Earlier this year, young venture capital fund and startup accelerator 500 Startups announced some changes that indicated its intent to move beyond adolescence into adulthood, and expand its scope beyond the U.S. The firm raised a new, bigger fund, added new partners, and increase its focus on identifying and investing in talented international entrepreneurs.
Dave McClure and company have… → Read More
Apologies in advance to everyone I’m going to offend with this post, men and women included. If I appear to be moronic, self-centered, or sexist… it’s only because I am (I’m a guy). Still I believe my heart is in the right place, and unlike my head, hopefully it’s not in my pants. But whether you agree with me or not, I’d like to get past “talking” about gender issues and start… → Read More
“We’re not trying to be the best way to buy last minute tickets. We’re trying to be the best way to buy tickets”, says Donnie Dinch, founder of WillCall. That’s why today’s it’s launching a web version of its event ticket purchasing mobile app, plus adding more shows and cities with the $850,000 it just raised as part of a seed round from SV Angel, 500 Startups, RRE Ventures, RSE Ventures and… → Read More
unching its public beta in the fall of last year, 300milligrams (also known as “300.mg,”) set out to build a “priority inbox for team conversations.” The startup was one of the 34 teams in 500 Startups’ Fall 2011 batch, and, after graduating in January, spent the first half of this year iterating, trying to find its stride, some follow-on funding, and a workable business model.
Alas, it seems… → Read More
Businesses struggle to come up with what to post to their Facebook Page each day, and making those posts actually get seen is a difficult as the dark arts. That’s why PostRocket has raised $610,000 to help businesses blow up on Facebook thanks to news feed optimization. PostRocket analyzes your Facebook Page, and provides recommendations for when and what to post.
The 500 Startups Fall… → Read More
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… → Read More
It’s a big day for 500 Startups — you know, the seed-stage accelerator and capital fund founded by rabble rouser and geek on a plane, Dave McClure. Back in July 2010, McClure filed for the accelerator’s first fund, raising $30 million to begin officially investing in startups under the new venture capital fund. Today, we’ve learned via SEC regulatory filing that round two is officially on the… → Read More
Tokyo- and Singapore-based mobile media platform Cinemacraft announced it has extended its Series A round by securing an investment from Dave McClure‘s 500 Startups. The fresh money from the US brings the total amount raised by the company so far to US$900,000.
Previous investors include Singapore-based Jungle Ventures (background), Jayesh Pareikh (founder of Sony Entertainment TV), Jai Maroo… → Read More
Parenthood is the closest thing I’ve found to entrepreneurship. Looks cool from the outside but can be really messy inside. Everyone has advice, you work like a dog, the highs are amazing and lows horrendous, and it is the best thing ever.
A 500 Startups company founder emailed me this recently, and I found it to be the best analogy I’ve heard in a long time. Being a parent and being an… → Read More
Aksel Group, the company behind AkselParis.com, a direct-to-consumer online men’s fashion store, announced this week that it has raised $500,000 in seed funding. The round was led by Inspiration Ventures, with participation from Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, Fabrice Grinda, the founder of OLX, IG Expansion’s Jose Marin, Paul Bragiel of I/O Ventures, and French entrepreneur Nicolas Bernadi. → Read More
It’s Halloween, so it’s the perfect day to unveil the newest group of 500 Startups’ “little monsters”. Yes, this is the name that founder Dave McClure and his partner in crime Christine Tsai give to all the rock star entrepreneurs that grace the halls of their Mountain View offices.
500 Startups, as you may have heard by now, is the early-stage seed fund and incubator program founded in 2010 by… → Read More
I’ve spent the past couple of days in London getting caught up in the Seedcamp Week craziness, meeting some of Europe’s finest entrepreneurs and investors. Me and Mike Butcher will soon post a round-up of this year’s finalists (and highlight a few interesting ones separately), but first, Seedcamp has some – actually, a lot of – news of its own to announce today.
The organization, which combines… → Read More
It’s that time again! With Dave McClure’s 500 Startups now at 175 startups, sometimes hanging out at its headquarters in Mountain View leaves one a little inundated with promising startups. Especially since motherhen McClure insists that he loves all his little monsters the same.
While each of the 30 startups that presented yesterday at Demo Day is clearly a unique little snowflake, I culled… → Read More
After 500 Startups Demo Day on Thursday, I sat down to talk to investor Dave McClure about the strategy and vision behind the early stage seed fund and accelerator program, which he hopes will eventually encompass 500 actual startups (currently the portfolio is at around 110).
In the interview McClure talks about the perfect formula for a startup (hacker + hustler + designer) and why the three Ds… → Read More
Earlier this week 500 Startups announced the creation of The d.fund, a designer-centric fund with the aim of increasing the number of startups co-founded by people who have design experience. As quite a few startups like Tumblr, YouTube, Android and Flickr have achieved success because of their designer founders, d.fund founder and 500 Startups designer Enrique Allen wants to foster a community… → Read More
There are a number of websites out there that allow you to search for and discover internships. Internships.com, which Charlie Sheen recently used to hire a social media intern, is probably the biggest and most well known of the bunch. But, as anyone who’s used these sites knows, the experience is far from perfect. And the same can be said of job search sites like Indeed.
InternMatch is entering… → Read More
500 Startups first Demo Day sprint is over and people are trickling out their rankings lists of the 23 startups, or “little monsters” as co-founder Dave McClure calls them. McClure, with a background in marketing, has a unique curator’s eye, and his first batch of companies are an interesting brood, to say the least.
Companies that are part of the 500 Startups accelerator program get a 50K… → Read More
It was another fast-paced day at 500 Startups’ open house in Mountain View today, as Dave McClure and company officially introduced the world to its first batch of killer startups. One of the many stellar demos came from Ninua, a startup that is building social apps around news, blogs, and social media.
Its recently launched Ninua News Reader is a news-sharing application for Android that… → Read More
Dave McClure’s seed fund, accelerator, and incubator, 500 Startups, held an open house in Mountain View today to officially introduce the world to its first batch of companies. The group of mostly consumer-focused startups (not much advertising to be found) at Demo Day put forth quite a few interesting ideas and business models. We’ll be posting a roundup of the best startups (with interviews)… → Read More
Zachary Allia is just 26 years old. He’s either really lucky, is a negotiating savant or a combination of both. Back in 2007 when Facebook first opened their platform, Allia and a graphic designer pal came up with the Free Gifts app– mostly because he was a poor college kid and paying $1 to send someone a picture of a cake seemed exorbitant. He launched it and woke up the next morning to find it… → Read More
Dave McClure‘s 500 Startups fund has just made its fourth investment in Asia. Tokyo-based Exchange Corporation, which runs a peer-to-peer lending service called AQUSH in Japan, has raised an undisclosed sum from the Silicon Valley-based fund.
Much like Zopa in the UK, AQUSH connects people with extra money with those who want to borrow money. The site allows lenders to set their desired… → Read More
This guest post is by Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups and GeeksOnaPlane.
As we wrap up our GeeksOnaPlane video series for TechCrunch TV, I thought I’d offer a perspective on Asia from the eyes of a Silicon Valley geek and investor (not to mention the father of two Japanese-American kids).
I am extremely optimistic about tech entrepreneurship around the world, and in particular in the… → Read More
Last April, adventure travel marketplace EkoVenture, relaunched as Zozi, with a focus on a local activities instead of exotic travel. Shifting the focus to promoting deals on local activities such as kayaking in San Francisco Bay, cocktail classes in Atlanta, or floating down the Delaware river in an innertube is aimed at reaching a broader class of consumers.
The company just closed a $3 million… → Read More
In January, we broke the news that prolific Silicon Valley angel investor Dave McClure was to set up his own venture capital fund.
About a month ago, he formally filed for the ($30 million) seed fund and incubator, naming it 500 Startups.
McClure has now made his first hire for the investment firm, attracting former YouTube and Google product manager Christine Tsai to serve as Principal. → Read More
In January, we broke the news that prolific Silicon Valley angel investor Dave McClure was to set up its own venture capital fund.
Yesterday, the man filed for the fund with the SEC, providing us with more details (hat tip to FormDs.com). The name will be 500 Startups – McClure has long called himself the master of 500 hats – and the initial fund will amount to max. $30 million according to the … → Read More
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