Red Hat, IBM’s open-source software powerhouse, has acquired Israeli AI infrastructure startup Jounce in a deal estimated at $20 million, according to Calcalist. Just a year after emerging from stealth, Jounce becomes one of the fastest exits in Israel’s AI ecosystem, with the acquisition including retention incentives and milestone-based payments.
A Rapid Rise from Stealth to Strategic Exit
Founded in 2024 by alumni of Israel’s elite cyber and intelligence units, Unit 8200 and Talpiot, Jounce built a modular AI deployment platform designed for flexibility, security, and cost-efficiency. Its system supports over 10,000 deployment configurations, dynamically adapting to varying workloads and service-level objectives—key challenges for enterprises operationalizing AI at scale.
The startup received a $2 million seed round from Pitango First and was led by:
Dr. Roy Nissim (CEO, 28) – Talpiot and Unit 8200 alum, with a PhD in computer science, an MBA, and over 10 years of experience in AI and supercomputing.
Jonathan Zarecki (CPO) – Psagot and Unit 8200 graduate, with a master’s in computer science and deep experience in AI systems.
Aviran Badli (CTO) – Atuda and Unit 8200 alumnus, previously led MLOps teams and large-scale cloud infrastructure projects.
The acquisition positions Jounce’s technology at the heart of Red Hat’s AI cloud stack, complementing its hybrid cloud and Kubernetes-driven offerings. According to Dr. Nissim, Jounce’s early traction revealed a growing demand for integrated, end-to-end AI platforms, prompting the startup to seek a global partner. “We realized the best way to scale would be to partner with a strong, established player—so we connected with IBM,” he said.
“AI is evolving rapidly—but without the right infrastructure, it becomes expensive and insecure,” Nissim added. “Jounce solves this from the ground up.”
A New Layer in Red Hat’s Open Source Ecosystem
With the integration, Jounce’s platform will become part of Red Hat’s global product ecosystem, extending reach to enterprise customers across defense, finance, healthcare, and beyond. The move reinforces IBM’s broader AI and hybrid cloud strategy and reflects growing competition to deliver scalable, developer-friendly AI tooling.
Red Hat, acquired by IBM for $34 billion in 2018, has been a cornerstone of IBM’s transformation into a cloud-first company. This latest acquisition of Jounce underscores Red Hat’s intent to remain at the forefront of AI infrastructure—particularly in the open-source and hybrid environments it champions.
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