OurCrowd equity crowdfunding platform eyes Asian expansion

THE pace of capital raising among Asian accredited investors is hotting up for equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, but Asia's representation among the portfolio companies is "almost non-existent", says OurCrowd chief executive Jon Medved.

That is set to change. OurCrowd has opened a Singapore office that is expected to expand the platform on three fronts - the facilitation of capital raising; sourcing of portfolio companies in Asia; and helping investee companies with their Asian expansion. The office will be headed by Denes Ban as managing partner for Asia.

"We're in the process of trying to do our first deals in Singapore," said Mr Medved. To date, OurCrowd has attracted over US$320 million from its "crowd" of some 16,000 accredited investors. About 20 per cent of the investors are Asian.

It has a portfolio of 100 companies and five funds which span major sectors such as cybersecurity, digital health, Big Data and robotics. About 70 per cent of the investee companies are from Israel and the balance outside Israel. To date, there have been nine exits of which three were initial public offers.

Earlier this year UOB partnered OurCrowd, investing US$10 million for an undisclosed equity stake. It sees the partnership as an opportunity to help its SME clients bridge the region's SME funding gap and help them access new business. Janet Young, head of group channels and digitalisation at UOB, on Monday said that OurCrowd's Singapore office increases the ease in which startups can seek professional advice on equity crowdfunding.