Team8

It’s not yet goodbye, but we are delighted to announce that our Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Nadav Zafrir, has been appointed as Check Point Software’s CEO. In the words of our Executive Chairman and Managing Partner, Yuval Shachar: “This achievement comes after Nadav successfully built, founded, and invested in dozens of leading startups within the framework of Team8. We are confident that Nadav will continue being a prominent leader in cybersecurity, and we look forward to seeing his future achievements.” At Team8, we are dedicated to maintaining that same spirit, vision, and ambition to support our exceptional entrepreneurs and companies, helping them achieve success through our unique model. All of us at Team8—our partners, over 80 employees, company builders, and hundreds of investors—will continue to drive global innovation and reshape industries. We’re proud to be a part of your journey and look forward to the next chapter! Amir Zilberstein, Aviad Harell, Galia Beer-Gabel, Israel Grimberg, Alon Huri, Dr. Eldad Rom, Nadav Zafrir, Asaf Azulay, Varda Shalev, Roy Heldshtein, Yuval Shachar, Sarit Firon, Assaf Mischari, Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Dror Grof, Liran Grinberg, Hadar Siterman Norris, Ronen Assia, Adm. Mike Rogers, Ori Yankelev, Charles Blauner

Today, insurance giant Applied Systems announced its acquisition of Team8 portfolio company Planck, the leader in AI for the insurance industry. This is an exciting development not just for the company, its employees, and investors, but for the Israeli ecosystem as a whole as Applied Systems will establish its AI Development Center in Israel, based on Planck’s operations. Planck's entire employee base will join Applied, and the company’s Co-founder & CEO, Elad Tsur, will become Applied’s Chief AI Officer - overseeing all AI related efforts globally. Congratulations to the entire Planck team and their co-founders, Elad Tsur, Amir Cohen, and David Schapiro, as well as to the Applied team! Speaking on the acquisition, Team8 Managing Partner Sarit Firon added, “We believe that the connection with a global company like Applied Systems will enable the continued creation of value and make a significant contribution to the Israeli ecosystem.” We at Team8 are proud backers of Planck and look forward to seeing this partnership with Applied thrive. Make sure to read all about it:  https://lnkd.in/g6-X9Dd8

🛗 Can you pitch your startup in 30 seconds or less? 🛗 Fijoya's co-founder and CPO, Sagi Polani, DVM, PhD was recently challenged to showcase his startup before the elevator reached our offices on the third floor. How do you think he did?

Congratulations to Raj Doshi and the april team. Read the full appointment announcement 👇

As selected by the world's leading CISOs and security leaders (from Oracle, Barclays, Unilever, and more), this year's CISO-Startup Collaboration Award WINNER was Stephen Sparkes, EVP, Chief Information Security Officer at Scotiabank, for his collaboration with Roy K., Co-founder & CEO of Orchid. In collaboration with Deloitte, this year's Team8 CISO Village Awards recognized an impactful collaboration between a veteran CISO and a company at its early stage. Presenting the award was Adnan Amjad, US Cyber & Strategic Risk Leader at Deloitte and a long-time partner of Team8. At the awards, Roy K. picked up the award in Sparkes’ absence. In their nomination, Orchid highlighted Sparkes for his unique capability to identify business technological pains and foster a collaborative innovative environment. Sparkes was also recognized for advising, instructing, and harnessing valuable resources to the startups' strategic objectives, resulting in an exceptional business market fit. We also extend our gratitude to all the nominees and the CISOs from the village who participated. Your contributions are what make our community thrive.

Sarit Firon, Managing Partner at Team8, took the stage at the annual KPMG Israel leadership conference to discuss Israel's position in AI adoption. During the panel, she tackled the pressing question: Is Israel lagging in the AI race? And the takeaway was clear: To stay ahead, all companies must integrate generative AI into their products. By embedding AI into every aspect of their operations, businesses can significantly enhance productivity and efficiency, ensuring they remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. Sarit also argued that while Israel might have joined the AI race a bit later, the wave of innovation around us is immense. Similar to the innovation route taken in cyber, Israel will make its mark in AI. A special thank you to the moderator, Jonathan Lavender, Partner at KPMG, and panelists Nati Amsterdam, Country Director of NVIDIA, and Ofer Saban, Co-founder & CTO of Memomi Labs Inc (Acquired by Walmart), for the insightful discussion. If you're building the next big thing with AI, we at Team8 want to meet you!

Congratulations to our Health and Wellness Benefits portfolio company Fijoya for your partnership with Remote. This is a major game-changer for remote teams across the globe!

I'd like to welcome Eidan Siniver to Team8 Enterprise as our new CTO! Eidan, a distinguished alumnus of the Matzov cyber-defense unit, is an award-winning innovator recognized with the prestigious Disruptive Innovator Award from the Cyber Defense Corps. A seasoned builder, Eidan pioneered cloud-native security in his previous role at Aqua Security. He played a pivotal role in the company's growth from inception to a leading cloud security unicorn and collaborated with Fortune 500 companies to secure their cloud workloads. With extensive experience in building enterprise software, Eidan will be a critical asset to Team8. He will leverage his R&D, product, and cybersecurity expertise to support our portfolio companies, work closely with our village to research emerging trends in the cybersecurity and data industries, and evaluate new investment opportunities.

CDAOs, CDOs, and Data Practitioners, join our latest Data Huddle this month! The next event will feature Claus Torp Jensen, Former CTO at CVS Health, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Teladoc Health, in conversation with Aviad Harell, Team8 Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Sisense. They will be discussing several topics, including leading integration and transformation in massive companies, the board's perspective, and how to bring Data & AI into the boardroom. 🔗 Apply to attend here: https://lnkd.in/d6Jy3pQ7

As selected by the world's leading CISOs and security leaders (from Oracle, Barclays, Unilever, and more), this year's CISO-Startup Collaboration Award WINNERS were Stephen Sparkes, EVP, Chief Information Security Officer at Scotiabank, and Roy K., Co-founder & CEO of Orchid. This year's Team8 CISO Village Awards, in collaboration with Deloitte, recognized an impactful collaboration between a veteran CISO and a company at its early stage. Presenting the award was Adnan Amjad, US Cyber & Strategic Risk Leader at Deloitte and a long-time partner of Team8. In their nomination, Orchid highlighted Sparkes for his unique capability to identify business technological pains and foster a collaborative innovative environment. Sparkes was also recognized for advising, instructing, and harnessing valuable resources to the startups' strategic objectives, resulting in an exceptional business market fit. We also extend our gratitude to all the nominees and the CISOs from the village who participated. Your contributions are what make our community thrive. #Team8CisoSummit #CISOVillageAwards