Author: wp_archive_user

What We’re Investing In: Current Investment Opportunities On OurCrowd (June 2014)

What We’re Investing In: Current Investment Opportunities On OurCrowd (June 2014)

Jun 5, 2014 | , ,

Here is a look at all of the latest investment opportunities on OurCrowd’s platform. OurCrowd allows accredited investors to access curated, negotiated startup opportunities, at lower minimums than the traditional venture capital model. Since our last edition of “What we’re investing in,” we’ve launched another two companies in the advertising technology and augmented reality space. Cimagine: Augmented commerce anywhere Cimagine’s novel technology was created to address a very common issue that causes only 4% of all furniture sales to be transacted online. This statistic makes sense, how can anyone make a confident online purchase, without knowing what the furniture will look like in his or her own home? Introducing Cimagine, an augmented commerce platform that allows consumers to view a 3D image of their potentialbefore making the actual purchase. Using the camera view from a mobile device, the software places high definition images from the retailers website into a real worldview of the customer’s home. Once the image is in place, the user can walk around the image in order to view it from all of the various angles and distances....

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Shooting for the Moon with SpaceIL

Shooting for the Moon with SpaceIL

Jun 1, 2014 | , , ,

Background: Israelis and Space Since the 1960s, Israelis have actively engaged in researching and exploring space, initially focusing on academic research.  With time, efforts shifted to generate an Israeli space industry, piggybacking on Israel’s technological advantages, culminating with the 1983 establishment of the Israel Space Agency, a subdivision of the already existing Ministry of Science and Technology. In 1988, Israel joined seven other nations with space launch and spacecraft capabilities when it launched its first satellite, Ofeq-1.  Many more satellites have since been launched bringing Israel’s total to thirteen satellites, developing an international reputation through its substantial achievements. The Potential of Space The space industry as a whole, including Israel’s, has greatly contributed to the global economy, and also provides political and strategic advantages to involved nations.  More specifically in the case of Israel, satellite and space technology plays a significant role in its communication and miniaturization innovations.  Space capabilities have also played a role in ensuring Israel’s military and security advantages, which in turn lead to political advantages.  Whether in gathering of valuable information, or the establishment of...

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What we’re investing in: Current investment opportunities on OurCrowd (May 2014)

What we’re investing in: Current investment opportunities on OurCrowd (May 2014)

May 8, 2014 | ,

Welcome to another edition of “What We’re Investing In.” OurCrowd provides curated, exciting investment opportunities to a global network of angel investors looking to get involved in startup companies. To date, OurCrowd and our investors have invested over $43 million in 36 portfolio companies. Here is an inside look at we are investing in right now. MedAware: Eliminating Prescription Errors Medaware is an algorithmic-based software that addresses a global multi million-dollar problem. Drug prescription errors are unfortunately a common occurrence that currently costs the average hospital around $5.6 million annually. In addition to the monetary damage are the obvious life threatening implications of these errors. An estimated 1.5 million Americans are affected each year by prescription errors, resulting in thousands of preventable fatalities. Medaware leverages big data, machine learning and millions of electronic medical records, to address this problem and prevent these costly mistakes. Credit card companies have used similar methods to effectively detect and prevent fraud. Medaware’s CEO Gidi Stein, is joined by a world-class management team with expertise in algorithmic development, bio-informatics and machine learning. Zula: Business...

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Zack’s App of the Week: Feedly

Zack’s App of the Week: Feedly

May 4, 2014 |

Last week’s App article mentioned Newsle, a tool we use to track and stay up to date on the activities of our constituents. So, anytime our Linkedin connections made the news, we’re alerted to it. For more general news tracking, one of our favorite apps is Feedly. I was a heavy user of Google Reader, which was the search company’s news reader. But when Google announced at the end of last year that they were abandoning the product, many users were left stranded. Our business requires us to not only stay abreast of the 36 portfolio companies we’ve invested in and their markets, but also keep current on the crowdfunding market, our competition, and generally, attune to trends in startup investing land. Our marketing team migrated to Feedly and we’ve been using it ever since. Load up the websites you want to follow, create tags of the type of information you’d like to follow, and discover new sources of quality content using Feedly. Using a reader like Feedly mitigates the need to travel to those handful of sites you...

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Making the Rounds: What investors need to know about the different stages of startup funding

Making the Rounds: What investors need to know about the different stages of startup funding

Apr 10, 2014 | ,

Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp last month marked the largest recorded deal for a venture-capital-backed company in history. While the unprecedented price tag of the purchase was certainly a story in and of itself, what really garnered attention among venture capitalists was that Sequoia Capital was WhatsApp’s lone VC investor.  Although sources differ on the exact stage at which Sequoia first invested in WhatsApp, as well as the exact amount of the initial investment, the general consensus is that the company will reap a return of approximately 50x on an investment made as early as a Series A round of funding. How is it that Sequoia managed to emerge from this deal with profits estimated to be in excess of $3 billion? The answer, though undoubtedly a combination of a variety of factors, is largely based on timing. Jumping back almost three years to April 2011, when WhatsApp had just secured an $8 million investment from Sequoia, the newly-founded messaging service had all of 4,050 reviews for its Blackberry app. To put that into perspective, the Blackberry app now...

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