Apr 16, 2018 On Our Blog

The New Batch On The Block: 500 Startups Batch 23 Companies

500 Startups is excited to announce our latest batch from our flagship Seed Accelerator, this time welcoming not only a new cohort of 18 companies, but also a Blockchain track! Based out of our San Francisco HQ, Batch 23 will feature three tracks: Digital Health (22%), Blockchain (17%) and FinTech (17%). Accompanying these tracks are B2B, B2C, SaaS, and e-commerce companies, ranging from AI-driven legal services to biodegradable pour-over coffee technology. Our global outlook when discovering and backing talented entrepreneurs has again, helped form a diverse cohort. 50% of the companies are based outside of the United States include founders from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, Canada, Egypt, South Korea, and Lebanon. 33% are of Asian …

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Apr 3, 2018 On Our Blog

500 Closes Strategic Investment with ADFG

500’s mission is an ambitious one. To discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. Over the past eight years, 500 has accomplished a great deal. Today we manage over $400 million in committed capital and have invested in over 2,000 companies across more than 60 countries around the world, as well as mentored and coached thousands of founders through our Seed and Series A Programs. Notable 500 family include Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), SendGrid (NASDAQ: SEND), Credit Karma, Canva, Grab, Carousell, Udemy, and Talkdesk. In the early days, many wondered why we were so bullish on going global and investing outside of Silicon Valley. As the world gets smaller, and …

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Mar 26, 2018 On Our Blog

500 & Huobi Labs Proudly Presents Our Latest Blockchain Track Companies

The 500 Blockchain team and Huobi Labs have selected three blockchain companies to join our blockchain track program. “We have received hundreds of super qualified applications since announcing the 500 Blockchain Track program last month. It’s amazing to see so many talented entrepreneurs out there building blockchain related companies and I’m really excited about the future of the blockchain ecosystem,” said Edith Yeung, partner at 500 Startups. Since this is our first pilot of a blockchain track program, we only had the opportunity to work with a small number of companies. Our goal is to collaborate closely with each startup,  focusing on key areas including: community building, go-to-market strategies, corporate partnerships, and connections with all our mentors from the blockchain …

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Mar 20, 2018 On Our Blog

500 Startups joins the Miami heat, and it’s not about the beach or basketball

500 has been investing in the rapidly evolving Miami tech entrepreneurial ecosystem for over 5 years now.  From our successful Geeks On A Plane (GOAP) stop in 2012, to the PreMoney Investor Conference and our Series A Program in 2015: we have witnessed the amazing energy of Miami. Today, we believe the Miami entrepreneurial ecosystem is at an inflection point, with more high-potential founders launching locally than ever before. Further, we believe the city is uniquely poised to become a global hub for entrepreneurship and innovation that will hopefully connect South Florida with Silicon Valley, the East Coast, Latin America, Europe, Africa and beyond! In the words of our CEO, Christine Tsai, “We believe that today more than ever it …

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Mar 12, 2018 On Our Blog

VC Unlocked – Over 100 Deal Campers and Counting

Last week, more than 25 corporate VCs, angels, fund managers, and attorneys joined us for our fourth Deal Camp investor training program with UC Berkeley. Less than two years in, more than 100 corporate investors have now attended the program and joined our #500Strong network, a milestone that we’re proud of. “We’re thrilled to see our group of alumni continue to grow around the world,” said Bedy Yang, managing partner at 500 Startups and a lecturer at Deal Camp. “The goal of our VC Unlocked programs is to empower investors with the toolkit they need to structure, negotiate, and execute early stage investments.” Meet the Class Here’s a quick introduction to the latest group of participants: 50% based internationally, representing …

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Mar 8, 2018 On Our Blog

500’s Commitment to #MovingForward

Today, we have committed to join Cheryl Yeoh Sew Hoy and Andy Coravos in their mission to launch a collective step forward for the VC industry. #MovingForward, which was birthed at a dinner for founders, is an open source directory that pools diversity, inclusion and anti-harassment commitments from VCs. It is especially meaningful that this initiative launches on International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. A recent report by the World Economic Forum found gender parity is over 200 years away. While these findings seem overwhelming, we believe that as more people commit to change now, we will move the needle together. We are honored to pledge our commitment to …

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Feb 20, 2018 Official Announcement

Welcome Huobi Labs! Meet 500 Startups’ Blockchain New Friends

Meet Huobi Labs – our new friend for 500 Startups’ Blockchain track. At close to $1 Billion in trading volume per day, Huobi is one of the largest global digital asset exchanges for cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2013, Huobi serves millions of customers from over 130 countries and now has business and operational centers across Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, etc. Huobi Lab is a blockchain incubator under Huobi started in 2017. 500 Startups will be teaming up with Huobi Lab to support our blockchain track and we will leverage Huobi Lab’s extensive global blockchain network. Together, we will provide practical guidance to companies on topics ranging from fundraising strategy, white paper development, go-to-market strategy, community engagement and marketing. “I …

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Feb 13, 2018 On Our Blog

How to Attract (and Scale)
Deal Flow

Most VCs think they can predict the future when it comes to early stage deals. At 500, we’re more realistic about our strengths and weaknesses as seed stage investors. We realized early on that building high-velocity deal flow – more than the art of predicting winners – was our super power and we’ve built on that strategy ever since. (We’ve been shouting our investment strategy and portfolio approach from the rooftops since 2010. Read more about how we pick investments) We’re sharing that approach, as well as some tips on how to build a pipeline of high-quality deals that can scale in the future, in today’s blog post. From hundreds to thousands When you’re just getting started as a VC, …

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Feb 6, 2018 On Our Blog

KISSs and SAFEs and
Notes….oh my!

[Editor’s Note] This is a guest post from Adam Sterling, Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, and a lecturer at VC Unlocked: Deal Camp at Berkeley. This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. In 2014, 500 Startups, a global venture capital firm, took a little-known action that would help change the landscape of international venture finance. This action had nothing to do with investment dollars, new hires, or liquidation events. 500 Startups simply open-sourced their proprietary investment contract for early-stage investments, the KISS (“Keep It Simple Security”), to startups and investors around the world. In the next year, fellow venture capital giant Y Combinator followed suit and open-sourced their own proprietary investment contract, the SAFE (“Simple Agreement …

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Feb 5, 2018 On Our Blog

In Blockchain We Trust. 500 Startups is Calling All Global Blockchain Teams

500 Startups is calling all blockchain teams around the globe. We know you are well experienced in distributed networks, cryptography and security and want to use blockchains to change the world.  However you also know that to build a truly impactful blockchain-oriented company at crypto speed, you need help in community building, token design, marketing, business development, hiring, and much more.  We are here for you. 500 Startups has specifically designed a new “blockchain track” as part of our March 2018 accelerator program with blockchain entrepreneurs in mind.  With hundreds of companies under our belt (including Lightyear (powered by the Stellar network) and Unikorn Gold), we know how to accelerate your growth. What You’ll Learn By joining the 500 Startups …

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