How is Israel’s tech economy coping with war?

On Feb. 1, OurCrowd will be hosting an expert panel discussion online where it will announce the latest news from The Israel Resilience Fund supporting local startups affected by the war with Hamas.

The fund is a pioneering initiative created by OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture investor, to generate investment for Israeli startups impacted by the war with Hamas and Hezbollah while delivering robust financial returns.

The fund seeks to satisfy growing demand for ways to support Israel’s economy and startup ecosystem during this crisis, beyond purely charitable contributions, and adopts a dual-pronged, social impact approach so that investors can both do good, and do well.

“Startup companies, by and large, are not profitable. They need investment in order to get to their goals,” says Jon Medved, Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, based in Jerusalem. “The problem of course is that in war, it’s not always the easiest time to get this investment. So we created a vehicle.”

In December, the fund announced it had raised $13 million in commitments toward its $50 million target within just a few weeks, and made the first 8 investments. More investments will be announced at the event.

The fund has an Advisory Board of prominent global venture investors and is managed by OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture investor, which is waiving all management fees and carried interest.

The online event on Feb. 1 will provide an opportunity to hear first hand how Israel’s tech economy is coping with the war. The event will feature Eran Heffetz, CEO of Bites, who will describe what it’s like to run a tech company in Israel in the current environment. Bites is one of the Israel Resilience Fund’s first investments.Register for the eventRon Fisher, a Senior Advisor at SoftBank and a member of the fund’s Advisory Board, will also participate, together with Noam Kaiser, a former Partner at Intel Capital, and Jon Medved, CEO of OurCrowd. The event will be hosted by Jeff Kupietzky, a serial entrepreneur and Operating Partner of the fund.

“We’re choosing companies that have been affected by the war because they have team members who are in the service, they are on border zones like in the north or the south, or that they somehow are providing critical technology for the war effort,” Medved says. “We’ve done the diligence, they run through our investment committee and we act as sort of a catalyst to bring additional money from both investors alongside of us, both inside the company and new investors, as well as the government who is providing matching funds.”

‘Israel Resilience Fund Progress Report,’ will be livestreamed at 7PM Israel time on Thursday, Feb. 1. Registrants who cannot attend live will be sent a recording to watch at their leisure. To register, click HERE.