REACH NeXT Alumni Gets Into 500 Startups! | Batch 15 Announced
500 Startups officially announced their Batch 15. Among them is one of our very own REACH NeXT alumni Mahmee! We were stoked when we partnered with 500 startup for REACH NeXT and now are over the moon that they selected one of our winners. Congrats to the Melissa Hanna and the rest of the Mahmee team!
Also, 500 startups officially open their applications for Batch 16 on AngelList. Batch 15 is a group of scrappy start-ups that explores unusual markets, including postpartum care (Mahmee), underwater robots, airplane maintenance, and even crocheting. Most are later-stage seed companies, doing anywhere between $10K-$100K per month in revenue. 33% of Batch 15 have at least one female founder, and 43% are international.
More details on the latest additions to the 500 Family below. Applications for Batch 16 here.
#links
Ultimate personalized & visual job hunting app for startup & digital jobs.
AngelList: http://angel.co/links-people-you-should-meet
Founders: Djoann Fal, Polpat Songthamjitti, Pichaya Srifar, Keenan Kwok
From: Bangkok, Thailand
Fun Fact: Djoann has been living in Thailand for 1.5 years. Polpat tried his first Thai massage two years ago and has been addicted since then. He also doesn’t admit that he looks like a Korean Pop Star 
Pichaya can be found at the office on Sunday playing DotA. He likes to be called “Pro Gamer” more than “Programmer”. Keenan doesn’t like to admit it, but he is going to be a proud father soon.
Barn & Willow
Premium window treatments and home decor basics at an accessible price.
AngelList: http://angel.co/barn-willow
Founders: Trisha Roy
From: Menlo Park, CA
Fun Fact: Trisha is a HUGE travel enthusiast, travelled to almost all continents (Antarctica is next).
Beeketing
Premium window treatments and home decor basics at an accessible price.
AngelList: http://angel.co/barn-willow
Founder: Quan MT, Alice Ha, Dzung Duong
From: Singapore, Singapore & Hanoi, Vietnam
Fun Fact: Beeketing is named from Bi (beloved dog of Alice) and Marketing (our interest).
Cirrus Identity
We manage user login so businesses can focus on core product and engage customers faster.
AngelList: http://angel.co/cirrus-identity
Founders: Dedra Chamberlin
From: Oakland, CA
Fun Fact: The company is named after clouds that are light and easy, just like their identity solutions!
Clicky, Inc.
A membership program for Sports Fields, Gyms, Fitness Classes.
AngelList: http://angel.co/clicky-2
Founders: Piojo Bucai, Gonzalo Andres Conde, Alejandro Javier Silvestre
From: Córdoba, Argentina
Fun Fact: The founders met each another because they were on the same soccer team: Alejandro is the Goalkeeper, Gonzalo Midfield and Ezequiel the strikers. Then they started a company in the sports industry–each one with different positions in the team. 
Code4Startup
Learn to code by cloning real-life startups
AngelList: http://angel.co/code4startup-1
Founders: Gillian Tee, Leo Trieu
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Gillian and Leo both share the South East Asia –> Australia –> United States immigration path.
Cooleaf, Inc.
A tool for modernizing talent retention efforts
AngelList: http://angel.co/cooleaf
Founders: Prem Bhatia, Sarwar Bhuiyan, John Duisberg
From: Atlanta, GA
Fun Fact: Prem used to play guitar in a band that was basically a U2 cover band. John is a big whiskey fan. Sarwar is a science geek and his name (ironically) rhymes somewhat with Star Wars.
DataCulture, Inc.
Predictive automation that powers modern logistics & commerce.
AngelList: http://angel.co/dataculture
Founders: Karthik U Namboodiry (Sridhar), Gurudatt V Bhobe
From: New York City, New York
Fun Fact: The idea behind DataCulture started in 2010 when Gurudatt and Karthik connected on Twitter and spent a few hours talking about how data could change the world. Karthik has previously been a radio jockey, a rally car driver, and a mechanic and has spent precisely 9 hours flying a glider. He started his career promoting a newspaper ad campaign in the dirty streets of Delhi. Gurudatt is a fan of public transit systems and uses them in every town he visits. He’s helped shut down more companies than he’s started.
Drivio, Inc.
The easiest way to manage and pay your government fines.
AngelList: http://angel.co/drivio-1
Founders: Björn Symister
From: New York
Fun Fact: Björn still plays Super Mario on the original Nintendo. The operating system never needs updating but the cartridge still needs a blow or two.
Fulfil.IO
A bundle of software services for SMBs to manage their inventory, accounting, manufacturing, and purchasing.
AngelList: http://angel.co/fulfil-io
Founders: Sharoon Thomas, Prakash Pandey, Rituparna Panda, Tarun Bhardwaj
From: Walnut, CA
Fun Fact: Preventing spreadsheet abuse since 2015 – one company at a time.
Hivebeat
Powerful way for student organizations to promote and manage events on campus.
AngelList: http://angel.co/hivebeat
Founders: Jonas Bøgh Larsen, Emil Hagbarth Rasmussen
From: Aarhus, Denmark
Fun fact: They drink more coffee than all of you. Combined.
iWABOO Inc
The first online marketplace for successful Kickstarter, maker & hardware startups products.
AngelList: http://angel.co/iwaboo
Founders: Ivan Marandola, Patrizia Mossa
From: Mountain View, CA & Milan, Italy
Fun fact: iWaboo Group was founded in 2012 as a pure retail company that owned gadget concept stores in Italy. For 3 years the brand grew, attracting buyers from all over the world. In 2014, iWABOO redirected its focus into creating functional, stylish and innovative technology accessories including cases, power banks, amplifiers, ear buds, and B/T speakers.
Kanler
General Contractor Marketplace
AngelList: http://angel.co/kanler
Founders: Rajiv Agarwal
From: Menlo Park, CA
Fun Fact: Rajiv can sleep anywhere. Once he slept on a horse during a horse-riding class!
Kitterly, Inc
Sells curated knitting & crochet kits that are matched by skill level.
AngelList: http://angel.co/kitterly
Founders: Mari Bower, Elizabeth Rowen
From: Los Angeles, CA
Fun Fact: In addition to being a techie and serial crafter, Mari has run 5 marathons (yes, 26.2 miles!), which is either crazy or foolish depending on who you ask. Elizabeth is equally crafty, and is also a world traveler, having visited over 30 countries!
LafaLafa
India’s Mobile first eBates and its digital assistant helps consumers find the best savings online
AngelList: http://angel.co/lafalafa
Founders: Yosha Gupta
From: India
Fun Fact: LafaLafa is a play on the word ‘Laugh’ from the business tagline ‘Laugh your way to maximum savings’ and is meant to evoke a happy feeling for customers when they find the best deal. Incidentally, the word ‘Laafa’ in one of the regional Indian languages also means ‘Slap’! So the team often jokes, ‘Slap away bad deals with LafaLafa’
LawnGuru
On-Demand Lawn Care and Snow Plowing.
AngelList: http://angel.co/lawnguru
Founders: Skye Durrant, Brandon Bertrang
From: Wixom, MI
Fun fact: When Brandon was 11, he was on the junior national team for Taekwondo and received his black belt. Skye grew up watching his aunt compete in four summer Olympics. He was fortunate enough to attend three competitions: Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.
LawTrades
A service that completes legal work in a few text messages at 60% off normal prices by cutting out fancy law firms and going directly to lawyers.
AngelList: http://angel.co/lawtrades
Founders: Raad Ahmed, Ashish Walia
From: New York, NY
Fun Fact: Raad actually started this company because he wanted to start his own law practice after graduating but didn’t have the money to rent an office, hire a paralegal, or acquire clients. He thought the internet could eradicate a lot of these issues so he started working on the idea. He built it for himself originally.
Mahmee
A hub for ongoing, integrated healthcare for new moms and their infants
AngelList: http://angel.co/mahmee
Founder: Melissa C. Hanna, Linda M. Hanna, RNC, MSN/Ed., IBCLC
From: Los Angeles, CA
Fun Fact: Melissa has starred in docu-dramas and reality TV three times, on three different networks. Linda’s nickname is “the Lactation Consultant to the Stars” and she’s seen more A-list celebrities’ boobs than any director in Hollywood.
Mejuri
An affordable fine jewelry brand powered by influencers and award winning designers
AngelList: http://angel.co/mejuri
Founders: Majed Masad, Noura Sakkijha, Justine Lancon
From: Toronto
Fun Fact: Each member of the Mejuri team comes from a different country and culture: French, Jordanian, Argentinian, Canadian, and Cuban.
MentorCloud, Inc.
A social learning solution for enterprises to help their employees discover, connect and learn from experts inside their own organization.
AngelList: http://angel.co/mentorcloud-2
Founders: Ravishankar Gundlapalli, Rajesh Setty
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Ravi is a President’s Scout Medal winner in school and can communicate in Morse code. Rajesh’s first book was a murder mystery which got published at the age of 13.
Metadata
B2B Demand Generation on Auto-Pilot – Metadata analyzes your inbound signups and automates b2b user acquisition by targeting new look-alike prospects.
AngelList: http://angel.co/metadataio
Founders: Gil Allouche, Yan Manevich
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Gil’s favorite games of all times are Defender of the Crown & Jones in the Fast Lane. Yan rubbed shoulders with the Ukraine mafia during his petroleum days.
MetaMixis
Google for nature.
AngelList: http://angel.co/metamixis
Founders: Giles Ochs, Cameron Strachan
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Giles and Cam have been roommates since freshman dorms (8 years!)
MOBINGI
SaaS for Cloud application lifecycle management
AngelList: http://angel.co/mobingi
Founders: Wayland Zhang, Horiuchi Yasuhiro
From: Tokyo, Japan
Fun Fact: Wayland does a lot a coding and looks forward to learning more about financing and marketing through the accelerator program. Horiuchi co-founded a company called Gumi in Japan and left after the IPO. He’s looking forward to accomplishing more on Mobingi!
Moveha Inc
Moveha is a housing platform that helps students find off campus housing and make reservations online.
AngelList: http://angel.co/moveha
Founders: Jing Zhang, Qian Liang, Bizheng Dong
From: Sunnyvale, California
Fun Fact: Moveha is a talented team that cares about student relocation issues. Bizheng is an experienced engineer from Alibaba and Qian is an experienced relocation agent who has helped many students.
Nobal Technologies
Interactive Mirrors for Hotel and Retail.
AngelList: http://angel.co/nobal-technologies-formerly-posh-view
Founder: Pieter Boekhoff
From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Fun Fact: Pieter had a hip replacement in January.
O-Robotix
O-Robotix makes sub-sea drones to help operators automate underwater inspection tasks.
AngelList: http://angel.co/o-robotix
Founders: Eduardo Moreno, Shuyun Chungm, Francisco Moreno
From: Menlo Park, CA
Fun Fact: Shuyun considers his 3 minute walk to Peet’s coffee a part of his exercise regimen. Eduardo considers eating less donuts a part of his diet.
Piper
A DIY Minecraft computer for building gadgets and hands-on learning.
AngelList: http://angel.co/piper-2
Founders: Mark Pavlyukovskyy, Joel Sadler
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Mark taught himself programming and decided to create a product that could empower everyone to create. Joel worked with Steve Jobs on special projects at Apple and invented the cheapest prosthetic knee on the market, one of the top 50 inventions of 2009 as ranked by Time magazine.
PupBox
Toys, treats, and training guides customized for your puppy.
AngelList: http://angel.co/pupbox
Founders: Ben Zvaifler, Ariel Zvaifler
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: Ben and Ariel have an adorable 3-year old daughter named Maggie. Maggie hates bath time and loves to roll in the mud, sniff butts, and chase balls in the park.
QMágico
Personalized learning plans by teachers, which saves time and engages students.
AngelList: http://angel.co/qmagico-1
Founders: Thiago Feijão, Gabriel Melo
From: São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil
Fun Fact: There was a tough moment when the business was operating without developers or teachers! Fortunately, the team was able to find some solid talent before joining the 500 Family.
QueueDr
A product that intelligently optimizes doctors’ schedules to help them reclaim the $30 billion lost from missed appointments.
AngelList: http://angel.co/queuedr
Founder: Patrick Randolph, John Nadeau
From: San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: John and Patrick met at a hackathon last year as strangers and ended up winning the whole thing. Since then they joined forces and have been working together on QueueDr.
Quicklegal
Attorney On Demand – Via Video Chat – New App
AngelList: http://angel.co/quicklegal
Founders: Derek Bluford, Sarah Morell, Cyrus Zal
From: Sacramento, CA
Fun Fact: The team participated on Shark Tank.
Rapchat
Create, share, or discover freestyle raps.
AngelList: http://angel.co/rapchat
Founders: Seth Miller, Pat Gibson
From: Mountain View, CA
Fun Fact: Seth can do 2,000 juggles with a soccer ball. Pat is a rapper and producer, who goes by the name P-Holla. His music has over 5M hits on YouTube and his productions have been featured on MTV, and more.
Sales Huddle Group
Gamify your training
AngelList: http://angel.co/sales-huddle-group
Founders: Sam Caucci
From: New York, NY
Fun Fact: The team builds training games to better prepare people for work. The first game they built was for a pizza shop on how to make a pizza, and now they are building games for the Super Bowl.
Set Scouter
A marketplace that makes video production easy — starting with location rentals.
AngelList: http://angel.co/set-scouter
Founders: Alex Kolodkin, Lidia Bit-Yunan
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Fun Fact: Both founders were stopped at the border for bringing in maple syrup.
SimpliRoute
A service that optimizes routes for any company with multiple deliveries, reducing fuel cost and saving time.
AngelList: http://angel.co/simplit-solutions
Founders: Eyal Shats, Alvaro Echeverria
From: Santiago, Chile
Fun Fact: Eyal was born in Israel, but he lives in Chile. He’s traveled the world and developed a unique accent as a result. Alvaro is similar to Iron-Man: he has a lot of metal parts in his body and often sets off alarms in airport security lines.
Sqoop
A service that helps journalists discover what’s happening before it becomes news by unlocking company information from public data sites.
AngelList: http://angel.co/sqoop-2
Founders: Bill Hankes, David Kellum
From: Mercer Island
Fun Fact: Before meeting, both David and Bill were avid mountain climbers, each of them summiting some the tallest peaks in the lower 48.
Sqeezy.co
Buy from US stores from anywhere.
AngelList: http://angel.co/squeezy-co
Founders: Pierre Legrain
From: New York, NY
Fun Fact: Pierre loves the board game Guess Who. Talk to him about the online version he built when he was 16.
SynapseMX
A platform that transforms commercial aircraft maintenance, saving an enormous amount of time and money
AngelList: http://angel.co/synapsemx
Founders: Shane Ballman, Malcolm Burton
From: Atlanta, GA
Fun Fact: Malcolm is running a marathon to acquire skills and certificates in enterprise, software, cloud and hybrid, and security architectures. Shane is looking for the certificates authority for Mario Kart or Super Smash Brothers.
Whiplash
The Shipping Department for eCommerce
AngelList: http://angel.co/whiplash
Founders: James Marks, Sean Hurley, Mark Dickson
From: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Fun Fact: Tape guns are banned in their warehouses.
WoowUp
A SaaS Platform to help online stores in Brazil create their own loyalty program.
AngelList: http://angel.co/woowup
Founders: Martin Biegun, Enrique Novomisky
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Fun Fact: After starting the company, Martin and Enrique created a pilot that would only work on Facebook. It wasn’t until after they held their first client meeting that they realized the value of pivoting their product to meet the needs of users outside of Facebook as well.
