Vanessa O’Brien of the IBT featured OurCrowd as the best way to invest in startups without the barriers that exist in traditional VC. Check it out below or read it online here.

 

Israel Is In The Midst Of A Technology Startup Boom. How Do You Invest In It Without A Lot Of Money? Try Crowdfunding Venture Capitalists

From the International Business Times

By Vanessa O’Brien | March 22 2013 9:43 PM

TEL AVIV, Israel — The average Tel Avivian spends about a year of life trawling through traffic on the frustrating hunt for a car park, according to municipal statistics.

That may seem like a lot, but it’s on par with the world’s other big cities, according to IBM’s Global Parking Survey 2011.

Now, there’s an app for that. And it’s one of the products of Israel’s burgeoning technology startup scene: High-tech exports are estimated to be worth $18.4 billion a year, or almost one-half of the country’s entire exports, according to Central Bureau of Statistics data.

Two Tel Aviv residents who fought the daily car-park battle in the sweltering heat of the Mediterranean metropolis finally had enough last year, and designed a new weapon for the fight.

The result is Parko, an Apple iPhone and Google Android app that encourages drivers to share the locations of parking spots they are about to vacate by giving them prizes, coupons and even cash — as well as the promise that, next time, they won’t have to spend the better part of the day searching for an empty stretch of curb. It uses unique technology that employs nine sensors already installed in the average smartphone.

But propelling Parko from a good idea into a functioning business required cold, hard cash. That’s where new Israeli hybrid venture capital/crowdfunding platform OurCrowd came in, gathering and investing $350,000 in Tel Aviv-based Parko just before it launched in December.

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