Israeli investment platform OurCrowd today announced that it now has $13 million in capital commitments for its $50 million Israel Resilience Fund, a fund the organization launched 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.
Already, the fund has provided funding to eight companies. Among these are the likes of food tech startup BlueTree and Carrar, a startup that is building a thermal management solution for EVs, both of which recently had to relocate their facilities. The fund also invested in aerial imagery specialist Edgybees and Verobotics, a robotics startup that currently focuses on cleaning and inspecting the facades of high-rise buildings.
Jeff Kupietzky, Jon Medved, Alon Tal and Maya Zachodin Koren — team members of the Israel Resilience Fund. Image Credits: OurCrowd
OurCrowd plans to raise a total of $50 million for the fund, which doesn’t charge management fees nor carried interest. In total, the fund will invest in about 50 startups.
“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,” explained OurCrowd founder and CEO Jon Medved. “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 operating partner Jeff Kupietzky, who recently sold his startup Jeeng to OpenWeb for $100 million, noted that in addition to financial issues, the fund also aims to help startups that now face operational challenges because of the war. “Startups do not know when international investors will resume investing in Israeli startups as they wait for the conflict to subside. Additionally, companies face operational challenges with key personnel called up to the military reserves, while evacuations and rocket fire pose a challenge to daily business operations. Companies resiliently continue, yet many need financing to extend runways through the crisis and power their ultimate success,” he said.