500 Global

500 Global

Company type	Private
Industry	Venture capital, Seed accelerator
Founded	2010 (2010)
Founder	Dave McClure, Christine Tsai
Headquarters	Mountain View , United States
Area served	Global
Key people	Christine Tsai (CEO), Courtney Powell (COO)
Products	Early-stage investments, Accelerator programs
Website	500.co

500 Global—previously known as 500 Startups—is a venture capital firm and seed accelerator focused on early-stage investments, established in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The organization debuted its inaugural incubator cohort with twelve startups in Mountain View, California, in February 2011, growing to 21 companies by June and reaching 34 by October of the same year. As of March 2024, 500 Global oversees $2.3 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Among its prominent portfolio companies are Eat App, IDreamBooks, Little Eye Labs, myGengo, Cypheme, Cucumbertown, Visual.ly, Canva, Convoz, Udemy, RidePal, and Aircall.

History

In 2012, 500 Global expanded its presence in Latin America by acquiring Mexican.VC, an accelerator based in Mexico City, with the goal of increasing investment activity within Mexico. Through its Alta Ventures initiative, the firm aimed to enhance deal sourcing across the region. The Latin American branch, 500 Global LATAM, headed by Santiago Zavala, counts startups such as Platzi among its investments.

By February 2021, the firm had backed over 2,400 startups, including notable names like Eat App, IDreamBooks, Little Eye Labs, myGengo, Cypheme, Cucumbertown, Visual.ly, Canva, Convoz, Udemy, RidePal, and Aircall. Data from August 2015 showed that more than one-fifth of these companies had also participated in other incubators; between 20% and 30% operated outside the United States; and upwards of 60 had been successfully acquired.

As of 2015, active investments included firms such as Credit Karma, Twilio, GrabTaxi, and Talkdesk. Significant exits involved the $403 million purchase of MakerBot by Stratasys, Google's $350 million acquisition of Wildfire, Rakuten’s $200 million buyout of Viki, and BBVA’s $117 million acquisition of Simple.

The firm's network of investment partners and advisors spans multiple countries, featuring individuals like Jassim Alseddiqi (UAE), Enis Hulli (Turkey), Binh Tran (Vietnam), and Tilo Bonow (Germany). Former partner Monique Woodard left the company in 2018. Offices are maintained across major cities including San Francisco, Mexico City, Miami, Dubai, Bahrain, Istanbul, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City. In 2015, it introduced a three-month growth accelerator in London along with a pre-accelerator program in Oslo. The global footprint has since extended to Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Cambodia, Georgia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

Following co-founder Dave McClure’s resignation in July 2017 due to sexual harassment allegations, the firm opened its first East Coast U.S. office in Downtown Miami in March 2018. Courtney Powell was named Chief Operating Officer in July 2019.

In November 2020, through the Angkor 500 initiative, 500 Global collaborated with Khmer Enterprise to bolster technology startups in Cambodia. The company rebranded to 500 Global in September 2021 while closing a $140 million flagship fund—its largest capital raise to date—bringing total assets under management to $1.8 billion and broadening its investment scope beyond seed funding.

October 2021 saw the launch of its inaugural fully virtual accelerator cohort. Early in 2023, the firm initiated an accelerator program in Tbilisi, Georgia as part of its expansion strategy into Eastern Europe.