accomplishments, good fortune and wins. More about Firgun and why it matters on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p
My flights to Israel were cancelled next week following the Houti’s ballistic rocket attack on Ben Gurion Airport. The fact they succeeded, makes it less likely they will stop, despite Israel’s retaliation. And the cycle continues. President Trump said this week that signs of life have been received from 21 Israeli hostages held by Ha**s in G**a. They are being kept in tunnels, in terrible conditions. It’s also been said that there’s severe risk of losing the remains of the others forever if the war continues. As the world’s attention shifts, we must not forget them. Now more than ever, we must raise our voices and demand: #BringThemHome ?? Their freedom cannot wait.
In the wider tech world, OpenAI will continued to be controlled by its non-profit arm and transitions to Public Benefit Corporation structure. But Elon Musk is not dropping his lawsuit. The company confirmed the acquisition of AI coding tool Windsurf for $3bn, their largest acquisition to date. Speaking of AI coding, Anysphere the company behind Cursor raised $900M at $9 billion valuation. DoorDash is buying Deliveroo for $3.9 billion. Google‘s Gemini 2.5 Pro completed the entire Pokémon Blue game. Gemini 2.5 Pro enhanced coding and video-to-code features. The company also released a new Gemini feature for minimally-lossy text simplification. Google also made significant expansions to its ‘AI mode’ to compete with Perplexity. Watch out startups: Google also launched a Labs experiment to help people learn new languages… Microsoft introduced next-generation Windows AI experiences. As Apple fumbles their AI integration, Microsoft unveiled a new Surface Copilot+ PCs with AI capabilities. On a related note, Bill Gates said he will donate 99% of his $200 billion fortune to the poor. Apple partnered with Anthropic for AI-powered “Vibe-Coding” and Anthropic also launched App Integrations to connect more apps to Claude a new AI Science program. 94 year old Warren Buffet is stepping down from Berkshire Hathaway after 60 years as CEO. krea.ai launched GPT-PAINT – now you can prompt ChatGPT visually through edit marks, basic shapes, notes, and reference images. Midjourney launched Omni-Reference for precise image creation. Amazon introduced Vulcan, a robot with a sense of touch. Mistral AI claims its newest AI model delivers leading performance for price. Cisco introduced a new quantum chip, opens lab facility.
Theres’ a lot more to cover, but I gotta draw the line :-)
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The real breakthrough comes not from having new ideas but from escaping from old ones.” – John Maynard Keynes
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Big congrats Yarden Gross and team Orca AI on your $72.5M series B to drive autonomous Maritime shipping platform!
- Well done Neatsun Ziv and team OX Security on your $60M series to alert only on the most critical risks in the application development and deployment lifecycle!
- Way to go Shai Cohen and team proteanTecs on the $50M in new funding, valuing the company at over $600M, to track chip performance issues remotely!
- Congratulations Dr Yishai Ashlag and team Onebeat on your $15M series A for your AI inventory management solutions for retail!
- Awesome news Amit Carmi and team Sett on coming out of stealth with a $15M series A (and previous $12M in seed funding) to help mobile game studios with storytelling!
- Mazel tov Dori Yona and team SimpleClosure on your $15M series A to help companies shut down gracefully!
- Great milestone Yaniv Altshuler and team Alphabiome.ai on your $8M seed round to identify high potential biomarkers by decoding the microbiome!
EXITS
- Congrats Oliver Takach and Shahar Glazner on the acquisition of Keep by Elastic for an undisclosed sum!
- Congratulations Sima Levy and team Actus Digital on the acquisition by LiveU for an undisclosed sum!
MISCELLANEOUS
- Big respect Lior Shiff and team Tripledot Studios on the acquisition of AppLovin‘s gaming Studios for $800 Million!
APPOINTMENTS
- Kudos Adi Gozes on being appointed managing partner at AnD Ventures!
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
ISRAEL
- Israel’s Lightricks releases open-source model for AI video.
- “We’re looking at another year or two of pain and uncertainty before a new growth cycle begins”
- Freed hostage Emily Damari says Pulitzer Prize board ‘failed humanity’
GLOBAL
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Sounds Alarm As 50% Of AI Researchers Are Chinese, Urges America To Reskill Amid ‘Infinite Game’
- Warren Buffett’s top advice for young people helps you ‘learn how to be successful at life’—and has nothing to do with money
VC CAFE/ REMAGINE
- Yesterday we shared our Remagine Ventures newsletter including two new investments in Israeli stealth startups… I invite you to check it out and subscribe!
- How Venture Capital Firms are changing in 2025 – including examples from Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital and more.
- The “AI First” Company – CEOs signal a new paradigm shift – including the ‘leaked’ memos of the CEOs at Shopify, Fiverr, Duolingo and Box
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
Israel ranked top in R&D spend as part of GDP in 2023 (sadly, I’m not sure it’s still the case)
With the American economy facing uncertainty, IPOs stalled, exits delayed, and returns to LPs shrinking, traditional VC is under pressure. As a result, alternative models like PE are gaining traction. (source: IVC Data and Insights)
Global startup investment +5% YoY to $321B in 2024, 2.5x over 10 years (source: Crunchbase)
U.S. startups received 56% of global VC funding in 2024 (source)
Who gets the most traffic in Generative AI? Your first guess is probably correct.
A Survey of AI Agent Protocols (source)
The founding partner of 8VC on Q1 2025 State of Venture Update (source).
What are the service sectors most likely to get disrupted by AI? Venrock research concludes that Legal, Insurance and Wealth Advisory are very vulnerable (source)
How much money do companies raise in each round? based on latest data (mostly US transactions) by Carta
AI startups disrupting drug discovery. Research by Scale Venture Partners (source)
The companies enabling the humanoid robots to become a reality. Morgan Stanley‘s ‘Humanoid 100’ list (source)
Good luck to Yuval Raphael, Israel’s Eurovision 2025 representative, who survived the Nova Festival Massacre. Wish her luck as she is receiving a lot of hate.
Thank you for reading. 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.
- Weekly Firgun Newsletter – February 27, 2026 - February 27, 2026
- The Rise of the Personal AI Agent - February 26, 2026
- Pre-Seed Is Stronger than ever, but less startups are getting funded - February 25, 2026
