OurCrowd teams up with Bangkok Bank as it broadens its fundraising net in Asia
The Israeli crowdfunding platform sees partnerships with Asian commercial banks as an increasingly important fundraising channels
OurCrowd, an Israeli crowdfunding platform that has invested in 150 technology ventures globally, has cast a wider net for raising funds in Asia through a partnership with Bangkok Bank that would enable the lender’s corporate clients to invest in its portfolio companies.
Jon Medved, founder and chief executive, said the increasing wealth of investors in Asia makes the region’s banks an important channel enabling them to invest in technology, a domain that has traditionally been dominated by venture capital funds.
This week OurCrowd announced a partnership with the bank that would enable its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate clients to be introduced to the founders of OurCrowd’s portfolio companies. The aim is to enable the SME clients of Bangkok Bank to assess new technologies – and potentially invest in them.
“Our platform gives people the opportunity to either invest directly into our companies, or do it through a fund. People need to access innovation as [an investment] for their own businesses. Today, businesses are transforming in ways that people [find it hard to catch up with],” Medved told the Post.
He refused to say whether the agreement entailed any upfront financial commitment from Bangkok Bank.
An earlier partnership with Singaporean UOB Bank in March 2016 saw the lender pour US$10 million into OurCrowd portfolio companies in a deal that also gave UOB’s smaller clients access to OurCrowd’s platform to court investors themselves.
