During its two and half years of existence, the OurCrowd crowdfunding platform has enabled startups to receive funding from accredited investors, along with providing direct investments to the startups using its site. But now, the Jerusalem-based startup is considering its own funding future.
During its two and half years of existence, the OurCrowd crowdfunding platform has enabled startups to receive funding from accredited investors, along with providing direct investments to the startups using its site.
But now, as reported by TechCrunch, the Jerusalem-based startup is considering its own funding future.
“We’ve raised more than $30 million for the platform across two rounds and my guess is that we’d hopefully, not too long in the future, be raising additional funds,” OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said in a recent interview with TechCrunch.
While the global platform has gained some brand recognition in the U.S., it still deals with the challenges that come from within the startup world but not necessarily in Silicon Valley.
“Honestly, 10 years ago, the Valley was much less Valley-centric than it is today. The world goes global and is connected on the Web, yet the Valley becomes more hyperlocal than ever. It’s really contrary to all the trends. We can all meet in cyberspace, but if you’re not physically in the Valley, it’s often like, ‘Who are you?’” Medved explained.
“We’re looking to establish a presence in Silicon Valley. We’re actively looking for a managing director [in the Bay Area], someone with rich angel and venture capital experience,” he added.
Outside of just facilitating funding on its site, OurCrowd also participates in leading deals. It is currently leading a deal for $25 million for another Israel-based startup called mPrest, which provides mission-critical monitoring and control solutions for defense systems.
“Most people, when they think of crowdfunding, they think of deals that are small, but we’re far ahead of that; we’re doing millions of dollars on average,” Medved told TechCrunch.
“We curate both the investors and the deals, which go through a rigorous venture screen. Then we typically syndicate with other venture firms, including top firms like Accel Partners and Menlo Ventures.”
Medved confirmed OurCrowd has funded 75 companies since it started in 2013, with plans to invest over $120 million into startups in 2015 between its own investments and that of the investors using its platform.
Going forward, the company has its sights set on reaching more angel investors from Silicon Valley. The OurCrowd platform currently supports 10,000 investors across 110 countries, with more than half located within the U.S.
Continuing an expansion into the U.S. market may be a good move for OurCrowd, considering the results of research released earlier this year from Massolution, which found that North America remains the biggest crowdfunding market, up 145 percent to $9.46 billion.
Crowdfunding — very broadly defined — grew by 167 percent in 2014 to raise $16.2 billion, up from $6.1 billion raised in 2013, and total global crowdfunding should reach $34.4 billion this year.
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