OurCrowd Expands Abu Dhabi Investment Operations and Launches Global AI Hub, in Partnership With ADIO’s Innovation Programme

(BUSINESS WIRE)--OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture firm, is to significantly expand its Abu Dhabi operations with a new venture capital (VC) office and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech hub enabled by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). The two new initiatives, which were announced during Abu Dhabi Finance Week, will see OurCrowd expand its team based at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to 60 over the next four years, as part of a USD 60 million investment by the company in the emirate.

OurCrowd and ADIO are collaborating to launch Integrated Data Intelligence Ltd (IDI) to commercialise AI for businesses. Based at ADGM’s Hub71, IDI will develop AI solutions that enable businesses to easily adopt and leverage the advanced technology. The launch of IDI reinforces Abu Dhabi’s commitment to support the expansion of innovative businesses that contribute to the emirate’s knowledge economy.

OurCrowd Arabia, which opened in the UAE capital in 2021, is also establishing a new VC investment centre in Abu Dhabi to manage deals for its existing platform and cater to emerging markets.

The two agreements strengthen the fast-growing ties between the UAE and Israel, which have advanced significantly since the landmark Abraham Accords were signed in 2020.

Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz AlShamsi, Acting Director General of ADIO, said: “OurCrowd is a great example of a company that has benefitted from Abu Dhabi’s enabling ecosystem to achieve accelerated growth. In just a year, OurCrowd has moved from an initial licence to an established market player, with its new investment centre and tech hub bringing additional VC and tech specialism to Abu Dhabi and expanding the availability of solutions and technology to companies.”

ADIO is partnering with OurCrowd through the Innovation Programme, which supports homegrown and international companies looking to grow in Abu Dhabi. ADIO has awarded OurCrowd a package of financial and non-financial incentives to accelerate its growth in Abu Dhabi.

Jon Medved, Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, said: “Following a global search for the most suitable location for IDI and OurCrowd’s new investment center, Abu Dhabi was by far the most fitting destination. The World Economic Forum ranks the UAE first in the world in best e-infrastructure and macroeconomic stability, and the third most-trusted government. These factors, with numerous other advantages including global talent and market access, underscore why Abu Dhabi is now home to OurCrowd Arabia and OurCrowd’s new AI spinoff, and why we will continue to invest in the innovation infrastructure and talent in the country.”

IDI is a commercial AI company that is developing AI solutions for business, including project-based and AI-as-a-service offerings. It will act as a technical hub of excellence using advanced data automation, AI and Machine Learning (ML) models to reduce costs and improve outcomes for data intensive tasks. The company will be headed by Dr. Hasanat Dewan, who has led innovation and technology transformation in an executive capacity for global financial institutions including E*TRADE Financial Corp., BNY Mellon, Russell Investments Group, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

OurCrowd Arabia, incorporated in ADGM in 2021 and headed by Dr. Sabah al-Binali, will ramp up its VC operations significantly as it works with stakeholders in Abu Dhabi, the UAE and beyond to invest and support the local VC ecosystem.

Dr. Dewan said: “IDI is the culmination of OurCrowd’s strategy to revolutionise its FinTech platform with AI functionality across the board. We intend to leverage these tools and architecture to deliver AI solutions that can be broadly used by external clients across industries including Financial Services, FinTech, Energy, Telecommunications, Healthcare and Government. We are recruiting the best talent from within the UAE and across the globe and to be a transformative catalyst for the AI ecosystem in Abu Dhabi.”

IDI will be established in ADGM’s Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem that enables founders to build globally enduring homegrown tech companies in any sector by providing access to global markets, a capital ecosystem, a global network of partners, and a vibrant community filled with highly skilled talent, governed by forward-thinking regulation.

Badr Al-Olama, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Hub71, said: “The financial strength of the UAE is centered in Abu Dhabi, and it spurs an array of investments that are deployed to support tech startups. By welcoming OurCrowd to Hub71, we are expanding our capital ecosystem of VCs, family offices, and active investors, creating more opportunities for our startups to raise funds to scale and grow their operations.”

The partnership agreement was signed by Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz AlShamsi, Acting Director General of ADIO, and Jon Medved, Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, at Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2022. Organised by ADGM, the event brings together a global audience of decision makers to accelerate the transformation of finance in the emirate.

ADIO established an office in Tel Aviv in 2021 to support innovative Israeli companies looking to establish and expand their operations in the UAE capital.

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About the Abu Dhabi Investment Office

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) is the government entity responsible for attracting and facilitating investment in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. ADIO enables opportunities for innovative investors and businesses of all sizes, facilitating connections across Abu Dhabi’s innovation ecosystem to help them establish and grow in the emirate. With a comprehensive range of tailored services and incentives, ADIO helps businesses achieve long-term, sustainable success in the market and across the region.

About OurCrowd

OurCrowd is the online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage. Acclaimed by PitchBook as the most active venture investor in Israel every year since 2013, OurCrowd vets and selects companies across all sectors and stages, invests its own capital, and provides its global platform of over 218,000 registered members from 195 countries with unparalleled access and freedom to co-invest from as little as $10,000 in the companies of their choice.

Founded by CEO Jon Medved in 2013 with the vision of democratizing world-class venture capital investing, OurCrowd has grown rapidly into the world’s leading online venture investing platform and as of 2022 has over $2 billion in commitments, and deployed capital into 370 portfolio companies and 40 funds across five continents. To date, OurCrowd’s startups have recorded 60 exits including several stock market listings: Beyond Meat, Lemonade, Innoviz, Hub Security; and numerous high-profile acquisitions: JUMP by Uber, BriefCam by Canon, Argus by Continental, Crosswise by Oracle, Replay by Intel, Corephotonics by Samsung, CyberX by Microsoft, and Kenna Security by Cisco.

OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships.

About Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) is the international financial centre (IFC) of the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, which opened for business on 21st October 2015. ADGM augments Abu Dhabi’s position as a leading financial centre and a business hub serving as a strategic link between the growing economies of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia and the rest of the world.

Operating within an international regulatory framework based on direct application of The English Common Law, ADGM governs the entire Al Maryah Island, which is designated as the financial free zone of Abu Dhabi.

ADGM is ranked as one of the most preferred top IFCs in the Middle East and Africa region and named MENA’s largest Fintech hub. Its progressive and inclusive business ecosystem gravitates toward global financial and non-financial institutions while leveraging synergies between ADGM and multiple jurisdictions positioned as one of the world’s most advanced, diverse and progressively governed financial hubs.

For more details on ADGM, please visit www.adgm.com or follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @adglobalmarket and LinkedIn: @Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)

About Hub71

Hub71 is Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem that enables founders to build globally enduring homegrown tech companies in any sector by providing access to global markets, a capital ecosystem, a global network of partners, and a vibrant community filled with highly skilled talent, governed by forward-thinking regulation.

Backed by the Government of Abu Dhabi and Mubadala Investment Company, Hub71 is growing its vibrant community of tech startups, investors, government, and corporate partners to ensure the availability of investment, commercial activities, and incentives from the public and private sectors. Through Hub71’s entrepreneurial infrastructure, value-add programs, enabling services and support packages, founders can build and scale widely adopted technologies with purpose and impact. Hub71 is on a mission to introduce new minds and technologies to Abu Dhabi, finding new ways to build globally enduring technology companies and sustain the nation’s continuous economic development.

For more information visit www.hub71.com and follow us on @Hub71AD #Hub71.

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