investments

Israel’s OurCrowd expands to Abu Dhabi • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Crowdfunding, investments, OurCrowd, Startups, VentureNo Comments

Crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, which has now become Israel’s most active venture firm, today announced that it is expanding its operations in Abu Dhabi by launching a new office and AI tech hub — enabled by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office — in the emirate. In total, OurCrowd plans to invest $60 million as part of this move. It’s only been a bit over two years since Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized their diplomatic ties, but OurCrowd was among the first to apply for a license to operate in the emirate. OurCrowd Arabia opened in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and its new investment center in the country will manage its deals there and also cater to its investors in the emerging market. In total, the firm expects to have a staff of 60 in the emirate. “Following a global search for the most suitable location for IDI and OurCrowd’s new investment center, Abu Dhabi was by far the most fitting destination,” OurCrowd CEO and founder Jon Medved said. “The World Economic Forum ranks the UAE first in the world in best e-infrastructure and macroeconomic stability, and the third most-trusted government. These factors, with numerous other advantages including global talent and market access, underscore why Abu Dhabi is now home to OurCrowd Arabia and OurCrowd’s new AI spinoff, and why we will continue to invest in the innovation infrastructure and talent in the country.” Earlier this month, OurCrowd celebrated that its total investment commitments had crossed $2 billion, just over three years after it hit $1 billion. The firm has now invested in 370 companies, with another 410 held through partner funds. It has seen 60 exits so far and currently plays host to about 220,000 registered investors from 195 countries.

Draymond Green isn’t starting a fund, but is working with top VCs • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 20, 2022Posted in Draymond Green, investments, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, VCs, VentureNo Comments

Draymond Green, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, says he’s working with well-known investors involved in the tech space. That wasn’t a massive secret — Green has historically been quite public about his portfolio companies, like SmileDirectClub — but until this morning at ZebethMedia Disrupt, he hadn’t previously named his go-to investing partners. When asked by ZebethMedia’s Brian Heater on stage whether he was looking to start an investment fund, Green replied that he wasn’t because he’s already involved with a group of prominent VCs, including Chamath Palihapitiya, Bill Gurley, Jason Calacanis and Bill Lee. Palihapitiya was an early investor at Facebook and backed Yammer and Slack through this fund, Social+Capital Partnership. Gurley, currently at Benchmark, has led investments in a number of high-profile companies including Nextdoor and OpenTable. Calacanis is an angel investor in various tech startups including mindfulness app Calm. And Bill Lee is one of the co-founders of Craft Ventures, alongside which Green has invested in the past. “I have some of the best friends in the world, especially when you’re speaking of funds, and so I don’t personally feel the need to go create my own when I have experts like that in my life that can help guide me,” Green said. “I take pride in learning and I never want it to come off as if I know more than them … It’s not something that I see for me, trying to start my own firm, but I do enjoy and appreciate being an LP in their funds.” Green — who once told CNBC that he wanted to become a billionaire by age 40 — has been an active investor in startups for several years, beginning in 2015 with the aforementioned SmileDirectClub. He’s poured money into Blink Fitness, which aims to bring affordable options for fitness to underserved communities; the tequila brand Lobos 1707; and Snackpass, a social food ordering platform. Green’s more recent investments span self-filtering water bottle brand LARQ and LeBron James’ company, Uninterrupted, a multimedia platform for athletes and general sports content. Not all of those investments have turned out to be strong long-term performers. For example, while SmileDirectClub raised over $400 million while private, the company ended up giving back most of its IPO-driven valuation gain after going public. Others appear to be going strong, however, like Snackpass, which last year raised around $70 million at an over-$400 million valuation as the platform crossed 500,000 users. As of June, Green had a reported net worth of $50 million.