OurCrowd, a global online investment platform catering to smaller (accredited) investors, has announced the launch of its Korea-Israel Venture fund – officially labeled NH-OC Global Open Innovation Fund.
OurCrowd offers single-company investment opportunities as well as a growing list of sector funds along with its generic portfolio fund – each providing diversification.
The NH-OC Global Open Innovation Fund will invest in both Korean and Israeli tech companies in the artificial intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity, Robotics, Smart Mobility, and Semiconductor sectors. The mission is to create “global champions” within the selected investment categories.
OurCrowd reports that their Korean partners have already committed $48 million. Their partners include NH Ventures, part of Korea’s NH group, and K-Growth, a state-sponsored venture capital entity that is part of South Korea’s Ministry of Technology and Industry. The goal is to raise $80 million for the fund – so it is already more than halfway there.
Israel has long been known as the innovation nation where just about everyone is either working for a startup or investing in one, but South Korea has long been a hotbed of entrepreneurship and tech innovation, too. South Korea has rocketed from a developing nation to a booming economy driven by entrepreneurship and economic activity in tech – creating many large, global successful firms.
In fact, South Korea is the second-highest R&D spender among all OECD countries – helping to fuel innovation.
OurCrowd states that by partnering with NH Ventures and K-Growth, they have already been able to win global bidding opportunities for investments.
In a blog post, OurCrowd founder and CEO Jon Medved explained:
“If Israel’s ecosystem is a great place to create a startup, South Korea’s ecosystem is a great place to scale a startup and achieve commercial success. In recent years, the Israeli and South Korean governments have jointly invested $77 million in 196 bilateral technology projects, including $18 million of funding in 2023 for robot and AI projects to boost cooperation in advanced industry sectors.”
Medved adds that combining Israel and South Korea can create exponential value for investors.
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