Just a couple of weeks ago, we set out on a crowdfunding campaign on the Piplebiz website, where we offered you, the Israeli startup, high-tech, and technology community to be part of our global launch. The launch includes our international website, which currently functions as a pilot, as well as offering global organizations a research platform to gain knowledge and insight into Israel’s high-tech scene - straight from the source.

As I promised when we started the campaign, it’s important for me to keep you updated on all that’s happening. This time, even as the world faces an ongoing crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, I have some exciting news.

Last night we put pen to paper, signing our first international agreement with open-source giant SUSE, which chose to enlist our services - and this happened even before the official announcement of our global operations and opening of our first branch overseas. The annual agreement with SUSE includes scouting and locating Israeli entrepreneurs, periodic reports, hot takes and updates on all the happenings in the Israeli tech ecosystem, and the hosting of joint events valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Just after closing the deal, SUSE CEO Melissa Di Donato noted: “As the world’s largest independent open source company, it is our mission at SUSE to pave the way of our industry. Partnering with startups is key for us to stay innovative, serve our customers, partners, and communities. Israel is a prime destination of open source, of innovation and of creativity. We partnered with Geektime, to help us turn our visions into successful startup collaborations.”

I would like to say thank you to Geektime Chairman, Mr. Frank Cohen, who is the man behind all our international activities. I have no doubt that under his guidance this may be our first deal, but it's definitely not our last one this year.

Geektime shall continue to be the Israeli high-tech compass, and shall continue to do everything it can to expose the local Israeli ecosystem to the world, bringing more industry giants to the country in search of information and connections with the most promising Israeli startups. With all the uncertainty in the air, this becomes more relevant than ever considering our new COVID reality, but the more international investors we bring in to fund local ventures, the quicker we all free ourselves from this crisis.

I would like to send a heartfelt thanks to all our investors that are taking part in this incredible journey, and to those who haven’t joined yet, please do so as the job is not yet done.

As always, I will continue to be available for any questions via email or phone: +972-52-5321552.

I promise to keep the surprises coming,

Geektime CEO, Rami