THE ENDGAME: Israel’s Tech Exits Show

He's on the speed dial of every strategic and financial acquirer doing business in Israel - both foreign and domestic.

After 20 years making some of Israel's best-known - and largest - deals, representing both the buy-side and the sell-side, celebrity M&A attorney Chaim Friedland (Gornitzky & Co) joins The Endgame to tell us about what founders need to do and - and gotta know about their tech exit in Israel.

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Inside:

Buyer Types: The critical differences between a strategic buyer and a financial buyer.

M&A Strategy: Entering the process by clearly defining "Need to have," "Nice to have," and "Throw away" goals.

Leadership: The importance of having a strong CFO and the necessity for founders to be emotionally mature enough to lead people or recognize when they should transition to a CTO or CIO role and bring in a professional CEO.

Israeli Regulatory Environment: Challenges within Israel's jurisdiction, including corporate law and tax requirements that often necessitate rulings. The current legal structure, particularly concerning leveraged buyouts (LBOs), makes certain transaction models uncommon compared to Europe or the US.

About:

⁠⁠Israel's Tech M&A Show⁠⁠, by ⁠⁠Zeevi Michel⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Sophia Tupolev⁠⁠, delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions — and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors — so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Produced by: Sophia Tupolev

Location: Google for Startups Campus Studio, Tel Aviv

Audio and video editing: ⁠⁠⁠Tomer Frishman

She leads billion-shekel exits, IPOs, and complex cross-border transactions for strategics, private equity, and VCs. One of Israel's top dealmakers, ⁠⁠Shelley Oppenheimer-Levi⁠⁠, is a partner at EY’s Strategy & Transactions practice.

Shelley is an 8200 alum, admitted lawyer, CPA, and one of EY’s youngest-ever partners. In this episode, she brings founders into the financial heart of the deal, and the real story told by the numbers. She shows us how ARR, diligence, and valuation gaps shape outcomes, and why time is the ultimate deal breaker.

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Inside:

• Shelley's Role: due diligence finance
• Annual recurring Revenue (ARR)
• M&A Valuations & Gaps
• The # 1 Enemy of the Deal
• Due Diligence (DD)
• Private Equity (PE) in Israel
• Future of Israeli Tech M&A
• Shelley's Personal Endgame
• Shelley on the Israeli Business Environment

About:

⁠Israel's Tech M&A Show⁠, by ⁠Zeevi Michel⁠ and ⁠Sophia Tupolev⁠, delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions — and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors — so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Produced by: Sophia Tupolev

Location: Google for Startups Campus Studio, Tel Aviv

Audio and video editing: ⁠⁠Tomer Frishman

The top highlights from conversations regarding real PR, deceptive reporting, and the truth behind the numbers.

For more:

• 002: Skeletons. The Razor’s Edge. Deal Breakers. Sim Koevary, Meitar (HE, with EN subs)
• 009: Yaron Weizenbluth (PwC): Why It’s Not All Transactional

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Join hosts Sophia Tupolev and Zeevi Michel on The Deal Room for your roundup of a hectic summer in Israeli tech M&A.

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This episode highlights:

• 25 announced deals totaling almost $8 billion in deal volume, confirming Israel's role as a "scale-up nation".

• The dominant commonality: AI and Generative AI influencing most acquisitions, especially in the cyber world.

• A "warning sign" regarding Israeli-founded multinationals, such as NICE (TASE & NASDAQ: NICE), choosing to acquire advanced AI companies based outside of Israel (like German-based Congnigy for close to $1B).

• The continued momentum of Private Equity (PEs), exemplified by Thoma Bravo acquiring Verint for above $2B & Advent snagging Sapiens for $2B.

Deals tracked this summer included:

• Datavant x DigitalOwl, $200M

• Unico x OwnID, Undisclosed

• Checkpoint x Lakera, $300M

• D-ID x Simpleshow, $60M

• Edwards Lifesciences x Vectorious, $497M

• Nemetschek x Firmus AI, Tens

• Indemnity x Sayata, Tens

• Cato x Aim Security, $350M

• Okta x Axiom, $100M

• Thoma Bravo x Verint, $2B

• Kraken x Capitalise.ai, Undisclosed

• Crusoe x Atero, $150M

• Advent x Sapiens, $2.5B

• Diginex x Findings, $305M

• Trivago x Holisto, $40M

• KPMG x Q.V., $5M

• EverC x G2 Risk Solutions, —

• Sayari x Mirato, —

• SentinelOne x Prompt, $250M

• Global-e x ReturnGo, Undisclosed

• Palo Alto x CyberArk, $25B

• NICE x Cognigy, $955M

• Palo Alto x ProtectAI, $700M

• WeSure Global Tech x Hourly, Combined valuation $53M

• Apple x TrueMeeting, Undisclosed

Chen Manzur, partner at Goldfarb, Gross, Seligman, is one of Israel’s leading M&A attorneys going on 18 years, hundreds of deals, and billions closed. Chen takes us into the minds of major Tier-1 North American acquirers on deals to acquire Israeli companies, many of whom he has represented. We get into what founders today need to know to not get left behind in a maturing market. This episode is in Hebrew with English-only subtitles.Inside:

• How Tier-1 strategic acquirers see Israeli companies
• How not to get crushed by the serial acquirer's M&A machine
• Why Delaware won’t always save you from Israeli tax
• Handling Innovation Authority's strings with foreign buyers
• LOIs aren’t just formalities, they’re leverage
• Raising the bar on Israeli-on-Israeli deals

Commandment 1: 50-50 co-founders? There’s always an alpha in the room.
Commandment 2: You only get one shot to get your house in order on Day Zero.
Commandment 3: The Israeli tax man is watching, even when you're in Delaware.
Commandment 4: Strings always come attached.
Commandment 5: Detailed LOI or die.
Commandment 6: No misdemeanors on blue and white deals.
Commandment 7: The devil in the details – careful with those first customer contracts.
Commandment 8: 99 problems but dead equity shouldn’t be one.
Commandment 9: It’s all about the Benjamins — and someone’s going to pay for your tax exposures.
Commandment 10: If you don’t know, now you know — your endgame starts on Day One.

About:

Israel's Tech M&A Show, by Zeevi Michel and Sophia Tupolev, delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions — and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors — so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Produced by: Sophia Tupolev

Location: Google for Startups Campus Studio, Tel Aviv

Audio and video editing: Tomer Frishman

10 minutes on 10 exits in June 2025 (~$500M in deal volume, plus one $3B mega-deal). A quick chat looking back at the most notable moments in the last month's popping tech M&A scene in Israel. We cover a bunch of fintech deals like Xero x Melio, Tipalti x Statement, two deals by Cyera, a second acquisition by Wix of Base44, and an immigrant-owned Israeli acquirer of popular B2C app Yango Deli.

With hosts ⁠⁠⁠Sophia Tupolev-Luz⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Zeevi Michel⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to executive summaries for founders⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Follow us on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

About:

Israel’s tech M&A show delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions—and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors—so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Everyone knows his work — he literally writes the annual Exits Report at PwC — but few know what he actually does for founders and deals, behind the scenes. Meet Yaron Weizenbluth, Partner & Head of Assurance at PwC Israel, who has quietly advised, audited, and signed off on hundreds of tech transactions and IPOs over the past two decades.

In this episode, hear about fatal founder mistakes, the power of informal relationship building in the advisory world, navigating the tension between what’s best for the founder vs. what’s best for the company.

Inside:

- What founders get wrong about personal vs. corporate tax exposure

- The reverse pyramid: why early-stage startups need senior advisors, not juniors- Due diligence - who should and shouldn’t work on it

- Questions of positioning the company to acquirers by using your advisors.

- Why the data room is “a meat grinder” — and how to come out whole

Navigate the show:

(0:00) Show intro

(03:15) How Yaron became “Mr. Exits Report”

(05:30) The media’s distortion of tech: hype cycles, fear cycles, and the real economy underneath.

(11:46) Are we screwed? Startup formation trends and optimism in hard times

(15:44) Fewer, better startups

(19:00) What Big Four advisors actually do

(27:50) Fatal mistakes: IP structure, personal tax exposure, and founder blind spots.

(30:22) Trusted advisors and informal relationships: building them before the retainer.

(35:20) Maturity and global mindset: where Israeli founders still lag.

(40:03) Data rooms are meat grinders: what founders must plan from day one.

(44:05) Should founders join every M&A meeting?

(49:08) Israeli vs. U.S. acquirers: checklist culture, trust, and flexibility.

(53:04) Who should run due diligence? (1:03:05) Yaron’s personal endgame

With hosts ⁠⁠Sophia Tupolev-Luz⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Zeevi Michel⁠⁠.This episode is in Hebrew with English-only subtitles.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZjfLuF59kWcN0sTt2uY_RtEiiY7JjGZlk2BFcFBriH0/edit?usp=sharing

⁠⁠Subscribe to executive summaries for founders⁠⁠

⁠⁠Follow us on LinkedIn⁠⁠

About:Israel’s tech M&A show delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions—and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors—so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Produced by: Sophia Tupolev-Luz

Location: Google for Startups Campus Studio, Tel Aviv

Audio and video editing: Tomer Frishman

12 minutes on 12 exits in May 2025 (at least $365M disclosed in M&A). Mostly strategics making moves, one blockbuster IPO and one unexpected move in the capital markets. A quick chat on the month's tech M&A.

With hosts ⁠⁠Sophia Tupolev-Luz⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Zeevi Michel⁠⁠.

⁠⁠Subscribe to executive summaries for founders⁠⁠

⁠⁠Follow us on LinkedIn⁠⁠

About:

Israel’s tech M&A show delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions—and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors—so they can better plan for their own endgame.

23 deals in 2025 so far. Startups snapping up others. PE... Still Bueller? A quick chat on this year's deal making so far, trash talking about the first half's deals in Israel tech M&A.

Navigate the episode:

(00:00) Show intro

(00:29) Recap of Recent Deals

(01:28) Types of Acquisitions and Buyers

(06:21) Undisclosed Deal Sizes and Their Implications

(10:47) Current Deal Volume and Market Momentum

(14:10) Breakdown of Acquirers in 2025 including Startups

(16:32) Private Equity's Role in the Market

With hosts ⁠Sophia Tupolev-Luz⁠ and ⁠Zeevi Michel⁠.

⁠Subscribe to executive summaries for founders⁠

⁠Follow us on LinkedIn⁠

About:

Israel’s tech M&A show delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions—and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors—so they can better plan for their own endgame.

He's the ultimate guy in finance. Hear from the VC that once launched Goldman Sachs in Israel, doing 17 years of M&A there as an investment banker: Amit Pilowsky then low-key started a tier-1 growth fund (Key1 Capital), backing the likes of SuperPlay (a $700M exit). Today, he's also got a hot new defense fund, Ace Capital Partners. 

If you’re an Israeli startup founder, you want to hear what Amit has to say on how to get acquired with grace. Plus, the window for startups to become acquirers now, and his take on private equity in the Israeli tech ecosystem. 

Inside:

• Getting on the acquirer radar – what investment bankers can do for founders, even informally (!)
• When startups should consider outbound M&A—and how to fund it
• The pros and cons of private equity firms as acquirers of Israeli startups and how startups can connect with these financial buyers.
• What investment bankers actually do, why they won’t take 90% of deals, and why founders should care

Navigate the show:

(00:00) Show intro

(02:05) The role of investment bankers for startups

(07:25) Engaging with investment bankers

(09:43) Building brand awareness in front of acquirers

(12:33) Investment banker landscape

(16:30) Investment banker business model

(28:30) Value provided by investment bankers

(32:23) Outbound M&A by startups

(47:54) Mistakes in startup-on-startup acquisitions

(56:33) The case for private equity in Israel

With hosts Sophia Tupolev-Luz and Zeevi Michel.

This episode is in Hebrew with English-only subtitles.

Transcript here.

Get Amit’s writing for founders considering outbound M&A: https://www.key1capital.com/blog

Subscribe to executive summaries for founders

Follow us on LinkedIn

About:

Israel’s tech M&A show delivers unfiltered conversations with key players from the startup lifecycle. This is a podcast for startups about the path to mergers and acquisitions—and their aftermath. We’re here to go behind the scenes to look at how transactions go terribly wrong or terrifically right.

Our goal:

To give founders new perspectives from the buy-side, sell-side, and investors—so they can better plan for their own endgame.

Produced by: Sophia Tupolev-Luz

Location: Google for Startups Campus Studio, Tel Aviv