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The Founder Institute Veteran and Southern California Accelerator is proud to announce the newest Alumni from the Silicon Valley based program.

After meticulous selection process and intense four months of aggressive business-building sprints, constant evaluation, and feedback from investors and mentors, just 18 companies were able to make it through. 

Each of these Founders have demonstrated a high level of perseverance and creativity, and their businesses have been thoroughly vetted and supported by a panel of San Diego's top startup experts and investors.  

And now, without further ado, we present the Alumni of the Founder Institute program: 

  • Bugle - A community engagement platform that is changing the world of volunteering and increasing transparency in charitable giving.
  • Space Cowboy ADR - Removing space debris from Low Earth Orbit to make space a safer place to do business.
  • Bettor Vision - Aggregating sports betting, daily fantasy, and season-long fantasy accounts to streamline the sports fan experience.
  • Path of Heroes - Helping Military Veterans create personalized wellness paths to civilian life, connecting the right resource at the right time. 
  • Luna Leaf - Revolutionizing women's wellness by aligning lifestyle choices with our menstrual cycles.
  • Pactto - A mobile-first platform for creative professionals that makes ultra-precise, pixel-perfect communication possible & easy
  • Instant Expert - Developing a hybrid AI tool and business consulting service to help early stage entrepreneurs get the answers they need, now.
  • Ante Up - A FinTech smart phone application for use by competitive people and charity organizations through daily social challenges.
  • CARRYLUG- Connecting travelers with extra luggage space to individuals seeking affordable shipping solutions, addressing the need for cost-effective international shipping options.
  • Autoket- Helping purchasing managers at auto repair shops buy quality parts from a database of reputable auto part suppliers making the procurement process easy and efficient.
  • MindSonix- Developing a cloud based software platform to help overcome the effects of trauma using neuroscience, biofeedback and my transformational music to improve their mental health, wellness and resilience.
  • Bloomy - Empowering people to proactively take care of their mental and physical wellbeing.
  • SEPP Networks - Developing a device-to-device networking capability, to enable First Responders and the US Military to communicate in remote or disaster areas without cellular infrastructure.
  • Greetings - Providing modern, well-furnished, smart homes to traveling millennial professionals.
  • Mangrov - Helping shoppers quickly discover the 'top 3' products in any category, as selected by our expert shopkeepers & then buy direct. 
  • TITAN Simulation - Making the most realistic anatomic models for medical education and skills training to reduce medical error with sensors and data collection, like an airplane simulator of people for health care providers.
  • MyEduPath - Offering personalized career guidance and networking solutions for students, meeting the need for comprehensive support in navigating the transition from education to employment.
  • Hemp3D - Offering eco-friendly alternatives for eyewear and everyday items to create a more sustainable world.

Join us at the Founder Institute Graduation Event on May 21

The Veteran and Southern California program would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes a community to raise a startup.

San Diego Local Directors 

We would first like to thank the Local Directors of the San Diego Founder Institute: Mike Sherbakov (General Partner, The Veteran Fund), Ryan Micheletti (Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute). Our Local Leaders play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and creating an environment and network in San Diego that is conducive to building to great companies.

In addition, the Veteran and Southern California program was supported by some of San Diego's top technology organizations, including:

Some of San Diego’s top startup mentors helped our founders in the program, including:

* Al Bsharah * Alex Bard * Andrew Gottlieb * Andy White * Aviv Shalgi * Bardia Moayedi * Brian Storms * Bryant Walker * Cassius Kiani * Chris Foltz * Eric Weiss * Greg Moser * Hayley Evans * James Africano * Jason Pang * Jerome Soucy * Joe Bezdek * Judy Tsuei * Justin Renfro * Ken Davenport * Lance Cottrell * Melissa Li * Mike Steadman * Nate Mason * Nektar Baziotis * Noah Wallach * Pete Biggam * Shaun Alger * Tay Nguyen * Yann Deredec

In the Founder Institute's pre-seed accelerator program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over $1.75BN. 

After Graduation, the new San Diego Founder Institute Portfolio Companies now have a fast-growing company that has been fully validated by experienced startup founders, with access to the Founder Institute's global network and post-graduate support programs to continue building their business. 

Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, building a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 100+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.

The next San Diego Founder Institute program is being planned now. If you are interested in being notified when applications open, visit FI.co/apply/san-diego.

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Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.75BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.

See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/graduates


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