Tag Archives: Jon Medved

OurCrowd and LetsVenture Announce Collaboration on Setting Up New ‘India Investment Fund’ to Begin Investing in Indian and Israeli Entrepreneurs and Startups 

10 Jul

OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform

By Robert HoskinsCrowdfunding PR

Bengaluru, IndiaOurCrowd, one of the landing equity crowdfunding in Israel, announced that it has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with LetsVenture, one of India’s largest angel investment syndicates for seed stage and venture capital for startups and growing businesses. As part of this partnership, OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform, giving selected Indian startups access to accredited investors globally and to business development opportunities.

OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd's platform

OurCrowd will offer curated deals to Indian investor syndicates managed by LetsVenture, as well as showcase Indian startups on OurCrowd’s platform

OurCrowd and LetsVenture will be also be collaborating on an ‘India Fund’ to invest in Israeli, Indian and global startups. The investment into this fund would primarily be from family funds and high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in India and OurCrowd’s global network of accredited investors.

Leveraging LetsVenture’s domestic network, OurCrowd will offer Indian corporates access to the Israeli innovation ecosystem.

“Having made startup funding easy, our vision is to make angel investing easy with a focus on portfolio management (startup reporting, portfolio diversification and exits). The partnership with OurCrowd aligns with our vision of offering our investors access to some of the best startups across geographies including Israel, along with giving LetsVenture portfolio companies access to global investors for their next round of funding. In this partnership with one of the largest equity crowdfunding platforms globally, we do believe this is a win-win for both of us,” said Shanti Mohan, Co-Founder & CEO, LetsVenture.

In addition to this, LetsVenture will facilitate ‘Take to Market’ activities for OurCrowd’s portfolio companies to access the Indian market, the activities of which are under development by LetsVenture and are targeted to commence in 2018.

Commenting on the announcement, Jon Medved, OurCrowd CEO, said, “India is a critical growth market for our business with a huge number of very exciting startup investment opportunities in a range of sectors. Israel and India have a great joint heritage sharing many of the same entrepreneurial qualities that are the backbone of our economies. I am excited to be entering into this collaboration with LetsVenture, which I believe will deliver great value to our investors.”

Elias Ghosalkar, Director of Corporate Development at OurCrowd, added, “OurCrowd, with its strong global presence and established industry leadership is well poised to support the Indian startup eco-system and its stakeholders via its strategic collaboration with LetsVenture. This strategic collaboration helps build much needed bridges between the Israeli and Indian startup ecosystems, and opens the doors to tapping into high growth potential synergies. Indian investors, startups and corporates gain access to global expertise, know-how and innovation via the OurCrowd network, which will truly help put the ‘Startup India initiative’ on a fast track and further strengthen the economic linkages between Israel and India.”

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Robert Hoskins, a seasoned Front Page PR veteran provides more than twenty-eight years of external communications, media relations, digital social media and SEO skills to Front Page PR’s crowdfunding PR and media relations service portfolio.
Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR


Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.
On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.
Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding PR” to see why Mr. Hoskins runs one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing agencies that has amassed a huge social media following and is dedicated to supporting a wide variety of donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.
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OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries, and Yissum Launch Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge

12 Jun

OurCrowd’s Incubator and Accelerator will focus on emerging startups using ‘frontier technologies’ including: big data, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), fin-tech, storage, internet of things (IoT) and computer vision

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel –  OurCrowd Incubator announced new partnerships with Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum, to operate an innovation technology incubator to support growth of early stage startups in Jerusalem. With a long track record of startup investment in Jerusalem, and as a key player in the Israeli tech ecosystem, OurCrowd is a natural fit to lead the incubator team. The incubator will focus on frontier technologies such as big data, analytics, AI, fintech, storage, IoT and computer vision.

OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions and Reliance Industries Launch Israeli Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge

OurCrowd, Motorola Solutions and Reliance Industries Launch Israeli Incubator, Accelerator to Give Jerusalem Startups a Competitive Edge

The incubator will be based in OurCrowd’s Jerusalem headquarters, located in the JVP Media Quarter campus, founded by MK Erel Margalit. OurCrowd will lead the incubator consortium together with partners Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI), Reliance Industries (NSE: Reliance) and Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In less than five years, OurCrowd has invested over $440M into 120 companies and eight funds. After vetting more than 6,000 companies and celebrating 13 exits, OurCrowd continues to lead the global equity crowdfunding sector for accredited investors, and make it one of the most active Venture Capitalists in the vibrant Israeli startup scene.

Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO said, “We are proud to be strengthening the Jerusalem tech-ecosystem together with strong partners such as Motorola Solutions, Reliance Industries and Yissum. This represents a unique team with a global reach, incredible scale, and with deep technological, commercial and academic roots. We expect to invest in close to 50 companies over the next 10 years and further grow the formidable cadre of Jerusalem startups.”

The incubator will be part of the world famous Israeli incubator program administered by Israel’s National Innovation Authority (formerly the office of the Chief Scientist).

Eduardo Conrado, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation Office, for Motorola Solutions said, “In today’s technology environment, strong partnerships and strategic investments help accelerate innovation. The Jerusalem incubator is one element of our Israel innovation hub, which is focused on developing advanced solutions in artificial intelligence, cyber security and other fields. We are proud to be part of this important project and look forward to working with OurCrowd, Reliance and Yissum on the future of public safety technology.”

“Reliance Industries is excited to further its long-term commitment to Israel by partnering with Israel Innovation Authority jointly with OurCrowd, Motorola and Hebrew University for the Jerusalem Incubator,” said the spokesperson from Reliance Industries Limited. “We are confident of Israeli start-ups offering unique value proposition by delivering next-gen digital services. We believe the incredible technological innovation from Israel will gain immensely by addressing the huge Indian market riding on the nationwide 4G LTE digital infrastructure setup in India by Jio. This will be a significant win-win for both India and Israel.”

OurCrowd is the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community of almost 20,000 investors from over 112 countries has invested over $440M into 120 portfolio companies and funds. OurCrowd already has thirteen exits to date, two IPO’s and eleven acquisitions.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) creates innovative, mission-critical communication solutions and services that help public safety and commercial customers build safer cities and thriving communities. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of $ 50.9 billion and net profit of $ 4.6 billion for the year ended March 31, 2017. RIL’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and 4G digital services.

Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. was founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize Hebrew University’s intellectual property. Products based on Hebrew University technologies that have been commercialized by Yissum currently generate $2 Billion in annual sales. Ranked among the top technology transfer companies in the world, Yissum has registered over 9,325 patents covering 2,600 inventions; has licensed out 880 technologies and has spun out 110 companies including Mobileye, BriefCam, CollPlant and Qlight Nanotech. Yissum’s business partners span the globe and include companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto, Roche, Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more.

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Robert Hoskins, a seasoned Front Page PR veteran provides more than twenty-eight years of external communications, media relations, digital social media and SEO skills to Front Page PR’s crowdfunding PR and media relations service portfolio.
Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR


Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.
On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.
Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins runs one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing agencies that has amassed a huge social media following and is dedicated to supporting a wide variety of donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

 

OurCrowd to Host more than 5,000 Attendees at World’s Largest Equity Crowdfunding Conference on February 16, 2017 in Jerusalem, Israel

12 Feb

The event will feature 110 OurCrowd portfolio companies, 200 multinational companies, investors from over 80 countries, corporate partners, entrepreneurs, global delegations, financial and industry research analysts and leading fin-tech media outlets

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd will host the 2017 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit, which is the largest equity crowdfunding event in the world, and the biggest investor event in the Startup Nation. Now in its third year, the Summit has hosted thousands of investors, venture and corporate partners, entrepreneurs, global delegations, industry leaders and members of the press. Attendees hailing from more than 80 countries gather in Jerusalem, the capital of the Startup Nation, to celebrate the global community’s collective drive for innovation.

Israel to Host more than 5,000 at World's Largest Equity Crowdfunding Conference on February 16, 2017

Israel to Host more than 5,000 at World’s Largest Equity Crowdfunding Conference on 2/16/2017

Each year, attendees come from all over the world to hear from expert industry speakers and participate in interactive programming featuring cutting-edge technologies and the future of crowd investing.  They also have the opportunity to support portfolio companies through significant fundraising and making strategic business connections to help grow their businesses.

Most of OurCrowd’s 110 portfolio companies making news are expected to participate. These include:

• Consumer Physics: together with Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd. (Changhong) and Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), demonstrating the world’s first material sensing smartphone able to scan the chemical composition of objects around it.

• MedAware: discussing the recent Harvard study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA), which validated its big data analytics and machine learning platform to identify and eliminate prescription errors.

• VocalZoom: which last year announced a partnership with Honda, recently demonstrated its optical microphone technology to enable voice control inside noisy vehicles at CES 2017.

NSLComm: whose revolutionary expandable space antennas will transform satellite communications.

• Freightos: demonstrating their new online international freight shipping marketplace.

Zebra Medical: discussing its machine learning platform for automated interpretation of radiological images.

“Participants at the Summit will have the opportunity to interact hands-on with many of the latest technologies changing the world,” said OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved. “The Summit provides a unique opportunity to evaluate and touch the remarkable pace of technology change together with thousands of friends and colleagues from around the world.”

Among the 100 + speakers  at the Summit will be noted author and WSJ Columnist Andy Kessler; Head of  Honda Silicon Valley Lab, Nick Sugimoto; Samsung Ventures lead  Gonzalo Martinez de Azagra; Joe Powers, Head of Commercialization, Johns Hopkins University; Horste Bente, Founder of the Dassler family backed LeAD Sports Tech Accelerator;  Andy Chan, founder of Kuaidi Taxi (Didi), which recently acquired Uber China; and Alec Ellison, former Vice Chairman of Jefferies, and new member of the OurCrowd Advisory Board.

Nick Sugimoto, Senior Program Director at Honda Silicon Valley Lab, said, “Honda has expanded and deepened our presence in the innovation ecosystem in Israel since the partnership between Honda and OurCrowd was announced at last year’s event. We are looking forward to sharing updates on our activities in Israel and meeting more potential partners who are focused on revolutionizing the future of mobility.”

Special events at the Summit will include workshops on collaborative innovation for multinationals, an investor Bootcamp, a Startup CEO interchange, investor hackathon, a due diligence drama, speed dating sessions between multinationals and startups, and the largest tech party ever thrown in Jerusalem, featuring unlimited Israeli microbrew beer tasting, plus entertainment provided by the iconic Israeli favorite band Hadag Nachash.

OurCrowd is one of the leading global equity crowdfunding platforms for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors.

OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community of over 15,000 investors from over 110 countries has invested over $320M into 110 portfolio companies and funds.

For more information and to reserve your tickets please RSVP here.

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Robert Hoskins, a seasoned Front Page PR veteran provides more than twenty-five years of external communications, media relations, digital social media and SEO skills to Front Page PR’s crowdfunding PR and media relations service portfolio.
Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR


Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.
On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.
Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

United Overseas Bank Partners with OurCrowd to Offer Equity Crowdfunding Support for Startups Participating in UOB’s Singapore FinLab Accelerator Program and other Cities throughout Asia

17 Aug

With a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) OurCrowd is now able to market its equity crowdfunding platform in Singapore and other Asian cities

 By Robert Hoskins

Singapore/Jerusalem – United Overseas Bank (UOB) is deepening its commitment to helping startups grow into sustainable businesses by training its commercial bankers to provide clients with the most up-to-date information on alternative funding channels beyond traditional financing. More than 100 of its bankers have been trained so far.

United Overseas Bank Partners with @OurCrowd to Support Asian Startups and Small to Medium Enterprises Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding for Seed Investment Capital

United Overseas Bank Partners with @OurCrowd to Support Asian Startups and Small to Medium Enterprises Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding for Seed Investment Capital

The training is timely as the Bank’s strategic equity crowdfunding partner, OurCrowd, a leading global equity crowdfunding platform, was awarded a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the end of July. With the license, OurCrowd is now able to market its equity crowdfunding platform in Singapore. In March this year, UOB announced it had made a US$10 million investment in OurCrowd, which invests in startups with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services.

“We are proud of the rapid growth of our unique brand of equity crowdfunding and teaming up with UOB to advance the cutting edge of FinTech and the startup ecosystem in the region,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO. “As we work together, innovative Asian companies with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services will be able to get access to another source of funding from a global investor network to jumpstart their international expansion and business development.”

UOB’s partnership with OurCrowd reinforced the Bank’s commitment in supporting Asian SMEs and startups with end-to-end financing needs. The range of support includes UOB’s accelerator program, The FinLab, to venture debt financing through to investment banking.

Ms. Janet Young, Head of Group Channels and Digitalization, UOB, said, “We understand the ambitions of startups and emerging enterprises and want to help them grow into sustainable businesses. In the last six months, we have trained more than 100 commercial bankers to identify and to understand the type of financing for which startups can qualify. Through our initiatives, we are well-equipped to support the startup ecosystem and help them realize their full potential.”

In addition, accredited investors among UOB’s clients will now have an opportunity to broaden their investments into OurCrowd’s portfolio companies and tap into a quality deal flow across the globe.

Mr. Denes Ban, OurCrowd Partner and Managing Director, Asia, said, “Our latest approval and licence in Singapore is further validation of OurCrowd’s global footprint and it’s exciting to see immediate and impactful results, thanks to our partners at UOB and the Sassoon Investment Corporation (SIC). Singapore-based investors will now have access to our portfolio of world-class startups and tap their growth potential.”

Launched in 2013, OurCrowd has raised more than US$250 million for investment in almost 100 companies, and has already had eight companies in their portfolio either acquired by a multinational or listed publicly. Unlike traditional equity crowdfunding platforms, OurCrowd invests its own capital alongside the crowd investors in each deal as testament to their confidence in the deal. By offering investors the same terms (valuation, liquidation reference and protection) as venture capital funds, it offers accredited investors access to unrivaled investment opportunities. OurCrowd also provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors.

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Super Angel Investors, Eduardo Shoval and Yori Nelken, Launch “OurCrowd First,” a $10 Million Global Early Stage Fund for Seed Investments

21 Jun

With an investment minimum of $50k participation for accredited investors, the OurCrowd First Fund is further democratizing the world of seed stage investment funds for accredited investors

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel  – With its OurCrowd First Fund, OurCrowd will leverage its established infrastructure to bring equity crowdfunding to approximately 20+ seed-stage companies providing OurCrowd investors even earlier access to promising opportunities. With an investment minimum of $50k participation for accredited investors, OurCrowd First is further democratizing the world of seed stage investment funds, since most other funds require million dollar minimum investments.

OurCrowd Equity Crowdfunding in Israel

OurCrowd Equity Crowdfunding in Israel

“We are proud to be launching our entry into the funds market with the OurCrowd First seed fund,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s founder and CEO. “Our investors have asked for more access to earlier stage deals, which have been hard to do until now on OurCrowd, given the rapid growth of our platform and our average deal sizes of millions of dollars. OurCrowd First will cover the earliest stages of the startup funding journey providing up to $500,000 for a select group of companies.”

OurCrowd First will be managed by General Partners Eduardo Shoval and Yori Nelken, who both come with highly successful track records in early-stage company-building and investment. Shoval has over 25 years of experience in high tech management and as an entrepreneur, co-founding seven tech companies with five successful exits – four of them with valuations in excess of $400M and total revenues of billions of dollars. Nelken has over 18 years of leadership experience bringing startups from concept to exit, including Banter, TimeBridge, and Local Sciences.

“OurCrowd First came about following numerous requests from our 9,000-strong OurCrowd investor base to expand the platform’s reach to include seed-stage opportunities,” said OurCrowd First General Partner Eduardo Shoval. “The fund will provide our investors with a risk-balanced approach to seed-stage investment, allowing investors to build a highly diversified seed-stage portfolio, which could include the next Uber or Facebook, with as little as $50k.”

“Entrepreneurs want more than just checks, and we will roll up our sleeves and work closely with the early stage companies in our portfolio,” said General Partner Yori Nelken. “Providing money to startups is only one part of the equation. We will help each of our companies, to build their management teams, construct, explore and test go-to-market strategies and introduce them to our full ecosystem of support, mentoring and business networks. It’s our secret sauce for generating winning companies.”

The fund is launching with six early stage companies already in its portfolio representing diverse sectors, such as the Internet of Things, Energy, Mobile infrastructure, 3D Printing, and Digital Radiology. These companies include: Zebra Medical, Invertex, Turbulent, Stringify, Rimoto, and TechSee. OurCrowd First has already invested in these companies alongside leading investors, including Softbank, Khosla Ventures, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and Artis Ventures. Two of the seed investments have already converted into larger Series A rounds of significant size.

“At OurCrowd, we see thousands of companies looking for funding every year,” said CEO and Co-founder Jon Medved. “With OurCrowd First, we are leveraging this enormous deal flow and expanding our investment offerings, enabling accredited investors to get involved in exciting companies even earlier. With venture investment at an all-time high and so many disruptive startups just getting off the ground, the potential is simply staggering. It’s just one more way OurCrowd is retooling the world of investment.”

OurCrowd is a leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors to invest in Israeli and global companies. Managed by a team of well-known professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities and invests its own capital alongside its accredited individual investors.

OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal of their choice. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats.

OurCrowd has raised over $130 million in equity crowdfunding for its 70 portfolio companies including Borro, BillGuard, Consumer Physics (SCiO), BioCatch, Abe’s Market, and ReWalk (RWLK, -0.74%), OurCrowd’s first portfolio company to complete a successful IPO.

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Crowdfunding Site, OurCrowd.com, Shows the World that the Equity Crowdfunding Industry is Sailing into the Global Economy Full Steam Ahead

17 Feb

OurCrowd evolves from participating in early seed rounds to a leadership position by successfully pooling tens of millions of dollars from top tier venture capital firms

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd leads equity crowdfunding deal that reels in $16M in Series E funding round for Borro.com, the UK-NY based, asset-backed online lender. OurCrowd was joined by Rocket Internet AG (RKET), Canaan Partners and Augmentum Capital in this funding round.

OurCrowd alone raised $6M of the capital invested, making this the single largest equity crowdfunding round ever completed and demonstrates how equity crowdfunding can complement and even lead traditional funding sources, such as venture capital.

“In under two years, OurCrowd went from participating in early seed rounds to now successfully  leading a $16M dollar major funding round together with top tier venture capital firms such as Canaan and the renowned internet company, Rocket,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd’s CEO. “We are delighted to be investing in quality companies like Borro, which is redefining the Fintech industry.”

Launched in the UK in 2009 and in the US in 2012, Borro has defined a new category of online personal asset-based lending. Borro focuses on providing liquidity to individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who use luxury personal assets such as watches, jewelry, supercars, fine art, antiques and high-end handbags as collateral for short term loans.

“Seven years ago, I joined the first angel investor group at Lending Club (LC) and witnessed first-hand the exponential growth of online lending,” Medved added.  “Lending Club’s IPO in December of 2014 was a pivotal point in the online lending industry and has shown that there will be multiple winners with eventual multi-billion dollar market caps. ”

Paul Aitken, CEO and Founder of Borro, said: “We are delighted with our collaboration with OurCrowd. Their ability to lead this important funding round has proven that equity crowdfunding has indeed come of age. I was excited by the quality of the investors they have brought to the table and am looking forward to their adding additional value to Borro as we move forward.”

Borro was recently ranked #8 right behind Lending Club (NYSE: LC) #6 and OnDeck #7 (NYSE: ONDK) in KPMG’s 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report. OurCrowd ranked #22 on the list.  Borro is backed by a consortium of high caliber VC investors with significant expertise in online finance.

Investing alongside OurCrowd is Rocket Internet AG, a German internet company based in Berlin that builds online startups and owns share of various internet companies including Foodpanda/Hellofood, Home24, Jabong, Jumia and Lamoda.  Other Borro investors include Canaan Partners (investor in Lending Club) and Augmentum Capital (investor in the UK’s top lending marketplace, Zopa). Borro has recruited notable financial industry veterans to its board of directors who bring a significant amount of experience to the company, including Nigel Morris (co-founder Capital One) as Chairman and Paul Grattan (ex-CEO Egg, First Direct.)

Borro launched in 2009 in the UK, and has gone on to open offices in New York and Los Angeles.  It is the leading online platform for luxury asset-backed lending and has defined a new lending category in a climate where loans to individuals, SMEs and entrepreneurs were few and far between. Borro offers loans from $5,000 – $2,000,000 secured against luxury assets including fine art, antiques, jewelry, luxury watches, fine wine, prestige and classic cars and other high-value assets. Borro investors include: Canaan Partners (Lending Club), Eden Ventures, Augmentum Capital. Borro’s board of directors includes Nigel Morris (co-founder Capital One) as Chairman, and Paul Gratton (ex-CEO Egg, First Direct).

OurCrowd is the leading hybrid venture capital equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors who wish to invest in Israeli and global early stage companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed partnerships.

OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal. OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats. OurCrowd has raised over $100 million in equity crowdfunding for its 57 portfolio companies which include leading companies, such as: BillGuard, Consumer Physics (SCiO), BioCatch, Abe’s Market and ReWalk, OurCrowd’s first portfolio company to complete a successful IPO on the NASDAQ.

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Equity Crowdfunding Surges in Israel; OurCrowd Raises $60M for 46 Different Startups

15 Jul

Producing a better track record than Silicon Valley, twenty of these companies have already raised more than $1 million each in investments

 By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd announced has successfully raised $60 million in the aggregate to date over its platform for its 46 portfolio companies. Twenty of these companies have already raised more than $1 million each in investments, and four companies have raised over $3 million through the OurCrowd platform.

OurCrowd Equity Crowdfunding in Israel

OurCrowd Equity Crowdfunding in Israel

OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved stated, “We are proud to have raised these amounts in just 16 months since launching. These numbers demonstrate that our model works and can be effectively used for major funding rounds. The fact that OurCrowd has deployed more money for our companies than our Silicon Valley competitors proves that we are indeed at the forefront of equity crowdfunding innovation.”

Larry Jasinski, CEO of OurCrowd’s portfolio company ReWalk Robotics, which recently filed for its IPO, said, “OurCrowd did their diligence thoroughly, effectively and quickly which was appreciated and valuable for an operating company. Their team has a combination of deep experience, meaningful skills and enthusiasm for their mission. They also have provided key contacts in the US and in new areas for us such as Australia.”

OurCrowd, and its team of experienced investment professionals, provides a new and innovative way to invest in Israeli and global early-stage companies. The company has emerged as a leader in the increasingly competitive equity crowdfunding space. Earlier this year, OurCrowd announced the closing of a $25 million Series B funding round. OurCrowd continues to grow its investor base and team.

OurCrowd is a hybrid VC-equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors who wish to invest in Israeli and global early stage companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed partnerships.

OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats. OurCrowd has raised over $60 million in equity crowdfunding for its 46 portfolio companies which include leading companies, such as: ReWalk, Consumer Physics (SCiO), BioCatch and Abe’s Market.

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Leading Equity Investment Crowdfunding Platform in Israel Closes $25 Million Series B Funding Round

28 Apr

According to OurCrowd, based on published data, latest round of fund is the largest investment round in the equity crowdfunding sector to date

By Robert Hoskins

Jerusalem, Israel – OurCrowd, a leading global equity crowdfunding platform, announced the closing of a $25 million Series B funding round. This round, according to OurCrowd and published data, is the largest investment round in the equity crowdfunding sector to date. The investment will be used both to further expand OurCrowd activities in Israel and worldwide, and to provide general partner funding participation for each OurCrowd deal on its website. Terms of the investment, and the list of participants in the round, were not disclosed.

Israel’s OurCrowd Takes Lead in Equity Crowdfunding

Israel’s OurCrowd Closes $25 Million Dollar Series B Funding Round for Equity Crowdfunding Platform

OurCrowd CEO, Jon Medved, stated: “We are delighted to have closed this major funding milestone for OurCrowd. As we look back on our first year since launching in February 2013, we are gratified by the support of our global community of 4,000 accredited investors, our talented group of entrepreneurs and the 36 portfolio company teams. This additional funding will allow us to extend our global leadership in equity crowdfunding for early stage companies.”

OurCrowd, which began its activity by investing in early stage Israeli companies, has become the world’s largest equity crowdfunding firm in terms of dollars invested into companies through its platform. In addition to its own current $25 million Series B round, and its previous $5.5 million Series A funding round (Feb 2013), to date OurCrowd has raised another $43 million for its 36 portfolio companies from accredited investors in 26 different countries.

OurCrowd is already extending its global reach: four of its last ten equity crowdfunding deals were for companies based outside of Israel. Portfolio company round size has grown from several hundred thousand dollars per deal to a new high of over $3 million in a single deal. Eighteen portfolio companies have already raised more than $1 million each through OurCrowd’s platform.

Geoff Levy, the former CEO and Chairman of Investec Bank Australia and member of OurCrowd’s Advisory Board, who is an investor in the current round said, “OurCrowd’s emergence as the global leader in equity crowdfunding is now supported by a significant funding round. This new fuel will allow the management team to continue to execute the business plan and bring a wide group of new investors to the exciting tech startup scene worldwide. From their base in Israel, the ‘Startup Nation,’ OurCrowd will now make additional headway in Israel and other global innovation hotspots.”

Andrew Heyer, Mistral Equity Partners CEO, is another individual investor in the round and has joined the OurCrowd Advisory Board. He said, “As a private equity investor, I look to invest in the best emerging companies and help to grow their great consumer brands. At Mistral, we recently led a $10 million follow-on funding round for OurCrowd’s portfolio company Abe’s Market, the leader in e-commerce for organic products. We believe that OurCrowd has proven that they can add real value to their portfolio companies. They are opening up great investments for individual investors and I am delighted to be part of this groundbreaking venture.”

OurCrowd is a hybrid VC-equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors only who wish to invest in Israeli and global early stage companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed partnerships.

OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal. OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats.

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