Tag: investing in israeli startups

Jerusalem Day Interview Series: Jerusalemite entrepreneur & angel investor, Gary Levitt

Jerusalem Day Interview Series: Jerusalemite entrepreneur & angel investor, Gary Levitt

Jun 5, 2016 |

In honor of Jerusalem Day, join us for a 3-part series of interviews with a few of Jerusalem’s movers and shakers, who work year-round on promoting and growing the city’s startup ecosystem. The following interview features Jerusalemite successful entrepreneur, angel investor, and technologist, Gary Levitt. Bio: Gary Levitt was born in South Africa and moved to Boston to study music. Prior to that, Levitt was a skateboard pro turned bass guitarist. He produced a bunch of music for the Oprah Show and eventually realized that CSS was more sublime than bussing tables in Soho. In 2007, Levitt founded Mad Mimi, an email application that was acquired by GoDaddy (GDDY) in August 2014. Levitt currently serves on GoDaddy’s leadership team and spends time with his family in Jerusalem, Israel. Levitt is an active angel investor and technologist, focused primarily on consumer internet technology and product-design. JLM Day Interview with Jerusalemite entrepreneur and angel investor, Gary Levitt Tell us a bit about yourself and what you like to do. I’m Gary Levitt, from Knoppieslaagte, a small farm town in South Africa. I am...

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Israeli Exits through the Years: The Data Storage Industry

Israeli Exits through the Years: The Data Storage Industry

Oct 18, 2015 | ,

Not for nothing is Israel the #2 startup ecosystem in the world — it has more high-tech startups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country. Over the past few years, Israeli M&A has been (and still is!) on fire with a lot of excitement and hype around several multi-million dollar deals. The interest of international tech giants in Israeli startups is nothing new, and as we know, one of the major strategies for Israeli startups is to transform into appealing acquisitions for large entities knocking on its door. Some of the top high-tech M&As in Israeli history have come straight out of the data storage industry. These companies working on developing various storage solutions (from software to hardware, and in between) typically exit in the mid-hundreds of millions of dollars range. Here’s an up-to-date look at the Israeli M&As in the data storage industry over the years: UPDATE: Storage giant Western Digital just announced (Oct. 21st, 2015) that it has agreed to buy SanDisk Corp for about $19 billion, marking yet another exit for Israel’s data storage sector! A look to the (near)...

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Touchdown in Israel: NFL Hall of Famers get all-star demo of Startup Nation’s finest tech companies

Touchdown in Israel: NFL Hall of Famers get all-star demo of Startup Nation’s finest tech companies

Jun 23, 2015 | , ,

American football is making strides in the Startup Nation – but not only in the way you’d think. Earlier this week, OurCrowd, partnering with the Jerusalem Development Authority, hosted Robert Kraft – known Israel supporter and even more known football team owner – and his delegation of 19 NFL Hall of Famers who arrived in Israel last week. Along with the Jerusalem Development Authority, Jnext, Ambassador Ron Dermer, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, and a selection of Startup Nation’s finest tech companies changing the world, we welcomed our guests to become inspired by modern technology in Jerusalem – the heart of Startup Nation – in cooperation with the ancient stones of its historical Old City. As many of the players and Kraft expressed afterward – it was a breathtaking contrast. “I’m just so glad to be here and learn about the history of Israel and how things are moving forward,” said Hall of Famer Curley Culp. The goodwill trip to Israel, coined “Touchdown in Israel: Mission of Excellence,” was organized by New England Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, in...

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Join OurCrowd in DC and New York

Join OurCrowd in DC and New York

Feb 18, 2014 |

Join the OurCrowd team and fellow investors at three events in New York and Washington, DC from March 3rd through 6th.  Want private time with the OurCrowd partners (Jon, Audrey, Elan, Gadi) in New York or DC? Please fill out this form here and we will get back to you about scheduling.   Washington DC: OurCrowd supports the AIPAC National Technology Reception Featured speaker: OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved Come learn about the AIPAC Technology Division and hear featured speaker OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved Note: we rolled our prior “late night with OurCrowd” event in with AIPAC’s technology division Sunday, March 2nd: 8 pm – 11 pm The Passenger 1021 7th St. NW Click here to RSVP   Washington DC: Investor breakfast featuring OurCrowd portfolio companies Join OurCrowd and portfolio companies for an exclusive investor breakfast Monday, March 3rd 7:30AM – 9:00 AM Renaissance Hotel – Room Penn Quarter (same room name, different hotel!) 999 9th Street NW Click here to RSVP New York: 92nd Street Y Genius Week: The Genius of the Entrepreneur Catch Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran speaking for the 92nd Street Y’s “Genius...

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High-Tech Hanukkah: 8 Israeli tech trends for 8 crazy nights

High-Tech Hanukkah: 8 Israeli tech trends for 8 crazy nights

Dec 2, 2013 | , , ,

We’re celebrating Hanukkah in Israel right now, a time for latke eating, dreidel spinning and candle lighting festivities. There is a lot to celebrate (and be thankful for — Thanksgivukkah FTW!) in startup land this year. Last year OurCrowd took the opportunity to highlighted some of the tech trends seen in the Startup Nation in a series of blog posts 8 Israeli Tech Trends for 8 Crazy Nights. Since 2013 turned out to be such a successful year, we thought it would be a good time to look back at last years trends and see how far they’ve come and what we have to look forward to in the future. So, Happy Hanukkah and enjoy! 8 Israeli tech trends for 8 crazy nights Trend 1: Social Driving Interestingly, many of the most popular driving apps have been developed in Israel. The solutions tend to cluster around overlaying social with driving data to aid navigation and parking. Check out the trend here. Trend 2: The Quantified Self This trend reflects how the tie-in between hardware and the smartphone is getting tighter and tighter. People are getting more...

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