Forget Silicon Valley VCs, XX accelerator allows anyone to invest in Startups Fighting Coronavirus
XX is the first and only accelerator that allows anyone to invest as little as $100 in startups fighting the COVID crisis, starting July 28th. Mentors that helped vet and grow these companies include founders of Disqus, Human Interest and Kabam.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- XX is the first accelerator that allows anyone to invest in the best early-stage startups through an online demo day, allowing fans and customers to invest as little as $100. After COVID hit, XX chose a batch of 15 companies to be part of its third cohort, investing $50,000 in each startup and pairing them with experienced mentors for 12 weeks. All of these startups shared one thing in common, fighting against the current crisis - some directly by developing vaccines or treatments and others indirectly by rethinking the future of work or access to healthcare. On July 28th, all of these startups will be raising capital and anyone can invest on a virtual Demo day.
About XX
XX believes raw talent exists everywhere, not just in coffee shops in Silicon Valley, and funds startups worldwide by allowing anyone to invest in its companies. The result is building wider access to Silicon Valley, where networks of everyday folks can invest in the next Facebook and Airbnb, and global communities can share in that wealth.
XX is a new startup accelerator co-founded by Jiwon Moon, 29, a Korean immigrant who became frustrated by how few women received VC funding. She's joined by co-founder Gadi Borovich, 20, a Uruguayan that dropped out of college because he was passionate about this mission.
Many world-class founders join these two young immigrants. Some of these include Daniel Ha, co-founder of Disqus, the largest commenting platform, touching more than 2 billion users every month. Holly Liu, co-founder of Kabam, a billion-dollar gaming company. Paul Sawaya, co-founder of Human Interest, the finservices 401(k) provider for SMBs that has recently closed a $50M Series C. John Waldeisen, co-founder of Lucira Health, a biotech company that is developing a simple at-home test for COVID-19.
Read more about the team at xx.team/demoday.
What is XX doing now?
As the COVID-19 crisis began, XX quickly mobilized to put together a 3-month program called Fight the Virus that would invest $50,000 in each of the 15 startups helping with this crisis.
The response was overwhelming. XX received over 2,500 applications for only 15 spots in its accelerator program. The batch's founders are 31% female and 47% PoC. Diversity follows from funding the best founders by actively looking for talent in all communities.
Some of the companies in Fight the Virus include: Stark Therapeutics, which is developing a COVID-19 vaccine by targeting a candidate that the pharmaceutical industry has overlooked. Caria is addressing the underserved health & wellness needs of Gen X women; their platform provides women with personalized care for menopause and a supportive community. Kiwibot is working on a delivery system using sustainable robotics infrastructure to help communities prevent unnecessary interactions and has completed more than 100,000 deliveries. Immersed is exploring the future of work by developing VR technology to help teams collaborate in the same virtual space using Oculus headsets.
Anyone can invest in these startups
XX believes that everyone should have the option to help fight the virus. We partnered with Wefunder so anyone can invest with as little as $100 on a virtual Demo day happening on July 28th. For each startup, there will be a 2-minute pitch video followed by a 10-minute video of founders getting interviewed by Silicon Valley's best angel investors and founders.
Contact: Gadi Borovich, [email protected]
SOURCE XX
Share this article