It’s #Firgun time!
The original version of the Firgun newsletter was published on Linkedin. If you’re new here, welcome! So glad you’ve joined over 7,900 of us!
Firgun (pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is an Israeli term describing genuine, unselfish joy in someone else’s success… It’s basically the opposite of “schadenfreude”. Every week since March 2020, we celebrate the wins of our startup community. Read more about why Firgun matters. If this was forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe, previous editions are on VC Cafe.
Happy Jerusalem Day! Today is a National holiday in Israel, marking the unification of Jerusalem following the Six Day war in 1967. This week, the Israeli tech ecosystem’s centre of gravity was in New York, where CTech by Calcalist‘s Mind the Tech Week brought founders, investors and corporate leaders together around the next phase of Israel-US innovation. The message was less about survival and more about strategic relevance: Israeli tech continues to operate under uncertainty, but the ecosystem is increasingly defined by AI-native companies, deep tech, cyber, defence-adjacent innovation and founders solving hard global problems.
In the wider tech world, President Donal Trump commenced a high-profile state visit to China, accompanied by a large group of tech leaders including Elon Musk, Jensen Huang etc. The tech ecosystem is closely monitoring potential shifts in semiconductor trade policy. OpenAI launched the OpenAI Deployment Company with more than $4 billion in initial investment and agreed to acquire AI consulting firm Tomoro, signalling a major push into enterprise AI implementation. OpenAI also introduced Daybreak, a security-focused AI initiative designed to help organisations identify and address software vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. Anthropic and the Gates Foundation announced a $200 million partnership to use Claude in health, education, African-language data, teacher support and neglected-disease research. The company Microsoft is reportedly looking at AI startup acquisitions as it prepares for a more independent future from OpenAI and works toward building a cutting-edge internal model. Google unveiled new Android AI upgrades, including Gemini-powered automation across apps, smarter dictation and new productivity features, reinforcing the race to make AI native to the operating system. xAI released Grok Build, an initial beta version of the company’s agentic CLI, currently limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers.. Cerebras reportedly raised $5.6 billion in a blockbuster IPO at a valuation near $40 billion, showing how hot the AI chip and compute market remains. Anduril Industries raised a $5B Series H at a $61B valuation, up from $30.5B in June 2025. Mind Robotics, founded by Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, raised $400 million to build industrial robots for automotive manufacturing and beyond. TensorWave raised a $100 million Series A co-led by Magnetar Capital and AMD Ventures, another sign that AI infrastructure startups remain highly fundable. Have you seen the newly released pictures of UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) by the Pentagon? check out war.gov/ufo.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Big congrats Tal Shlomo and team Frame Security on coming out of stealth with $50M in funding ($40M series A and previously undisclosed $10M in seed funding) to empower humans against AI cybersecurity threats!
- Way to go Sella Brosh and team NVision Quantum Technologies on raising $38M Series B (plus $17M in debt) to accelerate drug development using quantum technology!
- Well done Max Kane and team Novella on securing $21M in funding (comprised of a $16M series A and previously undisclosed $5M Seed round) to automate complex physical assets insurance with AI brokers!
- Kudos Nethanel Bar and team Coddy on securing a $10M credit line for teaching code in a practice-driven way!
EXITS
- Big congrats Or Eshed and team LayerX Security on the acquisition by Akamai Technologies for a reported $205M to integrate your secure enterprise browser!
- Mabruk Maor Sadra and team INCRMNTAL on the acquisition of your adtech startup by Smartly for an undisclosed sum!
- Well done Amit Shamni and team Bridgify on the acquisition of your travel tech startup by HBX Group for an undisclosed sum!
- Kudos Amit Ben and team OneAI on getting acquired by monday.com for an undisclosed sum!
- Mazal tov Guy Gafni and team Pipio on the acquisition by Riverside for an undisclosed sum!
- Nice one Eli Bejerano and team Bit2C on the acquisition by eToro for a reported $3.45M!
APPOINTMENTS
- Big congrats Asaf Ezra on joining Andreessen Horowitz as a Partner focused on AI Infrastructure!
NEW FUNDS
- Congratulations Yishay Yovel and Shlomo Kramer on the launch of Skinos Ventures, a new $26M venture capital fund focused on early stage Israeli cyber and AI startups! Your new profile on Israel VC is ready for you to claim!
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
REMAGINE VENTURES/ VC CAFE / ISRAEL VC
- Get discovered by the right Israeli founders before they start fundraising – Over 50 funds added to Israel VC this week. Fund managers can now ‘claim’ their profile and get the ‘verified’ badge for increased visibility in search results and Israeli startup founders can easily create the potential investor list for their upcoming rounds.
- Is anything fundable any more apart from Deeptech? In my latest post, I tried to capture the Zeitgeist right now, where VCs are under the impression that software is dead, as the moats have crumbled. Spoiler alert: it’s not.
- Tiny Episodes, Big Business: The Israeli Startups Betting on Micro-Dramas – some of the most popular Entertainment apps offer 90 second vertical video episodes, bringing together content + gamification. I featured 6 Israeli startups operating in this space.
ISRAEL
- America’s best bet for a secure AI base is Israel’s Negev – by The Wall Street Journal The plan is for an AI base that has the security of an American military installation and the creative output of a Silicon Valley hub.
- The Israeli startups to watch out for in 2026 – Qumra Capital selected eleven companies spanning AI, cybersecurity, fintech and health tech are shaping Israel’s next wave of growth-stage innovation.
- At the Globes “Going Long on Israel” conference, Prof. Eugene Kandel called for a holistic approach to the challenge of AI. – Imagine that 5% of Israelis are world leaders in AI, but everyone else is laid off because of it. We need a holistic plan that covers the entire economy.
GLOBAL
- The future of venture capital – unlocking liquidity and growth by World Economic Forum
- Rising in Cyber – the 30 most notable private cybersecurity startups, by Notable Ventures
- 2028: Two scenarios for global AI leadership – Anthropic published a long essay, warning against lifting chip export controls to China
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
IsraelVC got a major upgrade this week. For founders: build and manage a target investor list.For funds: manage discoverability and receive qualified signal.For LPs/corporates: track who is active in Israeli venture.
Always a good reminder: Unicorns per GDP (source: see links section)
The TAM for Cybersecurity is large, growing and diverse (source: see links section)
Open-source AI coding alternatives to Claude Code and Codex (source)
AI models according to their IQ (source)
AI is doing more and more work, according to Andreessen Horowitz (source)
Food for thought by Monty Pyton’s John Cleese on the excuses for Antisemitism in the UK
That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading. 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 – May 15 2026 - May 15, 2026
- Is Anything Fundable Anymore, Apart From Deeptech? - May 14, 2026
- Tiny Episodes, Big Business: The Israeli Startups Betting on Micro-Dramas - May 12, 2026
