Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli startup Converge Bio has secured $25 million in a Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $30 million. Founded in 2024, Converge develops an AI platform that accelerates drug discovery for Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies, offering tools for target identification, antibody design, and protein optimization.

The platform is already in use by over a dozen global companies, delivering measurable results in oncology, autoimmune, and neurodegenerative research. CEO Dov Gertz said the goal is to make “every Biotech and pharma company an AI company.”

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli defense technology firm Axon Vision said it has received a $350,000 order from U.S.-based Leonardo DRS for its new AI-driven counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), marking a further step in growing defense cooperation between Israel and the United States.

The Tel Aviv-based company said the initial delivery will provide end-to-end detection, classification, tracking, and interception of aerial threats, supporting U.S. defense and homeland security forces. The order follows a strategic partnership signed in late 2025 and will see the systems evaluated in live operational exercises on manned and unmanned platforms.

Axon Vision, whose AI solutions are used by the Israeli military, said the U.S. market is a key growth focus in 2026.

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli police launched a security response on Tuesday after a wallet containing a note raising suspicions of a possible attempted attack on the President’s Residence was discovered in Jerusalem.

Officers, including bomb disposal experts, carried out searches and security procedures in coordination with presidential security officials.

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s RevitalVision published positive clinical data showing its digital therapeutic can improve vision in patients with infantile nystagmus, a congenital eye disorder affecting eye movement.

The study, conducted at Shamir Medical Center and published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, demonstrated significant improvements in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and functional vision. Nearly half of treated patients achieved vision sufficient for driving.

RevitalVision’s neuroplasticity-based program offers a non-invasive approach to enhancing cortical visual processing, providing new hope for those with limited treatment options. The therapy is FDA-cleared and delivered digitally under clinician supervision.

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Haifa-based biotech company MeMed has been awarded a $2 million grant from Israel’s Innovation Authority to establish the country’s first acute-care diagnostics and proteomics biobank. The initiative will accelerate development of AI-powered diagnostic tools for high-risk patients by combining biospecimens with clinical data and immune profiling.

MeMed’s biobank aims to address critical gaps in emergency medicine, where clinicians face high-stakes decisions without real-time biological insight. The company’s MeMed BV test is already FDA-cleared for distinguishing bacterial from viral infections in 15 minutes, while its MeMed Severity tool has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for predicting severe outcomes in acute infections.

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Tel Aviv-based CytoReason unveiled LINA, an AI assistant designed to speed up pharmaceutical research, at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. LINA helps scientists analyze medical data and understand how diseases work at the molecular level.

Unlike standard AI chatbots that can produce incorrect information, LINA is built on specialized disease models that keep its answers accurate and grounded in real biology. The platform generates analysis code and explains how genes and cells behave in different patients. CytoReason is testing LINA with major pharmaceutical companies including Takeda.

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released, for the first time, the recommendations of its inter-ministerial team on government innovation. The roadmap aims to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of public services by connecting initiatives, removing systemic barriers, and accelerating innovative solutions.

Presented at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new Government Innovation Space, the recommendations emphasize portfolio management, grassroots support under a strategic umbrella, workforce skill development, and incentivizing risk-friendly management.

Israel recently joined the OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, which guided the team with international best practices.

The Governance and Social Affairs Department of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is publishing, for the first time, the recommendations of the inter-ministerial team on innovation in government. This initiative aims to create a significant leap in the effectiveness and efficiency of public services and solutions. This will be achieved by laying out a strategic, holistic, and practical roadmap to concentrate efforts, connect and leverage processes, and by identifying, supporting, and accelerating innovative initiatives while removing systemic barriers to their advancement.

Yesterday, during the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Government Innovation Space, attended by Accountant General Yali Rothenberg and PMO Deputy Director General for Governance and Social Affairs Liron Hantz, the guiding principles underlying the team’s recommendations were presented. The establishment of this Innovation Space, created by the Accountant General’s Office and the PMO with the support of the inter-ministerial team, serves as a practical implementation of the strategic principles outlined in the report.

Recently, as part of the formulation of these recommendations, the Government of Israel joined the OPSI (Observatory of Public Sector Innovation) of the OECD. The OECD provided procedural and professional guidance to the team, based on international trends and in-depth learning from meetings with government officials in various countries. Israel’s Ambassador to the OECD, Shay Cohen, noted that this is a core issue for the organization in its efforts to assist member states with effective governance and the implementation of innovation. He added that for Israel, cooperation with the OECD in innovation is a top priority.

The inter-ministerial team consists of senior representatives from the Center of Governance (COG) – including the Ministry of Finance, the National Digital Directorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Civil Service Commission –consulting with various stakeholders inside and outside of government. The team was established in July 2023 with the backing of the directors-general of these government agencies.

Among other things, the professional work establishes the first operational doctrine for institutional-procedural innovation in the government. This includes a comprehensive approach to these efforts that goes beyond just digitization and digital innovation.

Main recommendations:

Portfolio Management: Creating and managing a government-wide, measurable portfolio of efforts based on a shared conceptual framework.

Hybrid Model: A model for managing innovation that supports and encourages grassroots initiatives while providing a strategic professional “umbrella” from a Center of Government (COG) perspective.

Removing Barriers: Focusing on the removal of obstacles to innovation as a central effort to enable progress.

Acceleration and Support: Supporting entrepreneurs and initiatives across the government to realize and leverage capabilities, including within dedicated spaces.

Human Capital Skills: Providing tools and skills for the workforce, emphasizing focused development and implementation “capsules.”

Incentivizing Management: Encouraging government bodies and managers to adopt risk management practices that enable and promote innovation.

PMO Acting Director General Drorit Steinmetz:

“We will continue to act out of a commitment to promoting a more efficient, smart, and effective public service for the benefit of Israel’s citizens. The team’s recommendations strengthen our ability to take previous efforts forward and connect them to bring greater collective benefit.”

PMO Deputy Director General for Governance and Social Affairs Liron Hantz:

“Innovation in government is not a luxury but a necessity. In this first-of-its-kind roadmap, we are creating a professional doctrine based on OECD principles. It aims to instill innovation throughout all government branches, accelerating innovative moves to leverage overall capabilities for the public’s benefit. The ‘Start-Up Nation’ must include the public sector and not remain the domain of the business sector alone.”

Full report link:

https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/files251124/he/teamreport120126.pdf

Jerusalem, 12 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israel Tax Authority announced that total levies collected from taxation of excess profits from natural resources by the end of 2025 increased to 8.8 billion Shekels ($2.7 billion), of which 7.3 billion Shekels ($2.3 billion) were absolute levies. In total, approximately 1.3 billion Shekels ($410 million) were collected in 2025, compared to approximately 1 billion Shekels ($310 million) in 2024. Approximately 1.2 billion Shekels ($380 million) became absolute, compared to 1.4 billion Shekels ($315 million) in 2024.

Non-final levies are levies that were collected as advances or as a deduction at source during the tax year and their collection is not yet final. After the end of the tax year, depending on the amount of the levy that will be calculated in the annual report that will be submitted, the said levy, in whole or in part, will become final. Final levies are levies that were collected based on annual reports submitted by the owners of oil and natural resource rights, as well as levies that were collected following a final assessment.