OurCrowd, an Israeli investment platform, announced today that it has received $13 million in capital commitments for its $50 million Israel Resilience Fund, which was established shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began to support startups that were impacted by the war or were developing solutions to Israel’s immediate needs.
The fund has already awarded cash to eight businesses. Among them are food tech firm BlueTree and Carrar, which is developing a thermal management system for EVs and recently had to move their operations. The fund also invested in aerial imaging expert Edgybees and Verobotics, a robot business focused on cleaning and monitoring high-rise building facades.
OurCrowd intends to raise a total of $50 million for the fund, which will have no management fees or carried interest. The fund will invest in around 50 firms in total.
“Many venture-backed companies in Israel are already struggling due to the global venture slowdown and now face even more serious obstacles due to the war in Gaza, requiring immediate, focused investment,” said Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd. “The Israel Resilience Fund will seek to create outsized returns for investors by taking advantage of discounted valuations in the current market while supporting numerous Israeli companies to survive the crisis and flourish in the long run.”
Similarly, Resilience Fund managing partner Jeff Kupietzky, who recently sold his business Jeeng to OpenWeb for $100 million, said that the fund wants to assist companies that are now facing operational obstacles as a result of the conflict, in addition to financial concerns. “Startups are unsure when international investors will resume investing in Israeli startups as they await the end of the conflict.” Furthermore, enterprises confront operational issues when critical workers are called up to the military reserves, and evacuations and rocket fire disrupt everyday commercial operations. Companies are persevering, but many need finance to prolong runways through the downturn and enable their eventual triumph,” he added.
