Iddo Gino, CEO and Founder of RapidAPI
“This year the API market grew exponentially. As businesses undergo the next wave of digital transformation, the need for developers is increasing. But the challenge is that even while the demand for new technology applications for the web and mobile devices grows, the number of developers is not keeping up. We see this across the board, even internally. But that is also where the power of APIs comes in. So many businesses around the world are taking advantage of these pre-built codes (APIs) that they can embed into their applications. They are taking advantage of fully functional and tested code so they can turn around products faster, enhance existing products, or completely innovate on new products because of time saved by leveraging pre-existing APIs. And with the amount of new technological innovations continuing to grow and expand, we only see this demand for developers to increase and for the number of APIs to be leveraged. It is a challenge we are ready to take on.”
Rami Reshef, CEO of GenCell
"Since last year, the global energy economy has experienced a significant upheaval, particularly as a result of the energy crisis, the Ukraine war, and the worsening climate situation. Currently, it seems that Europe is taking a short-term step backwards in order to take a longer-term step forward. A few countries on the continent have temporarily returned to using fossil fuels – including coal - out of compulsion while planning a more comprehensive transition to renewable energy in the future, which is supported by regulatory, policy and systemic changes.
In the United States, during Trump's administration, the adoption of green energy was somewhat slowed, but now President Biden has changed the direction of the ship, advancing legislation in Washington that strongly supports renewable energy and offers tax incentives and benefits for technologies supporting climate action. In this landscape, hydrogen acts as a bridge enabling companies in the traditional oil and gas sector to transition to green fuels and supporting systems that leverage existing infrastructure by virtue of innovative green technologies."
Regev Yativ, CRO at Incredibuild
"So far, 2022 has been a trying year economically. However, users’ expectations don’t fluctuate based on economic shifts or staff shortages – on the contrary, the demand for timely releases and effective software development only tends to increase during challenging times. Executives understand that they must always be prepared to release products on time without compromising on quality. Preparation is key: organizations can’t afford to risk being at a disadvantage when a global crisis hit – they must implement the proper strategy and tools now to guarantee efficient, streamlined workflows, regardless of the circumstances. As user expectations for faster, higher-quality products are always on the rise, optimizing software development can have an immense impact not only on product quality and delivery but also on companies’ upper and bottom lines. In uncertain economic times, the ROI from optimizing software development can be the lifeline of a business. Selecting the right tools that help shorten development cycles, enable more iterations, and support developers’ efforts and creativity mean better quality products, exactly when you need them.”
Sharon Isaaci, VP EMEA, Sygnia
"The cyber threat landscape continues to evolve. We see four main elements:
- Threat actors are increasingly sophisticated and audacious. State and non-state capabilities are converging. Organized crime groups have adopted robust cyber “business models”, and nation-states are increasingly targeting enterprises, undeterred by attribution.
- The Russia-Ukraine War has made the job of fighting the “bad guys” more challenging. We’ve seen cybercrime and hacktivist groups join the battle, pick sides, and change identities, so it’s harder to know exactly who we’re up against.
- COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation and the dependence of humanity on technology and connectivity. This created an almost instant paradigm shift in our work environment to a “Work from Anywhere” setting, dramatically expanding the attack surface for adversaries.
- IT-OT convergence: Attackers are increasingly going after industrial companies and critical infrastructures. Hyper-connectivity, automation, and proliferation of IoT create new opportunities for adversaries, and present significant threats in new areas, such as reliability and safety.
So, what can we do? Incidents are expected surprises. While indeed it may be true that cyber incidents are a matter of when, rather than if – there’s a lot we can do, before incidents happen, to reduce the probability that such incidents may happen, and also to significantly limit their impact. I suggest that companies focus on enhancing prevention capabilities, increase vigilance and proactively hunting for threats, reinforce backup infrastructure and perform theoretical exercises and practical tests.”
Yifat Yudovsky, CMO at CloudZone
"Over 2 years after the pandemic started, we’re seeing its impact on the way organizations of all sizes and sectors are using the Cloud. This culminated in a game-changing project for Israeli citizens: Project Nimbus, a cross-government project intended to provide a comprehensive Cloud services framework to the Israeli government. The direct impact was having all government services on one central Cloud that will allow citizens to get better, more personalized service with much less red tape. As part of Project Nimbus, Amazon and Google are set to launch Cloud regions in Israel, allowing highly regulated organizations to utilize the Cloud and adopt innovation. The job market is also going to be impacted, with Cloud-related jobs opening up in the public sector as well as in traditional organizations. The next few months will show us where the market is going and whether the current volatility is here to stay. We will see more organizations tackling their number 2 top spend - their Cloud spend. This is a unique opportunity for organizations to optimize Cloud operations and their efficiency- both financially and technologically. This is concerning not just DevOps but also leadership at companies that want to set themselves to thrive (not merely survive) in this wave, including CFOs, CEOs and CTOs."
Mor Assia and Shelly Hod Moyal, Founders and Co-CEOs of iAngels
"As we continue to see a downturn in the markets, we are seeing more challenges for early-stage portfolio companies that are more ‘capital intensive’ and require significant funds to bring their solution to market. For those capital-intensive businesses reliant on materials, chips, or ingredients that have now become more expensive, are delayed, aren’t being shipped or are out of supply due to the shutdown of factories, they are finding it more challenging to reach their KPIs. They are reliant on more factors not in their control making them riskier businesses from an investment perspective. Already, between H2 2021 and H1 2022, there has been a decline of approximately 20% in funding in capital-intensive industries such as climate tech, medical devices, automotive and robotics.
In light of this, and especially in a tight fundraising environment, we will look to invest in companies that are less susceptible to these macro swings, and that require less capital and contingencies to reach their next milestones, as opposed to companies that will require tens or even hundreds of millions to reach their business model. We expect this will be the case for many early-stage VCs, as further evidenced by a recent KPMG report predicting global venture capital financing in the software sector will rise in 2022 as a percentage of total financing compared to 2021.
Looking to the new year, we encourage entrepreneurs to take this into consideration and re-adopt the 'lean and mean' mindset."
