Top Israeli VC investor Jonathan Medved set to expand OurCrowd to London to fund FinTech startups
For financial technology right the way through the ecosystem from banks, to institutional liquidity, to brokerages and innovators, London is where it is at. Jonathan Medved’s OurCrowd has raised £56 million to open in London and invest in FinTech development as well as attract new investors to the city that powers the world
London has become the number one financial technology development center in the world, a fitting modern accolade which accompanies its status as the world’s largest and most sophisticated financial center.
The technological prowess of London is a facet that FinanceFeeds has lauded several times, and as a result of the combination of vast institutional technological experience among banks which develop and service their own proprietary systems ranging from connectivity to the largest venues, proprietary internal database and process systems to their own single and multi-dealer platforms (BARX is one of the most used interbank FX platforms in the world) as well as non-bank giants such as ICAP, Thomson Reuters and Currenex, all of which commit substantial resources in London to the development and support of their own institutional technologies.
Brokerages in London are no exception – the vast majority operate their own proprietary systems, and now among retail audiences, banks and management consultancies are investing in blockchain development for commercial purposes and the young geniuses of Silicon Roundabout have a clear path with zero corporation tax and low entry barriers to develop tomorrow’s financial markets topography in the shadows of the glass towers which power the entire world’s markets.
With government and commerce on its side, FinTech is flourishing in Britain and leads the way forward for the entire world, which has attracted some interesting new investors.
Jonathan Medved, one of Israel’s most experienced technology venture capitalists, is now opening operations in London to fund further FinTech initiatives at startup level.
Last week, Mr. Medved’s investment platform OurCrowd raised £56 million in funding to open the office to achieve two specific things – firstly to invest in British startups and secondly to attract investors to London via OurCrowd’s global operations.
Mr. Medved said “It is a no brainer as to where we should set up our first office in Europe”, echoing FinanceFeeds view that London is the global powerhouse which absolutely no other city in the entire continent can even hold a candle to.
He labeled the move “Brentry” – a reverse of “Brexit”, alluding to Britain’s allure as an independent and extremely advanced nation following its exit from the flagging European Union.
“Britain is an increasingly interesting place, and very entrepreneurial” said Mr. Medved. “Israeli companies are choosing to set up in Britain and there is a very multicultural vibe. It is a top place to be investing and I am very bullish long term in investing in Britain.”
OurCrowd currently has 15,000 investors and with the addition of a London office, 8 offices globally, and FinTech is one of the firm’s major areas of concentration.
Mr. Medved has got this absolutely spot on, London is the only place to consider when looking to expand FinTech innovation and attract new ideas to the city which operates the entire world’s market infrastructure.
Mr. Medved’s credentials are lofty indeed. A serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he currently is the founder and CEO of OurCrowd, an equity-crowdfunding platform for accredited investors and angels focused on investing in Israeli and global startups, which will now look toward funding London’s new enterprises.
Previously, Mr. Medved was the co-founder and CEO of Vringo between 2006-2012, a leader in the mobile social and video applications area. Vringo trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol of VRNG.
Prior to founding Vringo, Mr. Medved founded Israel Seed Partners in 1995 in his garage and co-managed the fund until January 2006. Israel Seed had $262M under management in four funds and has been an investor in 60 leading Israeli companies. Exits include: Shopping.com (acquired by Ebay), Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN), Answers.com (acquired by Summit)), Tradeum (acquired by VerticalNet),Broadlight (acquired by Broadcom), Mobile Access (acquired by Corning), Cyota (acquired by RSA), Native Networks (acquired by Alcatel), Xacct (acquired by Amdocs), Business Layers (acquired by CA), Xtellus (acquired by Oclaro), Digital Fuel (acquired by VMWare).
Before heading into large scale venture capital projects, Mr. Medved built several technology startups. He was a founder and Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales at MERET Optical Communications, Inc. (Santa Monica, CA) between 1982-1991. MERET was an early pioneer in fiber optic communication systems for video transmission which was acquired by the Amoco Corporation (NYSE:BP) in 1990. Medved then was part of the founding management team at Accent Software (Nasdaq:ACNTF) where he served as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales between 1992-1994.
Mr. Medved is currently active on the Boards of various non-profits including the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, Bnai David Eli, Ma’aleh, Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center, AMI, Aish Boneh Yerushalayim Dinner, and the Jerusalem College of Technology.
In keeping with his avantgarde character, Mr. Medved lives in Jerusalem with his wife Jane and his four children and collects rare single malts and loud Hawaiian shirts.
