Vertical AI, Recruiting Advice & The Next Gen of Founders
🚀 2025 Startup Growth
Introducing Streamline AI
We are proud to announce our investment in Streamline AI and its mission to empower in-house legal teams with an AI-powered platform that automates intake, triage, and matter management processes. Legal teams at companies like Gusto, 8x8, Acorns, and Bloom Energy already rely on Streamline AI to eliminate bottlenecks and reduce manual work.
Led by former DoorDash attorney Kathy M. Zhu (CEO) and Google product leader Julian Wimbush (CTO), the company has closed $14M in total funding, following an $8.6M Series A round led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from Tribeca Venture Partners, Acronym Venture Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and Scribble Ventures.
Learn more about the news: https://lnkd.in/eWeuGFyC
Company Spotlight: Imagene
Imagene , a leader in applying AI to accelerate cancer diagnostics, recently announced a $23M Series B led by Larry Ellison. The company’s platform enables near real-time biomarker detection from standard biopsy images—helping clinicians match patients to personalized treatment options faster and more cost-effectively. Learn more
“Imagene AI’s ability to unite imaging, omics, and clinical data in a single foundation model is exactly the kind of breakthrough we believe will drive the next generation of drugs and diagnostics,” said Larry Ellison, Oracle Chairman and CTO. “Their approach opens the door to a more adaptive, biologically fluent era of precision medicine.”
State of Talent and Recruiting: Advice for Startups in Israel
Building a successful startup team goes far beyond the founding team. Hiring and onboarding the right talent takes time and intention, says Lt. Col. (Ret.) Sharona Mizrahi , Blumberg Capital’s HR and recruiting specialist based in Tel Aviv.
Check out these hiring tips for startup leaders, as part of a recent Q&A with Sharona:
1. Don’t just offer a job, offer a story. Tell them why now, why this, and why them.
2. Give them ownership. Show them how they can shape the product, the team, and even the culture.
3. Make it clear: this isn’t about joining your company, it’s about becoming a co-creator of something bold.
30 Under 30: The Next Generation of Founders
Aryon Security co-founders, Yair Ladizhensky and Ariel Litmanovich , were named to Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 list. Alongside co-founder Ron Arbel - a past honoree - the team represents a new generation of Israeli founders building for the Global 5000.
The three co-founders are alumni of Matzov, the IDF’s elite cybersecurity unit, and previously worked together securing Project Nimbus—Israel’s $7.2B national cloud computing initiative with leading public cloud providers.
We asked CEO Ron Arbel to share advice for the next generation of founders. Here’s what he shared:
➡️ My advice to founders just starting out - especially those coming from military or technical backgrounds - is to build your founding team around people you know, trust, and have worked with before.
➡️ Deep alignment, honest communication, and a shared understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses will get you much further than anything else in the early stages.
➡️ If I could go back to day one, I’d remind myself that there’s no single right answer.
➡️ You’ll hear many different opinions - it’s important to listen, but also to be decisive, even if the choice isn’t popular. The ability to make tough calls amid uncertainty is what leadership is all about.
Thank you, Ron!
🌍 The Startup Nation's Impact on Global Innovation
The Miami-Israel Connection
The latest issue of Global Miami Magazine features a special report on the Miami-Israel Connection with insights from leaders such as Ayal Stern, Bob Grossman and Maor Elbaz Starinsky.
Read the full report here including commentary from David Blumberg:
David Blumberg says he has always had a penchant for investing in Israeli companies. "We’ve invested in startups in Israel, we’ve invested in them and they moved to the U.S., and we’ve invested in them when they’ve already come here to the U.S.,” he says. "Think about what businesses are important today from Israel in the U.S. – cybersecurity, defense, healthcare, AI, quantum – all of those are addressed very well by this alliance that we have, essentially between Israeli tech, American tech, American investors, and mostly American and Western European customers.”
Israel's Investment in Technology and Innovation
CTech by Calcalist recently featured Yodfat Harel Buchris's perspective on Israel’s long-standing investment in technological excellence — across defense, AI, and infrastructure — and how it positions the country for global leadership.
"The connection between Israel's security capability and its technological excellence is no coincidence. This is the key to understanding why Israel can be considered a strategic player in the global world, and why wise investors will continue to invest here. It is the high capacity of entrepreneurs in Israel that developed these technologies, and they are also the ones who contributed to the war effort and returned with a high motivation, even more than before, to contribute, change the world and make a difference. Today, more than ever."
Read the full article here.
🎩 See you at Black Hat USA?
Heading to Black Hat next week? Prepare with a reread of our colleague Pramod Gosavi's post on RSA vs. Black Hat, key trends from the 2024 event and takeaways for cybersecurity founders.
Leave a comment and let us know if we'll see you in Vegas. 👇