Startup Investing

OurCrowd launches the smart investor’s guide to investing in Israel

OurCrowd launches the smart investor’s guide to investing in Israel

Mar 5, 2014 | , , ,

Israel stands for a lot of things in the global economy. In their book, Start-up Nation, authors Senor and Singer codified Israel’s startup ecosystem as one of the most vibrant — and profitable — in the world. This hasn’t been lost on investors. Over the past few years, as much of the world experienced massive bankruptcies and sluggishness of their economies in the wake of the subprime crisis in the U.S., Israel’s economy kept producing — generating returns on investment in the Israeli stock market, bond market, currency market, and of course, in private equity — ie., Israel’s startups. Israel’s startup ecosystem is one of the most exciting, dynamic opportunities to invest in, and OurCrowd has a great ringside seat for seeing what’s trending right now and finding what we believe may be the most interesting investment opportunities the Startup Nation has to offer. When reading Start-up Nation, many people interested in Israel’s investment climate often find that they don’t know how to actively get involved. Sitting abroad, it isn’t always clear how to tap into the excitement around the Startup Nation, how the markets work,...

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The Genius of the Startup: Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of great business ideas

The Genius of the Startup: Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of great business ideas

Mar 4, 2014 | ,

On Monday, OurCrowd’s founder and CEO Jonathan Medved and ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank” investor Barbara Corcoran  took part in an exhilarating conversation about the genius of great business ideas. The Genius of the Startup event is part of 92nd Street Y’s 7 Days of Genius festival on genius. The event was moderated by Betty Liu, award-winning business journalist and editor-at-large for Bloomberg Television. He has invested in more than 100 Israeli start-ups, helping 12 of them get in excess of $100 million. She went from straight-D student to a multi-millionaire when she parlayed a $1000 loan into The Corcoran Group, which sold in 2001 for $66 million. Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of the startup.   Missed it live? View the 92Y event webcast recording here or watch the video below.   Jonathan Medved and Barbara Corcoran in Conversation with Betty Liu: The Genius of the...

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3 Due Diligence Lessons the Small Investor Can Learn from the “Big Guys”

3 Due Diligence Lessons the Small Investor Can Learn from the “Big Guys”

Feb 20, 2014 |

This guest post was written by Rafi Musher, founder and CEO of global strategy consulting firm Stax Inc. and its business-incubator affiliate Stax Development Corporation (DevCorp). He is also founder of Israel and Co., a non-profit that brings current and future business leaders to Israel to get a firsthand, working knowledge of Israeli innovation. When backing a startup, early-stage or fast-growth company, you certainly want to get smart about the capabilities of the management team and general trends in the industry. Once you have that nailed, it’s time to talk tachles, or practical details in Modern Hebrew. At Stax, due diligence is our bread and butter. In 20 years of helping corporations and private equity firms—including more than a dozen of the top 25 LBO firms in the world—make significant investment decisions, we’ve seen that the most important element for commercial due diligence is getting to the the customer. Lesson #1: Is The Company Solving A Real Problem? What is the need this product or service is trying to address? If you’re looking at a technology company, which is...

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The 3 Most Common Crowdfunding Concerns (Part 2): “It’s Too Complicated & I Don’t Have Enough Time!”

The 3 Most Common Crowdfunding Concerns (Part 2): “It’s Too Complicated & I Don’t Have Enough Time!”

Feb 20, 2014 | ,

Today, OurCrowd is featuring Part 2 of a special 3-part series from Matt and Wayne, the founders of Crowdability Crowdability provides individual investors with independent research and education on equity crowdfunding. With their free service, they aim to simplify the process of discovering and evaluating crowdfunding opportunities. In this series that they’ve created especially for OurCrowd, Crowdability will address investors’ 3 most common concerns about Equity Crowdfunding. ——————————————————————— In Part 1 of this Series, we addressed a concern about whether equity crowdfunding makes sense for ordinary people who aren’t intending to invest millions. Today we’ll address another common concern – namely, that early-stage investing is too difficult, or takes too much time. These are valid questions.  Early-stage investing certainly isn’t easy… For one thing, since the companies raising funds are private, they’re not obligated to disclose details of their operations or financial results.  Gathering this critical information can be challenging and time-consuming, and interpreting it can be even harder. That said, there are many ways to make the process faster and easier… Let’s look at three of them now....

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OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot

OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot

Feb 19, 2014 | , , ,

OurCrowd launched a new webinar series called ‘Teach-In Tuesdays’. In this series, we’ll explore investing in early-stage Israeli companies, identify and explain influential tech trends, stay up-to-date with the crowdfunding industry, and examine actionable insights from our own experience running OurCrowd’s investment platform. Yesterday, we held the 2nd installment of the OurCrowd Teach-In Tuesdays series on OurCrowd’s new product, Portfolio RESERVE, and how interested investors can use it to make a one-time investment with minimal paperwork to guarantee you never miss an opportunity. Additional topics about the Portfolio RESERVE covered in the webinar: You decide how much you’d like to invest in OurCrowd companies Get automated allocation to future investment opportunities One time funding, limited paperwork You retain ability to opt-out of any deal ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 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. To contact Danna Mann, follow her on Linkedin To contact Zack Miller, follow him on Twitter / Linkedin View the FULL program Download/view the presentation OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot...

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