500 Labs

500 Global, formerly known as 500 Startups, is a venture capital firm and incubator based in Mountain View, California, founded in 2010. The firm specializes in seed investments, primarily focusing on early-stage technology and financial services startups across various sectors, including biotech, e-commerce, fintech, and digital healthcare. 500 Global operates a four-month accelerator program, where it typically invests between $0.05 million and $1 million for a 5 to 10 percent equity stake in companies with at least $100,000 in monthly revenue. The firm targets a global market, with particular emphasis on regions such as the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Since its inception, it has invested in over 2,200 startups and supports the growth of innovation ecosystems through educational programs and partnerships. 500 Global also prioritizes investments in companies led by minority founders, reflecting its commitment to diverse entrepreneurial leadership.

Amjad Ahmad

General Partner

Chandini Ammineni

Partner

André Marcel Bally

Investor Relations Associate

Timothy Chae

Managing Partner

Amal Enan

Partner

Max Fram-Schwartz

Venture Partner

Christine Herron

Advisor

Twwo Pun Jaruthassanakul

Investment Associate

Yolanda Kim

Principal

Matt Lerner

Partner

Jon Li

Director, Investor Relations

Jasmine Liew

Investment Manager

Robert Neivert

Venture Partner

Khailee Ng

Managing Partner

Krating Poonpol Ph.D

Partner

Ruangroj Poonpol

Venture Partner

Natavudh Pungcharoenpong

Partner

Mameaw Sapprasert

Partner

Reena Sharma

Investor Relations Associate

Mike Sigal

Partner, FinTech

Sanjay Singhal

Partner, Canada

Tanya Soman

Venture Partner

Paulina Szyrmer

Head of Global Education

Pat Naranpat Thitipattakul

Investor

Christine Tsai

Co-Founder, Partner & Chief Executive Officer

Tony Wang

Managing Partner

Bedy Yang

Managing Partner

Paul Yoo

Chief Financial Officer

Past deals in Kuwait

Ajar

Seed Round in 2020
Ajar Technology General Trading Co. WLL specializes in developing mobile and web-based applications that facilitate rent payment and property management for the real estate market. Founded in 2014 and based in Sharq, Kuwait, Ajar offers a cloud service known as Ajar Online. This platform enables landlords to send automatic payment notifications, view payments in real time, and manage properties efficiently. For tenants, Ajar provides SMS and email alerts for rent payments, allows secure online payment options, and issues receipts upon payment. Additionally, the platform rewards tenants with discounts and incentives for making their rent payments online, enhancing the overall rental experience. Ajar has established itself as a leading property management and rent payment platform in the Middle East.

Floward

Seed Round in 2019
Floward International General Trading Co. WLL operates an online flower platform that specializes in customizable flower arrangements for various occasions, including weddings, anniversaries, and corporate events. Founded in 2006 and based in Kuwait City, the company serves customers across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Floward's platform features a wide selection of arrangements, including those created by celebrities, and offers products from various brands such as Godiva and The Cake Shop. The service aims to cater to diverse customer needs by providing unique floral options for celebrations and personal expressions.

Coded

Seed Round in 2019
Coded provides software development and coding programming training services. The company provides coding camps for high-school students to design and develop video games, full stack boot camps, weekend coded training, and fresh grade boot camps. It also offers customized enterprise boot camps for enterprise clients, such as companies, organizations, and governmental entities. Coded was founded in 2015 and is based in Kuwait City, Kuwait.

myU

Seed Round in 2019
myU is a smartphone app that makes your school communication easier. myU is a school communication and announcement tool. It acts as an internal social network for each school composed of students, faculty members, clubs and organizations. The app makes it easy to connect with anyone in the school community, and makes communications real-time and sharing fun. myU is ideal for a faculty member wanting to send a class announcement to students, an organization looking to promote its events and activities, or a student looking to ask about a missing homework, an exam date or to speak their mind to their peers at school. myU is a smartphone app that runs on iOS device, and acts as a third party cloud based service. The technology requires no integration with the school’s systems.

Ajar

Seed Round in 2018
Ajar Technology General Trading Co. WLL specializes in developing mobile and web-based applications that facilitate rent payment and property management for the real estate market. Founded in 2014 and based in Sharq, Kuwait, Ajar offers a cloud service known as Ajar Online. This platform enables landlords to send automatic payment notifications, view payments in real time, and manage properties efficiently. For tenants, Ajar provides SMS and email alerts for rent payments, allows secure online payment options, and issues receipts upon payment. Additionally, the platform rewards tenants with discounts and incentives for making their rent payments online, enhancing the overall rental experience. Ajar has established itself as a leading property management and rent payment platform in the Middle East.

GymNadz

Seed Round in 2018
GymNadz is a women's fitness app.

myU

Seed Round in 2018
myU is a smartphone app that makes your school communication easier. myU is a school communication and announcement tool. It acts as an internal social network for each school composed of students, faculty members, clubs and organizations. The app makes it easy to connect with anyone in the school community, and makes communications real-time and sharing fun. myU is ideal for a faculty member wanting to send a class announcement to students, an organization looking to promote its events and activities, or a student looking to ask about a missing homework, an exam date or to speak their mind to their peers at school. myU is a smartphone app that runs on iOS device, and acts as a third party cloud based service. The technology requires no integration with the school’s systems.

Ghinwa

Seed Round in 2018
GHINWA FZ LLC develops a mobile application for Arabic karaoke. The application enables users to sing official songs of favorite artists, play the songs with new voices, and like, share, and republish other songs. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Kuwait.