Startup Investing

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...

Read More
Taking Stock of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: What investors need to know to get involved

Taking Stock of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: What investors need to know to get involved

May 15, 2014 | , ,

Stock exchanges have multiple roles in any economy, such as raising capital for businesses, profit sharing, and facilitating company growth, to name just a few. The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange is no different in its efforts to grow an economy that is emerging on to the world’s center stage. History of the Exchange Securities trading in Israel dates back to 1935. However, it wasn’t until 1953 that the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) officially began its operations. A decade after the exchange was founded, the TASE Clearing House was created to carry out payments on behalf of companies and clear all securities transactions conducted on and off of the exchange. In the early ’90s, the TASE introduced a derivatives market where investors could now be a part of stock market indicies, options, and currency trading. Later that decade, in 1997, the exchange introduced the Tel Aviv Continuous Trading (TACT) system. This automated system allowed for the continuous and simultaneous trading that was transparent for all investors, bringing Tel Aviv’s exchange on to the technological forefront. The TASE Today As the only...

Read More
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...

Read More
The 10 Plagues of Startup Investing: What Passover Has to Teach Us About Startups

The 10 Plagues of Startup Investing: What Passover Has to Teach Us About Startups

Apr 16, 2014 | , ,

This week we are celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover, which commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. The 10 plagues that Moses, with a little help from on high, launched on the biblical Egyptians have been spun into numerous allegories, lessons, and instructions. And, being the Israeli high-tech investing fanatics we are, our first thoughts were with the connections to startup investing. Startup investing isn’t easy — sometimes you’re blessed with miracles (i.e.- exits and IPOs), but along the way to the Promised Land of Profits, you’re frequently plagued by problems. There is no guaranteed recipe for success, but here are some tips for avoiding bad investments. So, without further ado, here are the 10 rules of what NOT to do when investing in startups. The 10 Plagues of Startup Investing: Investing in just 1 startup: The data here don’t lie – picking the right startup is tough. So, diversification is even more important when investing in young, private companies than it is when investing in startups. How much can investors make investing in startups? The Kauffman Foundation groundbreaking research on startup investing demonstrated investors made 2.5X on...

Read More
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...

Read More