500 Startups Announces Batch 19, Introduces New Acceleration Programme

Dave McClure-led California-based 500 Startups, an early-stage seed fund startup accelerator has announced its 19th batch.

In a blogpost founder Dave McClure said they have decoded to change the name and branding for their programme. He said, “Our Accelerator program will now be referred to as the “500 Seed Program” and our Distro Dojo programs will now be the “500 Series A Program”. The name of the programs more clearly represent their fundraising goals and metrics.”

500 Seed Program

Initially 500 startups accepted companies that barely had an MVP and most had limited usage and revenue traction. They only invested $50K for 5% equity.

However the new 500 Seed Program is geared towards companies with early traction. Most all of them have a functional product, and most have substantial user adoption & revenue. Many have already raised capital, and a few have >$1M in revenue and >$1M raised.

The 500 Seed Program gives startups access to its Silicon Valley network as well as sales, marketing, and distribution expertise. Additionally, founders receive ongoing funding strategy and support. This program invests $150k USD for 6% and $37.5k in program fees.

500 Series A Program

This program is targeted towards startups that are on the verge of raising their Series A round. This will include intensive growth and marketing help from our team of top Silicon Valley growth experts.

This program provides a check size ranging from $150-250k with $50k in program fees. However, the terms depend on the company’s prior financing.

It also announced the startups that will be part of Batch 19. A total of 44 startups were selected, from Nigeria, India, Jordan, UK, Brazil, Spain, etc.

The startups in the batch are-

Aella Credit – Aella Credit provides instant credit solutions to Africans by eliminating standard loan applications and enabling employees to borrow at competitive rates through their employers.

Ambience Data – Ambience Data provides live, accurate environmental insights worldwide to manage pollution health risks.

Aumet – The first marketplace using intelligent technology to assist medical suppliers to validate and to assign reliable distributors with the least amount of time and at half of the cost, plus providing access to all medical tenders and news online.

Baloonr – Baloonr removes bias from group work and decision-making.

Bstow – Donate spare change automatically from everyday purchases to your charity of choice.

Cardlife – Cardlife helps businesses to take control of their subscriptions with the vision to be the one stop shop for everything SaaS subscriptions.

ChangeJar – ChangeJar is a mobile cash payment platform for retailers who want more transactions with higher margins.

ClaimCompass – ClaimCompass will get the airlines to pay you up to $680 for your delayed, cancelled, or overbooked flight.

CloudCoffer – CloudCoffer is a plug-and-play network security device that shields businesses of any size from external and internal hacking with the most scalable and affordable network protection in minutes.

Crema Co – A marketplace that gives coffee drinkers access to rare coffees from small-batch roasters.

EventXtra – One-stop event management platform for corporate events.

Fingertips Lab – IoT device allows you to engage your phone while driving, eyes free.

FLYE – Flye allows real-time engagement with customers in geo-fenced areas & provides social media analytics to brands – no hashtag needed.

Fuel – Fuel delivers nutrient-customised meals tailored to your unique body, fitness and biomarker data.

Fuel For Clover – B2B payments platform for retail petroleum merchants that decrease interchange cost and increase card security.

Gestoos – Gestoos is a computer vision software platform that enables camera (sensor) equipped devices to see and understand human gestures and movements with a level of accuracy never before available.

Gluwa – Gluwa is a blockchain-powered banking platform to send and receive money automatically and privately for businesses.

GymHit – GymHit is a proactive business management platform for fitness businesses that is introducing a virtual manager for workflow automation for everything from automated booking to billing.

Homigo – A text-based home manager and dashboard for homeowners designed to increase the quality and simplicity of home services.

Hykso – Motion sensors for Boxing and MMA that recognise which punch is being thrown and at which speed it’s thrown.

iControl – iControl replaces paper with an app at construction sites, saving each construction manager time by generating all their daily reports.

Idwall – IDwall is a B2B solution that builds trust by verifying documents, identity and doing background checks in a reliable and scalable way.

InnerSpace – Like GPS does outdoors, InnerSpace’s instant mapping and location platform transforms the human experience indoors and captures the data on how people interact indoors. 

Kompyte – Kompyte is competitor tracking software that alerts you in real time when your competitors make changes to their websites, products and digital marketing campaigns.

KiLife – Never lose your child again with Kiband, a line of child wearables that sync with your smartphone.

LawTova – An online legal marketplace connecting attorneys with curated freelancers for legal jobs and project-based legal services.

Mashvisor – Mashvisor helps real estate investors quickly find traditional and Airbnb investment properties.

MojiLaLa – Emoji Marketplace for independent designers and studios from around the world.

MyFavorito – MyFavorito is a CRM platform for the B2C world, used by brands and retailers to increase loyalty, sales and growth.

OpenDoor – Solving the urban housing problem through affordable communal living.

Owlr – OWLR is a mobile-first service that transforms your off-the-shelf home security cameras into an enhanced, unified monitoring system.

Park Evergreen – Park Evergreen is a B2B platform that allows companies to offer unlimited monthly parking to employees across a network of parking lots in their city.

Pawprint – Pawprint is an app that helps pet owners find and book quality veterinarians.

Pluto AI – Pluto is an AI-powered analytics platform that water companies use to prevent water wastage, predict asset failures, and avoid expensive operations/maintenance costs.

RocketBolt – RocketBolt provides easy email & website tracking to help you discover your next big sales opportunity.

Scopio – An innovative platform for companies to seamlessly search, publish, and pull insights from curated social media images to increase audience engagement, while fairly compensating the original content contributors.

ShearShare – ShearShare connects salon owners to stylists to fill empty salon chairs.

Sickweather – Sickweather is the Doppler radar of sickness — allowing parents, patients, and providers to check for the chance of sickness as easily as they can check for the chance of rain.

Tagove – Tagove connects sales and support teams to online customers through live video chat and co-browsing with plug and play installation.

TalentBase – TalentBase is a payroll and HR software targeting growing businesses across Africa.

Teleport – The first platform for truly interactive video, driving 10x more engagement by providing freely navigable video, enriched with contextual contents.

UNICORN – UNICORN is a skincare brand for men.

WeAreOnyx – Beauty subscription service & digital playground for multicultural millennials.

Earlier in February 2016, 500 Startups announced a $25 Mn regional fund, 500 Kulfi, focussed on India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

500 Kulfi will focus on early stage companies with product-market fit and demonstrated traction. Although the fund is sector-agnostic, but it will focus on startups dealing in fintech, edtech, health & wellness, data analytics, content and SaaS/SMB.