OurCrowd
OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform built for accredited investors to provide venture capital funding for early-stage startups. Based in Jerusalem, the company launched in February 2013, with overseas branches in the United States and Australia.
Unlike crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo which crowdfund donations to projects typically in return for some type of reward or gift, OurCrowd uses equity crowdfunding as its model. In equity crowdfunding, investments into a company's shares are pooled together from the crowd. Although recent regulatory changes make crowdfunding available to all investors, at this point, OurCrowd is only available to accredited investors.[1] OurCrowd requires its Israeli portfolio companies to donate a portion of their equity as part of the closing of any funding round.
History
OurCrowd launched in February 2013 in Jerusalem,[2][3][4] by venture capitalist and angel investor Jonathan Medved.[5] Medved began pursuing the idea of an online equity crowdfunding platform in 2012. In March 2013, OurCrowd opened its US office in San Diego. It also has offices in New York City and Sydney. In November 2013, OurCrowd partnered with GE Ventures, the venture capital branch of General Electric, allowing GE to invest alongside OurCrowd in the equity crowdfunder's investments.[6]
In January 2016, OurCrowd brought together 3,000 investors and entrepreneurs for an annual summit in Jerusalem.[7]
Funding
By November 2013, OurCrowd had raised over $25 million for its 30 portfolio companies.[8] As of September 2016, Ourcrowd has raised over $100 million and has 100 companies in its portfolio, with more than $300 million invested.[9] In March 2016, OurCrowd raised $10 million from Singapore's United Overseas Bank, with the stated goal of expanding into Asian markets.[10]
See also
References
- ↑ "OurCrowd > How It Works". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ↑ Reynolds, Matthew (June 22, 2016). "How to make your fortune from startups with OurCrowd". Wired. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
- ↑ Globes correspondent (August 18, 2016). "OurCrowd receives license to raise funds in Singapore". Globes. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
- ↑ "ג'ון מדבד משיק את OurCrowd: לגייס השקעה לסטארטאפ שלכם באמצעות Equity Crowdfunding". 6 February 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ↑ Swan, David (January 18, 2016). "Crowded house on investment". The Australian. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
- ↑ "GE enters the crowdfunding arena with OurCrowd partnership". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ↑ "OurCrowd Global Investor Summit 2016". summit.ourcrowd.com. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
- ↑ "OurCrowd gets $25M for its own funding, which it will pass on to its portfolio". 28 April 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ↑ "OurCrowd raises another $72M to build out its equity crowdfunding platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
- ↑ "Via Singapore, OurCrowd brings crowdfunding platform to Asia". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2016-04-05.