CTech's Thursday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

Shunned by the U.S., Russia's most westernized oligarch turns to Israel. For years, Viktor Vekselberg nurtured strong ties with the U.S., but then the government named him a persona non grata. With a newly obtained Israeli citizenship, he is now working to strengthen connections between the Israeli tech ecosystem and Russia. Read more  

Energean in talks to raise up to $1.5 billion for Edison deal. The desired funding is intended to finance Energean’s potential acquisition of Edison SpA's oil and gas business, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke to Calcalist on condition of anonymity. Read more

Moody's and Team8 launch joint cyber risk assessment venture. In late 2018, Moody's was one of 14 multinational companies who joined Team8 as strategic partners, together committing $85 million to the foundry’s cybersecurity fund. Read more

Evercore investment bank to open Israel branch. Leonard Rosen, CEO of Barclays Israel and former CEO of Lehman Brothers Israel, will head the local branch. Read more

Eyal Ofer's private investment portfolio revealed: Facebook, Uber, WeWork, Airbnb. Ofer Global's tech investment arm O.G. Tech Partners has on Monday announced its expansion with the addition of venture capital veteran Ziv Kop as managing partner. Read more

Medallia reveals Cooladata acquisition price: $7.6 million. The Israel-based customer behavior analytics startup raised $13 million before Medallia announced its acquisition earlier this month, meaning the acquisition was made at a loss to investors. Read more

The fintech market is in a state of consolidation, says SafeCharge CEO. SafeCharge CEO David Avgi spoke Monday at a fintech conference held in Tel Aviv by Calcalist, Bank Leumi’s tech banking arm LeumiTech, and accounting firm KPMG. Read more

Intel backs chip development startup NeuroBlade. Marius Nacht, the co-founder and Chairman of Nasdaq-traded Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point, led NeuroBlade’s $23 million funding round. Read more

Cybersecurity startup Vulcan Cyber raises $10 million. Vulcan develops and operates a service that gathers data from dozens of vulnerability monitoring and scanning tools to provide insights into a company’s security weaknesses. Read more