German Army Seeks to Partner With Israeli Cyber and AI Startups

The German army plans to start working with Israeli companies and expand cooperation with Israeli startups, Marcel 'Otto' Yon, CEO of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub, the digital innovation unit of the German Armed Forces, said at Calcalist’s WeTechBerlin conference Tuesday.

 

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“We want to look at the Israeli market more systematically,” he said.

Investing in Israeli companies and startups is part of the innovation hub’s mandate to expand globally, Yon said.

Representatives of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub visit Israel regularly and meet with their counterparts in the Israeli military and commercial startup accelerators, according to Yon.

The hub prefers working with venture-backed startups, he added.

Yon spoke alongside Former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo with moderator Nimrod Kozlovski, a partner and head of the tech and regulation department at Israeli law firm Herzog, Fox, Neeman.

Pardo retired from the Israeli intelligence agency in 2016, after 35 years of service. Today he serves as co-founder and president of cybersecurity startup XM Cyber. The startup raised a $22 million funding round in November, led by Nasdaq's investment program Nasdaq Ventures.

The company offers a cyber threat simulating platform that continuously monitors software and IT systems to detect potential attack paths.

“To run the Mossad is like running thousands of startups at every moment,” Pardo said.