It’s #Firgun time!
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In case 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 the concept of Firgun and why it matters on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p. In November #FIRGUN officially celebrated 5 years. See my update on what I’ve learned from writing Firgun and what keeps me going. I’m happy to share another milestone this week: it’s been 21 years (!) since I started my blog, https://www.vccafe.com.
Israeli tech had a strong start to 2026. In January alone, Israeli startups raised $1.1 billion, signaling sustained investor confidence following a year of steady growth. After two very challenging years of war, the ‘Startup Nation’ is proving that it’s no longer just about resilience, it’s about leading the next wave of execution in the AI era.
In the wider tech world, SpaceX completed a blockbuster merger with xAI folding Elon Musk’s AI startup valued around $1.25T; Google reported that Gemini app MAUs topped 750M, up from 650M in Q3. The company’s operating profit was up 18% in Q4 2025. At the same time, Alphabet Inc. said it could nearly double capital spending on AI infrastructure from $91.45 billion in 2025 to up to $185 billion in 2026, rattling investors even as Google Cloud growth and profits beat expectations. Last week, Google launched Project Genie 3, which sent gaming stocks to lose up to 25% of their value. Amazon also signalled the sheer scale of the AI arms race by upping its fiscal 2026 capital expenditure forecast to a staggering $200 billion, $50 billion more than anyone saw coming. In addition, Amazon is in talks to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI. OpenAI is reportedly prepping for a fourth-quarter IPO as it races to beat Anthropic to the public markets. Meanwhile, the crypto markets are facing a brutal “winter” reset as Bitcoin flash-crashed to a 2026 low of $60,000, wiping out billions in liquidations. OpenAI continues to push the frontier with the launch of its Frontier agent management platform and the new GPT-5.3-Codex model, while Anthropic responded by rolling out Claude 4.6 Opus featuring a massive 1-million-token context window. The threat of new AI tools continued to strike fear into tech investors and software and data stocks have seen $300 billion in lost value this week. AI infrastructure and chip maker Cerebras raised $1B in late-stage funding at a $23.1B valuation, signalling continued demand for GPU-alternative silicon; Voice AI leader ElevenLabs secured a $500M mega-round at an $11B valuation underscoring investor appetite for foundational AI models; Snowflake landed a $200M partnership with OpenAI.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Sometimes, no more than a kind word or a warm smile are needed. The opportunities to help others are innumerable, we just need to open our eyes and seize those chances.” — Torah.org
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Big congrats Gabriel Suissa, Jeremy Fraenkel and team Fundamental Research Labs on coming out of stealth with $255M in funding at $1.2 billion valuation to develop “NEXUS,” a Large Tabular Model (LTM) designed to turn enterprise data into predictive intelligence! ?
- Big kudos Shimon Elkabetz and team Tomorrow.io on raising a $175M series F at over $1 billion valuation to develop DeepSky constellation, a satellite network aiming to replace aging government infrastructure and close global forecasting gaps! ?
- Mazel tov Nitay Milner and team ORION Security on raising a $32m Series A to help organisations protect themselves from data loss!
- Heard through the vine that we should congratulate Yogev Bar-On and team Attestable on $20M raised while in stealth (and some very key AI hires!)
- Way to go Guy Nizan and team Recapp Sports on securing an $11M seed round for personalised AI short form highlights!
- Kol hakavod David Allouche-Levinsky and team SensAi on coming out of stealth with $6.2M in seed funding to turn social media video into intelligence!
- Well done Avishay Cohen and team Anima on securing an undisclosed strategic round to bring vibe coding to the enterprise!
- Good stuff Dean Bracha and team Marquee on securing a pre-seed round to bring AI for sports scouts!
EXITS
- Big congrats Ramin Mousavi and team CathWorks on the acquisition by Medtronic for $585M for your AI-enabled FFR!
APPOINTMENTS
- Congratulations Emmanuelle Lipski on being promoted to partner at 10D – a great inspiration for new immigrants to Israel!
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
REMAGINE VENTURES / VC CAFE
- Requests for startups in 2026 – my summary of what investors want to fund according to Y Combinator, a16z speedrun and Conviction
- Pre-seed is sometimes like a high stakes game of “Guess Who” – how VCs asses fit and what matters most at pre-seed stage
- ICYMI: The 2026 Israeli startup landscape collection
ISRAEL
- Nvidia CEO: ‘The implications of building AI infrastructure in Israel are profound’ – by The Jerusalem Post
- Israeli startups raised over $1.1 billion in January – by Globes
- NBA player Deni Avdija makes history by becoming first Israel All-Star
GLOBAL
- The biggest tech trends of 2026 according to CB Insights
- The Q4 2025/2026 venture monitor by PitchBook
- The state of AI in the enterprise 2026 – by Deloitte
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
Infographic of the 2026 trends in Israeli tech, created by yours truly with the help of NotebookLM
Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that will reach about $650 billion in 2026 — a mind-boggling tide of cash earmarked for new data centers and the long list of equipment needed to make them tick, including artificial intelligence chips, networking cables and backup generators. (source: Bloomberg)
$1+ billion robotics startups by Geo and Sector (source)
The Inference optimisation landscape (source)
Many claim that ‘World Models’ is what comes after LLMs. Well, now they’re entering the commercialisation stage. Source: CB Insights
The rise of GEO (the new SEO, but for LLMs) startups
2026 AI adoption predictions by Insight Partners (source)
What are the core skills you will need for 2030? by World Economic Forum
‘Dirty feeds’ – This is an interesting statement from the head of product at X, Nikita Bier
Can I get a six pack quick? The punchy Anthropic ads that will be aired a the Superbowl, taking a stab at ChatGPT showing ads…
An ad by Patriots owner Robert Kraft bringing the fight against Antisemitism to the biggest TV audience of the year in the US by Blue Square Alliance Against Hate
Interview with oren zeev, Israel’s top solo GP with $1 billion under management.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for being one of the 7,600+ subscribers. There’s a lot to celebrate in our “small” community! Keep on creating!
Eze Vidra
He is a former General Partner at Google Ventures (GV) in Europe, former head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, and founding head of Campus London, Google's first startup hub. Eze writes on Israeli tech, venture capital, artificial intelligence, and founder strategy.
He is also the founder of Techbikers, a nonprofit that brings together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read.
- Weekly Firgun Newsletter – April 10 2026 - April 10, 2026
- New Firgun Newsletter – April 3 2026 - April 3, 2026
- $3.1 Billion Under Missile Fire: What Q1 2026 Tells Us About Israeli Tech’s Real Resilience - March 31, 2026