Natalie Riso

Author

Natalie Riso

Natalie is the Content Marketing Manager at 500 Startups and a 3x Linkedin Top Voice. She helps create and manage 500's blog, social, and more.

Latest Articles

November 24, 2020
November 24, 2020

What It’s Going to Take To Increase Female Founder Fundraising in 2021

Natalie Riso
Last month, Pitchbook reported a grim update that 2020 Q3 fundraising for female founders hit a three-year low. Firms invested $434 million in female founders, a 48% drop from Q2 in 2020 and a 36% drop compared to Q3 of 2019. For more context, tot...
April 09, 2020
April 09, 2020

How We Created our Digital Demo Day Experience

Natalie Riso
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the entire startup ecosystem, and in the name of safety and support of our founders, we hosted our first-ever Digital Demo Day. This was a whole new take on demo day for us, and the end result was a unique and in...
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020

Tools and Tips for Working Remotely From 500 & GitLab

Natalie Riso
On March 16th, 500 had the opportunity to lead a chat with Darren Murph, the Head of Working Remote at GitLab. Due to the novel COVID-19 virus, many companies are adapting their workforces to be partially, if not completely, remote. GitLab is curr...
December 20, 2019
December 20, 2019

The Value of the 500 Seed Accelerator in 2019

Natalie Riso
Going into 2020, 500 will be entering it’s tenth year of operation. It’s been a crazy journey for us from a small first batch of startups in our Silicon Valley Accelerator to running accelerators across the globe and investing in founders from ove...
December 17, 2019
December 17, 2019

Niama El Bassunie’s Mission to Unlock Trade in Africa

Natalie Riso
It is within 500’s DNA to invest in talented founders, no matter whether they are situated in Silicon Valley or on the other side of the world. Earlier this year, we partnered with Magnitt, one of the premier players in the MENA entrepreneurial ec...
December 16, 2019
December 16, 2019

The Future of Startup Ecosystems Across the Globe

Natalie Riso
The idea of being a founder has never been so popular around the world, so how is that going to change industries and entire regions? This year we dove headfirst into the rise of corporate venture capital, the changing nature of venture capital ed...
December 10, 2019
December 10, 2019

500’s Past & Present: Betting on International Startups

Natalie Riso
In 2010, 500 Startups started as a new kind of venture capital firm in Silicon Valley with a contrarian belief that talent can come from anywhere in the world. Back then, very few venture capital firms in the valley were focused on much outside of...
August 19, 2019
August 19, 2019

500’s Latest San Francisco Batch is Hoping to Innovate in Music, TV, and Intellectual Property

Natalie Riso
Music, TV, and intellectual property all have the potential of influencing what content we consume and what technology we use to go about our daily lives. And because all three of these are huge, established, and complex industries, they are ripe ...
August 13, 2019
August 13, 2019

Latest AI Applications from 500’s Batch 25

Natalie Riso
AI is one of those buzzwords that feels like it has endless applications. That’s why it is hugely important for us to understand where the needs are now, and how AI can solve the problems better than any other technology.  Batch 25 came to...
August 06, 2019
August 06, 2019

The Up and Coming Startups Aiming to Disrupt Healthcare

Natalie Riso
Healthcare has a notorious reputation for being intimidating. From complex insurance policies and payments to the intense legal regulations on its processes, many innovators stray away from trying to tackle the industry. But at 500, we believe ...

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