NAB has secured a “first its kind” collaboration with Israeli crowdfunding company OurCrowd, giving NAB clients privileged access to venture capital investments, the company announced.
The deal will provide NAB’s private bank clients special access to capital raisings by global technology companies through the OurCrowd platform – one of the dominant players in crowdfunded global equity investments.
NAB will join fellow Asia-Pacific institution, United Overseas Bank (UOB), in exclusive partnership with the Israeli crowdfunding platform.
To date, OurCrowd has raised more than A$600million across 120 start-up companies worldwide, with a membership of more than 20 000 investors.
Dan Bennett, Managing Director of OurCrowd for Australia and Asia, said the partnership would provide NAB Private clients unmatched access to markets across the US, Israel and Asia-Pacific, offering “high-quality, globally focused products.”
“We are excited about this venture with one of Australia’s leading private banks and sharing the very best of global technology investment with their deeply valued clients,” Bennett said.
The deal was announced by OurCrowd chief executive Jon Medved during an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce’s Women Leaders delegation in Israel, also attended by NAB Private executive general manager, Christine Yates.
Yates welcomed the collaboration, which offers NAB clients’ exclusive access to investments in promising start-ups that are beyond the reach of other investors.
“We know that our clients are looking globally for investment opportunities, and OurCrowd is an established global platform which offers a full-service, end-to-end solution,” Ms Yates said.
“Our NAB clients will have access that is not available outside this collaboration,” Yates said.
Israel has become a centre of IT innovation, fintech and cybersecurity in recent years, drawing the attention of a number of Australian institutions. Commonwealth chief executive, Ian Narev, and ANZ Banking Group chairman, David Gonski, are expected to visit Israel in early November.
