Israeli enterprise AI solutions startup BeyondMinds has notified its 65 employees that the company is shutting down. BeyondMinds CEO Roey Mechrez is helping employees to find positions in other companies. "Most of them are R&D people but there are also employees in the financial, human resources and sales sectors," Mechrez told "Globes." "We are currently in the midst of an organized process and seeing demand for these employees."
Nobody had foreseen that a company in the enterprise AI sector would fold and after deliveries startup Avo shut down its Israel operations last week, laying off all its employees in Israel, there are now concerns that the crisis over valuations has now extended more deeply into the startup ecosystem.
BeyondMinds developed automatic machine learning (AutoML) that allows the creation of models and ready-made products that can be used in such fields as production systems and finance. BeyondMinds has been competing with Israeli rival Pecan, which has raised $116 million to date. BeyondMinds itself raised $30 million to date. For unknown reasons, BeyondMinds decided not to raise more capital but rather to try and sell the company to a number of tech giants.
Mechrez said, "We worked very hard to sell the company and we were even in advanced talks but the sharp change in market conditions was problematic and unfortunately the deal fell through."
Mechrez denies reports that there were venture capital funds that sought to withdraw their investments in the company. "Regretfully, we decided last week that the right thing was to halt the company's business operations."
Located in the Alon Towers in Tel Aviv, the company was founded by Mechrez and Rotem Alaluf, who served as CEO until last year when Mechrez replaced him, and Or Kremer. According to the IVC website, BeyondMinds' investors include Dov Moran's Grove Ventures, Prof. Udi Weinstein and Ofir Shalvi, cofounders of Anobit, which was sold to Apple, and Check Point cofounder Marius Nacht.
Full disclosure, Marius Nacht is the former life partner of Anat Agmon, one of the controlling shareholders of "Globes." The two are engaged in a personal and economic dispute.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 23, 2022.
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