The Jewish New Year and the holiday season is a time for reflection, forgiveness, and hope. We enter the new year having thought about what we could have done better in the past, with aspirations of doing better in the coming year. Such aspirations are coming from the high-tech scene as well. Along with gift vouchers and company-wide toasts honouring the holiday season, many startups have been using this time to do mitzvot (the Jewish word for good deeds) by giving back to the community.

Cloudinary

Cloudinary's mission is to empower companies to deliver visual experiences that inspire and connect by unleashing the full potential of their media. With over 50 billion assets under management and 9,000 customers worldwide, Cloudinary is the industry standard for developers, creators, and marketers looking to upload, store, transform, manage, and deliver images and videos online.

At Cloudinary, there is a tradition in which the company organizes a memorable evening for Holocaust survivors in cooperation with the Latet organization. Cloudinary and Latet employees are putting together an evening where the survivors can enjoy a social gathering that includes a festive holiday meal, activities, and distribution of holiday gifts.

Cloudinary was founded in 2012 by Itai Lahan (CEO), Nadav Soferman (CPO), and Tal Lev-Ami (CTO). The company claims to have more than 50 billion assets under management and nearly 10,000 customers worldwide, including brands like Atlassian, Bleacher Report, Bombas, Grubhub, Hinge, NBC, Mediavine, Minted, Peloton, and Petco. Recently, Cloudinary had secondary investment from funds managed by Blackstone Growth (BXG) reaching a sum of $110 million at a company valuation of $2 billion.

AccessiBe

AccessiBe develops diverse technologies to make websites accessible to people with disabilities. AccessiBe provides different AI-Powered solutions for testing and remediating web accessibility, as well as various professional services aimed to create an inclusive web and help businesses comply with web accessibility standards and regulations.

AccessiBe will take part and volunteer in the torch race in Tel Aviv on behalf of the Special Olympics visitors (Special Olympics Israel is an organization for social change to raise potential, defeat discrimination, and empower people with cognitive disabilities). Several AccessiBe employees will be sent to help in the race by accompanying and guiding the athletes with disabilities which will occur on October 23, just as the holiday season is coming to an end.

Dekel Skoop, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of accessiBe: “At accessiBe, we made volunteering one of our key priorities. Our employees, including managers, are engaged in volunteering several times throughout the year. Collaborating with various non-profits is an opportunity for our employees and our organization to give back to society, which is at the core of our values.”

AccessiBe was founded in 2018 by Dekel Skoop (co-CEO), Gal Vizel (CRO), and Shir Ekerling (co-CEO). Today it employs about 140 people after rapid growth in the last year. Its offices are in Tel Aviv and New York. AccessiBe has raised a total of $58 million to date.

Chegg

Chegg operates a direct-to-student learning platform that supports students starting their academic journey and extending into their careers with products and services to support and help them better understand their educational course materials. As the leading student-first connected learning platform, Chegg's Student Hub makes higher education more affordable and more accessible, all while improving student outcomes.

This holiday season the company initiated a volunteer day in which all the company's employees, worldwide, took part. In the Israeli office, they chose to volunteer in three associations in Israel; some volunteered at an elderly center where they led a public singing activity, some assisted in the activities of an association for packing food for the needy, and some did garden work for an association of mentally challenged people.

Chegg Inc., which was founded in 2005, is one of the best-known companies in the U.S. academic world. The company develops diverse learning solutions for students across the U.S., and its products are used by about 4 million U.S. students. Chegg is traded on the NYSE with a market cap of more than $9 billion and employs about 1,500 people. It is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with additional offices in San Francisco, NYC, and Portland, as well as in India and Israel.

Shlomit Goldberg, HR Operations, Chegg: "Last week we had the privilege and the joy of getting out of the office (including the virtual one) for a few hours to volunteer in 3 different non-profit organizations. It’s an important part of who we are at Chegg - a part of the community around us. It was a fun and meaningful experience for us all."

WSC Sports

Utilizing advanced AI and Machine Learning technologies, WSC Sports’ platform analyzes live sports broadcasts, identifies each event that occurs in a game, and creates and publishes customized short-form videos in real time. This enables sports media rights owners to maximize the use of their content, creating new revenue streams and a personalized fan experience on every platform for every type of fan. WSC Sports’ proprietary AI technology platform automates the creation and distribution of highlights for over 200 leagues and broadcast partners across the globe, including the NBA, NHL, ESPN, YouTube TV, Bundesliga, FIBA, Tencent, and Bleacher Report.

The startup’s employees go out during the holidays to volunteer at Collect Israel, packing food baskets for needy families.

WSC Sports was founded by Aviv Arnon (VP of Business Development), Daniel Shichman (CEO), Hy Gal (COO), and Shmulik Yoffe (CRO), in 2011. WSC plans to recruit over 150 new employees this year to join a team that already includes 270 people based out of offices in Israel, New York, Sydney, and London. To date, WSC Sports has raised $136 million.

AppsFlyer

Appsflyer developed a SaaS mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform. One of the largest companies in mobile attribution, and mobile analytics for marketers, AppsFlyer helps businesses make the most of their marketing budgets.

AppsFlyer promotes gender equality and reduces gaps in education and employment by connecting our employees to the communities where we operate. During this holiday season, as there are growing needs of families living in distress, the company volunteered to provide food security for families and to help people and the elderly celebrate the Jewish New Year with dignity, by initiating various activities. This week, over 200 employees volunteer to pack food baskets coupled with donating to non-profit organizations across the country. As Shelly Luftig, CSR coordinator at AppsFlyer stated: “It is a privilege to work for a company whose core values are contributing to and mobilizing the community.”

AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel (CEO) and Reshef Mann (CTO). The company, which has raised around $300 million to date and was valued at $2 billion in its most recent funding round last year, has annual recurring revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The company has 1,000 employees in Israel and 18 other offices around the world.

Sentra

Sentra is a cloud data security platform that helps organizations discover and remediate the top data security risks in their public cloud.

Sentra volunteered this holiday season, by helping renovate the Elem Migdalor center which operates in cooperation with the Ministry of Welfare for at-risk youth in Kiryat Malachi. After learning about the Elem organization in Tel Aviv, Sentra decided to come to Kiryat Malachi before the Rosh Hashana holiday to help brighten up the space with a fresh coat of paint.

“A big thank you to Sentra’s employees that came to Elem’s center in Kiryat Malachi to support our work”, said Netti Carel, manager at the center, “Elem youth centers serve as a second home - and sometimes a first home- for children and teens with difficult childhoods, and we’re able to provide a warm, caring environment that they wouldn’t always have at home. Sentra’s employees made the center more welcoming and ‘homey’ for the youth we serve.”

Sentra was founded in 2021 by Asaf Kochan (President), Yoav Regev (CEO), Ron Reiter (CTO), and Yair Cohen (VP of Product). The company came out of stealth in 2022 and has raised $23 million in seed funding to date. They are currently co-headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv.

Trullion

Trullion is an AI-powered accounting platform that automates financial workflows for CFOs, Accountants, and Auditors to increase efficiency, prevent costly oversights, and drive collaboration. The Platform unifies the unstructured and structured worlds of accounting by reading PDFs and Excel and translating them into financial workflows, such as Lease Accounting and Revenue Recognition.

Before the holidays, Trullion employees volunteered at the Jaffa Institute, packaging and distributing food boxes to needy families. By participating in this initiative, Trullion’s team took a small part in helping these families enjoy the holidays as best as possible.

During this time of the year, we have the opportunity to become more aware of others' needs, thoughts, and feelings. As Ganit Dekel Trullion's HR Manager said: "One of our core values is ‘on your side.’ This value is brought to life by helping others, which is when we grow as individuals and as a team."

Trullion was founded in 2019 by Isaac Heller (CEO) and Amir Boldo (CTO) and announced its Round A funding of $15 million in February, 2022. With 45+ employees worldwide and offices in New York and Tel Aviv, Trullion is backed by Aleph, Third Point, Greycroft, and leading CFOs, CAOs, and Audit Partners globally.