Today was a pretty big day for 500 Startups, the Silicon Valley seed venture capital firm and startup accelerator founded by outspoken tech investment extraordinaire Dave McClure. The firm disclosed in a regulatory filing that it’s halfway finished raising a brand new $50 million round of funding, the second in its two-year history and a significant step up from the $29 million investment that it raised in its first round. 500 Startups also named four new partners — Paul Singh, Christen O’Brien, Bedy Yang, and George Kellerman — who will help select and manage the more than 100 investments that the firm makes each year.
So we were very happy to have McClure as a guest today on TechCrunch TV. Because of regulatory limitations on what companies can say while they’re in the process of raising funding, his hands were tied on lots of topics on the details of the new fund — but we were still able to get some great details from him on the future direction of 500 Startups and the venture funding world in general.
Watch the video above to hear McClure’s thoughts on what some people call his “spray and pray” funding strategy, how being a “hillbilly from West Virginia” originally informs his instincts as an investor, why 500 Startups is so keen on international investments, what sector he’s especially excited about right now, and lots more.
Dave McClure is a venture capitalist & the founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet seed fund and startup accelerator program in Mountain View, CA. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O’Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. He also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt. Dave has been an investor in over 100...
500 Startups is an early-stage seed fund and incubator program located in Mountain View, CA. They invest primarily in consumer & SMB internet startups, and related web infrastructure services. Their initial investment size is typically $25K-$250K. Selected areas of interest include financial services & e-commerce, search/social/mobile platforms, personal & business productivity, education & language, family & healthcare and web infrastructure.
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
