This month Calcalist released its annual list of the 50 most promising Israeli startups. One sector that continued to thrive was fintech. As one of the most essential sectors in Israel, Fintech has continued to show what Israeli companies can do to help banks, businesses and customers around the world.

Industry: AI-powered cloud | Founded: 2018 | Founders: Lior Yogev, Yaniv Zecharya and Uri Katz | Employees: 120 between Israel, Great Britain, Canada and USA | Funding: $150 million from Key1 Capital, Euclidean Capital, Hamilton Lane, Blumberg Capital, Team8, Citi, State Street

FundGuard’s founders created a platform for managing mutual funds, ETFs and insurance products, convincing financial institutions to replace their outdated systems. FundGuard’s founders – Lior Yogev (CEO), Yaniv Zecharya (CTO) and Uri Katz (VP R&D) – decided not to take the challenging path of the fintech sector and to found another company focused on payments. Instead, they chose to create an infrastructure company for the mutual fund industry. This is a challenging field to develop technology for, and it’s even more challenging to sell a product to financial institutions who tend to be very conservative when it comes to their technology infrastructure. The systems built by FundGuard replace the outdated systems installed in most banks that are unable to address these challenges. The company’s technology enables the identification of problems and failures, providing practical insights to improve management while facilitating operational efficiency and dramatically reducing financial institutions’ expenses.

Sector: Fintech | Founded: 2018 | Founders: Roey Dor and Omri Dor | Funding: $55 million from 83North, HighSage Ventures, 10D, Entrée Capital and MUFG

Using open banking and artificial intelligence, Obligo offers a reliable, streamlined rental experience that allows qualified renters to avoid paying a security deposit and instead use it to save, invest or spend. Obligo offers property owners and managers the ability to maintain comprehensive protection, reduce overhead and offer attractive amenities for renters. As the no-deposit industry’s preferred software partner, Obligo can be easily integrated into property management and financial services software. Obligo leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning and historical lease performance data to produce a simple, short and transparent tenant qualification process. The easiest way to qualify is to link a bank account via open banking. Obligo examines several key parameters of a renter’s bank account history to immediately determine whether they meet the qualifying criteria for deposit-free living. If a renter doesn’t qualify by linking their bank account, Obligo identifies why and offers alternative paths to qualification. Obligo’s mission is to power the rental experience of the future and build trust among renters and owners through financial technology. As the first security deposit alternative using bank-issued letters of credit backed by Wells Fargo, Obligo uses open banking and artificial intelligence to determine renters’ eligibility to rent without a deposit. Founded in 2018 by brothers Roey Dor and Omri Dor, Obligo has raised more than $50 million and is looking to bring its industry-changing rental solutions to millions of homes across the United States.

Sector: Fintech | Establishment: 2021 | Founders: Benjamin Avraham | Employees: 100 | Funding: bootstrap

Okoora provides advanced solutions to streamline cross-border financial processes and reduce currency risk for organizations of all sizes. Okoora is an automated currency management platform designed to help businesses plan, execute and manage global financial transactions with the help of artificial intelligence. The company has developed ABCM, an enterprise-grade platform for planning, executing and managing global financial transactions in over 100 currencies, while simplifying currency management by unifying all assets, services and transactions on one intuitive financial infrastructure. Okoora, founded in 2021 by Benjamin Avraham, founder of Ofakim Group, an Israel-based financial risk management firm, currently boasts a committed team of 100 professionals in Israel, Switzerland, Germany and India. With the aim of further European expansion, Okoora is preparing to expand its workforce, with the aim of strengthening its operational capacity and providing exceptional service to its growing customer base.

Sector: Fintech | Establishment: 2020 | Founders: Matan Fattal and Doron Passov | Funding: $25 million from Insight Partners, Cardumen Capital, Citi Ventures and Team8

IVIX offers a platform designed for tax authorities to improve audit efficiency and increase tax revenue. By transforming publicly available business data into precise insights using modern algorithms, IVIX helps identify potential tax evasion. This allows tax authorities to allocate their resources more effectively, increase collection rates and promote deterrence in the digital economy. IVIX’s technology leverages publicly available data to provide tax authorities with insights into the shadow economy so they can tackle large-scale tax evasion. The company was founded in 2020 by CEO Matan Fattal and CPO Doron Passov, both with experience in elite intelligence units. Fattal served in the renowned Unit 8200 and was the founder and CEO of Sliverfort, which he left in 2020. Passov served in the IDF Unit 81 and was a senior product manager at Gita Technologies. IVIX is currently used by major government agencies around the world, including the Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Internal Revenue Service and the tax authorities of several states in the United States. The company has attracted top talent and expertise, including former IRS criminal investigations chief John D. (Don) Fort as chief business officer and tax industry veteran Deborah Pianko as director of sales for North America.

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