Announcing the World’s Sharpest Cactus!

fresh.fund is happy to announce its partnership with Ben Gurion University with the launching of the first student-led university venture capital fund in Israel, Cactus Capital. This partnership is the first of fresh.fund’s latest innovation in the Israeli venture capital world, VC-as-a-service.

That’s right, fresh.fund is at your service!

How?

Let’s look at our Cactus Capital partnership. BGU started with a belief that entrepreneurship will help their university reach new heights and that students should lead the way. They decided to invest one million dollars of their own money in their students’ dreams. If that wasn’t enough, BGU also wanted their students to be the ones to invest in fellow classmates’ companies.

Sound familiar?

That’s because you probably know that fresh.fund is Israel’s first university-focused venture capital fund and the pioneer of the “for student, by student” investment model in the country. Founded in 2016, fresh.fund has trained three generations of students to invest in early-stage tech companies founded by students, academics or recent graduates.

Our experience and BGU’s passion makes our pairing as natural as avocado and toast!

Today, our partnership is multilayered and consists of fresh.fund supporting Cactus Capital throughout the entire process; from forming the fund, through supporting its managers and training BGU students to become investment analysts. And of course, taking part in every investment decision and supporting Cactus portfolio companies post-investment.

Long before Cactus Capital had its first spike, fresh.fund was behind the scenes helping it grow into Israel’s first university backed student-run venture capital fund. Now that Cactus Capital has been founded, its continuous growth is our mutual responsibility.

We see it as our mission to provide Cactus Capital with value every stage of the way. From idea to practice, we’re supporting and training the Cactus Capital team and their portfolio companies.

Today, we have opened our trademarked fresh.ed for Cactus Capital’s applicants. This course will train the first generation of BGU student investors. The course will leave participants empowered and ready to invest in their fellow students’ dreams. In twelve sessions, we will cover everything from generating deal flow to closing the deal. Leaving our groomed investors ready to turn dreams into reality, one company at a time. We believe experience is the best teacher and so our partnership isn’t limited to the classroom.

Cactus Capital will offer initial investments of five or twenty thousand dollars with our team’s guidance. fresh.fund will be involved in every investment decision, offering support for Cactus Capital and every founder. When the day comes and founders from portfolio companies are in need of a follow-up investment, they know who supports all student founders, fresh.fund. It is only natural that our partnership includes us backing the sharpest companies in Cactus Capital’s portfolio. By promoting these companies’ continuous growth, we are doubling down on helping our newest partner, Cactus Capital.

Cactus Capital is the first Israeli VC of its kind and our first VC-as-a-service partnership with a university. Cactus Capital’s success is fresh.fund’s success and vice versa. This creates a bond that runs deeper than ink dried on a contract. We’re partners through and through, and together we’re going to grow the strongest cactus in the Negev.