The implications for Israeli businesses are strongly beneficial, and we asked Winston Taylor’s Israel desk leader Josef Fuss to dive deeper into them:

IsraelDesks: For Israeli clients and businesses unfamiliar with the new platform, how would you describe Winston Taylor and what the combined firm now represents in the international legal market?

Josef Fuss: Winston Taylor is a transatlantic law firm built for the businesses, people, and markets driving capital and innovation. The firm is present in the major commercial centers that matter to global clients: the US, the UK, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. With a team of over 1,400 lawyers, Winston Taylor brings deep experience in Major Litigation, Critical Transactions, Strategic IP, and Private Wealth; and four focus sectors: Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Financial Services, and Projects, Energy & Infrastructure. Whatever the challenge, Winston Taylor is in the room with its clients, shoulder to shoulder in the everyday moments, and the ones that change everything.

IsraelDesks: What strategic advantages does the merger create for Israeli companies operating or expanding internationally?

Josef Fuss: Winston Taylor provides a significant boost to business in Israel as it opens many new opportunities for Israeli companies in the US, Europe and Latin America. We’re excited to be able to serve Israeli businesses looking at broader expansion to the US market, whether that’s listing on US capital markets, acquiring US targets or selling to US buyers, raising finance in the US, or operating and expanding products and services to the US.

The ability to service IP-rich Israeli businesses across the US and Europe in one firm makes our new firm a compelling proposition and is a significant advantage for Israeli businesses looking at rapid growth and for support on their critical transactions.

Winston Taylor builds upon the European coverage that the UK-led businesses of Taylor Wessing have been offering Israeli clients for decades. All the key lawyers offering those services will now belong to one firm – Winston Taylor.

IsraelDesks: How does the combined firm strengthen your ability to support Israeli clients on cross-border transactions, disputes, and strategic growth initiatives?

Josef Fuss: We’re focusing on those areas where our clients need us most, and that most certainly applies to our Israeli client and contact base. The new firm will focus on four key areas:

(1) Critical transactions – we’ll help drive deals across the value spectrum, from early-stage venture funding to significant growth investments, private equity, M&A and capital markets.

(2) Strategic IP – we’ll work with IP-rich businesses to protect, scale and defend ideas with a holistic IP offering. Winston Taylor combines one of the strongest IP groups in Europe with a very strong US practice, to create one of the largest and most highly-rated IP teams in the world.

(3) Major litigation – we’ll protect and defend our clients as they break new ground, and our combination’s strength means that we’ll fast be recognised as market leaders in complex investigations and cross-border litigation.

(4) Private wealth. Private capital often sits at the heart of leading businesses, industries, and markets in Israel and across the globe. From founders and family offices to multi-jurisdictional estates, our new firm will support private wealth – and the businesses it creates and grows – throughout its life-cycle. These four key areas resonate strongly with our Israeli client base.

IsraelDesks: Which sectors or types of Israeli businesses do you believe stand to benefit most from Winston Taylor’s expanded global platform?

Josef Fuss: It has a positive impact on all our Israeli clients, irrespective of sector. But we’ll continue to focus on Israeli companies in key sectors such as Technology, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Financial Services, and real estate.

IsraelDesks: Looking ahead, what role do you see Israel playing within Winston Taylor’s broader international strategy?

Josef Fuss: Because Israeli tech firms have forged such an important and leading role in the tech sector the country will remain a key geographic focus for us. On the one hand we’ll continue to see innovative new businesses seeking international markets to sell their products and services to and in which they can seek investment and raise finance for future growth and on the other we will see strategic and financial investors and acquirers looking to invest and acquire these businesses. Our tech-sector expertise, our long history of supporting innovators and fast-growth businesses and those investing and acquiring them, and our ability to provide extensive access to both European and US markets means that Winston Taylor will quickly become a firm of choice for such critical transactions.

The post Winston Taylor: How the newly combined firm can service Israeli companies appeared first on IsraelDesks.

Industry representatives warned that Israel risks crossing a critical cost threshold in which local tech employees become more expensive than comparable workers in Silicon Valley. The concern is that sustained currency strength could make Israeli R&D operations less competitive within global corporate budgeting processes.

The discussions come as multinational technology companies continue to play a central role in Israel’s innovation ecosystem, both as major employers and as buyers of local startups and technologies.

Read more in Globes.

The post Tech giants seek government relief from strong shekel pressure appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The offer values Evoke at 52 pence per share, representing a 33.8% premium to its closing price before deal discussions were confirmed. The company’s board unanimously recommended the transaction, which also includes a partial cash alternative capped at approximately GBP 117 million.

Private lenders led by TPG Credit, alongside Oaktree and OHA, have committed approximately GBP 889 million to refinance Evoke’s existing debt and support the transaction.

S. Horowitz and Milbank are representing Bally’s Intralot.

Herzog and Latham & Watkins are acting for Evoke.

The post Evoke agrees to USD326m Bally’s Intralot takeover appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Cyberstarts and Temasek, alongside existing investors including Accel, AT&T Ventures, Blackstone, Coatue, and Spark Capital. The raise brings Cyera’s total funding to more than USD 2 billion.

Cyera said the new capital will support continued development of its AI security platform, which helps enterprises identify, classify, govern, and protect data across cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments as AI adoption accelerates.

Meitar represented Cyera, with the team led by Dan Shamgar and Alon Shafrir.

The post Cyera raises USD600m at USD12b valuation appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The 30,000-square-meter facility will supply farmers across the region and is expected to create approximately 200 direct jobs, while supporting local suppliers and service providers. The plant will include advanced automation systems aimed at improving production quality, efficiency, and reliability.

Founded at Kibbutz Hatzerim in 1965, Netafim has grown into a global leader in drip irrigation and precision agriculture, with 33 subsidiaries, 19 manufacturing plants, two recycling plants, and more than 4,500 employees worldwide.

Read more in The Jerusalem Post.

The post Netafim opens major manufacturing plant in Mexico appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The session, featuring Partner Vinita Arora and Legal Director Jan Colhoun, will examine key changes to unfair dismissal rules, including the lowering of the qualification period and the removal of the cap on damages, and what these reforms may mean for employers making workforce decisions involving senior executives and high earners.

The webinar is designed for businesses with UK-based employees and will provide practical guidance on preparing for the new regime, with an opportunity for Q&A.

Register here.

The post DLA Piper webinar to examine upcoming UK employment law reforms appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The round was led by Brightmind Partners, with participation from existing investors Viola Ventures and Blumberg Capital, as well as new investors including Datadog Ventures, Skinos Ventures, George Kurtz, Yevgeny Dibrov, and Nadir Izrael. Aryon is also being backed by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, actor Assi Cohen, and singer Omer Adam.

Aryon develops a platform designed to help organizations secure cloud environments by preventing misconfigurations and risks before they reach production. The company was founded by Ron Arbel, Ariel Litmanovich, and Yair Ladizhensky, alumni of an IDF cyber unit, and already has paying customers including US banks, an international shipping company, and a US mortgage lender.

Erdinast, Ben Nathan, Toledano represented Aryon Security on the transaction, with a team of Roy Caner, Oded Natan, Ori Zahav, Eyal Birenberg, and Shahar Amshalom.

The post Aryon Security raises USD25m Series A appeared first on IsraelDesks.

The company said the funding will help scale its AI fabric offering, which is designed to support large AI clusters using open, multi-vendor Ethernet infrastructure. DriveNets’ technology is used to improve network performance and GPU utilization across AI infrastructure environments, including hyperscalers, foundation model companies, NeoClouds, and large enterprises.

Meitar represented DriveNets on the transaction, with the team led by Alon Sahar, Ori Kaufman, Muhammad Assalieh, Keren Druker, and Yuval Miller.

The post DriveNets raises USD410m Series D for AI networking infrastructure appeared first on IsraelDesks.

Bagira develops military training simulation systems used by defense forces worldwide, with customized mission-readiness solutions deployed in approximately 40 countries and used by hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Herzog represented Bagira on the IPO, with the team led by Efrat Tzur, Michal Gladstein, Eden Ressler, and Noam Sion.

The post Bagira completes TASE IPO at NIS3.3b valuation appeared first on IsraelDesks.

As part of the transaction, approximately NIS 33.3 million of the offering proceeds were paid to shareholders participating in the offer for sale.

Arnon, Tadmor-Levy represented Rustic Bakery on the offering. The firm’s team included Moshe Pasker, Amir Scharf, Tal Jakubowicz, Romem Lavi Dahan, and Gal Tyk.

The post Rustic Bakery completes TASE IPO at NIS800m valuation appeared first on IsraelDesks.