'Our operating model is high-touch," says Gideon Argov, managing partner at New Era. The Israel-US venture capital fund recently announced a $140 million second investment fund and is looking toward a third fund to leverage its latest success. New Era's funds are already valued at more than $500m. Established in 2017 by Argov and Ran Simha, the fund focuses on early-stage investments in Israeli start-ups that use breakthrough technologies, emphasizing artificial intelligence and machine learning."We "We think that Israeli companies should not be sold prematurely. They need to become established outside Israel to realize their full potential and develop a global reach. "It is important that they attain this regardless of whether they become public companies.

By 2025 the automotive AI sector could be creating as much as $26.5 billion in annual revenue. The sector is clearly booming, particularly in Israel, which has become a hotbed of talent. Ottopia is one Israeli start-up that has just closed $3 million in seed funding from investors. Unlike, some autonomous driving companies, it believes there's still a need for humans in the self-driving process. "We tackle the most difficult 1% of AV performance with a remote human operator. A remote human is called whenever and wherever the AV isn't sure what to do on the road. The trigger could also come from passengers in the AV," Says Co-founder and CEO of Ottopia, Amit Rosenzweig.