Below is an October 2020 roundup of highlights from Founder Institute portfolio companies across the globe, featuring funding news and top media story features of the moth, as well as new 1:1 livestream interviews with founders hitting impressive milestones, and pitch videos from the 27 new FI Alumni who participated in the October Global Founder Showcase event.
Alumni Funding + News Highlights:
- Andalin (FI Jakarta) raises pre-Series A led by Beenext to expand its B2B logistics solutions in Indonesia. Andalin allows businesses to book shipments, receive faster freight quotations, compare services, and manage hundreds of shipments
- Stock-prediction start-up Pynk (FI London) raises $2m to build up Toronto AI engineering team and launch new retail investor wallet.
- Corporate learning platform Codemi (FI Jakarta) secures seed funding from Bukalapak founder’s Init 6. The Indonesian edtech says the raise was led by Init 6, a fund run by Bukalapak founder and former head chief Achmad Zaky.
- Funding Black founders fuels generational change, featuring Harold Hughes, founder & CEO of Bandwagon (FI Greenville) and Director of the Austin Founder Institute, a winner of the Google For Startups’ Black Founders Fund $100k award.
- Udemy for Business (FI Silicon Valley) Surpasses $100 Million Annual Recurring Revenue Milestone. Business Scales from $1M to over $100M in Five Years.
- AppotaPay (FI Hanoi) secures license to join Vietnam’s fintech market.
- Lessonbee (FI New York) Reinvents Health Education with AWS EdStart. Watch the AWS feature video below.
- 'South African crowned BRICS young innovator', Gift Lubele, founder of digital waste management platform Kudoti (FI Johannesburg).
- Tired healthcare workers can recharge in private, comfortable space after pilot program brings sleeping pods to University Hospitals, featuring HOHM (FI San Diego)
- Workflow management apps like Unito (FI Montreal) see spike in new signups.
- Paqt (FI Toronto) wins Cyber Pitch at the Houston Cyber Summit.
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.
October Founder Interviews:
GrowForMe Founder & CEO Nana Prempeh (FI Accra) explains how to empower smallholder farmers and micro-lenders. GrowForMe has achieved impressive metrics in its first season of operations, since July having grown to $50k USD invested into farms, 200 participating smallholder farmers (~1-5 acres/each), and anticipated close of ~$100k USD in seasonal crop contract sales.
Nerdeo Founder & CEO Caroline Pires (FI London) explains how the collaborative marketplace for digital creative professionals in the TV, film, and gaming industries works to connect the pros and get projects completed. Upon the launch of their paid Freelancer subscription level, there were 2500 registered artists on Nerdeo to date, hailing from 55 different countries.
Breaters Founder & CEO Stefano Iorino (FI Rome) explains how the personalized daily mindfulness-based program helps emotional eaters to lose weight, by establishing a healthy and lasting relationship with food and their body. The company has recently expanded their offering to the UK market, with over 1000 people have tested the program. If you’re someone tired of obsessing about food or weight, you can get a 14-day free trial of the life changing Breaters journey here.
Breinfuel Co-Founders Dr. Gerald Horn & Colton Horn (FI Chicago) explain the metabolic science behind the performance beverage formula derived from coffees, teas, collagen, and antioxidants, and how Breinfuel's unique formulation works to reduce oxidative stress while recharging the brain.
Parlay Founder & CEO Bobby McDonald (FI Toronto) explains how the education technology company is building the future of classroom discussions, for both in-class and online learners. The edtech company is growing rapidly this year with a 1400% increase in their user base with now 46,000 teachers on the platform, and a projected 600% annual revenue increase, and is currently raising its seed funding round.
October 2020 Global Founder Showcase:
Watch videos from 27 new Founder Institute Alumni who pitched in the October 2020 Global Founder Showcase.
Click here to join us for a live, interactive online FI Alumni Panel event next week, on Tuesday, November 3rd, 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 $1.85BN 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.
