Today, we’re extremely grateful and excited to announce Cactus Capital — the first student-run VC in Israel powered by Ben-Gurion University.
At Cactus, our mission is simple: support and empower the best and brightest entrepreneurs at Ben-Gurion University, by bringing world-class mentorship, and capital to the students.
How It All Began
Our story begins about a year ago.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has made the strategic decision to officially recognize entrepreneurship as one of its growth engines.
It is almost a classic “Cinderella story”, 5–10 years ago Ben-Gurion University was considered the underdog compared to other universities. After recognizing its potential, Be’er Sheva generated the attention and the leverage it needed, whether from the government, the city council and of course our university. Now, imagine all the changes we already made and are currently going through. Yet, our university has another card up its sleeve, Cactus Capital.
Our main goal is to serve as an academic-educational tool to encourage innovative ideas in the high-tech, biotech, and social fields. Each year, we’ll invest in dozens of student groups. Thus, leveraging entrepreneurship as a growth engine. The university will influence regional and national development, by training the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders in Israel.
Who We Are
By Students For Students
We are students — just like you, who want to change the perception of entrepreneurship in the university.
Our dream is to make BGU’s ecosystem student-oriented and put students in the front! Maybe we aren’t the first to do it in the world, but we sure are the first in Israel.
This is why we partnered with fresh.fund to create the first student-led university venture capital.
We empower and invest in BGU students by giving the first capital to ignite their entrepreneurial dream.
OK, but who calls the shots?
Students.
“By students for students” is our way of life.
That’s why our investment team consists of leading BGU students.
We believe that our time at the university is the best for unleashing our mind-blowing ideas and chasing after them! This is why Cactus Capital is here to help.
We can divide our main activities into two: Investment & Training:
Investment
We invest in the BGU’s ecosystem — students and recent graduate startups with up to 20,000$ in funding. All you need to do is fill out an application to get the process started.
Training
We offer a new course in partnership with fresh.fund , for students who want to explore the venture capital world. The most talented applicants will become a student analyst and be apart of the managing team of Cactus Capital. If you are interested apply by December 23rd 2018.
What’s Next?
The most successful tech companies of the past 20 years were started at universities across the US. It’s time to bring it to the Negev.
Investing in the next generation of Founders.
– The Cactus Capital Team
P.s. — just reach out at hello@cactus.capital and come to meet us for coffee.
