OurCrowd Makes ‘Landmark Entrance’ into Canadian Tech Scene; Prominent Canadian Venture Capital Executive David Shore to Head Canadian Office
Jerusalem, Israel / Toronto, Canada. July 14, 2015 – OurCrowd an equity crowdfunding platform, has announced the launch of its Canadian operations targeting a $1M investment in Canada-based advocate marketing leader Influitive.
OurCrowd’s new Canada office will be headed by David Shore, a well-known Canadian technology venture capital executive with over 20 years of experience.
Influitive, founded by CEO Mark Organ in 2010, helps companies build teams of advocates to drive sales and create buzz through often-underutilized channels such as referrals, recommendations, reviews and more. A pioneer in B2B advocate marketing software, Influitive is already producing segment-leading revenues from more than 200 enterprise customers, including Acquia, Atlassian, DocuSign, HireVue, Hootsuite, HP Software, Marketo, and Oracle. Mark Organ’s prior startup company, Eloqua, was acquired by Oracle in 2013 for $871M.
OurCrowd is investing in Influitive because of its own use of the Influitive AdvocateHub product for mobilization of its large global investor community on behalf of its startups. OurCrowd founder and CEO Jon Medved explained, “There is no better way to source an investment than to be a happy customer. The company and its product impressed OurCrowd, and we asked to be included as a funder. We are delighted to invest in Influitive as our first venture in Canada.”
“We are proud to be the first OurCrowd investment in Canada,” said Influitive CEO Mark Organ. “It is exciting to have an investor who came to us because they used and loved our product. This really is what advocate marketing is all about.”
OurCrowd’s new Canadian Director, David Shore, brings an impressive track record as a venture capitalist and was a top ranked equity analyst at Mackie Research, CIBC, and Desjardins. Shore will be responsible for building the Canadian investor base for OurCrowd as well as sourcing new deals for the platform.
“I am excited to be joining the OurCrowd team as it continues its growth into Canada’s burgeoning tech hub,” said David Shore, Director of Investor Relations, OurCrowd Canada. “The Canadian market presents a significant opportunity for OurCrowd since startup investing is on the rise in Canada and most investors until now have not had access to high quality deals such as those available on OurCrowd. I look forward to bringing additional trailblazers from the Canadian tech ecosystem onto the OurCrowd platform, and to opening up the global technology market to accredited Canadian investors.”
David Shore Bio: As the Managing Director of Terracap Ventures, David developed the firm’s overall corporate strategy. David also served as Head of the Technology Group for Mackie Research Capital in the Equity Research department covering Software & Media sectors. Additionally, David is consistently ranked as a leading technology analyst (software) in Canada, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Canadian Innovation Exchange.
Following a commitment made by Medved at the Canadian Crowdfunding Summit in March that OurCrowd would open an office in Canada, Hon Brad Duguid, MPP, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure said, “I’m thrilled to see OurCrowd’s landmark entrance into Ontario’s growing technology, health sciences and venture capital markets. OurCrowd is an innovative global equity crowdfunding leader, providing significant entrepreneurial and start-up opportunities to individuals and businesses. I look forward to their continued success and growth into our province, and to Ontario companies showcasing their talent and entrepreneurial skills to attract investment and strengthen our economy.”
About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is a leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors to invest in Israeli and global companies. Managed by a team of well-known professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. OurCrowd investors must meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal of their choice. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigning industry experts as mentors and taking board seats. OurCrowd has raised over $140 million in equity crowdfunding for its 72 portfolio companies including Borro, BillGuard, Consumer Physics (SCiO), BioCatch, Abe’s Market and ReWalk (NASDAQ: RWLK), OurCrowd’s first portfolio company to complete a successful IPO. Visit us online at http://www.ourcrowd.com
