Below is a November 2020 roundup of highlights from Founder Institute portfolio companies across the globe - see the most recent funding news, top media story features of the month, new 1:1 livestream interviews with founders hitting impressive milestones, and pitch videos from the 6 recent FI Alumni who participated in the November Texas Founder Showcase event.
Alumni Funding + News Highlights:
- Esusu (FI San Francisco), an impact fintech addressing credit inequality, receives first investment from PayPal-backed Zeal Capital Partners’ first fund, via Crunchbase
- TotalCtrl (FI Oslo), a food waste prevention startup, raises NOK $20 million after company took action and gained momentum through the pandemic, despite having some of the hardest hit industries as customers
- Intelocate (FI Toronto), an issue resolution and workflow management system, attracts $1M growth capital amid the pandemic
- REBELS 0.0% (FI Zurich) breaks crowdfunding record, reaching financing target after just 11 hours
- Braze Mobility founder Pooja Viswanathan (FI Toronto) selected as a recipient for $100k grant from BMO Financial Group in program for women-owned businesses
- Udemy (FI Silicon Valley), a leading online learning marketplace, is raising up to $100M at a $3.32B valuation, via TechCrunch
- Aghaz Investments (FI Seattle) closes $400k friends and family funding round
- Finverity (FI London) announced as a winner in the FinTech Abu Dhabi 2020 Innovation Challenge
- How RushTix CEO Jill Bourque (FI Silicon Valley) Pivoted In 2020 To Create The Biggest Comedy Club On The Planet
- Ready To Go Survival (FI New York) Founder & CEO Roman Zrazhevskiy featured in National Geographic, "Disaster 'prepping' was once an American pastime. Today, it's mainstream again”
- Grib (FI Helsinki), an award-winning 3D graphics software company, profiled in XR Nation Citizen Spotlight
- Pathloom (FI Silicon Valley) CEO Ankit Jain profiled on Coping with the Pandemic and Making the Outdoors Easy
- Intelenz (FI Silicon Valley) co-founder Renzo Zagni profiled on Staying Ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Curve, credits MIT for the know-how he needed to launch his company and grow AI-enabled offerings
Are you a pre-seed stage entrepreneur working to achieve startup traction or funding? Apply here to join a 100% virtual Founder Institute accelerator nearest you.
November Founder Interviews:
Fairly AI Co-Founders Fion Lee-Madan & David Van Bruwaen (FI Waterloo) explain how the regulatory technology company is creating ‘Trusted AI’ through streamlining processes that analyze AI solutions for biases and compliance.
Intelenz founder Renzo Zagni (FI Silicon Valley) explains how the company is unleashing the power of AI for implementation in practical, no-code process automation.
MyCoop founder Alex Norman explains how the startup is simplifying communication within buildings of all types.
MoveMate Founder & CEO Lucas Francioli (FI Montreal) explains how the company building a hassle-free way to move anything. The company specializes in moving large bulky items, for customers traditionally moving to new homes, but also for anyone moving other larger items, such as buying or selling in local online marketplaces or workplaces.
November Leader Interview: Andy Zain
Andy Zain is the Founder & Managing Partner of Kejora Ventures, a venture firm based in Indonesia with $400M in assets under management; and is the Director of the Indonesia Founder Institute. In this video interview on ‘Integrating Your Startup Ecosystem' from FI’s 2020 Accelerate Asia digital conference, Andy Zain speaks with Founder Institute CEO Adeo Ressi.
November 2020 Texas Founder Showcase:
Watch videos from the 6 recent Founder Institute Alumni who pitched in the November 2020 Texas Founder Showcase.
Click here to join us for a live, interactive online FI Alumni Panel event next week, on Monday, December 7th, 2020.
Are you a pre-seed stage entrepreneur working to achieve startup traction or funding? Apply here to join a 100% virtual Founder Institute accelerator nearest you.
Graduates 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/journey.
