Since 2009, over 900 startups have competed in the Founder Showcase Pitch Competition, with over 160 companies presenting on stage for seed-funding. To date, previous contestants have gone on to raise over $1.5 billion. Below we pay homage to finalists who achieved significant business milestones after the event. Congrats!
1st Founder Showcase (Q4 2009)
The First ever Founder Showcase Champion has secured over $148m in funding, and names former Showcase Keynote Jason Calacanis as an investor.
The neighbor to neighbor car sharing service has raised over $62m from the likes of August Capital, Google Ventures, and Shasta Ventures.
Now named Getable, the “OpenTable for product rentals”, has raised over $9m from a list of rockstar investors, including Andreessen Horowitz.
2nd Founder Showcase (Q1 2010)
Shortly after winning the 2nd Founder Showcase, the mobile meeting app raised funding from Charles River Ventures, Shervin Pishevar, Bill Lee, XG Ventures, and others.
The cloud computing startup has released multiple products, raised a seed round, and was featured in CRN’s “Emerging Vendors for 2011″.
The e-learning startup has raised $48 million from impressive investors like Keith Rabois, Jeremy Stoppelman, Naval Ravikant, 500 Startups, and more.
TimeSight Systems, which develops video lifecycle management solutions for the video surveillance market, has raised $2 million from NVP and the NJEDA.
3rd Founder Showcase (Q2 2010)
The public marketplace for venues and unique spaces closed a funding round shortly after winning the Grand Prize at the 3rd Founder Showcase.
The video collaboration service provider has been lauded as a competitor to Skype, and received a “multiple million dollar” funding round from Salesforce.
The puzzle company’s “Sudoku Unbound Volume 1″ reached #1 among all paid Kindle titles, and closed a significant funding round.
Breakthrough, a platform that connects people with mental health providers anywhere, has raised $5.9m from Keith Rabois and other top investors.
Memetales, a mobile marketplace for interactive children’s stories, went on to present on the DEMO stage, raise a seed round from 500 Startups, and get featured in TechCrunch.
SalesPortal, the first partnership marketing platform for contact centers, has raised $4.9 million and received numerous awards (including the Red Herring Global 100).
4th Founder Showcase (Q3 2010)
After winning the 4th Founder Showcase, the video wifi device and communication company was named in the Top 10 Mobile Startups of 2011 by Laptop Magazine.
The mobile website company’s Founder was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Brilliant Companies”, and they closed a seed round.
The location-based marketing analytics platform was acquired by social media giant, Hootsuite.
5th Founder Showcase (Q4 2010)
Shortly after winning the 5th Showcase, Breezy announced an angel round with a roster of impressive investors, and has since raised a total of $3.4m.
The social travel site has been featured in numerous press, and closed a seed round from Quest Venture Partners, in order to expand its reach globally.
Formerly ShowForce, the conference mobile app has raised $4.5 million from a list of prestigious investors – including Peter Thiel, whose FF Angel led the Series A.
Pick1, an opinions database and automated market research platform dubbed as an “Open Graph for Opinions”, has raised $1 million from private investors.
Since presenting at the Showcase, the cloud storage protection company has moved from Singapore to Silicon Valley, and raised $1.5 million in funding.
6th Founder Showcase (Q1 2011)
Shortly after winning the 6th Founder Showcase, Topicmarks closed a seed round, and 8 months later were acquired by Tagged.
The lunch meeting matching service has been featured in numerous media, and has expanded to New York and is running beta programs in other markets as well.
This web app data security company raised a $175,000 seed round, and was also selected as a SINET 16 Innovator.
7th Founder Showcase (Q2 2011)
Just five months after winning the 7th Founder Showcase, Kaggle raised an $11m round led by Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and Yuri Milner.
This white-label video site platform was accepted into Dave McClure’s 500 Startups shortly after the Founder Showcase, and raised over $2.5m.
Fashioning Change has received widespread recognition for providing eco-friendly alternatives to people’s favorite brands – including on Fast Company, Fox, NBC, and more.
Nexercise’s fitness apps are among the highest rated across several app stores, and after graduating from TechStars closed a $1m+ round.
BlogMutt, a marketplace for crowdsourced blog content, raised a $250,000 seed round led by the Denver/ Boulder-area’s top startup entrepreneurs.
Keepstream, a tweet curation and publishing service, raised $20,000 in funding from Capital Factory, and then was acquired by Infochimps.
8th Founder Showcase (Q4 2011)
In addition to raising funding Kima Ventures, Nestadio Capital, and more, I-Dispo’s reservation and personal assistant platform now powers all reservations for Bing in France.
The social media marketing startup secured seed funding from the Singhome Fund (backed by John Wu, Co-Founder of the Alibaba Group) and has expanded internationally.
9th Founder Showcase (Q1 2012)
Spinnakr won the 9th Founder Showcase and has subsequently closed over $1mm in funding from top investors like Andreessen Horowitz and 500 Startups.
PetHub, a company that allows you to utilize technology to track and care for your pets, has since expanded into the U.K and closed over $3.6m in funding.
The runner up of the 11th Showcase, the cloud connectivity company went on to raise $1.5m from top investors like Tim Draper, and David Sacks.
10th Founder Showcase (Q2 2012)
Blueseed’s ambitious project garnered a $700,000 seed round led by two of Silicon Valley’s top investors: Peter Thiel and Mike Maples, Jr.
Itembase, the 10th Founder Showcase Champion, quickly raised a six-figure seed round, and then later on another $3m plus.
The runner up of the 10th Founder Showcase, Yumvy’s cooking companion app is one of the most popular cooking apps in the Windows App Store.
After competing onstage in the Demo Table Competition, this social travel application raised $2.4 million and then was acquired by Google.
11th Founder Showcase (Q3 2012)
After winning the 11th Showcase, the mobile app for salespeople gained acceptance into the Alchemist Accelerator, and has since raised $2m plus.
The fertility app, which was the runner up at the 11th Showcase, has raised over $1.6m, and recently announced helping over 10,000 women get pregnant.
Cont3nt.com, a real-time market for photo and video journalism, raised an undisclosed seed round from CIT GAP Funds.
Winner of the first ever CrowdPitch Competition, this local activity app has gone onto raise over $1.1m in funding from top angels.
After competing in the 11th Founder Showcase, the storage-as-a-service platform was acquired for 7 figures within a few months.
12th Founder Showcase (Q4 2012)
The 12th Founder Showcase Champion secured a $1 million seed round within one month of winning the event – and has since raised in excess of $14m in total.
Citybot, the itinerary planning travel app that won the Demo Table Competition, has raised $750,000, and was named a “Top 10 App at SXSW” by Laptop Magazine.
The marketplace for connecting writers & publishers followed up by closing a small seed round, and securing top author, VC and entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki as an advisor.
The mobile app-builder was accepted into the RevTech Labs Accelerator, and winning several competitions. Users have now created over 16,000 apps.
13th Founder Showcase (Q1 2013)
In addition to winning the 13th Showcase, Realty Mogul has already processed over $100mm in transactions on their platform, and has raised over $10m.
The runner up of the 13th Showcase, the email marketing company was accepted into TechStars Seattle, and then closed a $1.25 million seed round.
After competing in the 13th Founder Showcase, the curated date service was acquired by OKCupidLabs, where the founding team now works on Delightful.
After competing in the 13th Showcase, the on-demand research platform was accepted into 500 Startups and has raised over $1m.
14th Founder Showcase (Q3 2013)
This autonomous crime-prevention robot company has gone on to raise nearly $7m from top investors like NTT DOCOMO Ventures.
Camperoo is an “OpenTable for kids’ camps and activities, and after presenting on stage through the CrowdPitch Competition, the company was admitted into Y Combinator.
15th Founder Showcase (Q2 2014)
After winning the 15th Showcase, this 3D printed shoe company competed in several other events, and recently raised $1.3m from leading VCs like Khosla Ventures.
Vibease, a “smart vibrator” company, has garnered major press from countless media channels and raised over $100,000 in funding from Indiegogo and various angels.
After competing in the 15th Showcase, this “smart light” company raised over $300,000 in a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.
Who will be next? Registser to the next Founder Showcase today.