Nir Zohar

Developers don’t spend their days just writing code. According to Zohar Einy, Co-founder and CEO of Port.io, coding is only a small part of the job. Ownership is the real work. In this episode of IsraelTech, Zohar breaks down how engineering teams actually operate today, why AI agents are creating new risks inside enterprises, and how Port is helping teams move faster without losing control. We also talk about pressure in Israeli tech, working with investors as real partners, and what it means to build a company meant to last. Watch the full interview - link in the comments 👇 Hosted by Yoel Israel

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Marketing SHOULD be fun ✨ Aviv Canaani went from VP of Marketing to CRO at Datarails over four years. During that time, the company grew 10X and flipped from 95% outbound to 95% inbound. All while having fun with their audience So... How do you balance brand vs performance? Aviv's POV for you: Most B2B companies treat brand and performance as competing budget items. Aviv unified them under one revenue leader. When you own both marketing spend and sales outcomes, the incentives align. They saw THIS shift happen after the 2022 market crash. Outbound meetings held steady but close rates dropped. Inbound leads converted at much higher rates because those prospects already knew the brand and came in with intent. Brand building makes performance channels work better. But... Aviv's brand building looks nothing like traditional B2B Datarails runs ads featuring Kim Kardashian memes to sell FP&A software to CFOs. They create content with creators from Fiverr. They post jokes on LinkedIn. The head of growth came from mobile gaming, not enterprise software. The thesis is simple: You're selling to humans, not corporations CFOs scroll IG and watch funny videos just like everyone else. Playing it safe is the biggest risk because safe content gets ignored. The key is balance. Datarails pairs scroll stopping content with deep thought leadership. They run a podcast called FP&A Today with over 500,000 downloads. They share data driven insights and interview finance leaders. They give their audience BOTH entertainment and substance. Just like Tiesto. Aviv's team includes people from B2C backgrounds for that exact reason. They produce high volumes of video content, test what works, and feed the algorithms. His prediction for the next phase is that marketing becomes even more human. He's already seeing more sponsored posts from people rather than company pages. Customers talking about products. CEOs and CMOs building personal brands. AKA... Be more human. Have fun with your audience This is the way ✌️ P.S. Make sure you give Aviv a follow!

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Israeli startup Octup, which makes an AI-powered platform to help manage and analyze logistics centers, has raised $12 million in a Seed funding round. The round was led by JAL Ventures Fund and Shine Capital, with support from Tal Ventures, Stone Capital, and HCS Capital. The company was started in 2022 by Alon Partuk and now has around 30 employees, most of them in Israel. Octup’s main office is in Tel Aviv, and it also has offices in Toronto and Austin. Kathleen Sullivan Garman | Nimrod Posner 🔗 Read full article link in comment #octup #AI #Seed #funding #startupnews #businessupdate #businessnews

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Q3 2025 has been a quarter defined by scale. That's what Startup Nation Central reveals in its latest report. Israel’s tech ecosystem continues its shift from Startup Nation to Scale-Up Nation. Don't miss out on the piece, featuring commentary from our very own Itamar Golan >> https://lnkd.in/d--EqKA8

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Operations vs Strategy - which is more important? My answer has always been operations. Strategy is simply a smart operational process to figure out the right strategy. When we started the Israel Tech Mission nearly 1.5 years ago our focus was on action, operations and impact. And see impact to date: https://lnkd.in/e95Z92wZ

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Israeli Tech Reignites with $9.5B Raised in 2025 and Momentum Continues to Build. In just the first half of 2025, startups raised an impressive $9.5 billion, nearly matching the total for all of 2024 and on pace to rival the record-breaking $26 billion raised in 2021. This remarkable growth comes despite an ongoing security crisis and economic uncertainty, highlighting the unparalleled strength and resilience of Israel’s innovation ecosystem. At the heart of this momentum is a surge in early-stage mega-deals known as “super-seeds,” driven by experienced, repeat founders and backed by top-tier U.S. venture capital funds. These rounds, often reaching $20–30 million or more, reflect a growing sense of urgency among global investors who are eager to secure their stake in Israel’s next wave of groundbreaking companies. Israel’s unique concentration of world-class talent, deep-tech expertise, and proven entrepreneurial track record continues to attract leading international funds. Firms like Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst are expanding their presence locally, recognizing that the next generation of category-defining startups is being built here and now. The global tech landscape may be shifting, but Israel remains at the forefront turning adversity into opportunity and vision into global impact. https://lnkd.in/eaykTFsF #IsraelInnovation #StartupNation #TechResilience #VCFunding #DeepTech #Cybersecurity #DefenseTech #AIInfrastructure #InnovationEconomy #GlobalTech

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I added the new Israeli Proptech startup landscape by TLV Partners to my 2025 collection on VC Cafe. There are over 200+ Israeli startups operating in the proptech sector (including a number of unicorns). The new crop of AI-first startups are penetrating every layer of the tech stack - from elevating the tenant experience and enabling predictive maintenance, to construction site monitoring and delivering AI-driven infrastructure insights. Link to the CTech by Calcalist article with the commentary below.

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What should marketers expect in 2026? A clear divide. Marketing teams that adopt positionless ways of working will move and execute faster. Teams that do not will feel the drag. As Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove, puts it: “A Positionless Marketer is not a generalist that does one thing well. It is about being more versatile and willing to build multiple skill sets. You need to understand data, creativity, and analytics.” With AI making data more accessible, enabling faster analysis without deep technical expertise, and supporting continuous optimization across content, offers, and channels, teams built on rigid roles and constant handoffs will struggle to keep up. The gap will not be about ambition. It will be about execution.

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All in on AI isn’t just about efficiency - it’s about transformation. Oren Kaniel, AppsFlyer CEO shares how we’re embedding AI across every layer of AppsFlyer. Watch his full fireside chat from MAMA Xitang here: https://lnkd.in/dWT-FnNp

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IVC Data and Insights has opened full access to its new Unicorns Dashboard for one week, with no paywall or signup required. 🦄 https://lnkd.in/dH8bfg5C An Israeli tech unicorn is a private tech company valued at $1 billion or more in a financing round within the last three years. That narrows the list from 80+ companies to 45 active unicorns, according to the new dashboard. What do we know about the unicorns? * $25b raised by Israeli unicorn, $171B in cumulative valuation * 80% focus on enterprise software * Only three have crossed the $10b valuation: Wiz, Deel, and Safe Superintelligence Inc. * Israeli unicorns raised $14B in 2024 (vs. $5B in 2023) * 95% are in the revenue growth stage * 88.8% of founders are male, 11.1% are mixed gender (female and male) 💡 There's more: * 29 Quiet Unicorns (no financial activity within the last 3 years) * Ex-Unicorns: Companies that dropped below a $1B valuation * 13 Unicorns-to-Be: Raised $500M+ and are closing in * Most unicorns are backed by VC investors Don’t miss the opportunity to explore the data and analytics about the Israeli unicorn dashboard.

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Reco has raised $25M in new funding led by Insight Partners with support from Zeev Ventures, boldstart ventures, Angular Ventures, and new investor Redseed, bringing total funding to $55M. Founded by Ofer Klein, Gal Nakash, and Tal Shapira, Reco is redefining SaaS security with its AI-native Dynamic SaaS Security platform—securing 175+ apps at unmatched speed while helping enterprises eliminate shadow AI risks and simplify compliance. https://lnkd.in/eT4iCNBn #SaaSSecurity #AI #CyberSecurity #ShadowIT #StartupFunding #DynamicSecurity Praveen Akkiraju Tamar Harel Andrea Bailiff-Gush Shiri Ksantini-Mor  Bob Horn Gil Dibner

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