OurCrowd

OurCrowd
Formation 2013
Founder Jonathan Medved
Headquarters Jerusalem
Services Crowdfunding platform
Geoff Levy, Alec Ellison, Steven Blumgart, Andrew Heyer
Website www.ourcrowd.com

OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform built for accredited investors to provide venture capital funding for early-stage startups. Based in Jerusalem, the company launched in February 2013[1], with overseas branches in the United States, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

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.

History

OurCrowd launched in February 2013 in Jerusalem,[3][4][5] by venture capitalist and angel investor Jonathan Medved.[6] 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, 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 the equity crowdfunder's investments.[7]

In January 2016, OurCrowd brought together 3,000 investors and entrepreneurs for an annual summit in Jerusalem.[8] In February 2017, OurCrowd nearly doubled attendance, with 5,000 investors and entrepreneurs coming in from around the world to Jerusalem.[9] In February 2018, OurCrowd brought to Jerusalem over 10,000 investors, VCs, multinationals, and entrepreneurs for the annual summit.[10]

In July 2016 the company launched "Our Innovation Fund", which invests in the Australian innovation ecosystem.[11]

in November 2016 OurCrowd announced of a new fund called Qure, focusing on seed and Series A rounds and investing in digital health startups.[12]

In December 2016 OurCrowd Portfolio Index Fund was launched.[13]

On 16 February 2017, the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem had 6000 registered guests from 82 countries, as well as over 200 multinational companies. It was described in press coverage as the world’s largest equity crowdfunding event and the biggest investment event in Israel’s history.[14]

In January 2018, OurCrowd announced that its Lab2/02 seed stage incubator would be investing in 100 early stage startups over a ten-year period.[15]

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.[16][17]

Funding

By November 2013, OurCrowd had raised over $25 million for its 30 portfolio companies.[18] As of September 2016, Ourcrowd has raised over $100 million and has 100 companies in its portfolio, with more than $300 million invested.[19] In March 2016, OurCrowd raised $10 million from Singapore's United Overseas Bank, with the stated goal of expanding into Asian markets.[20]
On September 2016, OurCrowd closed on $72 million in Series C funding.[21]

In February 2018, the company announced a $50 million venture fund for sports technology investments, ADvantage, together with leAD Sports, the global sports technology accelerator backed by the Adi Dassler Family Office (referring to Adi Dassler, the creator of Adidas, the German multinational sportswear manufacturer).[22]

By May 2018, it was reported that OurCrowd had reached over $1billion AUD in funds under management ($750million USD).[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "OurCrowd: Most Innovative Company | Fast Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  2. ↑ "The exclusive world of startup investment is opening up". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Reynolds, Matthew (22 June 2016). "How to make your fortune from startups with OurCrowd". Wired. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Globes correspondent (18 August 2016). "OurCrowd receives license to raise funds in Singapore". Globes. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  5. ↑ "ג'ון מדבד משיק את OurCrowd: לגייס השקעה לסטארטאפ שלכם באמצעות Equity Crowdfunding". 6 February 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Swan, David (18 January 2016). "Crowded house on investment". The Australian. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "GE enters the crowdfunding arena with OurCrowd partnership". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2016". summit.ourcrowd.com. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Press, Viva Sarah. "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2017". Israel21c. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ "OurCrowd Launches "Our Innovation Australia Fund"". crowdfundinsider.com. 3 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Ourcrowd launches $50 million digital health fund Qure". geektime.com. 3 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "OurCrowd Launches OC50 Portfolio Index Fund". crowdfunding360.com. 2 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Huge Crowd: OurCrowd Investor Summit Draws 6K". nocamels.com. 16 February 2017.
  15. ↑ "OurCrowd Jerusalem incubator to invest in 100 startups - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  16. ↑ "OurCrowd Partners With Bangkok Bank". NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News. 2018-05-10. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  17. ↑ "Bangkok Bank taps OurCrowd resources for equity crowdfunding - The Nation". The Nation. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  18. ↑ "OurCrowd gets $25M for its own funding, which it will pass on to its portfolio". 28 April 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "OurCrowd raises another $72M to build out its equity crowdfunding platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "Via Singapore, OurCrowd brings crowdfunding platform to Asia". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Israel's OurCrowd scores massive $72 million Series C for its crowdfunding equity fund". geektime.com. 21 September 2016.
  22. ↑ "OurCrowd sets up $50 million fund to invest in sports tech". Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  23. ↑ "'Branson got the same deal as a Bondi dentist' - OurCrowd has $1bn in funds with $200m from Australians". Financial Review. 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
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