His investments on this side of the pond include AI-powered insurtech Tractable, cybersecurity platform Featurespace and trading platform TradingView -- but he makes no bones about Europe's shortcomings when it comes to building AI.

Tel Aviv's startup scene underwent a transformation around 2019, moving from a system of "Holy Grail exits," as Eli David, CEO of StartUp Link, puts it, to "building companies not looking to sell to Google right away." As has always been the case, the military is still the main source of founders--not least because almost everyone passes through it, but also for its emphasis on problem-solving and a focus on cybersecurity, AI, and robotics. There's growth in Web3, gaming, and productivity startups while countries like India are coming online as customers. "We have a brain-drain problem," admits Michel Abadi, managing partner of Maverick Ventures Israel. "But we have a lot of patience."

When it comes to video-based data, advances in computer vision have given a huge boost to the world of research, making the process of analyzing and drawing insights from moving images something that is scalable beyond the limits of a small team of humans. A startup called Theator has been applying this concept to the world of healthcare: It's using AI to "read" video captured during operations, to look for best practices but also to help identify key moments when an operation may have taken the wrong turn. Today, it is announcing $24 million in funding -- a sign of how both the medical world is adapting and adopting advances in AI to improve its own work; and how investors are stepping up to bet on the opportunity ahead. The funding is a significant extension to Theator's Series A of $15.5 million from February 2021, bringing the total for the round to $39.5 million, and $42.5 million overall. As with the earlier tranche, Insight Partners led this latest investment. Previous backers Blumberg Capital, Mayo Clinic, NFX, StageOne Ventures, iAngels and former Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt also participated, alongside new backers iCON and Ariel Cohen, TripActions' CEO and co-founder.

Run:ai, the company simplifying AI infrastructure orchestration and management, today announced that it has raised $75M in Series C round led by Tiger Global Management and Insight Partners, who led the previous Series B round. The round includes the participation of additional existing investors, TLV Partners and S Capital VC, bringing the total funding raised to date to $118M. Run:ai has grown sharply, with a 9x increase in Annual Recurring Revenue in the last year, while the company's staff more than tripled over the same period. The company plans to use the investment to further grow its global teams and will also be considering strategic acquisitions as it develops and enhances the company's Atlas software platform. Omri Geller, Run:ai CEO and co-founder, said, "It may sound dramatic, but AI is really the next phase of humanity's development. When we founded Run:ai, our vision was to build the de-facto foundational layer for running any AI workload. Our growth has been phenomenal, and this investment is a vote of confidence in our path. Run:ai is enabling organizations to orchestrate all stages of their AI work at scale, so companies can begin their AI journey and innovate faster."

Netflix's Korean drama "Squid Game" was one of the most-watched dubbed series of all time, proving the massive potential for foreign-language programming to become a hit in overseas markets. Now, a startup called Deepdub is capitalizing on the growing demand for localized content by automating parts of the dubbing process using AI technology. With its end-to-end platform, Deepdub can decrease the time it takes to complete a dubbing project, allowing content owners and studios to have results in weeks instead of months. What's more, it does this by using just a few minutes of the actors' voices -- so the dubbed version sounds more like the original. The Tel Aviv startup has now closed on $20 million in Series A funding for its efforts, led by New York-based investment firm Insight Partners.

WINT Water Intelligence, a leader in cutting-edge water management and leak-prevention solutions for construction, commercial and industrial applications, has completed a $15 million Series B funding round. The round was led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners and included participation from existing investors and numerous global construction and real-estate companies, such as Suffolk Construction, the Consensus Business Group, Tidhar, Electra, Ashtrom, Rogovin, and the Israel-Canada group. Water waste and leaks within built environments pose many risks to people, companies, and the planet alike. It can damage facilities, real estate, and construction sites, as water damage in facilities is a major source of insurance claims, with over $13 billion in annual payouts. Moreover, water waste and damage are also harming our planet, as it contributes to global water scarcity and carbon emissions since 13% of electricity consumption in the United States is related to water distribution and treatment.

Landing AI, which provides tools that make building and deploying AI systems in manufacturing faster and easier than ever, announced Series A funding of $57 million led by McRock Capital, the first investment firm focused exclusively on the Industrial IoT. In addition, New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, Taiwania Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Intel Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Far Eastern Group's DRIVE Catalyst, Walsin Lihwa, and AI Fund all participated in the round. Landing AI, led by artificial intelligence visionary, Andrew Ng, developed LandingLens, a fast, easy to use enterprise MLOps platform. It applies AI and deep learning to help manufacturers solve visual inspection problems, find product defects more reliably, and generate business value. Landing AI sees the next era of AI as one in which all companies access the benefits of AI--not just consumer internet companies like Google and Facebook--but legacy industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture.

Learn more about what comes next. Palo Alto, California-based Landing AI, the AI startup led by Andrew Ng -- the cofounder of Google Brain, one of Google's AI research divisions -- today announced that it raised $57 million in a series A funding round led by McRock Capital. In addition, Insight Partners, Taiwania Capital, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Intel Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Far Eastern Group's DRIVE Catalyst, Walsin Lihwa, and AI Fund participated, bringing Landing AI's total raised to around $100 million. The increased use of AI in manufacturing is dovetailing with the broader corporate sector's embrace of digitization. According to Google Cloud, 76% of manufacturing companies turned to data and analytics, cloud, and AI technologies due to the pandemic.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 8, 2021 -- Landing AI, which provides tools that make building and deploying AI systems in manufacturing faster and easier than ever, today announced Series A funding of $57 million led by McRock Capital, the first investment firm focused exclusively on the Industrial IoT. In addition, New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, Taiwania Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Intel Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Far Eastern Group's DRIVE Catalyst, Walsin Lihwa, and AI Fund all participated in the round. "Landing AI will unleash the power of the Industrial IoT one company, one factory, and one manufacturing line at a time." Landing AI, led by artificial intelligence visionary, Andrew Ng, developed LandingLens, a fast, easy-to-use enterprise MLOps platform. It applies AI and deep learning to help manufacturers solve visual inspection problems, find product defects more reliably, and generate business value.

Building usable models to run AI algorithms requires not just adequate data to train systems, but also the right hardware subsequently to run them. But because the theoretical and practical are often not the same thing, there is often a gap between what data scientists may hope to do and what they practically do. Today, a startup called Deci that has built a deep learning platform to help bridge that gap -- by building models that can work with the data and hardware that are available to use -- is announcing some funding after finding strong traction for its products with Fortune 500 tech companies running mass-market, AI-based products based on video and other computer vision-based services. The Tel Aviv-based startup has picked up a Series A of $21 million, money that it will be using to continue expanding its product and customer base. Insight Partners is leading the round, with previous backers Square Peg, Emerge and Jibe Ventures, alongside some new backers: Samsung Next, Vintage Investment Partners, and Fort Ross Ventures.