Winner of ‘New York Play’ to Receive at least $1 Million Investment

Jerusalem, Israel February 7, 2018 – Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Israel’s leading venture capital firm, today announced the launch of its international startup competition: New York Play.

‘New York Play’ is a first-of-its-kind international startup competition focused on building bridges of innovation and entrepreneurship between New York City and Israel. Applicants will include disruptive NYC-based startups that recognize the value of setting up an R&D center in Israel, as well as the hottest Israeli startups seeking to establish their market presence in New York City.

The competition offers an extraordinary opportunity to gain significant exposure in global markets – primarily NYC, liaise with leading industry partners and receive at least $1 million investment from JVP. The competition is open to startups in various verticals including financial services, insurance, media, healthcare IT, automotive, mobility, foodtech and medical devices, and various enabling technology fields, including big data, AI, cybersecurity, enterprise software, storage, cloud technologies, IoT and mobile.

JVP is a leading international venture capital fund focusing on allowing businesses to leverage core technologies to gain a competitive unfair advantage. JVP is well connected into New York’s business and financial leadership, facilitating the introduction of such disruptive technologies to various lines of business. New York’s emphasis on becoming the leading tech ecosystem, creating hubs of innovation coincides with JVP’s strategic decision to expand to bridging technology and business, Israel and New York.  The thriving New York tech ecosystem is the right opportunity for JVP to engage with companies on the path to becoming global forces, like they have done for Israel’s and Europe’s most successful startups. According to NYCEDC, there are 9,000 startups and 250,000 Israelis working in tech in NYC, and the New York Play is a bridge that connects these two worlds.

JVP is bringing its record of success as one of the top-ten most consistently performing VCs in the world and its leadership in breakthrough innovation in the Startup Nation to New York City. JVP has offices and partners based in Manhattan, and this next phase will aim at significantly increasing that activity, leveraging New York’s unparalleled success as a growing international center for tech innovation connecting ecosystems in China, Europe, the US and Israel. The enormous synergies between “Silicon Alley” and the “Startup Nation” allow for the formation of global partnerships around technology, with New York City as the epicenter of that collaboration.

“The launch of ‘New York Play’ is all about making the impossible possible,” said Erel Margalit, Founder and Chairman of JVP. “JVP, being at the center of ‘Startup Nation’ for many years, has created a methodological approach to positioning companies as global leaders through international activities. We aim to leverage the competition and our New York presence to play a significant role helping boost global partnerships to create solutions that better the world and drive international business opportunities.”

“JVP’s leadership in the hottest investment areas, including artificial intelligence and cyber-security, makes this competition a mutually beneficial opportunity for startups, jumpstarting their activities and for us – keeping our finger on the pulse of the most innovative ideas in two of the world’s leading startup communities,” said Yoav Tzruya, JVP Partner. “Our work with Israeli startups which have made their mark in New York City, such as ThetaRay, demonstrates the need for cross-cultural engagement and tells us that this is the right time for New York Play. We are looking forward to the limitless possibilities.”

About Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP):

Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), is an internationally renowned venture capital fund based in Israel. Established in 1993 by Dr. Erel Margalit, JVP has raised to date $1.2 billion across 8 funds, and has been ranked numerous times by Preqin as one of the top-ten consistently performing VC firms worldwide. JVP has built over 120 companies, leveraging a broad network of partners and market expertise to help companies become global market leaders. Among the pioneering firms of the Israeli venture capital industry, JVP has been instrumental in building some of the largest companies out of Israel, facilitating 12 IPOs on NASDAQ and numerous industry sales. With a view to building industry leaders, JVP invests in early through growth stage companies in the spaces of Cyber-Security, Big Data, Fintech, Enterprise Software, Storage, Mobile, Media and IoT.