Author: OurCrowd

[BioCatch in Businesswire] BioCatch Enters Implementation Stage of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for Payment Services Directive (PSD)2, Launches SCA Compliance Awareness Events

Jul 26, 2021 |

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BioCatch, the global leader in behavioural biometrics announced it has entered the implementation stage of its offering that will enable financial institutions to leverage BioCatch’s behavioural biometric-based solution to support their journey to compliance with PSD2’s implementation of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), a regulation that requires multi-factor authentication for online transactions. Read...

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OC50: Diversified Investing in Venture Capital

Jul 25, 2021 |

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

Jul 25, 2021 |

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

Jul 25, 2021 |

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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