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InsurTech: Turning an age-old industry into an AI tech sector

InsurTech: Turning an age-old industry into an AI tech sector

Nov 21, 2018 |

Did you hear about the huge insurance company that tried to squash the insurance startup? It’s a classic “triumph of the underdog” moment. In October 2018, insurance giant State Farm released an ad that attempted to minimize the strides of InsurTech disrupter Lemonade – only to find that Lemonade could override the effort in a surprising twist. In case you missed it: State Farm ran an ad that mocked the use of artificial intelligence (AI) – in particular, chatbots – in insurance companies. Lemonade, which uses chatbots to fuel its fast claims processing service, was quick to respond. Shai Winiger, co-founder and CTO of the Israeli startup, focused on State Farm’s defensiveness. Winiger ran a campaign paying to promote State Farm’s ads, because “we think it reveals far more about State Farm than it does about Lemonade.” It was an inspired move. It increased social media buzz to record levels, and brought an invitation for an online debate between Lemonade and State Farm about how quickly AI should be integrated into insurance customer service.   Why InsurTech is a vital...

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How are you celebrating #NationalInternDay?

How are you celebrating #NationalInternDay?

Jul 26, 2018 |

There’s nothing like your first time – interning. All filing and data entry jokes aside, the student internship should be an incredible discovery process; when done right, students return to campus or head towards graduation with a lot more tangible experience in their expected field and are able to relate to the expectations of the professional world they’ll enter soon. Internships mean something – as long as we, the employers, take them seriously and make them meaningful. On that note, we at OurCrowd are excited to be celebrating National Intern Day today. Started in 2017 by WayUp, the national intern ‘holiday’ encourages employers to celebrate, empower and recognize the interns that spend their time learning while fueling our workplaces. According to WayUp – a platform that empowers early career candidates to discover and be discovered by employers (and an OurCrowd portfolio company) – “interns are key contributors to organizations across the nation. It’s important that their hard work and dedication is recognized.” We couldn’t agree more. Take 2 minutes to watch what our fabulous Summer 2018 interns have accomplished so far – with our...

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Uber, NASA, and Virgin are leading the rise of the MaaS Market

Uber, NASA, and Virgin are leading the rise of the MaaS Market

Jun 3, 2018 |

We are all familiar with sitting in standstill traffic, with a now-room temperature coffee and your favorite podcast to take your mind off the knowledge that you, and thousands around you, have no choice but to wait. It’s not just you. The U.N. reports that 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and will grow to 68% by 2050 with another 2.5 billion people added to urban areas by 2050. With this influx comes the serious question of congestion. Luckily, major players like Uber and Virgin are betting on a new market to change the game– MaaS or Mobility as a Service. The MaaS market is defined as transportation services permitting a means of transport outside of personally-owned vehicles. As we well know, Uber built a ride-sharing service empire which is now worth $72B, which according to some forecasters single-handedly led to a decrease in car ownership among young adults. The tech unicorn’s recent purchase of Jump Bikes (an electric bike sharing platform and OurCrowd portfolio company) for a reported price of ~$200M, shows their commitment to...

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5 Examples of Real Estate Technology – and Why You Should Take This Seriously

5 Examples of Real Estate Technology – and Why You Should Take This Seriously

May 23, 2018 |

At $228 trillion in global asset value,  real estate is one of the largest markets worldwide.1 Major players like Blackstone and ProLogis have assets under management in the hundreds of billions, while still only representing a fragment of the total market size. It’s no wonder that investors have traditionally seized opportunities in real estate as a stable, age-old method of ensuring yields.  And yet, much like other time-honored industries like agriculture, insurance, and banking,  the real estate industry is in desperate need of innovation. Commercial real estate is plagued by fractured ownership, with local reach, rather than best prices, serving as the defining factor in buying and selling. Brookfield Management, the largest asset management company in the world, still only holds $285B in AUM in 30 countries2, a drop in the bucket in the multi-hundred-trillion-dollar market. The industry still functions on a network of brokers and lenders that operate on personal connections, not industry data, meaning that willing lenders are not making deals in areas that are real estate rich but capital poor. Furthermore, the industry still operates on the assumption...

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OurCrowd CEO heads to Australia!

OurCrowd CEO heads to Australia!

May 16, 2018 |

Recently, our CEO Jon Medved traveled to Australia, shedding light on the huge amount of activity and interest Australian investors and strategic partners have already shown in the Startup Nation. The trip included stops in Sydney and Melbourne, and the celebration of a new milestone-  $1Billion Australian dollars (AUD) under management, with a full 20% coming from the OurCrowd investor community down under! This achievement further highlights the close relationship between OurCrowd, the Startup Nation, and our friends in Australia and Asia. OurCrowd already has a significant presence in Australia, with Managing Partner Dan Bennett heading up the Australia and Asia office from Sydney. As Jon Medved put it in an interview on Sky News “What’s not to like here..you’re a lucky country. You’ve got good people, good laws, good government on all sides of the spectrum, great business…” Watch the full interview with Sky News’ Ticky Fullerton: OurCrowd has also created strong partnerships in the region, with NAB Private becoming a strategic partner in 2017. Welcoming the Israeli contingent, NAB hosted a private lunch in Melbourne, as well...

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