CTech's Weekly Roundup of Israeli Tech News

Softbank leads $400 million investment in Compass. The New York-based real estate startup completed a sixth funding round according to a $4.4 million valuation. Read more

Interview | Multinationals swooping in aren’t always a boon for Israel, says national innovation investment chief. Israel currently has around 425 research and development outposts set up by multinationals. In 2016 non-Israeli capital financed 55.6% of the civilian research and development expenditure in the country. Read more

India’s Flipkart to acquire Israeli retail analytics startup Upstream. Upstream offers online retailers a pricing and product analytics service. Read more

For GrubHub, new acquisition puts take away on the menu. On Tuesday, U.S. online food delivery company GrubHub announced it agreed to pay $150 million for college campus food ordering and take away company Tapingo. Read more

Opinion | Acquisition streak may hamper attempts to upscale the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The exchange is losing some of its best companies after three Israeli companies were plucked by multinationals. Read more

Analysis | Medtronic has some rosy expectations for Mazor’s new surgical robots. Medtronic announced it will shell out $1.34 billion in cash for Israel-based Mazor Robotics on Thursday. Read more

Russian private equity firm Da Vinci acquires 8% stake in ride-hailing company Gett. Da Vinci acquired shares from existing Gett shareholder Moscow-based venture capital firm InVenture Partners as well as new shares issued as part of Gett’s latest $80 million funding round. Read more

Opinion | Hardcore hardware in the Holy Land. Software may be eating the world, but a lot of it is running on silicon developed in Israel, writes Bessemer Venture Partners’ Adam Fisher. Read more

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak appointed as chairman of cannabis firm. Barak has been active in the Israeli tech scene since his formal retirement of political life in 2012. Read more