Jerusalem-based equity crowdfunder OurCrowd has closed a $72m Series C. Investors in the round include financial institutions, family offices and private investors from across five continents.
OurCrowd now boasts a portfolio of over 100 companies, and over $300m in cumulative funding. OurCrowd also claims to have delivered no less than nine exits to investors, including the landmark IPO of ReWalk Robotics on the NASDAQ in October 2014. OurCrowd partnered with United Overseas Bank in March of this year with the goal of expanding into Asia.
Half of the $72m raised by OurCrowd will be used to expand its 7 global offices, while also developing its technology platform. The other half will be used to ensure that all fundraisers on the platform receive investment from the General Partner, on the same terms as the crowd (which in OurCrowd's case is comprised exclusively of accredited investors). In other words, half of the $72m will be used to ensure that OurCrowd has the capacity to invest alongside investors in all deals on an ongoing basis.
"This transformative Series C funding will allow us to take advantage of the growing investor interest in quality equity crowdfunding and further expand our global operations,” said CEO Jon Medved. “This new capital will help us hit our goal of investing $1 billion annually by 2020.”
While the $1bn number seems somewhat gaudy, we must remember that OurCrowd crossed the $100m mark as recently as January of last year.
"OurCrowd continues to lead the equity crowdfunding market not just in numbers but in the quality of their deal flow and number of their exits,” said Dr. Richard Swart, formerly director of crowdfunding research at UC Berkeley.“They have consistently proven that crowdfunding can deliver not only the best deals but also healthy returns. OurCrowd's impressive new funding round should enable them to address the considerable challenge of scaling up their business to the billion-dollar level."
