Mar 3, 2016 On Our Blog

Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summit (NYC)

Last month we co-hosted our first Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summit in NYC with our new partner DigitalOcean. Participants connected with venture partners, founders and leaders from Silicon Valley & NYC’s tech startup communities. This intimate setting allowed us to not only discuss the challenges in raising money but also the challenges of making our industry more inclusive. This summit featured a wide range of tech speakers that dived into discussion around ethnicity, gender, sexuality and what it means to look at diversity through a global lens. “It was an honor for DigitalOcean to host the first Diversity & Entrepreneurship Summit. I was so incredibly inspired by the diverse and passionate group of attendees.”- Hollie Haggans, Global Community Partnerships HIGHLIGHTS  WHO INSPIRES YOU?  …

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Jan 6, 2016 On Our Blog

Where Are They Now?

We’re excited to announce the return of our flagship VC training program, Venture Capital Unlocked: Secrets of Silicon Valley Investing (formerly called IGSVI). 500 Startups, in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional Development, will be once again running this popular two-week program. In this program, individuals will learn 500s investment playbook and gain firsthand access to world-famous Silicon Valley VCs, Angels, SV startups and entrepreneurs (including 500’s portfolio). This session will run from February 8-19, 2016. For more information and to apply, please visit: 500.vc/apply 500 Diversity Scholarship We’re pleased to announce that we will be offering several 12K scholarships to selected investors from backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in venture capital, including women and candidates from diverse …

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Dec 29, 2015 On Our Blog

Where Are They Now?

We’re excited to announce the return of our flagship VC training program, Venture Capital Unlocked: Secrets of Silicon Valley Investing (formerly called IGSVI). 500 Startups, in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional Development, will be once again running this popular two-week program. In this program, individuals will learn 500s investment playbook and gain firsthand access to world-famous Silicon Valley VCs, Angels, SV startups and entrepreneurs (including 500’s portfolio). This session will run from February 8-19, 2016. For more information and to apply, please visit: 500.vc/apply 500 Diversity Scholarship We’re pleased to announce that we will be offering several 12K scholarships to selected investors from backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in venture capital, including women and candidates from diverse …

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Dec 21, 2015 On Our Blog

Where Are They Now?

(The first in a three part series catching up with past VC Unlocked participants. Find out how the program benefited them, as well as their best advice for those who are thinking of investing.)  We’re excited to announce the return of our flagship VC training program, Venture Capital Unlocked: Secrets of Silicon Valley Investing (formerly called IGSVI). 500 Startups, in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional Development, will be once again running this popular two-week course. In this course, individuals will learn 500s investment playbook and gain firsthand access to world-famous Silicon Valley VCs, Angels, SV startups and entrepreneurs (including 500’s portfolio). This session will run from February 8-19, 2016. For more information and to apply, please visit: 500.vc/apply In …

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Dec 9, 2015 On Our Blog

Seoul Searching

At 500 Startups, our team of 100 people manage seed investments in 18 countries and speak over 20 languages. We are a diverse family that is often flying from Silicon Valley to different corners of the world. Right now some of my colleagues are traveling to Bahrain (Manama), UAE (Abu Dhabi & Dubai), Jordan (Amman & Dead Sea) and Egypt (Cairo) for the latest Geeks On A Plane tour. At 500, we love to explore new territories and connect with some of the brightest founders from different cultures, backgrounds, religions, personalities, beliefs systems and abilities. 500 Startups is taking active steps to bring the tech world closer together. We’re only scratching the surface in understanding how the world works and how we’re truly interconnected. Luckily, technology accelerates …

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Nov 25, 2015 On Our Blog

Q&A with Jake Park, Founder and CEO of Between

In this Q&A, we get to know Jake Park (29), Founder & CEO of Between, a beautiful messaging and photo sharing app for couples. Learn more about Jake’s approach to fundraising, Seoul startups, and more below. Location : Seoul, Korea Investors: $4 million raised with SoftBank, Ventures Korea, Japan’s Global Brain Corporation & 500 Startups. What is your definition of a successful entrepreneur?   One who solves a problem by creating meaningful social impact. How do you approach fundraising? Before we launched Between, we failed two products in the span of a year. During that process, we were able to build relationships with our investors. They saw us at our best and our worst, how we built our team and product, how we failed, and …

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Nov 5, 2015 On Our Blog

Welcome Batch 15! Plus, Batch 16 Applications Now Open

It’s a big day for us at 500 Startups. Today, we officially open applications for Batch 16 on AngelList, and welcome the arrival of our Batch 15 companies! Batch 15 is a group of scrappy start-ups that explores unusual markets, including postpartum care, underwater robots, airplane maintenance, and even crocheting. Most are later-stage seed companies, doing anywhere between $10K-$100K per month in revenue. 33% of Batch 15 have at least one female founder, and 43% are international. Check out the official coverage of Batch 15 by TechCrunch. More details on the latest additions to the 500 Family below (including fun facts submitted by the founders themselves!). Applications for Batch 16 here.   #links Ultimate personalized & visual job hunting app for startup & …

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Nov 2, 2015 On Our Blog

A Very Haunted Demo Day

500 is not your typical VC. So it should come to no surprise that when it comes to important events like Demo Day, we like to do things a little differently. As 500 Partner and Master of Ceremonies Sean Percival quipped, “This is not YC Demo Day. You’re allowed to have fun here.” On the eve of the spookiest day of the year, our fourteenth batch of accelerator startups and nine post-seed companies pitched at 500’s first-ever “Demo-Ween”. Hundreds of investors and a cast of colorful characters packed the Computer History Museum, including a quirky queen of hearts (Founding Partner Christine Tsai) and one greedy, blood-sucking count of a VC (our very own Dave McClure). Thousands more tuned into our live stream at 500demoday.co. At 500, …

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Sep 7, 2015 On Our Blog

Small Small World; Big Big Family

Today 500 Startups is proud to announce several new investing partners around the world to help us invest in Japan, Eastern Europe, Germany, Israel, and Turkey. In addition to these new geographies, 500 continues to invest globally in many fast-growing markets such as Latin America,  Southeast Asia, India, East Asia and the Middle East / North Africa (MENA), and has launched micro-funds focusing specifically in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Korea, Thailand and India.  <cue… It’s a small world world after all…..> We have been one of the most active investors in Latin America (over 100 investments across Mexico, Brazil, and the LatAm region in the past three years), and we recently hired Binh Tran and Eddie Thai as our new …

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