Startup Investing

When the Chips are Up: Israel’s Burgeoning Semiconductor Industry Sees Exits Worth Billions

When the Chips are Up: Israel’s Burgeoning Semiconductor Industry Sees Exits Worth Billions

Jul 21, 2016 | ,

Israel’s history in the semiconductor industry started back in 1974, when Dov Frohman, one of Intel’s first employees and inventor of EPROM – the erasable, programmable, read-only memory chip that eventually led to the creation of flash memory – left Silicon Valley to return to Israel. Frohman had been asked to establish a small chip design center in Haifa, which, at the time, was Intel’s first center outside of the U.S. Fast-forward to 2016, Intel is now the largest employer in Israel’s high-tech sector, having invested over $10 billion in the country and with exports totaling $4.1 billion. Building on such achievements, the Israeli semiconductor industry has now grown to employ over 20,000 people in dozens of companies. Almost all of the world’s leading semiconductor firms have significant R&D centers in Israel, alongside which a large number of local semiconductor companies have grown. The Israeli semiconductor industry is now one of the most advanced internationally, with the second or third highest concentration of design houses in the world. Quick Snapshot – A Look at Major Israeli Innovations From design...

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“Radicle” innovation: Announcing the launch of a new AgTech accelerator fund

“Radicle” innovation: Announcing the launch of a new AgTech accelerator fund

Jun 30, 2016 | , ,

OurCrowd is excited to announce the launch of Radicle, an accelerator fund dedicated to growing early stage agricultural technology startups into proven industry leaders. The fund aims to solve global farming problems and reduce the time to develop, market, and commercialize new agriculture technologies. The $15 million fund is launched in partnership with Finistere Ventures, Cloud Break Advisors, and an alliance of top agricultural industry leaders, including Bayer and DuPont. “We are excited to work with our partners at Radicle to discover, invest, and grow the next wave of AgTech innovation from Israel and around the world and bring to market solutions that address the greatest challenges that will face farmers over the next half century and beyond.” — David Stark, General Partner at OurCrowd It was quite natural for OurCrowd to partner with the Radicle consortium in light of our history and experience with investing in and growing Israeli agricultural companies, such as our portfolio companies EdenShield and CropX. OurCrowd will work closely with our Radicle partners to continue originating investment opportunities in Israel, sourcing high quality startups with strong growth potential. Check out some of the press...

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Sharing is Caring: From Ownership to Collaborative Consumption in a Sharing Economy

Sharing is Caring: From Ownership to Collaborative Consumption in a Sharing Economy

Jun 22, 2016 |

Airbnb and Uber may have become household terms, but they are far from being the only successful players in the sharing economy, also known as the gig economy, the peer economy and collaborative consumption – terms that refer to technology companies that enable individuals to rent out their under-used assets or skills. Companies like Chegg (homework help), WeWork (office sharing), Lyft (ride sharing), TaskRabbit (household errands), SoBi (bike sharing), Prosper (peer-to-peer lending), Boatbound (boat sharing), Zipcar (car sharing) and Etsy (a handmade marketplace) – as well as “Golden Oldie” eBay – are just some of the noteworthy names in the sharing space. The sharing economy has developed to cover a wide variety of core verticals, the primary ones being transportation, real estate, goods, and money, but that also has seen interesting developments in areas like utilities, health, food, and the corporate arena. But what makes the sharing economy significant, and why is it growing so fast? Part of the answer is that it brings together strangers by mobilizing technology, markets, and crowdsourcing capabilities, which creates a novel way of doing...

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WEBINAR: Network effects and how to leverage them for sustainable growth

WEBINAR: Network effects and how to leverage them for sustainable growth

Jun 9, 2016 | ,

Since 1994 approximately 60 percent of tech company value creation has been in companies with a network effect at their core.” ~ James Currier, Managing Partner, NFX Guild Join OurCrowd for a live webinar with James Currier, Managing Partner of the NFX Guild in Silicon Valley, to learn more about the importance of network effects and how to identify companies that leverage them for sustainable growth. James is a serial-entrepreneur and investor in Lyft, Flickr, DoorDash, HoneyBook, AngelList, as well as current OurCrowd investment opportunity, Splacer. Silicon Valley Guru James Currier on the Power of Network Effects Wednesday, June 15th (8:00 PM Israel / 1:00 PM New York / 10:00 AM San Francisco) In this webinar, you will learn about: The definition of network effects and their importance for enabling sustainable growth How NFX Guild identifies the most promising startups to join their accelerator Marketplaces, market networks, and other business models which leverage the power of network effects >> Reserve your seat on the webinar —- James Currier James is a well-known serial entrepreneur and investor. He is currently a Partner at Ooga...

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Chatbots: The Virtual Customer Service Agent of the Future

Chatbots: The Virtual Customer Service Agent of the Future

May 24, 2016 | ,

Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest growing areas in the high-tech sector, with large corporations like Microsoft and Facebook investing heavily in the world of virtual assistants that seem like they can do everything from paying your bills to finding the nearest open pizza place in the middle of the night. In 2014, the global artificial intelligence market was worth about $126 billion, and is expected to reach a value of $3 trillion by 2024, which means it is growing at a rate of about 36% a year, according to a report from Transparency Market Research. One of the main factors behind the expanding market is the use of so-called chatbots to help with customer service. These virtual assistants mimic customer service representatives by answering questions, giving directions, and taking orders. Not only are they available to chat with customers on company websites, eliminating customer wait-times or having to be transferred to different representatives, but chatbots are also increasingly available on mobile SMS texting, Facebook, Skype, and other messaging platforms so interacting with them is akin to chatting...

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