Loukas Nikolaou

𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 A new KPMG Israel–Microsoft Israel survey reveals a striking gap: ▪️ 75% of organizations see AI as a major competitive advantage ▪️Only 25% are using it extensively This isn’t just a statistic—it’s a call to action. At KPMG, we see AI not as a buzzword, but as the engine of real business transformation. From data analysis to customer experience, AI is already reshaping how companies operate. We’re helping clients bridge gaps, overcome hurdles, and turn AI potential into performance. The future belongs to those who lead, experiment, and treat AI as a strategic pillar. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. Moran Ben Gigi | Ido Ron | Shira Shacham Kessler | Alon Haimovich | Adi Crystal | Gali Glik | Maggie Sorek | Gidon Barnett

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The startup nation has done it again! 👏🏼 Google for Startups just announced the first cohort of its Growth Academy: AI for GovTech, with 25 companies that leverage AI to assist governments and improve life for citizens across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. And among those selected companies, there is an Israeli startup: CargoSeer, that streamlines how customs agencies check international cargo shipments using AI. I’m humbled to see founders who bring fresh solutions to the complex problems societies have been trying to solve for years and even decades. And so proud of how Google& Google for Startups Israel supports the ecosystem and helps innovative startups make a real difference in the world!

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Ever since Eyal Melamed joined as our VP R&D, we've been having some incredible, thought-provoking conversations. These aren't your typical executive check-ins. We get into the weeds on the technical challenges that fascinate us both - the kind of deep infrastructure work that brought Eyal to Rise in the first place. We talk about what it truly takes to make AI work at scale in ad tech - a massive undertaking that spans tackling infrastructure challenges, processing hundreds of trillions of data points in real-time, and building auction systems that simply never fail. Eyal calls our Smart Auction Management technology "one of the most sophisticated AI-powered auction engines in the industry." Coming from someone who’s seen and navigated scale at some of the most advanced tech organizations, that hits differently. This piece came out today about his take on what we've built here. https://lnkd.in/dbuSK2Nd Honestly, during all these conversations, one thing became clear to me: we’ve spent so much time building that we haven’t shared how we actually think differently about AI infrastructure. We’re built on a foundation of big data expertise - processing hundreds of trillions of data points every single day (take a moment to let that sink in..). We’ve engineered AI-based autoscaling that maintains performance at millions of requests per second. Our optimization models don’t hide behind black-box magic - they deliver transparent, explainable results.  And now, we’re layering Gen-AI on top of an infrastructure that already runs at scale like few others can imagine. So something this big calls for something new: Every week, I'll be sharing insights from our journey building AI-driven programmatic technology - the technical and strategic thinking behind systems that actually work in production. Excited to share the lessons we're learning while building AI at scale. P.S. Curious what you see here — authentic photo or AI-generated?

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📍 On stage at the Microsoft AI Playground event this week, our CEO and co-founder Yotam Segev joined a powerful panel alongside Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk of Microsoft, Dr. Dean Leitersdorf of Decart AI, and moderator Gidon Ucko to discuss the future of AI, data, and cybersecurity. As Yotam put it: “For the cybersecurity field in general, and data security in particular, AI represents the 'Big Bang' of organizational data. Whereas just a few years ago organizations could invest significant resources to control the location of their data, today that task has become nearly impossible. The attack surface has expanded significantly, and the need for a data security solution has become imperative.” It was a meaningful conversation about innovation, responsibility, and playing our part in the future we’re building together.

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What does it really mean to be a CTO today? 🤔 It’s not just about technology — it’s about shaping vision, driving growth and making the key decisions that define a company’s future. In the first part of our interview with Oleksandr Zakharov, CTO at GoReel, we look at how the role extends far beyond leading the tech team. Oleksandr shares his perspective on how technical leadership can directly influence business success, which decisions truly move the company forward and how to balance bold innovation with real business needs. 🎥 Watch the video to hear his insights — and stay tuned for the next part of this series.

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Pretty crazy/true story. We recently crashed the call center of one of Israel’s largest telecom providers. In a good way. When we suggested our community members switch energy providers to save on their bill with hyper-personalized offers… 5,000 did within 3 days. The full context? Israel’s Ministry of Energy rolled out a pro-consumer reform to make energy cheaper. To advertise, they pushed a traditional TV campaign to switch providers. But barely anyone did. Only 6% of RiseUp customers had ever switched energy providers. The national average was 7.1%. So we applied behavioral finance at scale to encourage switching with the RiseUp Energy Challenge. And to do it, we borrowed a framework that breaks down how to get people to change their behavior, called “The Switch Framework” coined by the Heath Brothers. 3 steps to change behavior: 1/ Convince the rational brain (Rider) 2/ Motivate the emotional side (Elephant) 3/ And make the path easy (Road) Here’s how we applied it: 1/ Convince (Rider): Show each RiseUp customer their exact household’s savings if they would switch provider. And why they they should switch now. 2/ Motivate (Elephant): We turned it into a community challenge with social proof and momentum. 3/ Pave the road (Road): We provided a guided, low-friction flow at the right cash-flow moment (bill cycles, available balance). And it was pretty successful.. - 10,000 people signed up the challenge in days - 5,000 completed the switch in 72 hours - Cellcom received ~2,200 qualified leads (~22%) during the surge and their phone lines crashed - Post-challenge, our customers’ switch rate jumped from 6% → 16% (≈ 2.25× the country average) Cool to see hundreds of families saving on their energy bill now. My two cents on why it worked? Personalized offers at the right time is everything. Offers must respect real cash flow and human behavior - or they won’t convert. PS: If you’re a bank or fintech and want our full playbook for how to build personalized offers for your customers, DM me.

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🎙️✨ #SPOTLIGHT E6 is live! Stav Levi Neumark (Co-founder & CEO, Alta | AI Revenue Workforce) joins Avi Eyal (Managing Partner, Entrée Capital) to talk about how #AI #agents are transforming the way sales get done and reshaping #GTM execution. Together they dive into: 🔥 The data and infrastructure behind agent performance 🔥 How AI agents unlock pipeline most teams ignore 🔥 Rethinking how AI tools are priced and measured 🔥 What early-stage founders should get right from day one If you're building with AI agents, thinking about GTM scale, or rethinking how sales get done, this one’s for you. 🎧 Watch & listen now 👉 https://bit.ly/3IxMu5A 

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🌐🇮🇱 Today in IsraelTech: Kela Technologies Acquires AI Startup Pelanor in First Major Deal Defense tech startup Kela, building an “operating system for militaries,” has made its first acquisition with the purchase of Pelanor, an Israeli AI company specializing in real-time cloud cost optimization and anomaly detection. Big step forward for Kela co-founders Hamutal Meridor, Alon Dror, Jason Manne, and Omer Bar-Ilan - and Pelanor’s founding team Matan Mates, Ido Kotler, and Yotam Tanay. Source: CTech Today's update is brought to you by The Recruitery - helping Israeli cybersecurity startups find top GTM talent across global markets.

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Your CFO just became your most important hire. After listening to Seema Amble and Ivan Makarov at the Sequence Collect conference by Riya Grover Enda Cahill, here's why ↓ The finance department is having its iPhone moment. By 2026, CFOs won't be the people who say "no" to spending—they'll be the architects of how your company makes money. The shift is already happening: → Manual reconciliation? Dead. AI now handles transaction categorization with LLM-powered OCR that's 10x more accurate than systems from just 3 years ago. → Invoice processing? Automated. Revenue recognition happens without human intervention. → Cash flow tracking? Real-time across 60+ bank accounts without anyone playing detective. As Seema Amble from Andreessen Horowitz put it: "LLM-powered OCR is so much more powerful and accurate than the OCR we had to parse documents three or four years ago." But here's the real kicker: Finance leaders aren't waiting for IT anymore. They're building their own solutions. Ivan Makarov shared: "Three weeks ago, everybody was talking about building agents and not just asking engineers to build agents, but actually doing it themselves." They've shifted from process-first to data-first thinking. The best CFOs are becoming data architects, not just number crunchers. The numbers prove it: • A16z wrote some of their biggest checks in CFO tech this summer • Investors now ask founders by default: "How are you approaching AI?" • The fastest-growing companies have the smallest finance headcounts The bottom line? CFOs are evolving from financial guardians to revenue architects. They're not just reporting on the business—they're designing how it operates. "When the founder says, 'we have to go AI-first,' the task of implementing lands on the finance team's plate." Systems of action are replacing systems of record. The 2026 CFO doesn't chase discrepancies. They architect forecasting systems that power growth decisions. The question isn't whether this transformation will happen. The question is whether your CFO will lead it or get left behind. What's your take? Are you seeing finance teams become more strategic in your organization? https://lnkd.in/gpU38Gsr

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