CTech’s Monday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

An associate of slain Saudi journalist Khashoggi sues spyware company NSO. The Saudi dissident alleges that spyware by the Israeli surveillance company had been used to track his communications with Khashoggi, and was instrumental in planning the latter’s killing. Read more

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu makes light of fraud allegations. On Sunday night, Netanyahu spoke at his party’s annual Hanukkah celebration joking about the plethora of allegations pending against him. Read more

Israel’s humble doughnut glams up for the age of Instagramable food. country-wide baked goods chain Roladin now publishes annual doughnut catalogs with models styled and made up to resemble the year’s collection of doughnuts. Read more

IBM Israel sued by Israel Chemicals for $300 million. In a lawsuit filed Monday to Tel Aviv district court, ICL alleges a project it commissioned from IBM caused it $300 million in damages. Read more

Online gaming company Playtika acquires mobile game developer Wooga. Berlin-based Wooga will continue to operate as an independent brand following the acquisition. Read more

China's Newater to acquire water purification company AMS for $13.5 million. The acquisition will help fill the gap in current Chinese domestic technology, stated Newater's CEO. Read more

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Tel Aviv University announce second accelerator cohort. The security agency will grant $50,000 to each participating startup without acquiring equity. Read more

This Israel-based startup plans to build airports for autonomous drones. High Lander has developed software that manages and coordinates the activity of autonomous drone fleets, including landing and recharging. Read more

Kik relocates Israeli crypto subsidiary to Labs' Tel Aviv co-working space. In September 2017, Kik raised $98 million in an initial coin offering of a token called Kin, with the aim of creating a decentralized digital services ecosystem based on the coin. Read more 

News Briefs

Israel begins issuing permits in electric bike crackdown. Read more

Intel to recruit 150 unskilled workers to southern Israeli facility. Read more

Israel Innovation Authority signs tech collaboration agreement with Reckitt Benckiser. Read more