Posted on 03/07/19
Jerusalem, Israel - Mar. 7, 2019 - The main event of the 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit, took place March 7, in Jerusalem, Israel, filling the Jerusalem Convention Center halls and meeting spaces. One of the premier Israeli events in the tech industry, the largest business event in Israel’s history, had 17,000 expected to register. A long line waited to pass through security to enter the convention center for the morning plenary.
The Summit provides an interactive, front-row seat to the formerly closed world of startup venture capital, with exposure to cutting-edge technologies, the entrepreneurs behind them, and the corporate leaders deploying them. Investors, venture capitalists, corporate partners, entrepreneurs and journalists came from around the world, both for Summit day as well as a week of events that included tours of the Israeli ecosystem, corporate meetups, and cultural and historical excursions.
The OurCrowd community led by entrepreneur and salesman extraordinaire Jon Medved, consists of almost 30,000 accredited investors from over 150 countries. OurCrowd reports to have raised $1 billion and invested in 170 portfolio companies and funds.
The morning plenary, with MC Matthew Kalman, highlighted startups making a global impact, involved with solutions in areas of human disabilities, ecosphere, and modern plagues. Riley Cote, a former professional hockey player, spoke of the opium crisis which has developed especially in athletes who become addicted after a sports injury. Gidi Stein, founder and CEO of Medaware, followed with an example of a young sportsman who died from an overdose, and how their startup has an application to monitor and prevent over prescription.
The doors to the session on cannabis were closed when the audience reached maximum capacity. The lines for Beyond Burger, a kosher and pareve meat substitute, were long, while the meat, chicken and humus stations for lunch had no lines. The quantities of food, nosh and drinks all day long were impressive.
Among the thousands of international participants and Israelis at OurCrowd, Marylanders in photo essay include, Ed Tolchin, Jeremy Bandler, Ami Hordes and Shifra Stearman Stein.
