Weekly Innovations from ISRAEL #6 - Connecting the Past, Present and Future

🇮🇱 In this edition of Weekly Innovations from ISRAEL, we explore how an Israeli company is uncovering our personal roots and strengthening our connections to our rich cultural heritage - empowering people worldwide to rediscover their stories.

We’ll also explore a company that is leveraging AI to create immersive, gamified developer training experiences. We’ll talk about urban mobility, where intelligent ride-sharing solutions are transforming transportation systems into efficient digital networks; and about pioneering AI chips that are running complex neural networks locally on edge devices.

Get ready to be inspired by these remarkable Israeli companies that are harnessing the power of technology to connect us to our roots, enhance our skills, improve our daily lives, and push the boundaries of what’s possible!

MyHeritage - uniting our past, present, and future

MyHeritage is revolutionizing how we explore our roots and uncover the narratives that have shaped our existence.

From humble beginnings as a garage startup founded by Gilad Japhet, MyHeritage has blossomed into a global platform for discovering family history.

At the core of MyHeritage’s success lies a suite of technologies that seamlessly unite our past, present, and future - matching algorithms help users grow their family trees, and AI-powered tools that breathe new life into cherished family photos, repairing, enhancing, colorizing, and animating them.

With a vast database of 19.8 billion historical records and at-home DNA tests, MyHeritage empowers users to unravel their ethnic origins and connect with long-lost relatives.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a company founded in Israel, the Jewish state with deep-rooted connections to the past, MyHeritage provides a powerful tool for people worldwide to unravel their stories and strengthen their ties to their rich cultural legacy.

MyHeritage provides a powerful tool for people worldwide to discover the stories of their ancestry and strengthen their ties to their rich cultural legacy.

Wilco - learning by doing

A new platform is empowering software developers to unlock their full potential: Wilco , shaking up the training landscape with its virtual lab platform that allows coders to learn by doing, through realistic, immersive quests.

Founded by On Freund , Alon Carmel 🎗️ , and Shem Magnezi, Wilco’s platform excels at creating interactive and engaging training modules, leveraging AI-enhanced bots that mimic real-world experiences.

This lifelike gamified approach not only enhances knowledge retention but also fosters practical skills development, making it an invaluable resource for companies seeking to train their employees, customers, or partners effectively.

Wilco aims to give everyone, regardless of their background or knowledge level, the opportunity to gain new dev skills and master existing ones at an accelerated pace - and do it while having fun at the process.

Wilco allows developers to gain new skills while having fun at the process

Via - public transportation networks that people actually want to use

Reimagining how the world moves - that’s the bold vision of Via , an Israeli ride-sharing infrastructure company transforming urban transportation systems into an efficient, digital network that people actually want to use.

Founded by Daniel Ramot and Oren Shoval , Via enables larger shared vehicles to pick up commuters from designated stops and dynamically alter routes in real-time, adapting to passenger demand, traffic conditions, and other relevant factors. This innovative approach maximizes the efficiency and convenience of public transportation systems.

With a global footprint spanning over 400 local governments across more than 20 countries, Via’s impact is far-reaching. Their solutions not only enhance accessibility and convenience but also promote sustainability by reducing reliance on private vehicles, alleviating congestion, and minimizing emissions.

Via exemplifies Israel’s prowess in developing mobility solutions that address global transit needs. By leveraging advanced algorithms and data-driven approaches, Via is the future of public transportation.

Via enables larger shared vehicles to pick up commuters from designated stops and dynamically alter routes in real-time, adapting to passenger demand, traffic conditions, and other relevant factors.

Hailo- a penny-sized chip that does 26 trillion calculations per second

Hailo is a pioneering AI chip company revolutionizing edge computing. Their Hailo-8 edge AI processor executes an astonishing 26 trillion operations per second (TOPS) at a size smaller than a penny!

Founded by Orr Danon, Avi Baum , Hadar Zeitlin , and Rami Feig, Hailo has developed top-performing AI processors designed to run advanced machine learning applications on edge devices efficiently with low power consumption, small size, and low cost.

Their portfolio includes AI accelerators for real-time deep learning inference and AI vision processors that combine AI inferencing with computer vision capabilities, empowering smart cameras with unprecedented photographic magic.

What makes Hailo’s technology unique is its ability to run complex neural networks and generative AI models locally, without relying on cloud computing. This not only enhances privacy and security but also enables real-time response and decision-making in various applications, from autonomous vehicles and industrial automation to smart retail and personal computing.

Companies like Hailo exemplify Israel’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology and developing solutions that can positively impact people’s lives worldwide.

Hailo chips run complex neural networks and generative AI models locally - no cloud required

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Thank you for joining me on this exploration of Israeli innovations that are connecting the past, present, and future.