Dave McClure’s 500 Startups crew is at it again, with another group of companies joining its Accelerator program. The fourth group of startups in the 500 Startups Accelerator follows a lot of the same trends from previous participants, as McClure & Co. continue to bet big on female entrepreneurs and international startups. There’s also the continued focus on revenue-first startups, rather than those which need to hit “critical mass” before monetizing.
But before I get into all that, check out this video. Seriously. Watch it. This story will still be here when you’re done:
Ok, so now that you’ve gotten your fill of 500 Startups’ hilarious take on the Hunger Games, let’s talk about the companies themselves. Of the 27 startups in the program, seven have at least one woman founder, and more than half of the startups are from outside Silicon Valley. Of those, 12 are from outside the U.S., hailing from locations such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Slovenia, and the U.K. Others come from U.S. cities that include Austin, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
Putting investment in non-Valley startups isn’t the only somewhat contrarian move from this Silicon Valley-based incubator. The current class also has a bunch of startups focused on unpopular market segments like parenting and education, small- and medium-sized businesses, and subscription e-commerce.
That’s because big wins on companies like Instagram are rare, and McClure’s not trying to hit a home run every time he comes up to the plate. Instead, he’s focused on singles and doubles. That means helping along startups that might not be sexy, but bring in revenue.
So what do the participating startups get? As with previous classes, all 500 Startups Accelerator participants get investment of $25,000 to $250,000 in exchange for five percent of equity. They also get some swank office space, access to hundreds of mentors, help in marketing, business development, administrative stuff… And, of course, help with future fundraising.
The Accelerator actually kicked off on April 2, so the program is already well underway, with demo days scheduled for July 17-18 in Mountain View, and July 23 in New York City. In the meantime, check out the next 27 companies to participate in this class:
- ActivityHero – Yelp for kids activities
- Bluefields – Intelligently organizing recreational sports
- Bombfell – A monthly subscription service for men’s clothing
- CardFlick – Create and share beautiful digital cards
- Chalkable – An app store for school and a platform to make those apps work
- Fontacto – Virtual phone system for entrepreneurs and SMBs in Mexico & Latin America
- Groupiter – Adds group conversations to the files you share on Dropbox
- Happy Inspector – An app to revolutionize inspections
- Ingresse – Brazil’s first social ticketing company
- Monogram – Flipboard for fashion
- PocketOffice – An app to help grow your small business from your smartphone
- PublikDemand – Helps consumers launch viral complaints against big companies
- ReClipIt – Social catalog for coupon and deal lovers
- Sqoot – Provides a daily deal API, like Twilio for local deals
- Storypanda – Next-gen interactive iPad kids books
- Teamly – Helps teams by stay focused, collaborate better, and celebrate their achievements
- TeliportMe – Lets users create high-res panoramas anywhere
- TenderTree – Helps families find a caregiver for the elderly or disabled
- TieSociety – A try-before-you-buy subscription service for men’s neckwear
- Timbuktu Labs – An iPad magazine for you and your children
- TokyoOtakuMode – A place to share Japanese otaku culture, like manga and anime
- Toshl – Super easy personal finance manager and bank data aggregator
- TwitMusic – Helps musicians effectively share & promote their music on Twitter
- UmbaBox – A monthly subscription service for discovering handmade women’s goods
- Uscoop – A social commerce platform for young style influencers
- Wanderable – Honeymoon registries for couples who want experiences
- Yogome – Fun & educational games for kids aged 6-12 on the iPhone & iPad