Key Takeaways
- • OurCrowd's flagship OC50 index fund has been added to the BNY Mellon Pershing Alternative Investment Network, giving RIAs and financial intermediaries that clear through Pershing access to the vehicle, according to the company's announcement.
- • The OC50 fund offers investors exposure to the next 50 OurCrowd investments, each of which OurCrowd invests at least $1M in, with a minimum as low as $50,000 per fund.
- • OurCrowd says the original OC50 Series I fund, launched in 2017, has six completed exits generating an average 2.6x gross return on invested capital as of Q4 2020.
- • Ilana Odess, OurCrowd Partner and Managing Director of North America, is leading the company's RIA initiative to distribute its venture opportunities through U.S. intermediaries.
Summary
OurCrowd, which describes itself as Israel's most active venture investor, announced that its flagship portfolio index fund, OurCrowd 50 ("OC50"), has been added to BNY Mellon Pershing's Alternative Investment Network. The company frames the listing as a way for advisors on the Pershing platform to reach privately held companies at lower minimums than traditional venture capital firms typically require.
OC50 is structured as a hyper-diversified vehicle that gives investors exposure to the next 50 OurCrowd investment opportunities, each of which OurCrowd invests at least $1M in. According to the release, the fund spans sectors including healthcare technology, transportation, agriculture, communication, enterprise, robotics and AI, across a range of stages and geographies. The distribution effort is part of OurCrowd's initiative to let Registered Investment Advisors and other U.S. financial intermediaries offer its venture capital opportunities to clients with minimums as low as $50,000 per fund.
Ilana Odess, OurCrowd Partner and Managing Director of North America, leads the RIA initiative. She said Pershing is one of the leading clearing and custodial platforms and that RIAs clearing through Pershing can now offer the OC50 Fund. Odess also argued that private companies now go public much later in their lifecycles than they did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, making intermediated access to private companies more important for clients.
OurCrowd cited performance from the first three series of the OC50 Fund, noting that investors have benefited from portfolio companies entering public markets, including Beyond Meat and Lemonade, and from acquisitions by Vimeo, H&R Block, Uber and NetApp. The original OC50 Series I fund launched in 2017; six of its companies have completed exits, generating an average 2.6x gross return on invested capital as of the end of Q4 2020, according to the company. These figures are gross and company-reported.
The release notes that it does not constitute an offer or recommendation, that OurCrowd offerings are available to accredited investors only, and that early-stage and venture fund investments carry a high level of risk. Advisors seeking more information were directed to [email protected].
OC50 is structured as a hyper-diversified vehicle that gives investors exposure to the next 50 OurCrowd investment opportunities, each of which OurCrowd invests at least $1M in. According to the release, the fund spans sectors including healthcare technology, transportation, agriculture, communication, enterprise, robotics and AI, across a range of stages and geographies. The distribution effort is part of OurCrowd's initiative to let Registered Investment Advisors and other U.S. financial intermediaries offer its venture capital opportunities to clients with minimums as low as $50,000 per fund.
Ilana Odess, OurCrowd Partner and Managing Director of North America, leads the RIA initiative. She said Pershing is one of the leading clearing and custodial platforms and that RIAs clearing through Pershing can now offer the OC50 Fund. Odess also argued that private companies now go public much later in their lifecycles than they did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, making intermediated access to private companies more important for clients.
OurCrowd cited performance from the first three series of the OC50 Fund, noting that investors have benefited from portfolio companies entering public markets, including Beyond Meat and Lemonade, and from acquisitions by Vimeo, H&R Block, Uber and NetApp. The original OC50 Series I fund launched in 2017; six of its companies have completed exits, generating an average 2.6x gross return on invested capital as of the end of Q4 2020, according to the company. These figures are gross and company-reported.
The release notes that it does not constitute an offer or recommendation, that OurCrowd offerings are available to accredited investors only, and that early-stage and venture fund investments carry a high level of risk. Advisors seeking more information were directed to [email protected].
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