Antidote Health, a telemedicine company that views accessible, affordable healthcare as a fundamental human right, is proud to announce that former NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo been named its new ambassador.

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"I believe that every human being has the right to affordable quality healthcare, no matter their race, location or circumstance, which is why I am proud to join forces with Antidote Health," said Antetokounmpo. "My siblings and I grew up impoverished and marginalized. Though we had the support of loving parents, getting healthcare was a struggle. That's why I empathize with the many Americans who can't pursue their dreams because they can't afford healthcare. Antidote Health can help this crisis."

In the US, 29.6 million people under the age of 65 are uninsured, according to the most recent data from the CDC. Yet another study reveals that more than a third of Americans--  with or without insurance – would not be able to pay for needed care.

Antetokounmpo has also invested in Antidote Health.

"While sports fans see a legendary player who once landed the biggest contract in the history of basketball, there is another side to Giannis that tells about the struggles his family of eight faced living outside of their homeland," said Avihai Sodri, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Antidote Health. "He has a big heart and lots of compassion. He understands the barriers to affordable healthcare and how maintaining both physical and mental health can be the difference between suffering and happiness, failure and success. We are so honored to have Giannis in our court and we champion the way in which he is building a legacy beyond basketball."

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Smart shopping cart solution developer Shopic has completed a $35 million equity fundraising round, the company announced Tuesday, bringing the total amount invested in the company to $56 million. The round was led by Qualcomm ventures, with the participation of Vintage Investment Partners and Clal Insurance. Shopic's existing investors, IBI Tech Fund, Tal Ventures, Claridge Israel and Shufersal, also participated in the round.

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Shopic delivers a digitalization platform for the retail floor of medium and large supermarkets. Its smart cart solution is based on a unique artificial intelligence (AI)-powered clip-on device that attaches to any standard shopping cart, turning it into a smart cart. The device's computer vision automatically recognizes products as they are added or removed and its touch screen presents the running bill, personalized offers, and promotions based on shoppers' buying habits, store location, and item selection. At the end of their visit, shoppers skip the checkout line, pay on the cart, and leave the store in less than a minute.

Shopic plans to use the new funds to accelerate its commercial expansion, deepen customer engagements, and enhance its solution, as well as increase its workforce.

"We welcome our new investors and thank our existing investors for their ongoing support," said Raz Golan, Shopic's co-founder and CEO. "Completing this funding round in the current market conditions is a strong indication of Shopic's strength in the emerging market of smart store solutions. As we scale our operations to dozens of stores, the new funds will help us build a robust organization to support our customers and deliver innovation to their retail floors."

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Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Opgal, a subsidiary of defense manufacturer Elbit Systems, to utilize advanced thermal imaging technologies previously used for military and security purposes, Sheba announced Tuesday.

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Using thermal cameras, physicians can detect physiological processes based on changes in energy and heat in the body and display these changes on a digital screen. In the medical setting, this technology can enable doctors and surgeons to accurately identify the movement of blood vessels and present a clear picture of carbon dioxide being emitted by exhalation.

The integration of the thermal imaging cameras into Sheba's systems is intended to improve the efficiency and efficacy of surgery and treatment in four key areas: heart surgery, diabetic foot treatment, surgical incision infections and respiratory monitoring.

"The new relationship between medical excellence and excellence in the defense industry is groundbreaking," said Professor Eyal Zimlichman, Sheba's chief innovation and transformation officer, and head of ARC.

"The solutions worked on by Elbit and Opgal experts and Sheba doctors are not only significant for Sheba and Israel but will have an international impact. These are global solutions to global problems, and we believe there is great potential here to change the face of medicine on an international level," Zimlichman said.

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Two space tech companies, Helios of Israel and Eta Space, joining forces to solve the problem of oxygen in space, the companies announced Tuesday.

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Reusable methane-fueled rocket systems need liquid oxygen at a ratio of 1:4, so the only cost-effective solution to refueling in orbit is to create and store oxygen on the Moon and on Mars.

Helios, which is backed by the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and which recently announced funding from several venture capital firms, has developed an electrochemical reactor capable of extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith, which is made of approximately 45% oxygen. Their proprietary technology and process has proven effective and is being used terrestrially for the extraction of other elements, such as iron.

Eta Space, located on the Space Coast of Florida, specializes in production, storage and transfer of cryogenic propellants. Its founder and CEO, Dr. William Notardonato, worked for 30 years at NASA and is a specialist in cryogenic technologies, specifically liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

"Eta Space would play the important role of liquifying and storing the oxygen produced by the Helios reactor in cryogenic tanks," explained Notardonato. "The two companies complement each other with their mission to reduce costs in space even further, a key step to make beyond earth presence sustainable."

Space Florida, the aerospace and spaceport development authority for the State of Florida, and the Israel Innovation Authority, an independent, publicly funded agency created to address the needs of the local and international innovation ecosystems, recently announced the ninth round winners of industrial research and development funding tied to the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program.

In October 2013, Florida and Israel established a $2 million recurring joint fund to support research, development, and commercialization of aerospace and technology projects that benefit both Israel and Florida. For this Call for Projects, five teams have been selected for this ninth round of awards.

As one of the winning teams, Eta Space and Helios will leverage each other's expertise in cryogenic and chemical engineering, to develop an integrated lunar oxygen production and liquefaction plant, a critical step toward a sustainable cislunar industry.

"In order to enable the establishment of a permanent lunar base, Helios' technology is not enough – a whole set of technologies are required to realize the lunar economic value chain," said Jonathan Geifman, Helios CEO and co-founder. "This new collaboration with Eta Space will  for the first time connect two purely commercial links in the chain – the production and the storage of oxygen – thus making multiple and long-term missions to the moon closer to being economically viable."

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Afeka – Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering has been ranked fifth in the world among academic institutions for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the World's Universities with Real Impact (WURI) annual survey.

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The survey's Crisis Management category measures how well an academic institute adapts in the midst of the most pressing challenges of our time.

An innovative hybrid teaching and learning model enabled all students across Afeka College's 52 classrooms and laboratories to study without disruption during the pandemic, facilitated by an innovative design that combines an array of technological solutions within classrooms, coupled with mobile laboratory kits distributed to students.

This was the second consecutive year that Afeka College has ranked among WURI's top 10 in crisis management, rising from ninth place in 2021 to fifth place this year.

"As an institution educating the next generation of engineers, we need to adapt to any changing reality, and that's exactly what we did," said Prof. Ami Moyal, President of Afeka College. "We made an early strategic decision to be prepared for any scenario – from fully remote teaching and learning to synchronous hybrid teaching with faculty in class and students at home or with student capsules in class or a full return to campus. A key feature had to be that we could transition rapidly between these scenarios. I am proud to say that throughout the pandemic not one day of classes was missed."

Afeka is the only Israeli institute to have placed in the Crisis Management category.

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Israel's Delta Galil intimates and activewear maker has chosen to adopt the Nexus supply chain platform from industry cloud company Infor, the company announced Monday.

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According to the company, the new platform will allow Delta to synchronize orders generated in the ERP; order change requests; supplier pack lists; invoice and payment flow; advance shipping notices; and ETAs.

"For a company like Delta Galil with many brands, retail stores, manufacturing sites and e-com websites, efficient operations and speed to market are critical," said Adi Nov, CIO of Delta Galil global.

"The enhanced collaboration, connection and visibility provided by Infor Nexus gives us a competitive advantage with our suppliers and also allow us to onboard new partners faster," Nov said.

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A free platform that helps prospective parents who need assistance conceiving children connect with fertility service providers in their area has expanded its offerings.

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Israeli-founded startup GoStork's goal is to simplify a process that is usually complicated and time-consuming. Last week, GoStork launched its Fertility Clinic Marketplace, which employs a data-driven, customized approach to matching fertility consumers with clinics based on their age, budgets, and personal needs.

The new Fertility Clinic Marketplace, which is free to use, expands GoStork's existing offerings, which include surrogacy agencies, egg donor agencies and fertility financing, as well as personalized concierge services.

Approximately one in six couples seek fertility assistance to start or grow their families, and the number of women opting to freeze their eggs increased by over 2,500% from 2009- 2018 and has continued to increase throughout the COVID pandemic.

GoStork says that its Fertility Clinic Marketplace is inclusive and takes users through a questionnaire that gathers information about their age, fertility history, and whether they require an egg donor, sperm donor, gestational carrier or wish to freeze their eggs. The platform then matches the fertility consumer with their ideal fertility clinics based on the clinic's experience, costs and success rate data for the user's particular age and goals. The platform also allows prospective parents to look at each clinic's pricing up front, and chat with clinic staff and book consultations.

"We're thrilled to launch our new Fertility Clinic Marketplace. This is such a unique tool for both fertility patients and clinics because it personalizes the research process by cross-referencing essential patient information with both CDC and Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) data related to partnering fertility clinics," says GoStork founder and CEO Eran Amir.

According to Amir, "When a GoStork user books their consultation with a clinic, not only are they a good match but they are entering the conversation from a more informed and empowered standpoint. For the first time ever, fertility patients can understand how many other patients like them – i.e. in their age group and with similar needs and background – went  to, and achieved success at, each clinic"

GoStork's new marketplace has partnered with clinics in over 100 locations across the US, including San Diego Fertility Center, the Boston IVF Network, Pacific Fertility Center Los Angeles, Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine, New England Fertility.

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UBQ Materials, climate tech developer of advanced materials made from waste, announced today that PepsiCo is expanding its use of UBQ across its supply chain with the launch of eco-friendly Lay's display stands, "Made with UBQ," throughout Europe.

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Following PepsiCo's successful pilot incorporating UBQ to reduce the carbon footprint of shipping pallets, the company is deepening its collaboration with UBQ in additional categories across the supply chain. The new Lay's Chips displays will be made in part with UBQ substituting conventional oil-based plastics.
UBQ is a bio-based thermoplastic, made from 100% unsorted household waste, including all organics. Use of UBQ diverts waste from landfills and incineration, preventing emissions from being released into the environment. For every ton of UBQ produced, up to 12 tons of CO₂eq are prevented from polluting the environment.

Beyond the new product extension, PepsiCo has also expanded on the initial logistics pilot, ordering 30 thousand more shipping pallets made with UBQ. These pallets also feature recycled PP resin and recycled BOPP – the plastic film used in the company's snack packaging – to complete the circular economy cycle.

"Our goal is to transform our entire supply chain to tackle the sustainability challenges the world faces. UBQ Materials' waste-based thermoplastic reduces landfill waste, prevents emissions, and takes us towards circularity, which is why we are working towards scaling use of UBQ globally," said David Schwartz, VP, PepsiCo Labs. "We are putting sustainability and innovation at the heart of our operations. Achieving these goals is integral to the future of our business, our customers, our consumers and the planet."

PepsiCo's technology venture arm, Pepsi Labs, identified UBQ Materials as an anchor solution supporting PepsiCo Positive (pep+) transformation, which places sustainability and human capital at the center of how it will create growth and value.

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Secure enterprise browser provider Talon Cyber Security has raised $100 million in Series A funding, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, CrowdStrike's Falcon Fund, Merlin Ventures, SYN Ventures and previous investors CrowdStrike co-founder and CEO, George Kurtz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sorenson Ventures and Team8, the company announced Thursday.

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The TalonWork browser simplifies endpoint security by serving as a secure access point to corporate applications and data on any device, managed or unmanaged, and on any operating system.

"We have built the team and technology to redefine and power security for the future of work – a future where security is delivered naturally through the enterprise's most heavily used application: the browser," said Ofer Ben-Noon, co-founder and CEO, Talon Cyber Security. "The world and the applications the Global 2000 rely on are moving to the web, creating a dire need for a vehicle that can provide secure access without changing the way work is conducted. This new funding will allow us to continue to show why that vehicle is Talon's secure enterprise browser."

Co-founded by Ben-Noon and CTO Ohad Bobrov, Talon was named the winner of the Innovation Sandbox Contest at RSA Conference 2022 and has demonstrated unrivaled market and technical leadership since launching the industry's first secure enterprise browser in October 2021. The company's recent momentum includes numerous customer deployments at large organizations, the launch of the industry's first secure enterprise browser for mobile devices, and established partnerships with the two leaders in endpoint security, CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

The round includes the conversion of $17 million in SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) investments announced in January into A round shares, bringing Talon's total amount raised to over $126 million.

The funds will be used to accelerate go-to-market efforts to meet the increasing global demand for Talon's secure enterprise browser, TalonWork, and deliver new product enhancements to continuously improve security for modern workforces.

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Flow Security has completed a $10 million seed funding round and launched the first data security platform that discovers and protects both data at rest and in motion, the company announced Wednesday. The funding was led by Amiti, with participation from GFC, Amdocs Ventures, and industry leaders such as CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady and Demisto CEO and co-founder Slavik Markovich.

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Flow Security continuously maps and detects all data-related risks for an improved data security posture. Flow is the only data security platform that supports use cases including discovering and classifying data flows to external services, policy enforcement, automatic data-related threat modeling, and reducing data access permissions to the minimum.

"Discovery, mapping and protecting data is usually a manual process, which is not effective in large organizations," says Nir Chervoni, Head of Data Security of Booking.com, "Automatic data mapping should consist of analyzing the actual payload, and not only its metadata. So far, Flow is the only company I've seen that provides that capability for multiple scenarios."

"Data security is not a new problem, but the challenges are changing and growing," said Jonathan Roizin, co-founder and CEO of Flow Security. "Organizations are moving at a record pace and quickly transitioning to the cloud and cloud-first applications. These transformations often make life easier, but they also make the jobs of security professionals even more difficult. With Flow, security teams are no longer forced to chase down information. It simplifies security and regulatory processes and bridges the gap between security and development teams."

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