Tag: venture capital

OC50: Diversified Investing in Venture Capital

By: Gonen Hollander OC50 provides a highly diversified portfolio across sectors, stages, and geography.OC50 is fully invested in approximately 6 months (in comparison to 4-5 years for the average VC fund).OC50 minimum is $10,000 per client and is registered-account eligible when investing through a registered broker. OurCrowd has been Israel’s most active VC firm since 2018. It is also one of the largest venture capital equity crowdfunding platforms in the world. The OurCrowd 50 (“OC50”) Index Fund series was launched in 2017 to provide a way to passively invest in a highly diversified portfolio of startup companies. OC50 is OurCrowd’s flagship product. Each OC50 fund invests in the next 50 companies in which OurCrowd invests. We are currently raising the fifth OC50 fund. In this article, I will highlight what makes OC50 stand out in comparison to other VC funds. Portfolio diversification Venture capital funds are typically focused on certain stages (Early/Growth/Late) and particular industries and geography. To diversify in sectors, geography, and stages an investor would need to invest in multiple VC funds. The typical minimums for reputable...

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Four Reasons Why Canadian Investors Should Add Venture Capital to Their Portfolio

By: Gonen Hollander Many individual investors and financial advisors may not have considered including venture capital as part of their portfolio because historically the minimum investment was in the millions of dollars. Relatively new funding platforms such as OurCrowd offer qualified individual investors an opportunity to invest in start-up deals with modest investments at the same terms VC funds receive. 1. Higher historical returns The most compelling reason to allocate a portion of your portfolio to venture capital is to improve your ROI: venture capital has historically outperformed the public markets. Compared with the S&P 500 and Russell 2000, Cambridge Associates US Venture Capital Index has consistently outperformed the two public market indices over any selected time horizon over the past 25 years 2. Follow the smart money The smartest money in the investing world includes venture capital in their asset allocation. Institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments are increasing their exposure to alternative asset classes in general and venture capital in particular. The Yale Endowment Fund, which is considered by many to be the gold standard...

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Three Things to Know Before Investing in Venture Capital

By: Gonen Hollander Venture capital investments are illiquid and require a longer holding period.Increase in valuation is only realized when there is an exit or a follow-on round (12-18 months is the average cycle).Diversification is key – 20% of the companies will generate more than 80% of the returns Venture capital is a good way to diversify a portfolio: it can provide a hedge against market downturns and has higher potential returns than the public markets. Nonetheless, there are things investors should keep in mind before making an allocation to this asset class. In this article, I mention a few of the things that investors ought to consider prior to investing in VC. Illiquid and long-term Pre-IPO investments by their nature are long-term investments. Hold periods range from 1-2 years for pre-IPO companies, 5-7 years for early growth, and up to 10 years for a traditional VC fund. While liquidity events can happen sooner, you should plan for a lengthy holding period and invest money that you will not need in the near future. Changes in valuation Unlike public...

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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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