Israeli tech companies raised $4.5B in the last 9 months, which, according to IVC, “may turn 2018 into another record year in capital raising.” Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, Jack Ma, and Eric Schmidt were guests of honor at the inauguration of the Israeli Innovation Center of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. China continues its active funding role in Israeli tech – see the 2018 uptick compared to 2015-2017. Plus, below, more stories we are excited about, like Airobotics’ latest raise and why “Big Data is Machine Learning’s great uncle.”

Startup Nation and beyond

The Peres Center for Peace inaugurated its Israeli Innovation Center in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, Jack Ma, Eric Schmidt and even a hologram of Shimon Peres himself. RealView Imaging was selected among hundreds of Israeli medical startups to be featured.

The third quarter of 2018 had $1.6B raised in 131 rounds, with a record $4.5B raised between January and September of 2018, “the most ever raised in Israeli high tech during a nine-month period,” (Globes). Chinese investors participated in 12% of Israeli financing rounds in 2018, an increase compared to 2015-2017…Chinese take growing slice of Israeli tech investment.

See who made it to the 2018 Red Herring Top 100 Global Winners; special kudos to CropX, EMQ, and Kenna Security.

Congratulations to Airobotics on their $30M raise. Airobotics CEO Ran Krauss tells Forbes: “We see ourselves as a data company, not a drone company.” Read it here: Machine Learning & Data — Where You’d Least Expect It.

Top tech news this week 

News from the industry 

“As the world moves towards more renewable energy, batteries will play a crucial storage role. But what happens when they wear out?” Giving batteries a second life (Shell)

Opening Up About Comp Isn’t Easy — Here’s How to Get More Transparent (First Round Capital) 

3 Common Myths People Have About Crypto (1 of 3): Watch the video (Andreessen Horowitz) 

The latest from OurCrowd

“ICEJ engaged the OurCrowd equity crowdfunding platform to sponsor and present at its annual Feast of Tabernacles conference, which brings some 6,000 evangelical Christians from around the world to Israel.” Holy investment —  Christian Zionists find another way to connect with Israel: innovation.

2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit abroad

Looking to connect

We currently have 500+ open positions at our global portfolio companies. Here are a few of the most exciting:

To search, filter, and apply head to OurTalent here.