Israel’s Equity-Crowdfunding Platform, OurCrowd, Expanding into Australia

Sydney, Monday 17 February, 2014: Israel's venture capital-crowdfunding platform for accredited investors, OurCrowd, today announced it plans to launch in Australia as part of its global expansion plan.

 

OurCrowd, founded by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, is a platform exclusively for accredited investors who wish to invest in early stage companies. OurCrowd selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these start-ups to its accredited membership through its website, www.ourcrowd.com .

 

In Australia, OurCrowd will be led by a team of well-known investment professionals including David Shein, Nathan Cher and Geoff Levy. Both David and Geoff were founding partners and investors when OurCrowd formally launched in February 2013, and Geoff continues to sit on the company’s advisory board working closely with Jon Medved.

 

David and Nathan were the co-founders of Com Tech, a technology IT services firm they grew to 1,400 people, before selling the company to Dimension Data. Since then, both have gone on to become founders, directors and investors in a number of companies (listed and unlisted) in the areas of technology, start-ups and property. 

 

Geoff is Chairman of Monash Private Capital and a non-executive Chairman of ASX-listed companies Specialty Fashion Group Limited and Cromwell Property Group Limited. Prior to that, Geoff was CEO and Executive Chairman of Investec Bank (Australia).

 

In addition to carefully vetting deals, OurCrowd provides post investment support to its portfolio companies, in many cases by assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats. Accredited wholesale investors select deals in which they elect to invest in via the online OurCrowd-investment platform. OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria in accordance with the laws of each investor’s country of residence. Deals currently being funded are visible only to the accredited members and are not disclosed to the general public until funding is complete.

 

OurCrowd Founder and CEO, Jon Medved, in Australia today, said: “OurCrowd has emerged as a leader in the growing equity crowdfunding space. Our single focus on linking global accredited investors with dynamic and exciting start-ups, is generating an unprecedented number of investment opportunities for individual accredited angel investors.

 

“What truly sets us apart from other platforms is that we’re 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.

 

“We are looking forward to operating in Australia and partnering with a local team of talented investment professionals and mentors, who together bring unique expertise and experience. We hope this will create the same opportunities in Australia for both accredited wholesale investors and the founders of local start-ups. The team here are investors in the general partnership along with me and other general partners at OurCrowd.”

 

With over 3,000 accredited investors (and growing rapidly) on the platform globally after just over one year, Australian start-ups will now have an opportunity to globalise their exposure during early capital raising, without the tension and efforts otherwise required.

 

Commenting on the expansion, David Shein said: “What sets OurCrowd apart is its highly differentiated approach. It is a hybrid venture capital-crowdfunding platform with an experienced investment team.  It diligences deals carefully, invests its own capital, and manages each investment as the general partner, while ensuring it is compliant with all relevant local regulations.” 

 

Nathan Cher adds: “OurCrowd has already invested in an impressive number of high quality companies seeking efficient and global funding on its platform, and we’re excited to join up with OurCrowd to continue to grow its investor base, investment team and ecosystem of mentors. Our aim is to follow the success of OurCrowd in Israel, finding and connecting local sophisticated investors and exciting early stage start-up companies.”

 

About OurCrowd

OurCrowd is venture capital-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 brings these start-ups to its accredited membership. Members choose those deals they invest in via OurCrowd-managed 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, assigning industry experts as mentors, taking board seats, and mobilizing its global investor community to take an active role in innovation and growth. In 2013, the company raised more than $30 million for its thirty portfolio companies, including eleven financings in excess of $1 million.

 

For more information or to sign up as an investor, visit: www.ourcrowd.com