Startup Investing

4 Things to Know About the Future of Retail

4 Things to Know About the Future of Retail

Dec 29, 2015 |

E-commerce has become a market segment with a number of multi-billion dollar companies in just a few short years. With holiday season retail sales reports coming in and largely showing pure play e-commerce sites accounting for billions in sales, it’s easy to forget how young e-commerce is. Here are four things about the state and future of retail – pertaining to e-commerce’s rapid growth – as considered by our Investment Team over recent months: 1. We’re only through the first part of retail’s online shift It would surprise many to hear that substantially less than 10% of all retail happens through online channels. So, in spite of headlines like these, the vast majority of consumer purchases still happen through traditional channels. Additionally, this “first leg” of e-commerce’s growth is best described as a shift of retail expenditure to online channels. Overall retail spending has grown in the past 15 years, but e-commerce has not been a primary driver for the pie increasing in size. In spite of the ease e-commerce has brought selling and buying, the ability to transact digitally isn’t...

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Making every drop count: How AgTech investing yields more than crops

Making every drop count: How AgTech investing yields more than crops

Dec 29, 2015 | ,

Food scarcity is a real fear. We must produce more food in the next four decades than we have in all of the last 8,000 years of agriculture combined, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Not only that, but this must be done under increasing strains of dwindling land and water resources in addition to challenges posed by climate change and energy needs. This is a great test for mankind, but also a great opportunity for the growing agricultural technology sector. In fact, the twin unprecedented challenges of increasing food supply and reducing resources used for agriculture are the main forces driving innovation and investment in the sector. Opportunities for investment and growth The global agricultural sector itself produces about $120 billion in annual revenues, and farm assets total about $2 trillion, according to recent data, making it one of the biggest components of the world economy. It was not until recently that innovation in this field began attracting the attention of venture capitalists and tech industry investors. A turning point came in 2013 when agrochemical giant Monsanto acquired Climate...

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What We’re Investing In: Current investment opportunities on OurCrowd (December 2015)

What We’re Investing In: Current investment opportunities on OurCrowd (December 2015)

Dec 22, 2015 | ,

Happy holidays and welcome to December’s edition of What We’re Investing In. By the end of 2015, there will be over 85 companies in the OurCrowd portfolio. In one month from today, we’ll kick off our 2nd annual Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem to discuss future investment and tech trends while reviewing the incredible  innovation we’ve seen in the last year. Register here; we hope to see you! Here is a summary of all of the currently funding companies on the OurCrowd platform. Smart Agricultural Irrigation The Internet of Things is one of the most popular startup trends whose simple goal is to connect ordinary “things” to the internet. This company takes the mostly un-technological process of farm irrigation and streamlines it through an intuitive mobile application. The app instructs farmers to deploy sensors throughout their field, which then continuously analyze the surrounding soil and its specific needs. The information collected is transmitted to the farming equipment, automatically populating it with the optimal inputs. Aside from the farmer’s valuable time, this technology can save up to 25% of the extra water typically...

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Mobile Health: 8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2015 (8/8)

Mobile Health: 8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2015 (8/8)

Dec 14, 2015 | ,

It’s that time of year! Join us for the next eight days for what’s become an OurCrowd tradition: highlighting during Hanukkah — the festival of lights – the top eight Israeli tech trends that spark the interest of our investment team and what they see on the ground. Trend #8: Mobile Health Behind the trend: For years, the business of health care has been the focus of much debate in the US. As costs of medical care increase, quality of patient care hasn’t followed suit. More and more individuals are looking to preventative care as a way of avoiding costly procedures and unnecessary medication. Naturally, greater availability of personal mobile devices make it so individuals can more easily take charge of their own well-being, from wireless-enabled wearable technology devices and sensors like Fitbit to personal fitness training apps and data trackers for smartphones. What’s up next: Mobile health, or mHealth, is all about the apps, and Israel is at the cutting edge of mobile health technologies. The industry in Israel has seen quite a growth spurt in recent years as Israeli entrepreneurs...

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Drones: 8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2015 (7/8)

Drones: 8 Israeli Tech Trends, 8 Crazy Nights 2015 (7/8)

Dec 13, 2015 | ,

It’s that time of year! Join us for the next eight days for what’s become an OurCrowd tradition: highlighting during Hanukkah — the festival of lights – the top eight Israeli tech trends that spark the interest of our investment team and what they see on the ground. Trend #7: Drones Behind the trend: Admit it. It’s on your Hanukkah gift wish list. After all those bird’s eye view videos on Facebook of your college roommate’s Victorian home, Bay Area neighborhood and snowboarding trip in Vail, you’ve finally confessed your desire for your very own drone. You’re not alone. As drone technology has improved and costs lowered, people are clamoring for their own commercial unmanned aircraft and coming up with creative uses for them. Drones are being used for more than just real estate sales and vain entertainment purposes, however. Farmers use them for aerial survey of fields and crops. Police employ them for surveillance purposes. In fact, drones were a huge hit at the Paris Police Expo last month, where manufacturers noted an increase in inquiries and demands from police...

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