‍

Startup Psychologist Noa Matz Announced as Operating Partner of F2

In the VC community, it is often said that the founding team is the most important parameter for evaluating a startup, yet despite the analytical nature of VCs, the process of evaluating a team has remained emotional and often led by bias.

‍

Noa Matz has dedicated her career to understanding team dynamics and coaching founders for peak performance. She has guided dozens of startups, some among the best known in Israel, and helped to establish F2 Venture Capital as the most active VC fund in Israel. Given her pioneering work, F2 is excited announce the promotion of Noa to Operating Partner and amplify her positive impact on our community.

‍

‍

‍

‍

Explorium Chosen by Globes as One of the Ten most Promising Startups of 2020

Explorium was recognized as one of the most promising startups of this year in Globes. With their $31 million Series B funding round and their new partnerships with AWS and Nova, the platform unlocking the potential of data science is certainly poised for a breakout year in 2021.

‍

Read more about the top ten startups here

‍

‍

‍

Varada Launches Cloud Analytics Query Platform that runs up to 30x faster than Amazon Athena on Massive Data Sets

Varada has unveiled its data platform which helps organizations instantly monetize all of their available data with a predictable and controlled budget. Using a dynamic indexing technology, the Varada Data Platform enables data teams to balance performance and cost of queries at massive scale, without ceding control of their data to third-party vendors.

‍

“It’s time to bring this innovative approach to a market that’s ready for it,” stated CEO Eran Vanounou

‍

Read more about Varada’s launch here

‍

‍

Bizzabo Raises $138 Million Funding Round

Despite the freeze of in-person events, conference company Bizzabo reports record growth and funding. The company, previously backed by F2 Managing Partner Barak Rabinowitz, provides a platform to plan and run virtual, in-person, and hybrid conferences.

‍

CEO Eran Ben-Shushan stated, “Bizzabo has been the category leader, experiencing hyper-growth both pre-pandemic and during the virtual transition, we are excited to continue to lead the market forward by doubling down on product, technology, and user experience, to help organizations unlock the power of hybrid experiences.”

‍

Read more about Bizzabo’s funding and their company culture here

‍

‍

‍

Zero Networks Launches Access Orchestrator to Prevent Attacks from Advanced Threats to Simple Yet Devastating Ransomware

Zero Networks new platform, Access Orchestrator, was built to prevent attacks like the SolarWinds supply chain hack, reportedly the largest cyber-attack in US history. The Access Orchestrator blocks all network access apart from legitimate business activity. Its self service approach allows application owners and users to quickly get access to resources when needed, without opening up the entire network.

Read more about the SolarWinds supply chain attack and Access Orchestrator here

‍

‍

‍

‍

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

During the pandemic, construction firms faced an existential crisis: How will they survive with empty restaurants, retail stores, offices and a seemingly permanent shift to working from home?

Construction is a massive, $1.3 trillion industry in the United States — a complex ecosystem of lenders, owners, developers, architects, general contractors and subcontractors managing on Excel or even with pen and paper.

‍

The result is job delays, missed budgets and increased job site safety risk. Technology startups like 4M Analytics are emerging to help solve these problems.

Using satellite imagery data fusion, 4M is mapping the underneath to provide the most comprehensive subsurface data for the construction industry.

‍

Read more on the 4M Analytics blog here

‍

WHAT WE ARE READING

What is mRNA? How Pfizer and Moderna tapped new tech to make coronavirus vaccines |NBC News

‍

Israeli Companies Raise Record-Smashing $9.5 Billion So Far In 2020, Despite COVID |No Camels

‍

Bitcoin Looks to Gain Traction in Payments | The Wall Street Journal

‍

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-looks-to-gain-traction-in-payments-11609237801

Apple Targets Autonomous Car for Consumers by 2024, Reuters Says | Bloomberg

‍

EVENTS

Join us for an exclusive Fireside Chat on December 5th

‍

‍

‍

‍