Startup accelerator Founder Institute has announced that it’s accepting applications for the next Founder Showcase on February 10th, the organization’s flagship international startup competition. Entrepreneurs from Colombia should visit here to apply.
Tech startups with less than $250,000 USD in funding will pitch virtually to a panel of investors from around the world. Founded in 2009, Founder Showcase has become a seminal event in the startup ecosystem.
Prior hosts at the event include Tesla founder Elon Musk, Box co-founder Aaron Levie, and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.
Startups who’ve pitched at the event have gone on to raise over $1.5B in venture capital funding collectively, and earlier winners include Udemy and Thumbtack. The New York Times earlier likened the event to “American Idol” for startups.
Founder Institute is the world’s largest early-stage startup accelerator. Headquartered in Silicon Valley and based in over 185 cities, Founder Institute has graduated more than 45 startups from Colombia.
In Medellín the chapter is led by Maria Camila Ortegón, corporate lawyer at Medellin City Hall, Marian Villa Roldán, CEO at EVERSOCIAL and Pionerasdev, and Nelson Irias, founder of DataLabs Analytics. Julián Arango, CEO at Workia, and Mads Schmidt Petersen serve as advisors.
Many of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the accelerator to transition from employee to entrepreneur, test their startup ideas, build a team, get their first customers, and to raise funding.
According to the organization’s CEO Adeo Ressi in an earlier New York Times interview, “The Founder Institute takes people right when they are taking the first steps to launching a business. We help them launch the business and become full-time entrepreneurs.”
Featured photo of Founder Institute Co-Founder Jonathan Greechan
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
