TechCrunch tuned into 500 Startups‘ 27th demo day today, keen to get our eyes on the accelerator’s latest companies.
Demo days are regular affairs, but they always feature a crop of startups that could build the next tech giant, so we pay attention. Especially in the COVID-19 era, when demo days have gone virtual. Now it’s easier than ever for investors, and journalists, to tune in.
TechCrunch has covered Y Combinator’s virtual demo days, as well as regular batches from the various Techstars accelerators around the world.
But, today we’re talking favorites from 500 Startups’ latest cohort. Jonathan Shieber will take the baton first, followed by Alex Wilhelm.
Demo day standouts
- What: A new way to browse online.
- Why we like it: The browser and tab model hasn’t changed much since the days of Netscape and organizing online information is increasingly a complicated mess of a hundred tabs (at least on my browser). Stack is pitching a new way to organize information that’s more interactive, more organized and easier to visualize.
- What: Low-code A/B testing of monetization mechanics and subscriber services for apps.
- Why we like it: Helping to give app developers tools to better understand where, how and why monetization breaks down and offer tools to fix it makes Adapty a standout among this 500 cohort. The app economy is still a multibillion dollar business and getting customers to stick around remains a huge problem. Anything that can help is a boon for company builders.
- What: Big honkin’ autonomous drones.
- Why we like it: Drones are cool. Drone delivery is super cool. Big honkin’ drones that can fly more than 300 miles and carry payloads in excess of 50 pounds at a fraction of the cost of helicopters are extra cool. These drones feature automated cargo loading and unloading, and requiring no launch or recovery infrastructure and the founding team comes from the $1.2 billion drone unicorn, Zipline. Metal.
- What: Revolutionizing the design of MEMS devices in three dimensions. It’s a manufacturing process that could transform the $18 billion MEMS device market.
- Why we like it: The founding team hails from Lumedyne, which was acquired by Google, and includes the former hardware lead on quantum computing at Google and a Google X and Tesla manager. If the next generation of software is going to eat the world, it’s going to need a lot of hardware and sensing technologies to first understand it. That’s where Omnitron comes in.
- What: A neobank for teens, helping them to learn personal finance.
- Why we like it: Financial literacy is poor everywhere. The chance for younger kids to learn more about money before they can get themselves into real trouble is brilliant. The company’s example of a loan from a parent for an Xbox feeling like a mortgage was apt; if kids could get accustomed to how credit works before they leave home, they will have a far better feel for not only the cost of goods, but also the cost of money.
- What: A meme platform, community and keyboard all in one.
- Why we like it: Memes have been around for so long it’s clear that they are here to stay. Memechat mixes various meme products into a single service, including six-figure revenue for the company), a place to share memes and a keyboard that lets users plug customized memes into their conversations. Someone is going to win the meme game, and after Giphy sold to Facebook for $400 million it’s clear that Memechat is betting on an exit market that has yet to open.
- What: An SDK that lets games add paid competitions to their service.
- Why we like it: Esport is super cool, growing and poised for further growth. Mobile esports is perhaps the next real frontier for the genre. So, how could we not love a company that wants to help game companies quickly bake “skills-based real cash games” into their titles? In practice the company’s tech would help mobile game developers create tournament-ready versions of their titles that allow users to battle each other for wins, and money. The startup also stressed cross-promotion of other games through its service and reported that it has around 1,500 installs per week at current count.
- What: A place for folks to find beauty products, chat to others with similar goals and buy from influencers.
- Why we like it: Apothecary wants to bring transparency to skin care, a huge market that has exploded across YouTube, Instagram and other creator-friendly platforms. The startup helps users find products they might want, chat amongst other users with similar issues and goals, and also buy products that creators are affiliated with. With rapid creator acquisition and strong margins — not to mention an asset-light model — Apothecary could be building something big.
As a final note, it was interesting to see 500 feature an entire group of creator-focused companies. The whole group was very interesting. Clout Jam’s software to help creators manage deals could be huge. Thematic’s music licensing system for smaller artists is super cool. And Kyndoo wants to rip fraud out of the creator economy. A space to watch, we reckon.