OurCrowd to take on UK equity crowdfunders

The accredited investor platform is opening its first London office.

Global equity crowdfunding hub OurCrowd is coming to the UK. The Jerusalem-based firm, which matches accredited investors with early-stage investment opportunities, is opening an office in Mayfair, making London its 10^th dedicated location worldwide.

The UK operation will be overseen by Lina White, formerly of Goldman Sachs. While at Goldman, White was part of the alternative capital markets group in London. In her new role, White will work with both investors and portfolio companies in an effort to strengthen ties between London’s tech sector and the global tech ecosystem, with a particular focus on Israel’s “Startup Nation”. White said that she was delighted to join the company and praised the OurCrowd model.

“The UK is Israel’s second largest trading partner, and OurCrowd has already proven to be a true bridge between these two countries,” said Hugo Bieber, chief executive of UK Israel Business. “UK Israel Business have helped our member OurCrowd navigate the UK market, and we are proud to see these efforts culminate in their investment in a UK office, creating new British jobs.”

OurCrowd currently boasts a membership of 25,000 investors globally and hopes to add “thousands” of UK investors through a mix of events, increased UK deal-flow, collaboration with venture capital funds and helping Israeli startups to penetrate the UK market.

In the UK, OurCrowd will find fierce competition in the form of Crowdcube, Seedrs, SyndicateRoom and others. Some of these differ from the Israeli firm in that they can accept funds from retail investors.

Based purely on its resources, OurCrowd looks a formidable foe. It has raised over $110m in equity funding across four rounds to date, and has perhaps the greatest global reach of any equity crowdfunder.