The Firgun newsletter is published weekly on LinkedIn. Subscribe here. The word “Firgun” (Hebrew: ??????/ pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is an informal modern Hebrew term and concept in Israeli culture (originally Yiddish), which describes genuine, unselfish delight or pride in the accomplishment of the other person. It’s the opposite of “schadenfreude”. Firgun is all about genuinely feeling and expressing happiness, pride, or admiration for someone else’s accomplishments, good fortune, or well-being. More about Firgun and why it matters on VC Cafe: https://lnkd.in/dg2a86p The biggest moment of ..read more

A month ago, the Israel Innovation Authority published a report on the state of the tech ecosystem (also shared here on VC Cafe) highlighting just how crucial tech is for the Israeli economy. While the Israeli tech ecosystem only employs approximately 400,000 people, it’s responsible for over 40% of the GDP growth in the last 5 years, and represents 53% of the country’s exports. The war against Hamas (and attacks from Iran’s proxies in the north and the south of the country) put this engine of the economy at risk. But now, a new report by Startup Nation Central on the state of the Israeli tech ..read more

The creator economy, a sector that has captivated both consumers and investors alike, is experiencing a significant resurgence in 2024. Recent data from The Information’s Creator Economy Database reveals a robust rebound in funding for U.S. creator economy startups, with investments in the first half of this year already matching the total raised throughout the entirety of 2023. This upward trajectory is particularly evident in the second quarter, where U.S. creator startups secured an impressive $692.7 million in funding. This figure represents a substantial 68% increase compared to the same ..read more

Over the past three and a half years, I’ve shared the #Firgun newsletter every Friday. The format went through a number of iterations. It started as a Linkedin post (which kept running out of space), moved into Mailchimp (which disappointed for its cost and lack of discovery) and is now a LinkedIn newsletter. This is the first time I’m publishing it on to VC Cafe. You can subscribe here to get the next edition straight to your inbox. It’s #Firgun time. The word “Firgun” (Hebrew: ??????/ pronounced ‘feer-goon’) is an informal modern Hebrew term and concept in Israeli culture (originally Y ..read more

The rumours on the death of consumer startups have been greatly exaggerated, it seems. Enterprise seems to be all the rage for VC investors. So much so, that in fact, that only 7.1% of all venture capital investment in 2023 went to consumer companies in the US, according to Carta. Less than half of the amount invested in consumer in 2019 (14.3%). High profile failures of consumer companies, like Peloton, which fell from grace following a meteoric rise during the pandemic, Allbirds, the sneaker company that lost 98% of its value in the public market, Fast’s grocery delivery which shut down aft ..read more

The first time I wrote about startup benchmarks was in 2019 and it became one of the most popular posts on VC Cafe. It’s not a surprise, given that entrepreneurs are obsessed with data and metrics, but in the conservative VC market of 2024, it feels even more important for founders to know what ‘good’ looks like and what investors expect. This post explores the most important benchmarks VCs look for in B2B SaaS with data brought to you by 20VC/La Famiglia, Serena Capital, Emergence Capital, and Openview Ventures, providing definitions and insights into the most critical metrics for SaaS compan ..read more

The high-tech industry, which has been a cornerstone of Israel’s economy, contributing over 40% of GDP growth from 2018-2023 and representing 53% of its exports, is now navigating through a period of adjustment and uncertainty. The judicial reform, a VC pullback and now the War uncertainty are creating challenges for the sector. A new report from the Israel Innovation Authority paints the current state of Israeli high tech in 2024. The The main takeaways are: High-tech has been central to Israel’s economic growth (53% of the export), but is at a crossroads due to global economic trends and re ..read more

After NVIDIA’s stock reached an all time high last week and Elon Musk raised $6 billion for xAI in an oversubscribed round valuing the company at $24 billion, however, there are signs that the initial euphoria may be starting to subside as reality sets in. The Wall Street Journal is asking whether the AI hype is waning. Evidence the AI hype is waning Data by Picthbook shows that Generative AI seed investments were down 76% in Q1 2024 as investors take a wait and see approach. Jefferies’ analysis shows mentions of AI in earnings calls peaked and has declined in Q1 2024 compared to a year ago ..read more

An interesting new report by Dealroom and Flow Partners breaks down the massive investment that the “Magnificent Seven” (or M7 for short) are plowing into AI across verticals. It’s impossible to ignore the impact that Google/Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, Apple and Tesla/xAI have on AI. With a combined value of $14 Trillion (representing 32% of the S&P 500), these companies invest $400 billion a year into frontier technologies, namely AI and cloud infrastructure. This post highlights a few interesting points that stood out from the report “The Venture Capital frontier & the ..read more

According to CB Insights, VCs invested over almost $22bn in Gen AI in 2023. Most of this money went to LLMs, over 70%, based on Dealroom’s analysis. These model makers like Open AI, Anthropic or Adept AI require large sums of funding in order to train and deploy these general models. I believe that we will not see many more funding rounds into model makers for various reasons (very capital intensive, regulation, how many are needed?) and it seems many investors and founders are focused on the infrastructure layer. While this appears a logical target in terms of how value accrues, I believe tha ..read more