500 Startups launches a short marketing ramp-up bootcamp for startups in Israel

As competition to get the best startups into incubators gets increasingly challenging, many firms may find themselves looking earlier and earlier into the life of a company in order to get their attention — and part of the company through an investment.

That also includes looking internationally, and 500 Startups is looking to tap into that by now getting Israeli startups into a short bootcamp and train them into the firm’s specialization: marketing and growth. 500 Startups is launching a four-week program in Israel that targets pre-seed and seed companies as they get to the stage where they begin marketing their products.

With a big staff specialized in marketing and growth, 500 Startups is basically betting that its brand is one that will attract companies looking to figure out how to quickly build a large customer base for their products. 500 Startups naturally competes aggressively with firms like Y Combinator to get the best startups into its programs, and targeting them earlier in their lifetime may help serve as a kind of pipeline to find those companies.

Of course, it’s not necessarily for free, with 500 Startups taking 1 percent of the company for $25,000 earmarked to marketing experiments. The company is launching its first program with nine business-to-business startups. Here’s a quick rundown of the companies in the first batch:

Wizer — create, analyze, collaborate and personalize the learning experience; it’s as easy as making a worksheet.

Distribyte — a simplified cloud environment for companies seeking to expand their digital presence.

CybeReady — reduces the risks of phishing through automated end-user training.

Ubeya — Uber for temporary workforce in the events industry. Provides a SaaS platform for businesses from the events industry to manage their workforce. Connects between staffing agencies and event companies for staff on a daily basis.

ONDiGO — provides VPs of sales with visibility into their team’s performance, activity and major KPIs. Sales-ops will see what works and what doesn’t in the company’s pipeline, account management and customer success.

Udobu — helps better monetize live sports events for clubs and media rights holders struggling with inventory and capacity utilization, as well as revenue-generation issues.

MuvingApp — create a visual inventory in less than 10 minutes. It facilitates a transparent, easier moving experience as well as myriad related services: packing, insurance, even connect utilities in your new house.

GreenQ — a smart waste management service designed to meet the needs of collection vendors, system integrators and municipalities.

Market Beyond — uncovers our customers’ blind spots in a fragmented e-commerce space by deriving insight from billions of e-shoppers’ decisions across the global e-commerce universe.