Tel Aviv\u2019s startup<\/span> scene underwent a transformation around 2019, moving from a system of \u201cHoly Grail exits,\u201d as Eli David, CEO of StartUp Link, puts it, to \u201cbuilding companies not looking to sell to Google right away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As has always been the case, the military is still the main source of founders\u2014not least because almost everyone passes through it, but also for its emphasis on problem-solving and a focus on cybersecurity, AI, and robotics. There\u2019s growth in Web3, gaming, and productivity startups while countries like India are coming online as customers. \u201cWe have a brain-drain problem,\u201d admits Michel Abadi, managing partner of Maverick Ventures Israel. \u201cBut we have a lot of patience.\u201d<\/p>\n Immunai<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re mapping the immune system and all its different pieces, from cell types and cell states, to provide researchers with a complete map and comprehensive understanding of the immune system,\u201d explains Luis Voloch, who cofounded Immunai with Noam Solomon in 2018. The platform blends single-cell multiomics, machine learning, and functional genomics with high-quality patient data to identify and validate novel drug targets, lowering the cost and increasing the success rate of drug development. Total raised to date is $295 million in three rounds from Viola Ventures, Dexcel Pharma, and Koch Disruptive Technologies. Immunai has 25 academic collaborations with institutions including Harvard, Stanford, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, and 30 partnerships with Fortune 100 pharmaceutical companies. The company, with offices around the world, achieved unicorn status in October 2021\u2014less than three years after founding\u2014and acquired Dropprint Genomics, a San Francisco-based computational biology startup, and Nebion, a Swiss bioinformatics company. Plans include developing the company\u2019s own drug-discovery pipeline from acquired compounds. immunai.com<\/em><\/p>\n Saar Safra, CEO and cofounder of Beewise, on top of a robotic beehive.<\/span>Photograph: Jonathan Bloom<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Beewise<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the clearest KPIs of any company I\u2019ve launched,\u201d says cofounder Saar Safra. \u201cFor every dollar we make, we save two bees.\u201d According to Safra, 75 percent of all fruit and vegetables are pollinated by bees, while 35 percent of bee colonies are disappearing every year. Beewise, launched in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Safra and beekeeper Eliyah Radzyner, is on a mission to prevent colony collapse disorder. How? A robot that can shutter a hive if it detects pesticides, provide food if a colony runs short, and control the temperature to keep the bees alive. The company has raised $120 million over four rounds that have included local VCs lool Ventures and Fortissimo Capital, as well as US funders Corner Ventures and Insight Partners. It\u2019s opening new factories near large bee populations, and claims to have reduced collapse from 35 percent to 8 percent where deployed. beewise.ag<\/em><\/p>\n Run:AI<\/p>\n Run:AI has created what it calls a special virtualization layer for deep learning that can train AI models running on graphics processing units much faster than is normally possible, while using less resources. With GPU accelerators being among the most expensive devices in a data center, efficiency is essential. In 2018, Omri Geller and Ronen Dar launched Run:AI to control workload from the cloud, pooling the resources of large clusters of GPUs and sharing these among different AI workloads by automatically assigning the required compute power each job needs. \u201cWe do for AI hardware what VMware and virtualization did for traditional computing,\u201d says Dar. The company has raised $118 million in three financing rounds, backed by Insight Partners, Tiger Global, TLV Partners, and S-Capital VC. Since product launch in 2020, the company\u2019s revenue has grown ninefold, and future projects include managing inference workloads\u2014trained AIs such as facial recognition software\u2014from the cloud. run.ai<\/em><\/p>\n Empathy<\/p>\n Empathy combines technology and human support to help grieving family members through the logistical tasks and emotional trauma following the death of a loved one. The app can help arrange a funeral and validate a will, founders Ron Gura and Yonatan Bergman argue, but human support from care managers offering emotional assistance is essential. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $43 million in two rounds of funding from the likes of Entr\u00e9e Capital and Aleph, as well as angel investors including Micha Kaufman, cofounder of Fiverr. Empathy reports that 92 percent of users reported feeling better after using the app, and that US Empathy users saved $3,007 on average. The company now has partnerships with Goldman Sachs and New York Life to help employees. empathy.com<\/em><\/p>\n NeuraLight<\/p>\n Most neurodegenerative diseases\u2014such as Parkinson\u2019s or Alzheimer\u2019s\u2014have highly subjective, nonsensitive examination and diagnosis of symptoms, hindering timely diagnosis, drug development, and precision care. NeuraLight, cofounded by CEO Micha Breakstone and CTO Edmund Benami in 2021, is building the world\u2019s largest database of symptoms, measuring over 1,000 volunteers to date. NeuraLight has recently secured its first commercial contract with a publicly-traded pharma company to help therapeutic discovery for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The company has raised $30.5 million in two rounds from Koch Disruptive Technologies, Samsung Next, Operator Partners, and VSC Ventures. Three trials with Parkinson\u2019s and MS patients in collaboration with major hospitals are scheduled for this fall. neuralight.ai<\/em><\/p>\n LUSIX<\/p>\n LUSIX produces lab-grown diamonds for the gemstone market and industrial applications in its solar powered lab. The company has raised $135 million\u2014with LVMH Luxury Ventures leading the company\u2019s recent $90 million round, intended to fund expansion of its production capacity in Israel with a second 100 percent solar-powered facility coming online this summer. The company was founded in 2016 as a spinout from the digital printing company Landa, by physicist Yossi Yayon and entrepreneur Benny Landa. \u201cThe lab-grown diamond journey is barely beginning, and has been embraced by consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z,\u201d says Landa. lusix.com<\/em><\/p>\n Better Juice<\/p>\n Better Juice uses enzymes from microorganisms to convert sugar in fruit juice into nondigestible fiber, claiming to reduce up to 80 percent of all sugars in juice. Founded in 2018 by Eran Blachinsky at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, it has received $8 million in seed funding led by iAngels with Food Tech Lab and The Kitchen Hub. Blachinsky says his process does not affect the smell or taste of the juice, although it does reduce the sweetness. Manufacturers can tailor the processes to select the amount of sugar they would like to remove. The recent round will fund other product lines, such as ice cream, soft drinks, and jam. better-juice.com<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Yanib](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/gp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/100-HS-2022-Yanib-Maor-TelAviv-Business.jpg\"\/)