Startup Investing

Medical Marijuana: Clearing the smoke on a miracle drug

Medical Marijuana: Clearing the smoke on a miracle drug

May 18, 2015 | , ,

This is a guest post by OurCrowd Venture Partner and medtech investment advisor Dr. Morris Laster.  If ever there was a ‘miracle drug’, the top candidate would be cannabis. The range of clinical conditions that have had the potential for treatment with marijuana is extensive ranging from approved conditions with cannabis derivatives such as Sativex for MS induced neuropathic pain and spasticity, or Marinol for cancer treatment induced nausea and vomiting, and AIDS cachexia. Other conditions include Type 2 diabetes, obesity, various neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, or Huntingdon’s disease, glaucoma and the list goes on and on. The biggest challenges with medical marijuana are: Marijuana is best administered by smoking due to the combination of active ingredients and first pass kinetics Dosing variability due to individual smoking differences and plant material There is the potential for recreational drug abuse For the first time, there is a solution for the issue of dosing medical marijuana. Israel-based Syqe Medical has developed an inhaler that “druggifies” marijuana by providing clinically-proven standardized dosing, utilizing a cartridge based dose, uniform heating element and...

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Impact Investing 101: How to generate social and environmental impact alongside financial return

Impact Investing 101: How to generate social and environmental impact alongside financial return

May 17, 2015 | , ,

What is impact investing, anyway? It is becoming increasingly apparent that private enterprise can play an important role in solving critical social and environmental challenges. Investors realize that these companies can have a meaningful impact on the world while delivering financial returns at the same time, enabling investors to “do good while doing well.” This has given rise to a large, growing movement known as impact investing. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments provide capital to support companies aiming to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. Typical sector targets for impact investment are: sustainable agriculture and development, affordable housing, affordable and accessible healthcare, education, microfinance and financial inclusion, and clean technology. My interest in impact investing stems from a variety of personal and professional experiences over the past couple of years. The initial spark was lit when I heard Sir Ronald Cohen speak about the subject around two years ago at an event in Israel (he believes social impact investing will be the...

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Conquering the Term Sheet: Everything you need to know about deal terms (Part 1)

Conquering the Term Sheet: Everything you need to know about deal terms (Part 1)

May 14, 2015 | , ,

Want to learn how professional investors analyze and construct terms and conditions for their investments? The following Q&A session explores the fundamentals of deal terms in startup investing. This is the 1st installment of a 3 part series on deal terms. In the 30-minute webinar,we discussed how to: Understand the basics of deal terms, from full ratchet to anti-dilution Get an insider’s view of crafting deal terms in startup investing Learn what to look for in a term sheet from seed stage to pre-IPO ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: View the next installments of our 3 part educational series on deal terms: For Part 2, click here. For Part 3, click here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: To stay updated on future events and the best news from the Startup Nation, sign up for our newsletter, email us, and follow us on social media.   View the FULL program Download/view the presentation Conquering the term sheet: Everything You Need to Know About Deal Terms for Angel Investing from OurCrowd LLC [xyz-ihs...

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The State of BioMed in Israel: Startup Nation celebrates life sciences at IATI’s BioMed 2015

The State of BioMed in Israel: Startup Nation celebrates life sciences at IATI’s BioMed 2015

May 13, 2015 | , ,

Israel’s biomed industry is in full bloom; Don’t believe us? Let the numbers speak for themselves! Here are some stats that paint a quick picture of the industry growth: 1,380: the number of active biomed companies in the Startup Nation, an all-time high. 280: the number of R&D centers operating in Israel for foreign companies, including healthcare, for example: Johnson & Johnson, Philips, General Electric, Merck Serono, Abbott. $801 million: the amount raised from venture capital firms in 2014, which was 24% of all VC investments, showing recovery since the 2008/9 financial crisis. $2.9B: total sum of Israeli life science company acquisitions in 2013-14. Earlier this week, IATI released the 2015 Israel Life Sciences Industry Report that, in addition to the above-mentioned data, outlines the state of the biomed industry in the Startup Nation, including the investment landscape. OurCrowd is rated the “second most active life sciences investor in 2014,” right after VC firm OrbiMedIsrael Partners. With medtech encompassing 21% of OurCrowd’s investment portfolio, it would seem we are in line with the greater VC ecosystem in Israel. This indeed calls for a celebration. Luckily, it just so...

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“Tear down this wall!” How crowdfunding is changing the world

“Tear down this wall!” How crowdfunding is changing the world

May 5, 2015 | , ,

One of the greatest benefits of the internet age has been the breaking down of barriers. Internet based real-time communication has broken down barriers of distance, social networks have eliminated the constraints of first degree relationships, online marketplaces have removed the layers of middlemen between vendors and consumers, cloud computing has lowered the cost hurdle of developing and deploying software, the blockchain promises to circumvent centralized intermediaries and the inherent global reach of the internet (2.8+ billion users) has made barriers to content distribution a thing of the past. Crowdfunding is one of the latest internet trends that follows in this spirit. Capital has historically been one of the most difficult things to access for large percentages of the population. Most individuals are repeatedly unsuccessful in their attempts to secure a loan to cover personal expenses, raise money to expand a small business, or bring in external funding to help get an innovative idea off the ground, running into walls at every turn. These walls come in many forms (geographic or demographic disadvantage, lack of influential relationships, cost, etc.),...

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