Jerusalem, February 13, 2020  – OurCrowd, a leading global venture investing platform and Israel’s most active venture investor, opened the largest tech event in the Middle East by announcing that its annual investor commitments, number of investors, and Summit registrations have all multiplied more than twentyfold (2,000%) since the first year of OurCrowd’s operation in 2013.

OurCrowd announced that it gained over $500M in new funding commitments in 2019, invested in 38 new portfolio companies, and had 8 exits during the year, including the two most prominent IPOs of 2019: Beyond Meat and Uber. OurCrowd portfolio companies have now achieved 36 exits.

The 2020 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit caps a decade of remarkable and exponential growth in the Israeli tech ecosystem. From 2010-2019, annual investments in Israeli startups grew over 400% and annual exit value grew 900%.

OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said: “As we start the new decade, we want to celebrate the incredible achievements of the Israeli tech ecosystem over the past 10 years, and OurCrowd’s key part in this unbelievable story. But looking forward, we want to take a long-term view and focus on what’s needed to get where we want to be 10 years from now. In order to continue this exponential growth, we will need to redouble our efforts in the seed and early-stage investment arena, as well as strengthen and leverage our growing network of global investors. Together we can make this next decade a truly Roaring Twenties.”

The Summit will look ahead to the next decade with a special session on “Tomorrow’s Top 10 Tech Trends.” The Summit will also show how OurCrowd portfolio companies are saving lives by featuring three patients successfully treated by OurCrowd healthtech companies:

• Will Irwin: treated for essential tremor using focused ultrasound technology pioneered by Insightec
• Leah: treated for squamous cell carcinoma using Alpha DaRT radiation therapy pioneered by Alpha Tau Medical
• 2-year-old Ari Ellman: one of the youngest patients to have a brain tumor removed by surgeons who utilized Surgical Theater’s VR platform

Will Irwin said, “I cannot stress enough how my quality of life has changed due to Insightec’s focused ultrasound technology.  Before the procedure, I constantly spilled food and could not drink a cup of coffee or sip soup.  I could not button a shirt or tie a knot in shoelaces.  I could not use a virtual keyboard on a cell phone.   I have not been able to write a check for more than 15 years.  I had terrible difficulty picking up a pill to swallow it.  I can now do all those simple tasks, which most people take for granted.   Thank you to Insightec and OurCrowd for investing in and believing in this life altering technology.”

Jonathan Ellman, Ari’s dad said, “Groundbreaking technology is nothing new when it comes to Israel – and in the case of Surgical Theater’s life-saving tech, this hit home a year ago when surgeons used Surgical Theater’s tech at Stanford University to tackle our son’s brain tumor.  Everything was on the line that day and our neurosurgeons meticulously approached and prepared for the resection day to eliminate as many unknown variables and to significantly increase the chances of success.  After 18 grueling hours they were successful.  Surgical Theater saves lives, providing confidence and preparation in the most harrowing of times. As Israeli citizens, we’re so proud that this technology was brought to life by the amazing entrepreneurs and by OurCrowd and other investors that backed and believed in the potential and need for such innovative technology.”

OurCrowd’s milestones since inception 2013-2020:

Committed funding:

• 2013: $24 million 2020: $1.4 billion

Registered Investors on www.ourcrowd.com:

• 2013: 2,642 2020: 42,154

Portfolio companies:

• 2014: 25                            2020: 200

Exits:

• By 2013: 0 By 2020: 36

 OurCrowd snapshot of 2019 activity: 

• $500m in new funding commitments
• Investment in 38 new portfolio companies
• 2 IPOs: Beyond Meat and Uber (following acquisition of JUMP)
• 6 M&A exits: Magisto (acquired by Vimeo), Wave (acquired by HR Block), Cognigo (acquired by NetApp), Ubimo (acquired by Quotient) and PowWow (acquired by Magic Software),  NooBaa (acquired by Red Hat)

2020 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit by numbers:

• Over 23,000 people registered from 183 countries
• 231 speakers in 34 sessions
• 2,000 face-to-face meetings facilitated by OurCrowd for investors, MNCs, entrepreneurs

Among the key speakers at the Summit:

• Aharon Aharon, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority
• Dave Mosley, CEO, Seagate Technology
• Ferid Murad, Nobel Laureate in medicine, Board Member SaNOtize
• Isaac Herzog, Chairman, Jewish Agency for Israel
• Jason Greenblatt, former Assistant to the President of the United States & Special Representative for International Negotiations
• Jim Adler, Managing Director, Toyota AI Ventures
• Jun Sawada, President & CEO, NTT Holdings
• Keren Elazari, Cybersecurity Security Analyst, Author & Researcher
• Marta Plana, Board Member, FC Barcelona
• Michael Eisenberg, Co-Founder & Equal Partner, Aleph
• Michael Sutherland, Chief Transformation Officer, Real Madrid CF
• Ronald Kruszewski, Chairman & CEO, Stifel Financial Corporation
• Ruth Arnon, Immunology Researcher, former President of the Israel Academy of Sciences
• Saul Singer, Author, ‘Start-Up Nation’

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About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is a global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individuals to invest and engage in emerging companies.  The most active venture investor in Israel, OurCrowd vets and selects companies, invests its capital, and provides its global network with unparalleled access to co-invest and contribute connections, talent and deal flow. OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships.  With $1.4 billion of committed funding, and investments in 200 portfolio companies and 20 venture funds, OurCrowd offers access to its membership of 42,000 individual accredited and institutional investors, family offices, and venture capital partners from over 183 countries to invest alongside, at the same terms.  OurCrowd’s portfolio is diversified across sectors and stages, ranging from seed and series A through late stage and pre-IPO firms. Since its founding in 2013, OurCrowd portfolio companies have been acquired by some of the most prestigious brands in the world, including Uber, Canon, Oracle, Nike, and Intel.  To register and get involved, visit www.ourcrowd.com

Press Contacts: 

Leah Stern, OurCrowd Dir. of Communications / leah@ourcrowd.com / +44 747 019 6826

Estee Yaari, OurCrowd Press Office /  estee.yaari@ourcrowd.com / +972 50-200-7072

For Press Materials: For Press Materials: https://blog.ourcrowd.com/summitmorning/