Tag: crisis

PANDEMIC VENTURE INVESTMENT SERIES EPISODE 2: MOBILITY

PANDEMIC VENTURE INVESTMENT SERIES EPISODE 2: MOBILITY

Nov 26, 2020 |

Michael Dick, CEO, C2A Security Graham Gullans, VP Business & Corporate Development, Superpedestrian Adi Pinhas, CEO, Brodmann17 Yakir Machluf, OurCrowd Mobility Lead Watch the full episode here. As the coronavirus pandemic challenges the world of transportation and mobility, the crisis is also offering opportunities for new technological solutions, from electric scooters to self-driving cars, according to some of the leading entrepreneurs in the sector. “The mobility sector is among the hardest hit due to Covid-19, seeing one of the greatest declines in history,” said Yakir Machluf, mobility lead for OurCrowd, whose portfolio includes dozens of mobility startups. At the beginning of the pandemic, many car manufacturers shuttered operations as much of the world went into lockdown. Although manufacturing has now resumed, it is slower, and other aspects of mobility, including public transportation and ride-hailing apps continue to see a downturn in users. At the same time, more people have turned to alternative modes of transportation, including bicycles and scooters. “The entire way in which people and goods move around has changed,” Machluf said in the second episode of the...

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Investing in the Pandemic and the New Normal

Investing in the Pandemic and the New Normal

Nov 19, 2020 | ,

SALT Talks-OurCrowd Pandemic Venture Investment Series (Part 1) Watch the full episode here. Despite the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, venture capital is well placed to thrive as the world becomes increasingly digital and demands innovative solutions, according to one veteran Silicon Valley investor. Unlike previous economic crises, the pandemic offers a chance for venture capital to respond directly to the world’s most pressing needs, from healthcare to online banking to secure communications. The crisis “will be different because of the importance of venture capital,” said Steve Krausz, general partner at U.S. Venture Partners, a Menlo Park-based VC firm that backed companies like Checkpoint Software Technologies Ltd. and Box Inc.  “The digitalization of the world economy is going to be enormous.” Even before Covid-19, many VC-backed industries, including cloud computing, financial technology, and digital health, were growing, and driving some of the most dynamic changes in the economy. The virus, along with stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements, has boosted those shifts, Krausz said, with consumers, businesses and healthcare providers relying even more on digital and online tools. “It has been...

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In the News: Hollywood Happy Ending to Coronavirus Horror?

In the News: Hollywood Happy Ending to Coronavirus Horror?

Aug 2, 2020 |

Movie theaters are closed, but the spirit of Hollywood lives on in our over-optimistic approach to the coronavirus. This is not a movie, and COVID-19 was not made in Hollywood. It will not be defeated in 100 minutes by a raven-haired heroine and a gruff old scientist pulled out of retirement. This disease will be with us for the foreseeable future and, as Bill Gates and others have warned, the next pandemic is out there, waiting to pounce. Check out my thoughts on how the VC community can pull together, back the startups on the frontlines, and drive us to a ‘Hollywood happy ending’ together, in my latest Investors on the Frontlines LinkedIn Newsletter, which you can subscribe to receive regularly here. As I recently told Crowdfund Insider, the massive dislocation of work, home, and leisure created by the pandemic is ushering in a changed world. This new era needs a fresh generation of technological solutions and presents a major opportunity for venture investors to help innovators move fast and fix things. Read the full interview.  As an example...

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In the News: An alternative way to go public is heating up beyond recognition

In the News: An alternative way to go public is heating up beyond recognition

Jul 28, 2020 |

Beyond Meat and Lemonade were the best performing IPO debuts of 2019 and 2020 thus far – both companies in which OurCrowd had the privilege to offer our investors before they went public. We are proud to be counted among those who have supported these impactful companies, and look forward to taking part in the journeys of more promising companies in the future. Speaking of going public – I predict that the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market will roughly double this year and become an accepted alternative way for growth companies to go public by merging into the SPACs. As we see from Bill Ackman’s $4 billion SPAC, the market for these kind of structures has heated up beyond recognition. As stated in CNBC, “…SPACs are growing in popularity. So far this year they’ve have raised more than $12 billion, according to Dealogic, putting the dealflow on track to surpass 2019′s record total of $13.5 billion.” Watch more on the SPAC boom, on CNBC. Top Tech News Congrats to two OurCrowd portfolio companies on their raises which we...

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Investing in a Time of Crisis: 3 World-Class Investors Discuss the Coronavirus Recession

Investing in a Time of Crisis: 3 World-Class Investors Discuss the Coronavirus Recession

Jul 2, 2020 |

The economic disruption caused by COVID-19 is the worst recession the world has seen in nearly a century. At the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference, Alec Ellison, Chairman of OurCrowd US, sat down with three world-class investors to discuss their perspective on the coronavirus recession, caused by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three investors included founder and Chief Investment Officer of Key Square Group Scott Bessent; managing director at Insight Partners, Deven Parekh; and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, Jeremy Levine.

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