OurCrowd

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The coronavirus challenge: Here’s why OurCrowd is launching a $100 million Pandemic Innovation Fund

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The new fund will target solutions for COVID-19 and future pandemics, remote working/learning, and social distancing

Today, OurCrowd announces the launch of its Pandemic Innovation Fund. We plan to raise $100 million for investment in urgent technological solutions for the medical, business, educational and social needs triggered by global pandemics and other health emergencies.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus has validated our vision of a connected digital world poised to solve any crisis through global communication and rapid response.

This worldwide crisis presents the greatest challenge yet faced by digital technology. The pandemic has accelerated the pace of technology adoption across many domains.

“We saw two years of digital transformation in two months,” said Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.

This new struggle against an invisible threat will result in the creation of new areas of business activity. Some that exist already will expand dramatically: digital medicine; artificial intelligence-powered diagnostics; remote social and business networking; online freight and logistics; one-click cybersecurity and payment systems for small businesses; 3-D printing for vital medical equipment; training for distance learning – just to name a few. Other entirely new industries will appear. [Read more…]

In the News: Hand sanitizer for the nose? Trials for new COVID-19 treatment

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How are breakthrough technologies overcoming coronavirus challenges – from prevention and cure to social distancing and food supply? What will the tech investing world look like in the future? Join us as we bring together the global tech ecosystem – online, and address these topics on June 22nd at the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference, which will be streamed twice to accommodate global participants. Register now.

You’ve used hand sanitizer – can a ‘hand sanitizer for the nose’ be next? Watch this CTV news feature about the potential COVID-19 “game-changer” by SaNOtize, and the Phase II trials of the company’s nitric oxide nasal spray to determine if it can kill the virus in the upper airway before it can spread to the lungs. CTV News reports: “If the trial shows SaNOtize reduces the symptoms and duration of COVID-19 and it’s approved by Health Canada, the company hopes it can be sold at pharmacies until a vaccine is found.” We’re re-investing in SaNOtize now – learn more.

CTV

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In the News: OurCrowd companies seek 100’s of new employees

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Despite Israel’s unprecedented unemployment situation, high-tech companies are still recruiting. As Israel carefully re-opens for business, startups have a huge role to play in getting our nation back to work. OurTalent, OurCrowd’s jobs portal, currently lists hundreds of vacant positions from within its portfolio companies, with fresh opportunities added each week. Check out OurTalent.

It’s hard to believe that just 3.5 months ago we hosted the 2020 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem; now, we’re checking in with Jason Greenblatt, former Assistant to the President of the United States, and Special Representative for International Negotiations, and newly-joined OurCrowd partner. In February, he spoke about building bridges between Israel and the Arab Middle East through startup technology; last week Jason sat down with one of Israel’s leading tech bloggers, Hillel Fuld, to discuss how he is getting involved in the VC landscape to achieve the same ends. Watch now.

Jason Hillel TOFL

Join us this Wednesday, May 27th for our next webinar – The Post-COVID Corporation: How Pandemic-Driven Innovation Will Change Everything at 9:30AM Los Angeles, 12:30PM New York, 7:30PM Tel Aviv. OurCrowd partners and analysts will discuss how COVID-19 is shaping new tech for healthcare, air travel, retail, financial services, and supply chain, to illustrate why corporate investing in innovation is critical at times of crisis.

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Taking a Bite Out of Unemployment, OurCrowd Portfolio Companies Need 350 Employees

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Even as the coronavirus pandemic rages, startups are offering hundreds of new jobs. The number of vacant positions at OurCrowd’s portfolio companies has risen to 350, with 90 new job vacancies added since the start of April, 41 of them in Israel.

Despite Israel’s unprecedented unemployment situation, high-tech companies are still recruiting. Now that Israel has gone back to work on the downside of the virus curve, entrepreneurs and startups have a huge role to play in getting our nation back to work.

OurTalent, OurCrowd’s jobs portal, currently lists 350 vacant positions from within its portfolio companies, with fresh opportunities added each week. The top recruiting companies include SixGill, BioCatch, and Locusview.

OurCrowd portfolio companies offer work in Israel and around the world. There are vacancies listed in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli locations, but also positions across the globe including New York, Toronto, California, Brazil and Barcelona.

Positions advertised on OurTalent are continuously updated as a service to our companies. Applicants are invited to contact the companies directly.

[Read more…]

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

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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. 

cyber webinar

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In the News: Coronavirus, industry reinvention & venture capital

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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 themselves and their clients from attack.

newsletter cybersecurity webinar

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Working from home? Protect company data with ITsMine

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Millions of people are working from home, accessing company data through unprotected home computers and creating a field day for cyber hackers.

ITsMine technology protects your company’s data against hackers. It’s quick and easy to install, and the company is offering it for free during the coronavirus crisis, says founder and CEO Kfir Kimhi.

“Once your kids are downloading a game onto your computer, the hackers are there,” Kimhi says. “They’re installing malicious code on the system.”

ITsMine’s Data Breach Protection technology is already defending major banks and healthcare systems. It’s ideal for smaller businesses and can be installed remotely in about half an hour, he says.

ITsMine CEO Kfir Kimhi discusses ITsMine’s Data Breach Protection
with OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved

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

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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.

CBN Jon

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.

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