Tag: israel

Record First Quarter for Israeli High-Tech Investments

By OURCROWD Venture funding set to double over 2020 Capital raising by privately held Israeli technology companies soared to a record $5.37 billion in the first quarter of 2021, 89% higher than in the previous quarter and double the amount raised in the first quarter of 2020. The surge was driven by 20 deals worth more than $100 million each, accounting for 55% of the total quarterly amount raised in 172 transactions. During the quarter, the median deal size doubled to $10.3 million and the average nearly doubled to $31.2 million, signaling that most of the capital flow went to relatively few capital-intensive deals. First published in Prospective, quarterly perspectives on VC, technology and market trends published by OurCrowd. To join the Prospective mailing list, email prospective@ourcrowd.com. Related: SPACs Unpacked: What Investors Need to knowOurPeople: Alec Ellison, Chairman, OurCrowd USGreen Energy Makes Business...

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In the News: Expect a ‘renaissance’ in medical innovation

Trends that began way before the virus hit − whether e-commerce, working from home, distance learning or robotic process automation − have now accelerated to light-speed. The impact of this crisis on the investment world, especially venture capital, is really interesting…A couple of things are becoming apparent: an absolute and renewed focus on healthcare and medical everything, obviously with anything related to the current crisis getting huge attention and support. This sector has been under-invested in until now, particularly in Israel. Read up on my prediction for a ‘renaissance’ in medical innovation. Last week’s webinar on Cybersecurity & Insecurity: The New World of COVID-19 shared expert views from leading cybersecurity companies. Watch the recording and register for Part II: IoT Cybersecurity and Financial Crime – The New World of COVID-19, this Thursday, May 21st at 9:00AM Los Angeles, 12:00PM New York, 7:00PM Tel Aviv.  Top Tech News data.world CEO Brett Hurt credits his team’s agility at navigating the new realities in this pandemic world as key to the company’s ability to exceed expectations. Read how Brett Hurt is leading data.world...

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In the News: Coronavirus, industry reinvention & venture capital

The coronavirus crisis has created heightened awareness of healthcare challenges, which will cause more money to flow to what we have seen as traditionally underfunded areas – medtech, digital health, and research. Historically, venture investing right after major market downturns – such as after the Internet bubble burst in 2000-2002, and after the financial crisis of 2007-2009 — has proved lucrative because you’re buying at a discount. That’s a very good entry point for new venture investors. However this time, there is also a fundamental re-set and expansion of social and economic trends causing major disruption that will lead to further opportunities for those companies leading the change. Read my and others’ thoughts on “Recession, Reinvention and Opportunity” in this Israel21c piece. As organizations increasingly move their business processes online, threats to data and privacy have exploded. Join us for a webinar Thursday, May 14 at 9:00AM PDT, 12:00PM EDT, 7:00PM IDT on Cybersecurity & Insecurity: The New World of COVID-19 where experts from some of the leading cybersecurity companies around the world will explore the challenges for organizations protecting...

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In the News: News from startups hard at work fighting COVID-19

We’re optimistic that the coronavirus vaccine being developed by MigVax can bring very, very good news to the world, as I told CBN. The company believes it can build off of the coronavirus vaccine they previously developed for poultry and adapt it for the human coronavirus. Hear more from me on the topic, on Israel’s Channel 13. Professor Ferid Murad of Stanford University won the 1998 Nobel Prize for discovering the role of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system. He says the nitric oxide treatment for coronavirus by SaNOtize that proved 99% effective in killing coronavirus in lab tests at Utah State University and was approved for clinical trials by Health Canada “could be effective in treating infections, including COVID-19”. Read my thoughts here. Top Tech News Coronavirus and sports: OurCrowd portfolio company PlaySight is instrumental in bringing back tennis.  I told NoCamels, the crisis has accelerated digital tech trends at warp speed – Israeli VCs are cautiously optimistic about the future, despite pandemic.  “We’re getting closer than ever to COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, and it is all thanks to...

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In the News: Time to move fast and fix things

Now is the time for tech to drive the effort and support the global community in reversing the course of this coronavirus pandemic and help us establish a more successful, healthier and safer future. The tech world has the ingenuity, resources, imagination and drive to tackle the new challenges brought by COVID-19. Read more in this Al Jazeera op/ed published by Jason Greenblatt and myself.  Last week saw a great example of tech moving fast and fixing things, with our company Kryon, a leader in robotic process automation. In just 48 hours they managed to complete a typically 1-2 month process and helped Maccabi Health Care Services move all of the Israeli Health Ministry’s coronavirus testing data into their core database. Read it in The Jerusalem Post, and watch my interview on the story with Kryon and Maccabi. Our portfolio company data.world is helping Tableu make Johns Hopkins coronavirus data available – and that’s just the start. Join our next webinar, where CEO Brett Hurt will discuss the use of big data to solve COVID-19, and how data.world is applying its...

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