It’s that time of year again, time for 500 Startups to announce yet another batch of startups that just started its Accelerator program. If you’ve been following along, you probably know what to expect: Lots of female founders, a decent number of international companies, a startup music video, etc. etc.
I got a chance to sit down with founding partner Dave McClure and talk about the class. And this time, the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup incubator has recruited a few doozies. There’s everything from microbiome sequencing — which is basically sampling out your body’s bacteria by sending poop to the company — to an electric skateboard company.
All the companies selected will participate in the three-month program, which is designed to accelerate — GET IT! — their development and growth. A lot of them are consumer-focused startups, although there are a few enterprise or SaaS companies. But in many cases, one of the big things that 500 Startups can help out with is increasing distribution and reaching users.
Like the last several classes of the Accelerator, 500 Startups chose the companies through an application process on AngelList. That seems to be working pretty well — McClure told me that the firm received about 50 percent more applications than in the previous batch.
From more than a thousand applications, the team narrowed the field down to about 100 or 120 startups that went through interviews, and eventually about 30 were chosen.
With that process done, it’s now time for 500 Startups to start looking for its next group of companies for batch eight. Those who are interested in applying can do so, again on AngelList, through this link over here.
Oh yeah, and remember when I said they they made a music video? How novel! (At least no one rapped.)
If you want, you can see the whole group on AngelList or, well, check out brief descriptions of the teams below:
- 3Sourcing – a search engine to find and hire technical talent
- AdEspresso – a SaaS platform to manage and optimize Facebook ads for SMBs and media agencies
- Anyadir Education – a platform for universities to recruit socially
- Bounty Hunter – a contest platform for brands to run creative contests
- Buzzstarter – a platform that takes any content and creates a value reward for sharing to make it go viral
- BTCJam – the first global peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform
- Builk – a Saas platform that digitizes the construction industry for small and medium contractors
- Carreira Beauty – a destination site for beauty professionals to provide career development and boost online distribution
- Cityblis – an e-commerce platform to discover unique fashion brands
- EquityZen – a stock market for private companies to give small investors access investments in large private firms
- Goods – a platform for wholesaler that enables them to accept B2B transactions, manage inventory, and create digital catalogs
- Grata – a live, on-demand travel concierge on your smartphone
- LaunchTrack – an intelligent ticketing platform that provides simple communication tools, analytics, and reporting
- MailLift – Twilio for handwritten letters, providing real letters that are automated for enterprises
- OLSET – a proactive virtual travel agent that saves travelers time by finding them the best hotels based on their preferences
- Partender – an app that brings bars into the 21st century and reduces the time it takes managers to do bar inventory
- PlateJoy – a platform that creates personalized weekly menus based on health goals, lifestyle, and dietary preferences
- Popbasic – startup that designs and manufactures limited edition micro collections for women
- Populr – a micro-publishing platform that helps business people easily deliver information through single web pages
- RealtyShares – an online investment platform that uses crowdfunding to pool investors into private real estate investments
- Sales Beach – provides technology to send personalized emails to hundreds or thousands of contacts in your target industry
- Shopeando – the largest online retailer for unbranded products in Latin America
- Shopseen – a platform to simplify running a retail business and help merchants reach more customers
- Sidelines – crowdsources and delivers awesome comments to improve the quality and engagement potential of comment sections
- Silverpush – a platform for mobile advertisers to retarget existing users over mobile and social ad ecosystems
- uBiome – a direct-to-consumer microbiome sequencing company to teach you about your bacteria
- ViralGains – a platform to measures how consumers watch, share, and talk about video content
- WePlann – a new way to discover and book unique vacation experiences
- WishPlz – a web and mobile shopping app that lets you bookmark any product and get alerts when the price drops
- ZBoard – a weight-sensing electric skateboard that you lean forward to go and lean back to stop