Israeli venture investor OurCrowd has launched a new $50 million fund, and it's the first to be focused exclusively on medtech and healthcare delivery.
“The creation of the OurCrowd Medtech Fund is a natural extension of the prolific investments we’ve been making in the medtech sector over the past few years,” Founder and CEO Jon Medved said in a statement.
OurCrowd has invested more than $78 million in over 20 technologies since 2013, including two former Fierce 15 winners: Zebra Medical Vision and Insightec.
Zebra Medical—developers of AI and deep learning software that culls diagnoses from X-ray, CT and MRI images, available over the cloud for $1 per scan—raised $30 million in a series C round last June with money from OurCrowd alongside aMoon Ventures, J&J Innovation, Nvidia, Intermountain Healthcare and others.
Insightec, meanwhile, builds focused ultrasound devices for the treatment of uterine fibroids, as well as in MRI-guided neurosurgery for patients with essential tremors. An investment group owned by the Koch brothers led the company’s 2017 series E round, which raised $150 million for commercialization and research into Parkinson’s disease, cancer and other conditions.
Other OurCrowd-backed companies include radioactive seed developers Alpha Tau Medical, which raised $29 million last year, and point-of-care blood diagnostic manufacturer Sight Diagnostics, which brought in $27.8 million this February.
OurCrowd’s new fund will focus on medical devices, therapeutics, robotics and other new technologies, and will be led by managing partners Morris Laster and Morry Blumenfeld.
Laster is a healthcare executive and OurCrowd board member that has assisted in six IPOs worldwide, while Blumenfeld previously worked on the development of GE’s CT and MRI machines, serving as chairman of OurCrowd’s medical advisory board.