Jonathan Rand

In-House vs Outsourced SDR? How Israeli Startups Win Should your Israeli startup build an SDR team or outsource it? In this episode, Benny Fluman and Brian Newman share what really works in the field, backed by real data, timelines, and success stories. They talk about how one company doubled its pipeline in just 45 days, when building in-house starts to make sense, and why SDRs are not only about lead generation but also about long-term customer retention and growth. If you’re leading a company that’s scaling globally, this episode is a must-listen. 🎙 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. youtube https://lnkd.in/dEjmFpnV spotify https://lnkd.in/dSVbMrNz Apple https://lnkd.in/dchehjjG

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𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 Torq raised $140M in a Series D at $1.2B valuation, led by Merlin Ventures, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, and others. Founded in 2020 by Ofer Smadari, Leonid Belkind, and others, Torq develops an agentic AI-driven security operations platform. Deepgram raised $130M in a Series C at $1.3B valuation, led by AVP, with Alkeon Capital, Tiger Global, Princeville Capital, and others. Led by CEO Scott Stephenson, Deepgram delivers real-time voice AI and speech-to-text platforms. Skild AI completed a $1.4B Series C at $14B valuation, led by SoftBank Group, with NVIDIA, Macquarie Group, 1789 Capital, and others. Led by CEO Deepak Pathak, Skild AI builds a general-purpose robotics "brain." Temporal Technologies is in talks to raise a round at $5B valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Founded in 2019 by Samar Abbas and Maxim Fateev, Temporal builds an open-source workflow orchestration platform. Aikido Security raised $60M in a Series B at $1B valuation, led by DST Global, with PSG, Notion Capital, and others. Founded by Willem Delbare, Roeland Delrue, and others, Aikido builds developer-first cybersecurity tools. Cerebras plans to deliver up to 750 megawatts of computing power to OpenAI through 2028 in a deal valued at over $10B. Founded in 2016 by Andrew Feldman, Jean-Philippe Fricker, Michael James, Sean Lie, and others, Cerebras builds wafer‑scale AI processors. Higgsfield AI raised $80M in a Series A extension at over $1.3B valuation, with Accel, GFT Ventures, and Menlo Ventures. Led by CEO Alex Mashrabov, Higgsfield offers an AI-powered generative video platform. Parloa raised $350M in a Series D, tripling valuation to $3B, led by General Catalyst, with EQT Ventures, Durable Capital Partners, and others. Founded by Malte Kosub and Stefan Ostwald, Parloa builds AI-driven customer service agents.

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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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Our Q3 2025 report is LIVE! 🎉 Israeli startups hit a record-breaking $71B M&A deals in 2025... and we're only 10 months in. Explore the full report for the full story👉 https://lnkd.in/d6j-_vZd Avi Hasson Noa Zilberman #Q3Report #IsraeliTechEcosystem

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According to Crunchbase, the total volume of M&A deals in the U.S. during the first half of 2025 was around $100 billion. But here’s the catch: that figure includes the $32 billion acquisition of Israeli startup Wiz. If you exclude that deal, Israeli companies accounted for $64 billion in exits—compared to just $68 billion for the entire remaining U.S. market. That’s a truly staggering result. אין כמו ישראל 🇮🇱 🇮🇱🇮🇱

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📊 Israeli tech startup ecosystem hits a new milestone! 🇮🇱 In December 2025, Israeli startups raised over $1.6 billion across 22 funding rounds, marking the strongest month of venture funding since 2022. ctech 🔍 Highlights: • Cyera led with a massive $400M round at a $9B valuation — a testament to global investor confidence in cybersecurity. ctech • Eon secured $300M Series D, fueling innovation in cloud backup and AI analytics. ctech • Multiple startups across cybersecurity, AI, healthcare, and quantum technologies saw major financings, reflecting broad investor interest in deep tech. ctech 💡 This surge underscores how cybersecurity and AI remain core drivers of tech investment, and signals continued strength in Israel’s innovation ecosystem. ctech #startup #venturecapital #innovation #cybersecurity #AI #technews

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𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐩: December 2025 2025 is almost in the books And what better way to end the year with another massive exit... ServiceNow acquires Armis for an astounding $7.75B in cash. It's been quite an incredible year for Israeli cyber exits. With a handful of the largest M&As (Wiz, CyberArk, and Armis) in the Israeli hi-tech ecosystem. Truly remarkable. We end 2025 with more cyber funding rounds And Dr. Cyber has the scoop. So, here we go... Funding Rounds: → Saviynt raises $700M in Series B → Eon.io raises $300M in Series D → Fastly raises $160M Post-IPO Debt → 7AI raises $130M in Series A → Vega raises $120M in Series B → Antithesis raises $105M in Series A → Axiado Corporation raises $100M in Series C → Zafran Security raises $60M in Series C → Act raises $40M in Series A  → Echo raises $35M in Series A → SpecterOps raises $30M Venture Round → imper.ai raises $28M in Funding → Prime Security raises $20M in Series A → Kasada raises $19.9M Venture Round → Lumia Security raises $18M in Seed → vijil raises $17M Venture Round → Codenotary raises $16.5M Funding Round → Multifactor (YC F25) raises $15M in Seed → NetFoundry raises $15M in Series A → Resemble AI raises $13M in Strategic Funding → Equixly API Security raises €10M in Series A → Dux Security raises $9M in Seed → Helmet Security, Inc. raises $9M in Seed → Verisoul raises $9M in Series A → Alinia AI raises $7.5M in Seed → Saporo raises €7M in Series A → TestMachine raises $6.5M Venture Round → Mirror Security raises $2.5M in Pre-Seed → Realm.Security, Inc raises $2M Venture Round What else? → Israeli cybersecurity funding climbs to $4.4B, up 46% in 2025 → Proofpoint finalizes $1.8B acquisition of Hornetsecurity → Check Point raises $1.75B Upsized Private Offering of 0.00% Convertible Senior Notes → Cyera raises $400M at $9B valuation → Exein raises an additional €100M (€170M total) → Outpost24 acquires Infinipoint for tens of millions → Netskope shares dip over 5%  → Aqua Security lays off dozens in restructuring Huge congrats to Yotam Segev Ran Lampert Ben Seri Michael N. Stephan Goldberg Eilon Elhadad Shay Sandler Or Latovitz Noam Awadish 🎉 🎉 And as always... Follow Dr. Cyber Media 🩺 to stay in the cybersecurity loop.

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Another milestone for Israeli tech — and for us. Calcalist just published a list of the top Israeli startups that have crossed the $250M ARR threshold. 7 of them are Switchup clients 😇 Proud to partner with the teams behind: Wiz, Gong, Hibob, Claroty, Armis, Minute Media, Forter. When the biggest names in tech choose Switchup- we know we’re doing something right. Link to article- https://lnkd.in/ewv6Aq6B

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Proud to see how quickly meaningful support can reach people when the right infrastructure is in place. Together with Cal (Israel Credit Cards), organizations such as EL AL Israel Airlines and municipalities like Beit Shemesh are able to distribute assistance quickly and efficiently to those who need it — anywhere in the world. We’re proud that the Custodia platform serves as the foundational infrastructure that makes initiatives like this possible. Glad we can help! A special thank you to our partners at MalamTeam and Custodia Israel for helping make this happen!

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Kaltura to Acquire eSelf.ai for Up to $27M to Bring Interactive #AI Avatars to Its Video Platform New York / Tel Aviv – November 2025 – Kaltura, a leading video experience cloud company, has announced plans to acquire eSelf AI, an Israeli startup developing advanced AI technology for interactive digital avatars, in a deal valued at up to $27 million. The acquisition will combine Kaltura’s enterprise-grade video platform with eSelf.ai’s conversational avatars, which can engage in real-time dialogue, express facial emotions, and understand contextual cues during interactions. Following the integration, Kaltura aims to launch a new generation of “immersive virtual agents” — AI-driven avatars that can listen, speak, and interpret on-screen activities — enabling personalized, interactive experiences across workplaces, learning environments, live events, and customer service platforms. Under the terms of the deal, Kaltura will pay $7.5 million in cash upon closing, with an additional $12.5 million payable over three years contingent on performance milestones. The company will also issue 4.69 million shares of its common stock to eSelf.ai’s shareholders, vesting over three years and representing approximately 3% of Kaltura’s pre-transaction shares. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2025, subject to regulatory approvals. Founded in 2023 by Dr. Alan Bekker, PhD and Eylon Shoshan, eSelf.ai brings together a team of over 15 AI specialists in computer vision, natural language processing, and speech technology. The founders previously created #VocaAI, a voice-based AI assistant startup acquired by Snap, where Bekker later led projects in conversational AI. “eSelf.ai enables immersive, real-time conversations with agentic avatars that are highly engaging, hyper-personalized, and impactful,” said Dr. Alan Bekker, co-founder and CEO of eSelf.ai. “Joining Kaltura will take our conversational avatars to global scale, embedding them directly into events, learning, TV, and customer experience workflows.” “This acquisition marks a major milestone in Kaltura’s evolution from video management to AI-powered interaction,” said Ron Yekutiel, CEO and co-founder of Kaltura. “It expands our content creation tools to include AI-based avatar content and accelerates our move into immersive, real-time virtual agents for customer and employee experiences.” The acquisition underscores Kaltura’s broader strategy to integrate AI and automation across its video, communications, and collaboration offerings — paving the way for next-generation human–AI interaction in enterprise and media applications. #Kaltura #eSelfAI #Acquisition #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAvatars #ConversationalAI #ImmersiveTech #VideoTech #EdTech #CustomerExperience #EnterpriseAI #IsraelTech

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🔎 𝗟𝗲𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 & 𝗜𝗩𝗖 𝗤𝟮 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹𝗶 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 – 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Preliminary data from Q2 2025 shows a continued recovery in tech investments in Israel. 💰 $2.72B was raised across 90 rounds, reflecting a 20% increase compared to Q1 and marking the highest quarterly volume in the past year. Highlights from this quarter: * 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮-𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: Deals exceeding $200M made up nearly 30% of total capital. Excluding mega-deals, $1.84B was raised — an 8% increase over Q1. * Cybersecurity & AI in the Lead: These sectors attracted 85% of total capital across 37 rounds. * 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲-𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗚𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺: Investor interest in defense-tech continues to grow, driven by current regional dynamics. * 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗢𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀: Investors are focusing on existing portfolios, with follow-on rounds becoming more prominent. Maya Eisen Zafrir | LeumiTech | IVC Data and Insights 📊 The full Q2 2025 Israeli Tech Review will be published in mid-July.

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When leading developers speak openly about pricing — it’s usually because demand is already there. As competition intensifies in the emerging Sde Dov district, three major Israeli real estate groups are entering the market with a clear message: prime coastal real estate in Tel Aviv is being repriced — structurally, not cyclically. In a recent interview, the CEOs behind a new 230-unit residential project near Sde Dov emphasized that pricing starting around 70,000 ₪ per sqm is only the beginning — and that 100,000 ₪ per sqm, five minutes from the sea, will soon be out of reach. What’s driving this confidence? • Long-term urban planning and infrastructure investment • Proximity to the coastline and central Tel Aviv • A shift toward human-scale, community-focused projects rather than iconic towers • Strong absorption capacity, even before completion • A buyer profile driven by long-term living, not short-term speculation Despite higher interest rates, rising construction costs, and global uncertainty, Tel Aviv’s luxury residential market continues to demonstrate resilience — particularly in districts like Tel Aviv, where supply is finite and demand is structural. In real estate, markets don’t move in straight lines — but prime locations with strong fundamentals rarely move backwards. #RealEstate #IsraelRealEstate #TelAviv #SdeDov #LuxuryRealEstate #PrimeAssets #MarketResilience #UrbanDevelopment #LongTermValue #ExecutionMatters "בעתיד לא יהיה מחיר של 100 אלף שקל למ"ר במרחק 5 דקות מהים" https://lnkd.in/d8Nmj5ne

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