The Intel captains of their generations probably deserve the Israel Prize or at least they should receive some kind of award and friendship from the Israeli venture capital industry. Intel continues to pay very generously and acquire more and more Israeli companies of various types, as part of its search for future growth engines.
After Intel acquired chip maker Tower from Tower Valley in February in a huge $ 5.8 billion deal, this week Intel confirmed that it is also acquiring Granolite for about $ 650 million. This is of course a modest amount compared to Tower but quite high considering that the start-up acquired only four years old and started selling its tool for optimizing computing resources just two years ago.
In the past, Intel has not always been able to assimilate the acquired company well enough. Last year, for example, Intel decided to close the Israeli start-up business Replay, Which was acquired by it in 2016 for $ 170 million and specializes in 3D photography for sporting events. Granolite probably hopes that their fate will be more successful and Intel may also have learned lessons and will leave Granolite as a whole organization within the giant company
And what made the founders of Granolite sell the successful and promising baby fast? Well, apparently the respectable amount that Intel put on the table certainly contributed to the decision and maybe part of the answer also lies in what Granulite CEO Assaf Ezra told us last December, when Granolite was selected for Globes’ promising project. For them to agree to allow a software agent to be installed on their servers by an unknown startup.With Intel behind, Granolite will be easier in this sense.
Summary of the week with eight interesting things we wrote about.
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1. Proud to present a new section: The box
Last week we launched a new section in which we compare two technology companies, Israeli and sometimes foreign, that compete for the same slot in the market (more or less). For the first time we hosted Elementor and Duda, two that are trying to attack the web design market in different ways. Duda is a closed web design software that caters to the niche of digital agencies, and Elementor is a plugin for the free and open WordPress platform. What are the challenges facing each of these?
2. The troubles from the house of NSO
Beyond all the external threats to it, such as Apple and Meta’s lawsuits and investigations around the world, NSO Also dealing with an internal struggle between the consulting firm BRGManagement NSO It is headed by Julio and the creditors who lent $ 460 million to one of the past investors. BRG It is indeed the controlling owner of the holding company that controls the group NSOTriangle, but in practice NSO Refuses to disclose to her data on the financial situation. What is the conflict about? Among other things about how to sell the NSO.
3. Not just for cheap labor
The H1B visa for employees with special expertise has gained a problematic reputation over the years and has become synonymous with bringing masses of cheap manpower to the US, mainly from India, by technology companies. Living in the U.S. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, all visa applications are made public including the salary of the designated employee, which provides a glimpse into how much Israeli high-tech companies pay U.S. employees.
4. The rise and fall of the hookah
The Go-Puff Company, founded by a son of a former Israeli and a Jew from Russia, began as a venture to sell hookahs and snacks in the college campuses where the founders of Philadelphia studied. From there it expanded and became one of the growing grocery delivery apps in the United States, including operations in London and Paris and worth $ 15 billion. The cooling of the shipping companies market and the impatience of investors towards loss-making companies led the company to consider cuts.
5. Do not dream of a unicorn
At 41, Iris Shore’s record already includes setting up three start-ups and two exits. A few weeks after selling the digital marketing startup Oriive to LinkedIn for $ 100 million, she talks in an exclusive interview about the dangers of growing too fast, the difficulty of firing a third of employees and also the reason why she gave up the opportunity to head a unicorn. Schur is one of the hitchhikers selected for the 50 Influential Women in Israel project. Feel free to take a look.
6. Second generation aesthetics
Breakthrough technologies made Israel a leader in the hair removal and skin care market at the beginning of the millennium, but most of the companies have since been sold and the local industry has barely entered the field of injections. Now there are those who try.
7. Blue and white inside
Intel has officially announced the acquisition of startup Granolite, which is developing a tool to optimize the use of computing resources for $ 650 million, in another attempt by the hardware giant to enter the world of software
8. Papaya acquires
The unicorn Papaya Global buys the British money transfer company Azimo in an interesting strategic acquisition designed to enable salary transfers to employees around the world.