Jerusalem-based crowdfunding capital venture platform OurCrowd will be expanding its operations within the Iberian Peninsula through a partnership with its Portuguese counterpart UnderRock Investments, the Israeli firm announced on Wednesday."Lisbon is ranked as one of Europe’s innovation hotspots and startup hubs to watch," said OurCrowd CEO John Medved. "The city has a booming innovation scene and we look forward to investing in the latest technologies the ecosystem has to offer."UnderRock's Managing Partner Miguel Horta e Costa will be spearheading the initiative, which will offer selected investment opportunities in Israel to Portuguese investors and further open up the market within the Iberian Peninsula for Israeli start-ups."Lisbon is one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in Europe, with innovative startups in fintech, production planning and artificial intelligence," said Horta e Costa. "The arrival of OurCrowd is a unique opportunity for value creation in the Portuguese market as a whole, whilst building ties between Israeli and Portuguese technologies."While Horta e Costa will lead the new partnership, chairman of the Madrid-based EXCEM David Hatchwell will continue to head Iberian operations."We look forward to building on the success of our Spanish operations, which have grown rapidly since 2017,” said Hatchwell. "The tech ecosystem in Spain and Portugal is home to a fast-growing crop of startups that are of great potential interest to OurCrowd’s 58,000 investors around the world. At the same time, we will connect local entrepreneurs and traditional industries eager to embrace new technology with strategic and research partners in Israel’s world-leading startup community."We believe everyone will enjoy the fruits of this new Mediterranean partnership," he concluded.OurCrowd recently signed a similar agreement in the UAE with the Phoenix Group. Phoenix is part of the Al Naboodah group and has technology and engineering branches as well as travel, construction, real estate and transportation investments.An MoU signed between the two, the first between an Israeli venture capitalist firm and a top Emirati corporation, assures that when individuals in the Gulf seek out opportunities to invest in the Israeli tech market, Phoenix facilitates the relationships by giving access to OurCrowd’s investing platform - bolstering investments in Israeli technology sectors such as agriculture, education, health, AI and robotics, while driving industry in the UAE.
