Personetics, a provider of AI-powered personalization and customer advocacy solutions used by the world’s top banks, has opened a new Research and Development (R&D) center in Nazareth, Israel. The new R&D center will support Personetics’ continued rapid growth. While the company’s R&D team has more than doubled in size in the last two years, further growth is required to support the company’s expanding customer base, which now includes more than 30 of the world’s leading banks, as well as new solutions the company is bringing to the market including the recently announced small business and banker enablement solutions.
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“The opening of our R&D Center in Nazareth is an exciting development which will enable us to meet the growing demand for AI-powered Self-Driving Finance™ solutions around the world,” said David Sosna, Personetics’ Co-Founder and CEO. “We are acquiring new customers in North America, Europe, and Asia at a rapid pace, and are adding new hires in all of our offices across the globe – New York, London, Paris, Singapore, and Israel – to support our growth.”
Whlle shortage of skilled programmers is a global phenomenon, increasing the diversity of the R&D pool both geographically and demographically is critical to the future growth of advanced technology companies.
“Establishing a center in Nazareth allows us to tap into a hotbed of highly skilled professionals, enabling expansion of our R&D capabilities while maintaining proximity to facilitate close collaboration. Being in the same timezone and less than a two-hour drive away is a big advantage for our teams in Tel Aviv and Nazareth,” said Yishay Schwerd, Personetics VP of R&D.
Leading the new R&D center for Personetics is Fowzi Shakkour, a veteran software development and management executive with over 20 years of experience.
“It is exciting to see a growing startup such as Personetics opening an office in Nazareth and creating new opportunities for a diverse range of people that have the right set of skills but have been largely left out of the startup scene in Israel so far,” said Shakkour. “We are proud to be one of the first startups to establish presence in this region and look forward to growing our team here.”
The opening of Personetics’ Nazareth office was aided by the Tsofen organization, which works to integrate skilled Arab workers into the Israeli high-tech industry and bring high-tech companies to Arab cities. Since Tsofen’s establishment, the number of high-tech companies operating in Nazareth has jumped from one to 40.
“A decade ago, there were about 30 engineers working in the city. Today there are more than 1,300, a fourth of them females,” said Sami Saadi, CEO of Tsofen. “The city now offers a vibrant high-tech ecosystem that attracts employers from all over the country. This is nothing short of a revolution.”
