CTech's Wednesday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

Netanyahu pulls the plug on law to fight Facebook "incitement." A surprise last-minute intervention by the Israeli prime minister brings an end for now to a bill that would have removed protections for speech that’s published on the web. Read more

 

Alibaba’s Joseph Tsai is visiting Israel for the World Lacrosse Championship. But he’s also meeting with Israeli tech company and a local venture capital firm. Read more

 

Kleiner Perkins, Alphabet back stroke detection startup Viz.ai. Kleiner Perkins led a $21 million round for the medical startup. Viz.ai develops an automated analysis software for brain scans. Read more

 

Co-founders of Intel's Replay Technologies start new drone augmented reality company. Called XTend, the company develops a drone-based app that promises to gamify real life activities. It was recently chosen for an accelerator co-managed by one of Israel’s intelligence arms. Read more

 

Mellanox upgrades outlook following record quarterly revenues. In June, Mellanox's board settled its differences with activist investor Starboard, which has been aggressively pushing for far-reaching changes since November. Read more

 

Evogene signs Brazilian partnership to develop pest-resistant cotton. Israel-based Evogene will identify pest-resistant genes in cotton, and Instituto Mato-Grossense do Algodão, a crop research and diffusion company owned by the largest cotton growers association in Brazil, will test their effectiveness. Read more

 

Opinion: metrics to focus on during the growth stage of your SaaS journey, part 2. While necessary to track progress, standard metrics like ARR, CAC, and ACV fall short of thoroughly analyzing your company’s growth trajectory, writes Monday.com CTO Eran Zinman. Read more

 

Calcalist’s tourism and technology conference

Lufthansa to launch direct service to Eilat this winter, says Israel’s tourism minister. Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin celebrates rising popularity of southern vacation spot Eilat. Read more

More credit extended to hotel ventures in Israel, says local banker. Private entrepreneurs and international hotel chains are taking more local credit in the last two years, says Bank Hapoalim’s Tzahi Cohen. Read more

 

News Briefs

Aviation technology firm Orbit wins $30 million Pentagon contract. Read more

 

Crowd-sourced medical diagnostic startup K Health raises $12.5 million. Read more