Founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado, Techstars is a seed accelerator with a founder-first philosophy that fuels startups across a range of verticals, linking them to a network of successful mentors, partners, and investors.
Getting accepted into one of Techstars’ 3-month accelerator programs is not easy. Fewer than 1% of startups that apply for Techstars are accepted.
To date, 2,379 startups have gone through Techstars with 85.8% still active or acquired. These companies have received $11 billion in funding and now account for $32 billion in market capitalization.
Since 2006 dozens of Canadian startups have participated in Techstars and thanks to their expansion to Seattle the number of Vancouver companies has been on the rise.
“Techstars Seattle wouldn’t be Techstars Seattle without companies from Vancouver – most of our cohorts have a company from the area. The founders I’ve encountered there are resourceful, talented, and motivated. Chris and Dan from Olive Technologies were real leaders in our last cohort, and we have great expectations for Inna Bogdanova and her team from Aplic.io, who joined this year’s class,” Techstars Seattle Managing Director Isaac Kato told Techcouver.
Check out the following five startups that got their start with Techstars.
Bench | NYC 2012 Summer
Bench offers accounting services, which at first may sound boring and conventional. The company is anything but—its bread and butter is subscription access to cloud-based software in combination with in-house bookkeepers, a hybrid approach that serves clients well, and its philosophy on workplace design serves employees even better.
Originally named 10Sheet, Bench launched out of TechStars NYC with founders Ian Crosby, Jordan Menashy, Adam Saint, and Pavel Rodionov.
Damon | Mobility 2017 Q3
Damon is the creator of the Hypersport Motorcycle, the world’s smartest, safest, fully connected electric motorcycle with innovative features including the CoPilot™ 360° advanced warning system; Shift™, which transforms the riding position between sport and commuter modes with the push of a button; and HyperDrive™, the first 100 percent electric, multi-variant powertrain platform optimized for maximum performance, design and safety.
Co-founded by Jay Giraud and Dom Kwong, Damon Motorcycles is a 2017 Techstars Mobility alum and has won numerous accolades since launch, most recently a 2020 Popular Science Best of What’s New Award in the auto category.
Olive | Seattle 2020 T1
Olive transforms the buying process by moving customers away from archaic RFP/RFI processes to a fully agile evaluation. This leads to a much faster, far more effective decision while also increasing collaboration across stakeholders, providing assurance that 100% of solutions are evaluated, and assuring a robust and objective selection process.
Co-founded by Dan Harrison and Chris Heard in 2018, Olive is the most recent Techstars grad on this list.
Routific | Chicago 2015 Summer
Routific empowers small businesses to deliver more goods with fewer vehicles in less time, helping them stay afloat as Amazon and big box stores increasingly consume market share. The platform has seen growth across a number of SMB home delivery businesses, including those that deliver food, from groceries to farm organics, and beverages ranging from fresh pressed juices to craft beer.
Co-founded in 2012 by Marc Kuo, Suzanne Ma, and Andrew Kwok, Routific was spun out of Vancouver studio Axiom Zen and participated in Techstars Chicago in 2015.
Spocket | Seattle 2018 Q1
Spocket, an acronym for “store in your pocket”, is a Vancouver startup that allows e-commerce retailers to easily start dropshipping top products from US and EU suppliers. Founded by Saba Mohebpour, the thriving business model came to Mohebpour out of a problem he experienced as a retailer himself.
Successfully raising $2.5 million to date, Spocket has 60,000+ customers and anticipates hitting the 100,000 customer mark by the end of 2021. Spocket has integrated with the biggest players in the e-commerce space—including Wix and Shopify—and plans to expand to five new platforms in 2021.
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