Latest / Israel Tech Daily / Amazon eyes Decart at $7 billion, HUB Security faces an insolvency petition, and One Zero cuts jobs

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Amazon eyes Decart at $7 billion, HUB Security faces an insolvency petition, and One Zero cuts jobs · Israel Tech Daily

• 0:00
  Noa: Amazon is in talks to buy Decart, an AI startup founded by three Israeli engineers, in a deal that could value it at around $7 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• 0:11
  Eli: That comes only weeks after Anthropic walked away from buying the same company.
• 0:21
  Noa: Good morning, it's Monday, the twelfth of October. I'm Noa.
• 0:25
  Eli: And I'm Eli. Today: Amazon and Decart, an insolvency petition against HUB Security, a third round of layoffs at One Zero, and the finance minister's answer on taxing stock options.
• 0:38
  Noa: Bloomberg, citing the Wall Street Journal, reports that Amazon is negotiating to acquire Decart for around $7 billion. The Journal says a deal could be wrapped up soon if the talks don't collapse. Neither company has announced anything.
• 0:53
  Eli: Decart was founded in 2023 by brothers Dean and Orian Leitersdorf, and Moshe Shalev. According to PitchBook data cited by TradingKey, it has raised more than $400 million, from investors including Sequoia Capital and Benchmark. In May it was valued at nearly $4 billion.
• 1:12
  Noa: So what would Amazon be getting?
• 1:14
  Eli: Two things, according to the reports. Software that lets developers move AI work between different chips, and so-called world models, named Lucy and Oasis, that generate interactive three-dimensional environments. TradingKey says Amazon's cloud arm gave Decart early access to its Trainium3 chip last year.
• 1:35
  Noa: And that matters because Amazon is building its own chips as an alternative to Nvidia. Software that makes those chips easier to use could bring more developers to its cloud.
• 1:44
  Eli: Decart has also been talking to other buyers. Israel Hayom reports there were talks with Nvidia about a month ago, and then with Anthropic. Bloomberg says Anthropic had discussed a price of about $6 billion and carried out due diligence, before deciding against the deal in September. Israel Hayom says it was not satisfied with what it found.
• 2:04
  Noa: Next, HUB Security. Globes reports that a consulting firm, Asiag, has asked the court to open insolvency proceedings against the Nasdaq-listed cyber company, and to appoint a trustee.
• 2:16
  Eli: Asiag says HUB owes it close to $500,000 for accounting and economic consulting. According to the petition, HUB acknowledged the debt, received a discount and a payment plan, and then broke it. Asiag also says HUB's finance vice president wrote that the company had no money to pay July salaries.
• 2:37
  Noa: Globes does not report a response from HUB to the petition. Separately, HUB agreed in August to sell its subsidiary Q Point to Malam Team for $8.7 million, and told the court the money would go to its creditors. A lender to another company HUB controls has an attachment on those shares, and the Tel Aviv District Court refused HUB's request to lift it.
• 2:58
  Eli: It is a long fall. HUB merged with a SPAC in February 2023 and listed on Nasdaq at a valuation of $1.28 billion. Less than two years later, Globes says, it had written down almost 99 percent of its value. And HUB itself told the court that after the Q Point sale, it would have no other significant asset.
• 3:19
  Noa: Digital bank One Zero is laying off about 25 people, around 7 percent of its roughly 350 staff, CTech reports. It will also leave about 10 positions unfilled. Notices went out on Sunday morning.
• 3:32
  Eli: It is the bank's third round of cuts since the start of 2024. What is different this time is that the business is improving. CTech says first-half revenue rose 33 percent to 66 million shekels, the net loss narrowed by 27 percent, and customers now number more than 200,000. The bank expects to be profitable in 2027.
• 3:54
  Noa: Chief executive Eyal Gafni told staff the bank has to keep growing without adding people or costs, and pointed to artificial intelligence as a way to speed things up. The bank has not said these jobs are being directly replaced by AI.
• 4:08
  Eli: Payroll was already shrinking. In 2025, salary costs fell almost 9 percent, to 120 million shekels, which the bank put down to adjusting its workforce.
• 4:18
  Noa: In venture capital, DIG Ventures has closed its third fund at $120 million, Pulse 2.0 reports. It backs early-stage enterprise infrastructure and AI startups in Europe and Israel.
• 4:32
  Eli: Its backers include Horsley Bridge Partners and Sofina, along with founders such as Datadog chief executive Olivier Pomel and former GitHub chief executive Thomas Dohmke. The firm says it will keep investing at the very earliest stage, the strategy set by its founder, Ross Mason.
• 4:50
  Noa: Yesterday we told you the Finance Ministry was also weighing a higher tax on employees' stock options. Today, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says no. Globes reports he called loading taxes onto high tech a mistake that would hurt the economy.
• 5:04
  Eli: Under the plan Globes described, employees who don't exercise their options when they vest would pay 30 percent when they later sell, instead of the 25 percent rate they get today. Psagot Equity's chief executive, Omer Yaniv, told Globes the Treasury estimates that would bring in about 2 billion shekels a year.
• 5:23
  Noa: Later reports said Smotrich has barred any change to high-tech employee taxes until the elections. But Globes points out the recommendations were aimed at the 2027 budget legislation, which the next government will pass, and a new finance minister could see it differently.
• 5:39
  Noa: Now the quick round-up.
• 5:40
  Eli: Similarweb has set out the pay package for its incoming chief executive, Michael Ackerman, who starts in November, Globes reports. It offers up to $1.6 million in cash including bonuses, and up to $10 million in restricted shares, subject to shareholder approval.
• 5:57
  Noa: TheMarker reports that Corgi, a San Francisco AI insurance startup that has raised about half a billion dollars in two years, registered an Israeli subsidiary last month and rented an office in Tel Aviv's Alon Towers. It plans to sell insurance to Israeli tech companies.
• 6:14
  Eli: Israel Aerospace Industries is unveiling Point at Air, a radar lifted on an aerostat that can be moved as needs change, at the US Army's annual exhibition in Washington this week, CTech reports. It has not disclosed the price, range or any customers.
• 6:31
  Noa: And Maris-Tech says it has received a $10 million order, the largest in its history, for video systems on next-generation manned aircraft, Israel Defense reports. The total could reach about $14.1 million if options are exercised.
• 6:47
  Eli: What to watch: whether Amazon and Decart sign. TradingKey, citing the Journal, says a deal could come quickly if no other bidders join. At around $7 billion, it would be close to double Decart's valuation in May, and it would show how much Amazon is willing to pay to make its own chips easier to use.
• 7:06
  Eli: Follow Israel Tech Daily wherever you get your podcasts, and read more at startuptofollow.com.
• 7:12
  Noa: See you tomorrow morning.