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Israel’s OurCrowd Completes $20M in Equity Crowdfunding for 26 Companies
Torrid funding pace since early 2013 debut includes 7 deals in excess of $1M each
Jerusalem, Israel September 10, 2013: OurCrowd, Israel’s equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors, announced today that it has successfully raised over $20M in the aggregate for its 26 portfolio companies.
OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said, “With OurCrowd reaching this funding milestone, we have solidly positioned ourselves as a leading player in the growing equity crowdfunding revolution. Our trailblazing platform has enabled accredited angel investors worldwide to invest in promising companies alongside top notch VCs, such as Canaan, JVP, Accel, Index and Khosla Ventures.”
Medved explained, “What truly sets us apart from other platforms is that we are focused not just on ‘crowdfunding’ but on ‘crowdbuilding’ for our portfolio companies. Funding is just the first level of engagement with the crowd. OurCrowd assigns experienced mentors to work with each of our companies, often taking board seats, and we play an active role in helping our companies grow. We encourage our investors to pitch in by helping the companies, and this has borne fruit with dozens of introductions and strategic connections being made as a result of the crowd’s help.”
Elan Zivotofsky, one of OurCrowd’s General Partners, stated, “We are most proud of the fact that we are raising far more than symbolic amounts of capital for our companies. Many view equity crowdfunding as a curiosity or a way to raise small amounts of cash. The fact that we have now completed seven deals in excess of $1M each via our platform demonstrates that this model works and can be effectively used for significant capital raises.”
OurCrowd has already launched 5 follow-on funding rounds for various portfolio companies, to provide these companies with additional capital to expand their operations. Medved added, “We are delighted to see not only that we can raise significant amounts of initial funding on our platform, but also that our investors are starting to re-invest in our deals. Most of these follow-on rounds are led by external investors at a significant increase to our initial investment valuation round even though our initial funding closed only months ago.”
About OurCrowd
OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors only who wish to invest in Israeli and global technology companies. Managed by a team of well-known investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and enables accredited investors to invest in these startups. Accredited investors can choose the deals they want, and then invest via OurCrowd-managed special purpose partnerships. OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, including assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats.
Press contact:
Kalia Natan
Mobile: +972–54-744-7340
Office: +972–2-636-9313
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