Key takeaways
- Capitolis secured $220 million in financing, including a $120 million Series E, to support its expansion into securities lending.
- Rein Security raised $25 million as companies seek greater control over AI agents operating inside their systems.
- Phantom GI raised $5 million to develop a less invasive option for bowel obstruction patients unable to undergo conventional surgery.
- Israeli cybersecurity startups raised at least $2.425 billion in Q3, equivalent to roughly 46% of global sector funding.
It’s #Firgun time!
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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.
Greetings from SF where I’m attending the SF Tech Week festivities. This week marked three years since October 7 and the wound is still open. We remember those murdered, the suffering of the hostages and their families, and the communities whose lives changed forever. One image that stays with me is of Israelis abroad searching for flights home, determined to serve and help. Across the Israeli and Jewish community, people volunteered, opened their homes, supported displaced families and stepped in wherever they could.
I was asked at a dinner event on Oct 7, if the aftermath of it impacted business. I paused for a moment and thought about the past 3 years… of course the thoughts of the war, rockets, distress, cancelled flights, anti Israel sentiment etc came to the front of my mind immediately. But rather than focus on the negative, I tried to focus on what we may take for granted: the spirit, courage and determination of the Israeli society. Something changed with Israeli founders and I am very proud to be actively backing them. I wrote about this in How Israeli tech changed since October 7. As an investor, I see that sense of purpose in founders who want to build something consequential, especially now.
In the wider tech world, Google introduced its Gemini agent, bringing knowledge work, content creation and coding into a common agent experience connected to business systems. Anthropic added dashboard and animation tools to Claude. On the capital side, the FT reported that SoftBank is seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors to expand its AI investments. OpenAI I began rolling GPT-6 into ChatGPT with an “Intelligent UI” mode that renders interactive charts, forms and diagrams inline, while the FT reported that the company told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50B at the end of September, well below the roughly $70B figure that had circulated in the press. Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 at about 75% less than Haiku 4.5, cut Sonnet 5.5 cache-read pricing. The Information reported that Meta and Microsoft are steering their own engineers away from Claude toward in-house tools like MetaCode, Muse Code and GitHub Copilot. Google Cloud introduced persistent Gemini agents that get their own Gmail, Calendar and Drive accounts and can route to Claude and other models, and shipped AI Edge Foresight, a local-first meeting-notes app aimed squarely at Granola. In China, the Manus parent company ButterflyEffect closed a $500M+ round. On the money side, Atomic Machines emerged from stealth with $250M for AI data-center power hardware, Arena Physica raised a $200M Series B at roughly $3.1B, Sequoia led $60M for robot-data startup Mecka a at a $500M valuation. CB Insights‘ Q3 report put global venture funding at $698B through three quarters, on pace for a record $931B+, with roughly 80% of Q3 dollars in rounds of $100M or more.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We do not feel grief for people we did not love.And that is why we can feel grief for people we didn’t know.Because we can love people we didn’t know.”?
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, When We See You Again
NEW FUNDING ROUNDS
- Huge congratulations to Gil Mandelzis and the Capitolis team on announcing $220 million in financing, including a $120 million Series E at a $1.9 billion valuation, alongside debt financing to help financial institutions manage capital and balance-sheet constraints!
- Mazal tov to Matan Bar-Efrat, Netanel Rubin and team Rein Security on a $25 million Series A to monitor and control AI agents while they execute actions!
- Kol hakavod to Ido Sadan and the Phantom GI team on a $5 million seed round, to help patients with bowel obstruction who cannot tolerate conventional surgery!
EXITS
No new exits recorded this week.
LINKS FOR YOUR BROWSER
VC CAFE/ ISRAEL VC/ REMAGINE VENTURES
- How Israeli tech changed since October 7. My reflections on community, responsibility and the companies being built in the aftermath.
- Building Brakes for Rogue AI. My latest look at the startup opportunities in controlling, testing and monitoring AI agents.
- Observations from SF Tech Week – there’s a tech and AI optimism in SF
ISRAEL
- Israeli cybersecurity funding approaches half the global total. Q3 breakdown puts the sector’s momentum into perspective – by CTech by Calcalist
- Three years after Oct 7, Israel’s greatest generation is building its future – by Jewish News
- US defence funding paths for Israeli tech: Navigating the Pentagon’s innovation gateways – Israeli defense tech is surging, and the Pentagon is opening doors.
GLOBAL
- The State of AI report by Nathan Benaich – 119 AI model makers were founded in 2025, more than in any previous year
- State of Venture Q3’26 by CB Insights – Venture funding is on pace for its highest total ever in 2026: $698B invested through Q3, record pace, M&A at a four-year low.
- Top 100 Consumer AI Apps – the top web and mobile AI products by monthly traffic by Andreessen Horowitz
MEDIA OF THE WEEK
Top 100 Consumer AI Apps – Top web and mobile AI products by monthly traffic (source)
The Tradfi-Defi market map by CB Insights
The ‘Creator ecosphere’ by Evan Shapiro (source)
The Agentic AI Supply Chain Tech Map 2026 (source)
Europe’s robotic 65 (source) by Venturist
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 – October 9th 2026 - October 9, 2026
- How Israeli tech changed since October 7 - October 8, 2026
- Building Brakes for Rogue AI - October 5, 2026
