VC competition aims to build bridges between Israeli and NYC startups

Jerusalem Venture Partners, a venture capital firm, announced on Wednesday the launch of an international startup competition, New York Play.

New York Play will focus on startups in New York City interested in setting up R&D centers in Israel and working with Israeli startups to establish a presence in New York City.

“We aim to leverage the competition and our New York presence to play a significant role helping boost global partnerships to create solutions that better the world and drive international business opportunities,” said Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of JVP, in a statement.

The competition offers a minimum $1 million investment from JVP for selected startups in such fields as financial services, insurance, media, healthcare IT, automotive, mobility, food tech, medical devices, big data, AI, cybersecurity, enterprise software, storage, cloud technologies, IoT and mobile.

Companies at the pre-A to B funding stages are most suitable for the competition. Applicants must register for the Calcalist’s Mind the Tech NY 2018 Conference by March 3, 2018. For more information companies can visit the competition.

Leveraging its years of experience, existing partnerships, and Manhattan offices, JVP plans to bring the startup nation to New York City’s thriving ecosystem, which has 9,000 startups and 250,000 Israelis working in tech, the firm said.

“Our work with Israeli startups which have made their mark in New York City, such as ThetaRay, demonstrates the need for cross-cultural engagement and tells us that this is the right time for New York Play. We are looking forward to the limitless possibilities,” said Yoav Tzruya, JVP partner.

JVP is an international venture capital fund based in Israel that invests in early growth stage companies. Established in 1993, JVP has raised $1.2 billion across eight funds and has facilitated 12 IPOs on the NASDAQ.