500 Startups has announced the 31 companies accepted into Batch 21 of its seed program, and seven Canadian companies are among them.
500 Startups said the majority of companies in this batch represent a wide range of technologies, including conversational commerce, big data, virtual reality, digital health, and FinTech. This cohort will also have a focus track in B2B Sales and an automotive track hosted with General Motors.
“I believe the Canadian mindset coupled with the Valley hustle and ecosystem can provide a strong competitive advantage for a startup.”
500 Startups has increasingly been focusing on the Canadian ecosystem, with the opening of 500 Canada, which announced that it closed $15 million of its $30 million fund focused on early-stage Canadian startups. In March, 500 Startups began a cross-country tour in cities like Toronto and Montreal to bring more Canadian tech companies into its accelerator program.
Most companies that join 500 Startups’ Seed program have a functional product, user adoption, and revenue.
The 500 Seed Program, which provides $150,000 USD in funding in exchange for six percent equity, will give participating startups access to 500 Startups’ Silicon Valley network, as well as support with its funding strategy. Participants will focus on growth and fundraising and have the opportunity to attend Marketing Hell Week, followed by weekly sales talks and intensive customer acquisition coaching.
The last batch (Batch 20) of the 500 Seed Program also included seven Canadian companies. These seven companies, as well as Hysko of Batch 19, presented at the 500 Startups Demo Day on May 11, some of which were named on the Mattermark growth list and the TechCrunch list.
“500 Startups gave our company, and more importantly us as founders, the missing piece we were looking for,” said Chris Buttenham, founder of Obie.ai and a participant of Batch 20. “I believe the Canadian mindset coupled with the Valley hustle and ecosystem can provide a strong competitive advantage for a startup.”
The seven Canadian companies in Batch 21 include:
- Adventure Bucketlist (Vancouver, BC) — A platform that streamlines tour and activity bookings for destinations
- Chatter Research (Toronto, ON) — Provides a real-time customer feedback solution for retail and hospitality
- Ellebox (Vancouver, BC) — An organic feminine hygiene subscription box service.
- Lumotune (Waterloo, ON) — Develops a see-through, connected digital display
- MedStack (Toronto, ON) — A cloud-based platform that allows developers to easily create healthcare apps
- Meya (Waterloo, ON) — A platform to build, train and deploy bots
- Swept (Halifax, NS) — Helps janitorial companies increase profits and cleaner retention