Check out what our past PITCH participants have accomplished. You could be our next rockstar!
By Ayesha Rizvi (Editorial & Multimedia Assistant, Women 2.0)
We’ve had over 1000 early stage startups apply for our PITCH Startup Competition over the last seven years and many of them have had pioneering accomplishments since then, including getting acquired by Yahoo!, securing millions in funding and getting ahead in Y-combinator to name a few. The best part? We get to see them first, before they’ve gone on to next steps in their startup journey. We’re certain these companies are only going to get bigger. Below, we’ve highlighted some major accomplishments of our past startups that made it to PITCH – congrats to these hard working founding teams, we are so proud!
PITCH Finalists Who Got Acquired
Alike – Acquired by Yahoo!
Investor – Social Starts
Alike is an iPhone app designed to let you know about nearby restaurants, bars and cafes that are similar to those you’re already a fan of and it’s simple to use. You type in the name of one of your favorite spots, and it’ll suggest others like it within your proximity. The app ranks recommendations based on how “alike” they are to your search queries, allows users to see how far away a place is and lets them provide feedback about whether they think one place is like another.
Tiny Review (also called TinyPost) – Acquired by TripAdvisor
Founded 2011, one investor – 500 Startups, 300k funding
Tiny Review is now Tiny Post! Tiny Review is like Instagram for Yelp reviews. Say what you think about a place quickly: take a picture and write 3 words. Follow people whose recommendations you trust. Quickly get an impression based on other tiny reviews: “Butter, Overrated, Line,” on Tartine in SF. We make reviews fun, short, and easy.
Objective Marketer – Acquired by EmailVision
Launched in 2009
Objective Marketer is a tool utilized by companies to coordinate all of their social media conversations and track the traffic directly back to their sites. EmailVision is growing by more than 40% per year.
AbbeyPost – Acquired by Sourceeasy
Launched in 2013
AbbeyPost is a made-to-order custom clothing for plus-size women. The typical e-commerce return rate industry-wide is 40%; AbbeyPost has just a 2% return rate.
PITCH Finalists Who Got Funding
Founded in 2013
CareLuLu is an online marketplace that connects parents to licensed daycares and preschools. It’s the easiest way to find a child care program that fits your family’s specific needs. Avoid the hassle of searching through dozens of websites, find all the information you want in one place.
Enplug – Secured $2.5M
Founded 2012, 13 investors
Enplug is a turnkey software platform that bridges online content into the physical world for the 700,000+ companies that use digital displays inside their business today. The company disrupts the $13 billion digital signage industry by evolving one-way communication channels into interactive two-way media channels. Enplug’s plug-and-play device allows businesses like restaurants, shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, and gyms to instantly transform their digital displays into interactive social media walls, game portals, jukeboxes, menuboards, and more.
Businesses use Enplug to increase sales and improve customer experience. Manage, upload, and control all content easily on Enplug’s online portal. Using Enplug’s App Market, businesses may personalize their display experience by choosing color themes and custom apps.
Healthy Out – Secured $1.2M / 500 Startups
Founded 2012
HealthyOut is a mobile app that enables users to discover healthy restaurant dishes and have them delivered to their home or office.
SupportPay – Secured $1.1M
Launched Oct. 2013, Investors- Draper Associates, Broadway Angels and Aspect Ventures
We have built a child support payment platform for the 39 million parents in the US and 298 million parents globally who exchange over $990 billion dollars in child support every year.
Maker’s Row – Secured $ 1 million in seed funding
Founded in 2012, San Francisco 2013 PITCH Finalist
Maker’s Row is an online marketplace launched in November 2012 that connects American manufacturers with small, medium-sized, and product-based businesses. In early summer 2013, Maker’s Row claims to have the most accessible list of American manufacturers available online for apparel production.
CheddarUp – Secured $600,000+ in funding
Founded in 2013, San Francisco “How To” 2014 PITCH Finalist
Cheddar Up is a service that makes managing large group payments a breeze through the use of a wildly simple user interface. It
enables individuals, schools and organizations to create custom online payment pages in a matter of seconds for almost anything, providing an alternative to inefficient and unsecure cash and check payments. Cheddar Up features robust online payer tracking, automatic reminders, no fees for the collector, and the ability for people to pay in as few as three clicks. Whether it’s a group gift or trip, event, school fundraiser or membership dues… Cheddar Up makes group payments quick and easy.
Launched 2013, 5 investors
Traveling Spoon is changing the future of travel by connecting travelers with authentic food experiences in people’s homes around the world through a vetted, online marketplace. Our hosts are all pre-vetted by a Traveling Spoon team member to ensure a quality experience and the safety of our travelers. Our website allows you to browse our vetted hosts and reserve experiences — from cooking classes to market tours to homemade meals — that allow you to Travel off the Eaten Path.
weeSpring – Secured $700k
Founded 2012, 2 investors
weeSpring is a social shopping platform for new and expecting parents, offering them a quick window into the baby gear their friends love, have, regret buying, or want. Compare products within a single category to see what your friends love, or browse a trusted friend’s favorites.
PITCH Finalists That Got Into An Accelerator
Cheddar Up – Dave McClure’s 500 Startups
The San Francisco “How To” 2014 PITCH Finalist not only has secured a little over $600,00 in funding, but also was accepted into 500 Startups Batch 12.
CitizenMade – NewMe Accelerator
Founded 2011
We make it possible for brands to sell custom products online.
Carelulu – 500 Startups
Founded 2013
CareLuLu is the easiest way for parents to find a daycare or preschool that fits their family’s needs. Our online marketplace offers a personalized search, verified parent reviews, photos, and even tuition rates. We created CareLuLu to make it easy for parents to find safe, affordable and high-quality child care.
PrettyPaddedRoom – Y Combinator
Founded 2011
Pretty Padded Room provides online therapy to women on their own time and in their own space. This revolutionary website connects clients with an all-female team of licensed counselors through video chat or Digital Diary, an interactive journal that lets clients consult with their therapist anytime and anywhere. Once seen as intimidating and expensive, we have transformed traditional therapy into an experience that is affordable and approachable.
Fiestah – Start-up Chile, $40k funding
Founded 2012, 1 investor
Fiestah is a free event planning tool that helps everyday people easily get the things they need for their events. From local art galleries that need to setup a bar to hackathons that need to plan meals for an entire weekend. People simply post what they need and local food trucks, chefs, photographers, and more start bidding to work at the event.
Abbeypost – 500 Startups + $350k funding,
Founded 2012, 500 Startups investor
AbbeyPost delights customers with beautiful, well made Plus Size wardrobe classics that fit perfectly. They are a vertically integrated brand enabled by some seriously kickass tech. Their innovative real-time-manufacturing processes help them offer custom Made to Measure apparel at department store prices, Made in the USA and delivered in 2 weeks or less.
Activity Hero – 500 Startups
Founded 2011
ActivityHero helps parents find and book kids after-school activities and summer camps. We’re driven by our mission to keep kids active and save parents from frustrations by providing complete, accurate and up-to-date information covering the full spectrum of activities available to kids during their out-of-school time.
The Daily Muse (The Muse) – 500 Startups + Y Combinator + Secured $2.2M as The Muse & $7.3M as The Daily Muse
Founded 2011, 4 investors,
The Daily Muse is visually engaging job search and related career resources. The site offers in-depth multimedia profiles of a variety of companies who are hiring, combined with career content and professional development. They are a member of the Winter2012 Y Combinator class. Their official launch was September 6, 2011, followed by the February 2012 launch of their visual job search product Company Muse.
Weespring – Techstars NYC 2013
Founded 2012
weeSpring is a social shopping platform for new and expecting parents, offering them a quick window into the baby gear their friends love, have, regret buying, or want. Compare products within a single category to see what your friends love, or browse a trusted friend’s favorites.
Totspot – 500 Startups
Founded 2008
New York based Totspot is a place for parents to publish a page about their kids and share with family and friends. It’s part online babybook, parent journal, and social network. Everything on TotSpot is structured to ensure easy data portability, both online and off, including a robust API and extensive printing options, which are currently under development.
*Photo via Elvina Beck.