FOUNDER.org, a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who invest in young innovators, will soon welcome new startups to the ‘Class of 2016’. Each team has the chance to receive up to $100K in funding, after engaging in the FOUNDER.org company building programme 8D. The new teams will kick off their programme at the World Founder Forum in Stockholm on June 14-17 together with the FOUNDER.org alumni companies.
Each year, FOUNDER.org selects startups that are aiming to solve some of the planet’s biggest problems, that are founded by students and recent alumni from universities around the world. This year’s applicants hail from 45 schools across Europe and North America, representing 9 countries and more than 20 different industries including space tech, life sciences, mass customisation, agriculture 2.0, industrial sensors, robotics, digital health and genomics. FOUNDER.org will be announcing this year’s $10K, $50K and $100K funding awards at the World Founder Forum in Stockholm.
Launched in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Michael Baum, the founding CEO of big data pioneer Splunk, FOUNDER.org has engaged over 100 startups in the 8D programme and further invested in 20 companies through its investment fund. Michael Baum explains: “Our mission is to support the next generation of courageous innovators to help them alter the future in profoundly positive ways. We focus on startups with the biggest ideas that are going to have a measurable impact on our world.”
The FOUNDER.org ‘Class of 2016’ consists of 40 innovative startups, of which almost half are from Europe. Below you’ll find the European participants:
- BeamLine Diagnostics: Pre-cancer screening software (University College London)
- Biocarbon Engineering: Industrial scale reforestation (University of Oxford)
- Blocks: Modular smartwatch platform (Imperial College London)
- Building Radar: Geo-opportunity analysis (Center for Digital Technology Management, London School of Economics, Technische Universität München)
- Cambridge Bio-Augmentation: Platform for interactive prosthesis (University of Cambridge)
- Cariboo: Turning locals into tour guides (ESCP Europe, EDHEC, Ecole Centrale Paris)
- Deekit: Real-time whiteboards (Tallinn University of Technology)
- Desaia: Design and creation software for 3D virtual worlds (Technische Universität Berlin)
- GiveVision: Smart glasses for the visually impaired (University of Oxford)
- Gravity Sketch Limited: 3D sketching in augmented reality (Imperial College London)
- HeySuccess: Marketplace for international student programmes (Tallinn University of Technology)
- ICEYE: Radar-based satellite imaging service (Aalto University)
- ManoMotion: Real-time 3D gesture tracking and analysis (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
- peerCast: Peer-to-peer live-streaming video (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
- Rankmi: Digitised talent management (UCLA)
- Rubbee: E-bike conversion system (Kaunas University of Technology)
- Serket: Pharmacy integrated solution for medical non-adherence (University of Cambridge)
- SUN Bioscience: Organoids as a service (Ecole Polytechnique FÃdÃrale de Lausanne)
Speaking of Opportunities: Make sure to check out the EU-Startups Job Board in case you’re currently hiring or looking for new job opportunities.
