On Wednesday, the famous Mountain View, Calif.-based accelerator known as 500 Startups, led by Dave McLure and Christine Tsai, announced its newest cohort (Batch 16) of startups to enter the highly selective 4-month mentorship program. Notably, four startups hailing from the D.C.-area were accepted as part of the 51-company group.
The four local startups are electric bicycle developer Riide, online job recruitment tool WorkAmerica, personal finance management platform Rize and new media basketball video brand Mars Reel. The accelerator program began in mid-January and it is taking place at 500 Startup's San Fransisco office.
Now, the crew heads to the west coast with grand aspirations and in hope of growing their respective companies under the tutelage of 500 Startup's brigade of consultants, investors and veteran entrepreneurs.
Of note, 500 Startup alums have included the likes of Simple (acquired by BBVA for $117 million) and Sunrise (acquired by Microsoft for $100 million). And while not every startups that graduates from the program becomes an immediate success story, many have spoken positively about the experience which has at the very least opened the door towards numerous, valuable contacts.
By accepting entry into the accelerator program each startup trades 5 percent equity in their company for the experience, 4-months worth of co-working space access and will receive a $125,000 investment—structured as a convertible security.
Interestingly, the aforementioned investment carries certain special rights for 500 Startups, including the option to activate a "$500k follow-on right (or 20% of your next priced round, whichever is lower) which expires after the closing of [the] next priced round."
Here's a more in-depth look at the DC Tech companies that just joined 500 Startups:
Riide: in recent month, Riide opened its first brick-and-mortar storefront in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood located in NW. The innovative, smart city-centric company is led by co-founders Amber Wason and Jeff Stefanis. Earlier this year, the company which previously sold its bikes with a price tag that exceeded $1500 has since employed a monthly, $79 subscription/leasing model to compete with other city transportation options like the D.C. metro, Uber, cab service and bus.
WorkAmerica: the company markets itself as an online recruiting services for employers in the "skilled trades, allied health and IT" spaces. WorkAmerica is unique in that it focuses on helping employ graduations from accredited community colleges and vocational schools. Built as a B2B business, WorkAmerica boasts a team of roughly 10 professionals and has an office off of K Street in D.C. The company describes its mission as: "clos[ing] the skills gap for employers and [to] facilitate access to middle-skill, living wage jobs for job seekers by streamlining the path from vocational education to employment."
Rize: there is relatively little information out there about Rize, a startup that to the best of our knowledge appears to have built a personal finance tool that is mobile-friendly. With a static website that lack any substantive information, we found a Medium post written by CEO and co-founder Justin Howell. In the Medium post he writes: " We use technology to completely automate your savings so you can effortlessly set money aside out of each paycheck. We use behavioral science to help you figure out how much to save, what goals to put those savings towards, and to save more and more over time." Rize employs 5 D.C. natives.
Mars Reel: Mars Reel Media Corp is a small, "technology-driven sports media & entertainment" company. The company produces video and editorial content that is related to basketball news and highlights from high school to the pros. Originally launched in 2010 by CEO and University of Maryland alum Brandon Deyo in the area, the company now has offices in San Fransisco while a majority of the team contributes from satellites offices. Deyo co-founded Mars Reel with his brother, Bradley. "Mars Reel is a sports network that creates video content for young people with shorter attention spans," Deyo told DC Inno. Interestingly, Mars Reel has been extremely successful at building its social media presences, with thousands of followers on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. On Facebook, alone, Mars Reel boasts more than 80,000 followers.
