What You Should Know:
– Israeli venture capital platform OurCrowd launches $100M Pandemic Fund to invest in companies on the front lines of COVID-19.
– The fund plans to raise $100M to invest in 15-20 companies focused on prevention & containment, treatment & healing, and community & disruption mitigation technology solutions to combat current and future pandemic.
OurCrowd, a Jerusalem, Israel-based crowdfunded-venture investment platform, today announced the launch of its Pandemic Innovation Fund. The Fund plans to raise $100 million to invest in a target of 15-20 companies in urgent technological solutions for the medical, business, educational and social needs triggered by global pandemics and other health emergencies.
Investment Thesis
As humanity unites to fight the Coronavirus Crisis, the Fund will role support those on the front lines of COVID-19 while also funding companies poised to address the secular shifts in the economy that will arise in the post-pandemic world. The Fund aims to realize long-term capital appreciation for its investors by providing investment opportunities mainly in Israeli and Israeli-related companies that enable technology for (i) pandemic prevention and containment, (ii) pandemic treatment and healing and (iii) continuity and disruption mitigation.
Pandemic Fund Investment Focus
OurCrowd’s Pandemic Innovation Fund will invest in a broad mix of critical medical and non-medical sectors:
Prevention & Containment – Early detection & sensors, Vaccines, Testing, Personal protection, etc.
Treatment & Healing – Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Remote monitoring, Telehealth, Digital health, Health record portability
Continuity & Disruption Mitigation – Remote working, Distance learning, Robotic process automation, Home exercise, Cybersecurity, etc.
The Fund will both invest in new startups and select relevant companies already included in OurCrowd’s existing portfolio.
Existing Portfolio
OurCrowd’s portfolio already has more than 20 companies actively working to mitigate the coronavirus crisis and its effects, some of which will be candidates for follow-on investment from the Pandemic Investment Fund. OurCrowd’s existing investments in technologies on the frontlines of coronavirus response include:
MigVax – Developing the MigVax-101 COVID-19 oral subunit vaccine for humans based on a proven platform developed over 4 years that was shown to be a highly effective oral vaccine against IBV (Infectious Bronchitis Virus) in poultry
Sight Diagnostics – Compact complete blood count analyzer that provides lab-grade results with 2 drops of finger prick blood sample in under 10 minutes
SaNOtize – Approved by Health Canada for multi-center Phase II trial of its Nitric Oxide Releasing Solution (NORSTM) for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19
TytoCare – Remote physical exams and monitoring for primary care, chronic care and COVID-19 patients, protecting medical staff and reducing the burden on health systems
MeMed – Provides diagnostic insights to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections and is working on actionable solutions to help enable early intervention, before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and the implementation of measures to identify infection severity and improve patient management
Techsee – Remote Visual Assistance powered by Computer Vision AI & AR used by leading brands like Vodafone and Verizon to provide uninterrupted tech support while ensuring safety of employees and customers under social distancing
Kryon – Robotic process automation used to transfer and verify millions of coronavirus test results with individual patient health records in a fraction of the normal time
Intuition Robotics – ElliQ AI-powered intelligent digital companion for the elderly, helping them stay sharp, connected and engaged
Zebra Medical Vision – Zebra-Med’s AI automatically detects and quantifies suspected COVID-19 findings on standard chest CTs, both contrast and non-contrast, and is already integrated in Apollo Hospitals Group in India
Advisors to the Fund, portfolio company experts, and top speakers from around the world will participate in the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference – an online event on June 22, 2020, broadcast from Jerusalem.
Pandemic Fund Management Team
The Fund’s general partners are:
Morris Laster – Healthcare executive with over 30 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, an expert in the identification, development, management, and financing of biomedical technologies who has founded six companies that have gone public.
Morry Blumenfeld – Venture Partner and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board at OurCrowd, with a distinguished 30+ year career in medical innovation at GE Medical Systems.
David Sokolic – OurCrowd Venture Partner, 20+ year career at startups, technology leaders, and VC funds including, Microsoft, Radvision, and Battery Ventures.
“Together we must tackle the current pandemic as well as plan for future ones, because this story is just beginning. Entrepreneurs are uniquely skilled to provide fast and effective solutions to some of our greatest challenges. Our new fund will create the bridge between the innovations we need and the far-sighted investors able to provide the resources required to improve our world,” Dr. Morris Laster, Fund Partner said.
Availability to Investors
The fund is open to both accredited private investors (minimum $50,000) and institutional investors (minimum $1,000,000) and further information about this opportunity is available at www.ourcrowd.com.
