OurCrowd

OurCrowd is an investment platform built for accredited investors and institutions to invest in startups and venture funds. Based in Jerusalem, the company launched in February 2013,[1] with overseas branches in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

OurCrowd
Formation2013
FounderJonathan Medved
Founded atJerusalem
HeadquartersJerusalem
Servicesventure investing platform
CEO & Founder
Jonathan Medved
President
Andy Kaye
Chairman
Alec Ellison
Chief Financial Officer
Robert Citron
Geoff Levy, Steven Blumgart, David Hatchwell Altaras
Websitewww.ourcrowd.com

Unlike crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo which crowdfund donations to projects typically in return for some type of reward or gift, OurCrowd uses equity crowdfunding as its model. In equity crowdfunding, investments into a company's shares are pooled together from the crowd. Although recent regulatory changes make crowdfunding available to all investors, at this point, OurCrowd is only available to accredited investors.[2] OurCrowd requires its Israeli portfolio companies to donate a portion of their equity to charity as part of the closing of any funding round.

Pitchbook has rated OurCrowd "Israel's most active VC fund."[3] OurCrowd invests its capital in all the companies and venture funds offered on its platform, and extends the opportunity to invest to its accredited membership on the same terms.[4]

History

OurCrowd launched in February 2013 in Jerusalem,[5][6][7] by venture capitalist and angel investor Jonathan Medved.[8] Medved began pursuing the idea of an online equity crowdfunding platform in 2012. In March 2013, OurCrowd opened its US office in San Diego. It also has offices in Tel Aviv, Herzilya, New York City, Toronto, London, Sydney, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In November 2013, OurCrowd partnered with GE Ventures, the venture capital branch of General Electric, allowing GE to invest alongside OurCrowd in venture capital investments.[9]

In July 2016 the company launched "Our Innovation Fund", which invests in the Australian innovation ecosystem.[10]

in November 2016 OurCrowd announced of a new fund called Qure, focusing on seed and Series A rounds and investing in digital health startups.[11]

In December 2016 OurCrowd Portfolio Index Fund was launched.[12]

In January 2018, OurCrowd announced that its Labs/02 seed stage incubator would be investing in 100 early stage startups over a ten-year period.[13]

In May 2018, OurCrowd entered into a partnership with Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited to explore direct partnerships between Thailand’s investors and the OurCrowd platform.[14][15]

In June 2019, the Israel Innovation Authority announced its selection of a consortium consisting of Tnuva, Tempo Beverages, OurCrowd, and Finistere Ventures to run a foodtech incubator in northern Israel. The government will provide NIS 100 million in funding for the incubator over the eight-year franchise period.[16][17][18]

By July 2019,  OurCrowd’s portfolio reached 35 exits since its 2013 launch.[19]

OurCrowd Global Investor Summit
NAS Daily's Nusair Yassin speaking on stage at the 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit

The OurCrowd Global Investor Summit is an annual conference held in Jerusalem and is a gathering of innovation and startup ecosystem players: VC leaders, multinational corporations, institutional and individual investors, entrepreneurs, and other related professionals.[20] The conference covers three days, but the main event is the final day which includes content (on-stage and interactive exhibitions) networking opportunities, business meetings and satellite events.[21]

OurCrowd’s first annual Global Investor Summit was held in Jerusalem on December 9–10, 2014. The event hosted 700 attendees from 27 countries.[22]

In January 2016, OurCrowd brought together 3,000 investors and entrepreneurs for an annual summit in Jerusalem.[23]

In February 2017, OurCrowd nearly doubled attendance, with 5,000 investors and entrepreneurs coming in from 80 countries around the world to Jerusalem.[24] It was described in press coverage as the world’s largest equity crowdfunding event and the biggest investment event in Israel’s history.[25]

In February 2018, OurCrowd saw over 10,000 registrants for the Summit, including investors, VCs, multinationals, and entrepreneurs.[26] One of the main stage speakers was Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen, a renowned figure in social impact investment and the founder of Social Finance UK amongst the speakers, discussing "The New Investment Paradigm".[27]

Fireside chat with Nobel Prize Laureate Daniel Kahneman at 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit

On March 7, 2019, the OurCrowd Summit broke its own record with 18,000 registrants.[28] Speakers on the agenda included Nas Daily's Nuseir Yassin, Nobel Prize Laureate Daniel Kahneman, Ron Fisher of Softbank Holdings, Daniel Bonderman (founding partner of private equity firm TPG), Dr Kira Radinsky of eBay Israel.[29]

The next OurCrowd Summit will be held on February 13, 2020.[30]

Awards

Over its years of activity OurCrowd has won various awards and received industry recognition on numerous occasions. In 2014, OurCrowd was ranked #22 in The 50 Best Fintech Innovators report, a collaborative effort between AWI, KPMG Australia, and the FSC.[31] OurCrowd was also consecutively named in H2 Ventures and KPMG's 'Fintech 100' list of leading global fintech innovators between 2015-2018.[32][33][34][35]

In 2015, OurCrowd was named #23 in Forbes' list of 24 Israeli companies you should watch.[36] In 2017, OurCrowd was ranked #23 in Business Insider’s coolest tech startups in Israel.[37] Additionally, OurCrowd was featured in Fast Company’s list of the most innovative companies in 2016 and 2018.[38]

In March 2019, PitchBook Data Inc. ranked OurCrowd as Israel’s most active venture investor for a second year in a row.[39]

gollark: I'm doing my part to maintain social distancing by staying at home and never leaving!
gollark: Maybe "harder" then.
gollark: How is C "higher level"? It's a very low-level language.
gollark: This sort of thing is why I download music.
gollark: Seriously?!

See also

References
  1. "OurCrowd: Most Innovative Company | Fast Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  2. "The exclusive world of startup investment is opening up". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  3. "PitchBook again ranks OurCrowd Israel's most active VC fund". Globes. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  4. "OurCrowd Homepage". OurCrowd. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  5. Reynolds, Matthew (22 June 2016). "How to make your fortune from startups with OurCrowd". Wired. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  6. Globes correspondent (18 August 2016). "OurCrowd receives license to raise funds in Singapore". Globes. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  7. "ג'ון מדבד משיק את OurCrowd: לגייס השקעה לסטארטאפ שלכם באמצעות Equity Crowdfunding". 6 February 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  8. Swan, David (18 January 2016). "Crowded house on investment". The Australian. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  9. "GE enters the crowdfunding arena with OurCrowd partnership". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  10. "OurCrowd Launches "Our Innovation Australia Fund"". crowdfundinsider.com. 3 July 2016.
  11. "Ourcrowd launches $50 million digital health fund Qure". geektime.com. 3 November 2016.
  12. "OurCrowd Launches OC50 Portfolio Index Fund". crowdfunding360.com. 2 December 2016.
  13. "OurCrowd Jerusalem incubator to invest in 100 startups - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  14. "OurCrowd Partners With Bangkok Bank". NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  15. "Bangkok Bank taps OurCrowd resources for equity crowdfunding - The Nation". The Nation. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  16. Kabir, Omer (11 June 2019). "Venture Capital Firm Finistere Is Committed to Israel, Says Founding Partner". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  17. "Tnuva consortium wins foodtech incubator tender". en.globes.co.il (in Hebrew). 11 June 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  18. "Israel –a technological superpower in the Food sector as well!". Israel Innovation. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  19. Alois, J. D. (15 July 2019). "OurCrowd Provides Perspective on Portfolio Performance: 35 Exits Since 2013". Crowdfund Insider. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  20. "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2019". Israel Advanced Technology Industry. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  21. "Summit Agenda". Agenda Preview - 2020 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  22. Alan, Weinkrantz (11 December 2014). "Scaled For Global Growth: Five Take-Aways From the OurCrowd #OCGlobal Summit / Jerusalem". blogs.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  23. "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2016". summit.ourcrowd.com. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  24. Press, Viva Sarah. "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2017". Israel21c. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  25. "Huge Crowd: OurCrowd Investor Summit Draws 6K". nocamels.com. 16 February 2017.
  26. "Successful OurCrowd Summit Highlights Rising Global Interest in Investing in Israel". Ministry of Economy and Industry, State of Israel. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  27. "The New Investment Paradigm - Doing Good While Doing Well - Sir Ronald Cohen". YouTube. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  28. Business unusual: generating positive impact through innovation
  29. "Dr. Kira Radinsky, Nuseir (NAS) Yassin among speakers at upcoming OurCrowd Summit in Jerusalem". NoCamels. NoCamels. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  30. "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit returns to Israel in 2020". www.bizcommunity.com. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  31. "The 50 Best Fintech Innovators Report 2014 (KPMG) | Téléchargements | www.planet-fintech.com". www.planet-fintech.com. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  32. "'Fintech 100' – Announcing the world's leading fintech innovators for 2015 | KPMG Global". KPMG. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  33. "The Fintech 100 – Announcing the world's leading fintech innovators for 2016 | KPMG Global". KPMG. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  34. Mostowyk, Lauren M. (2 July 2019). "The Fintech100 – Announcing the world's leading fintech innovators for 2017 | KPMG Global". KPMG. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  35. Mostowyk, Lauren M. (2 July 2019). "The Fintech100 – announcing the world's leading fintech innovators for 2018 | KPMG Global". KPMG. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  36. Pozin, Ilya (16 September 2015). "24 Israeli Companies You Should Watch For". Forbes. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  37. UK, Sam Shead, Business Insider. "The 25 coolest tech companies in Israel". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  38. "OurCrowd: Most Innovative Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  39. "PitchBook again ranks OurCrowd Israel's most active VC fund". en.globes.co.il (in Hebrew). 26 March 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
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