OurCrowd, a global crowdfunding venture investing platform based in Jerusalem, invests in and already operates five technology incubators with partners in Israel and around the globe.  

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion attended the OurCrowd Global Summit opening plenary and welcomed everyone to Jerusalem.

"As we approach the next decade, we realize that there is a huge opportunity to invest in game-changing technology companies at their earliest stage – in pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding rounds,” said OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved. “Early-stage investing is at best stagnant, and in many cases down, both in Israel and around the world, as most venture capitalists chase unicorns and are showering later stage companies with unprecedented amounts of capital at increasingly nosebleed inducing valuations.  We want to increase our activity and focus on where the next generation of breakthrough technologies will emerge. Nature abhors a vacuum, and now there is vast and underappreciated potential in early-stage investing. It’s a thrill to help these companies grow and thrive.”  

OurCrowd over the last two years has won government licenses to operate together with partners four incubators in Israel.  Also recently, OurCrowd announced its participation in a global consortium to run an agritech/food-tech incubator in New Zealand, the first of a planned major expansion of incubator opportunities globally. 

Moshe Raines, Managing Director for Labs/02 in Jerusalem and Labs/08 in Beer Sheva commented, “We will continue to cultivate local talent in the OurCrowd incubator ecosystem, and we expect to see more entrepreneurs join us from prominent tech companies to pursue their own projects.”  

Sports technology was a feature of the event. "Israel punches above its weight when it comes to sports technology, with over 200 companies in the field,” commented Medved. “The fast-growing multibillion-dollar market is expected to triple in the next few years as it transforms our approach to personal fitness and changes the way we view, play and enjoy sports, on and offline."

Besides various technologies and business startups, this event featured social impact nonprofits, such as AVIsrael an organization using technology to change the future of deaf children to maximize their potential to succeed and the emergency rescue United Hatzalah. 

Arizona-Israel Trade and Investment Director David Ya'ari hosted one of the booths on the main floor of the convention center. Along with Glenn Hamer, President, and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce from Phoenix, AZ was Mayor of Huma Douglas J. Nicholls.           

Among other key speakers at the were Summit:

• · Aharon Aharon, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority
• · Dave Mosley, CEO, Seagate Technology
• · Ferid Murad, Nobel Laureate in medicine, Board Member SaNOtize
• · Isaac Herzog, Chairman, Jewish Agency for Israel
• · Jim Adler, Managing Director, Toyota AI Ventures
• · Jun Sawada, President & CEO, NTT Holdings
• · Keren Elazari, Cybersecurity Security Analyst, Author & Researcher
• · Marta Plana, Board Member, FC Barcelona
• · Michael Eisenberg, Co-Founder & Equal Partner, Aleph
• · Michael Sutherland, Chief Transformation Officer, Real Madrid CF
• · Ronald Kruszewski, Chairman & CEO, Stifel Financial Corporation
• · Ruth Arnon, Immunology Researcher, former President of the Israel Academy of Sciences
• · Saul Singer, Author, ‘Start-Up Nation’

 Along with the global line-up of speakers, Jason Greenblatt, the architect of President Trump’s Peace to Prosperity plan, made his first public appearance in Israel since the “Deal of the Century” was unveiled at the White House in January, as the last keynote speaker in the main auditorium.  His message was of the hope that economic cooperation can bring Israelis, Palestinians and the wider Middle East together. “Let us create a Middle East whose might and energy can power the region, and perhaps the world, to a much brighter future,” Greenblatt said. “Let us continue building relationships between Israel and its neighbors in the region, to work on what once seemed impossible, building together with an economic bridge of peace.”