Tandem: Mobile Accelerator Unveils Inaugural Batch, Gives Sneak Peek At Round Two
Tandem Entrepreneurs, for those unfamiliar, is a Silicon Valley-based accelerator and capital fund that focuses exclusively on early-stage mobile businesses. Like other accelerators, Tandem works hand-in-hand with its founders on everything from strategy and product design to user acquisition and employee recruiting. However, unlike others, it seeds each startup with a $200K convertible note in exchange for 10 percent equity, and keeps the size of its batches small (two to four teams) in the belief that smaller size equates to higher returns and higher success rates.
Each team spends six months in Tandem’s acceleration program, with new batches beginning each season. There’s no demo day, or set graduation date, as Tandem likes to avoid making its founders feel like they’re about to get kicked out. While Tandem has been operating as a capital fund since 2007 — having funded and worked closely with startups like Play In The City, Playhaven, and Zumodrive — its mobile accelerator only launched in July. And, today, Tandem is officially unveiling its inaugural batch of four startups, as well as giving us a sneak peek at the two startups chosen to participate in its winter program.
Below you’ll find a description of each of the four companies, as well as the accompanying teaser. For those interested in applying, the accelerator is also accepting applications for its spring batch, with a deadline of April 3rd at midnight. Those interested can apply here.
BitRhymes will soon be bringing Bingo Bash to iOS and Android, and is currently in the process of releasing several new titles. The startup’s team counts members who have previously built titles like Vegas, Salon Street, The Warlords, and Tagme, which have collectively seen over 25 million installs.
The startup has been beta testing its service, and is looking to focus more specifically going forward on making shopping on the tablet fun — for women. It is developing an app that builds on its previous online experience, allowing women to find items they like from hundreds of online stores, while saving products for later, and sharing their favorites with their friends. Flit plans to launch its tablet app this month, so stay tuned.
Gimmie is now working with over 50 developers (which, combined, have millions of active users), and beta launch titles include Peter Pog, Art Jam Trance, and Ziggurat, among others.
As mentioned above, Tandem is also officially announcing the two startups that were chosen to participate in its winter program, which is still ongoing. Both startups’ products are currently in stealth, so they’re not saying much about them. But, what we have been able to gather is this: The first, called Sift, is an intelligent shopping service, which was co-founded by former executives from Digital Chocolate and VMware. The founders have dubbed their product “a Flipboard for brand promotions.”
The second, Tydy, is an interest-based content discovery service. Tydy was founded by former Opera executives, and plans to offer a better way to filter the droves of content we share on a daily basis, based on customized, personal filtering mechanisms. According to the team, it has struck distribution partnerships to have Tydy be “included on tens of millions of mobile devices for its initial launch.” Obviously, we’re looking forward to learning more, and will share when they’re ready.
Again, applications for Tandem’s spring class are due by April 3rd at midnight. Apply here.