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The Evolution of the Funds Market

The Evolution of the Funds Market Venture capital funds have a long and storied history. They have seen legendary returns, like Andreesen Horowitz’s 28X from Instagram and have also seen historic failures (see Juicero). The world of venture funds has historically maintained an air of exclusivity, being led by just a handful of individual fund managers and accessed by a small number of institutional investors and industry insiders. Yet, according to Richard Norman, formerly of Davidson Kempner and H/2 Capital Partners, OurCrowd’s Managing Director of Funds, the funds market is evolving rapidly to include a broad range of opportunities for a wider range of investors. The Wealth of Opportunities across Sectors, Stage, and Geography Today, the world is seeing a remarkable boom in funds.  Venture has traditionally been a one town industry:  Silicon Valley. Yet the global tech scene is providing serious competition. With robust ecosystems from Tel Aviv (Silicon Wadi) to New York (Silicon Alley), Bangalore to Barcelona, fund managers are not only branching out beyond the U.S., they are making their investment thesis about peripheral geographies. Says...

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Save the Date #OCSummit19

Now taking applications for the 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit March 7th, 2019… save the date! OurCrowd is now taking applications for the 2019 Global Investor Summit. The Summit has grown to become an iconic must-attend event for international and Israeli investors, startups, global corporations, and the wider tech ecosystem. Apply now Did you join us last year? Then you witnessed firsthand the interactive, front-row view to the formerly closed world of venture capital. Over the past four summits, attendees gained exclusive exposure to cutting-edge technologies, access to meetings with the entrepreneurs behind them, and perspectives of the corporate leaders deploying them. The Summit anchors a week of events and activities in Israel and beyond that provide an insider look at the innovation ecosystem, including tech events, workshops, VC forums, CEO interchanges, press tours, and legendary parties.  Get a taste of some of the most popular from 2018’s VIP tech tour, Pre-Summit Leader’s Forum, and ShukTech After Party. Apply now Were you at last year’s Summit? This past February, the 2018 Summit saw over 10,000 people registered from over...

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70 years of Israeli innovation; what comes next?

A look at Israeli innovation throughout the decades – and beyond In just 70 years, the world’s only Jewish state has managed to cement its reputation as a global high-tech powerhouse in the face of considerable odds. Despite a precarious geopolitical environment with little natural resources, Israel has become home to major players in the high-tech industry and boasts one of the world’s most technologically literate populations. Seven decades ago it would have been hard to imagine that Israel would not only have pioneered agriculture and water tech but is forging ahead in today’s hottest sectors – artificial intelligence ($1.1B in 2017 capital raised), cybersecurity ($791M in 2017 capital raised), automotive ($810M in 2017 capital raised). In 2017, $5.2B of venture capital poured into Israel – since 2013 that totals $20.2B (according to IVC ZAG High Tech Survey 2017). Last year alone, Israel saw $23B in exits. Israeli high tech is on fire – and the world knows it. This extends to the Far East. Last year, Israel saw the highest number of visitors from China ever – up...

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The Startup Guide to PR

For young startups, navigating the public relations game can be daunting. Telling a story effectively can be the gateway to funding, connections, potential clients, and most importantly, credibility. To help OurCrowd’s portfolio companies master the art of PR, we invited VentureBeat’s Stewart Rogers for an open discussion about the do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when pitching your story to the press. Here are some of the highlights we put together from his talk. You can view the whole talk here. Do’s DO your homework. Want to be of value for a journalist? Analyze the data you already have and figure out what insights can come from it. It’s usually as simple as pulling out relevant data points from your database. Creatively packaging your research is a great hook for journalists, and positions your company as experts in your field. DO show your emotional side. If you have an emotional story of how your startup came about, or a personal experience that demonstrates your concept, sell it. If you can’t elicit an emotional response from a journalist, you probably won’t...

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Top Ten Tech Trends for 2018!

We are already deep into the first half of 2018, and it is looking like a pivotal year for technology. Will this be the year that traditional sectors like construction and medicine finally embrace the future? Will startups reach challenging demographics like the elderly? Will financial institutions finally meet their match with cryptocurrencies?  OurCrowd surveyed our partners in the ecosystem – CEOs, MNCs, VCs – to bring you the top tech trends for 2018, as discussed at #OCSummit18. Starting not least with U.S. President Donald Trump, the world is taking a hard look at infrastructure. With this reckoning comes the question of the notoriously inefficient and non-digitized sector of construction. Despite having an enormous slice of the world’s economy, at around 6% of global GDP, the sector has proven to cling stubbornly to its traditional ways. High tech solutions are badly needed; it is estimated that digitization can reduce costs by a staggering 45%, and can cure the long delays and budget overruns which plague nearly every project. Startups are hearing the cry, supplementing the capabilities of engineers and...

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