Investor directory

Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Focus

Pre Seed RoundSeed RoundArtificial IntelligenceMachine LearningSeries AShow more
http://techstars.com/ventures
https://crunchbase.com/organization/techstars
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https://linkedin.com/company/techstars
https://twitter.com/techstars
https://www.capitaliq.com/CIQDotNet/company.aspx?companyId=431767203
https://www.privateequityinternational.com/database/#/profile?id=14977

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Finance

Finli

Seed Round in 2022
Finli, Inc. is a technology company that offers a digital platform designed to streamline payment processes for family-oriented businesses. Founded in 2018 and based in San Marino, California, Finli provides business management software that facilitates invoicing, tuition collection, enrollment, and payment communications. The platform is tailored to serve daycare centers, preschools, afterschool programs, and local businesses, enabling them to efficiently manage their administrative tasks, including billing, payment collection, and customer management. This comprehensive solution allows families to oversee their financial responsibilities and invite contributions towards educational expenses, thereby fostering community engagement and support.

PeduL

Seed Round in 2021
PeduL Inc. is a crowdfunding platform based in Newark, New Jersey, founded in 2016. The platform is designed to help students raise funds for their higher education, addressing the financial challenges many face when pursuing college degrees. By providing a dedicated space for education crowdfunding, PeduL enables students to connect with potential donors who can assist in alleviating the costs associated with higher education. This innovative approach aims to change the traditional methods of funding college expenses, offering an alternative solution for students in need of financial support.

Linxe

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Linxe's vision is to build a truly inclusive financial services platform, one that generates credit history and provides an entry point for unbanked individuals that are too commonly overlooked by large institutional banks in Colombia and Latin America more broadly.

MiBolsillo

Funding Round in 2021
MiBolsillo is the first Peruvian mobile financial personal trainer for the entrepreneur with the main focus to promote financial wellness at the family and micro/small company level. It reduces the hassle to organize users and small businesses' finances together one place and tracks achievement of financial goals in a solution that is superiorly designed, remarkably efficient, and wonderfully personalized. With a predictive analysis executed within the first minutes of interaction and strengthened over the first 7 days, we are able to identify user’s behavior patterns to send targetted behavioral interventions and set the user for success towards building wiser decision-making and healthier financial lives. By putting the last component together with data points from the users' interactions, we are able to suggest best-fit FinServs that adjust to the user’s needs, running a proprietary algorithm that runs over 328 MFIs local product offerings.

Forecastr

Seed Round in 2021
Forecastr is online software that helps founders who hate building financial models in Excel actually understand their numbers, predict runway, and get funded.

Avenify

Funding Round in 2021
Avenify is a peer-to-peer lending platform enabling nursing students to finance their education debt-free with no credit score or signer required. Students can apply for up to $15,000 in income-based financing and owe nothing until they're employed. In addition to financing, Avenify provides career services and additional financial assistance to ensure students live happy, financially-healthy lives. Avenify was established in 2018 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

SympliFi

Pre Seed Round in 2021
SympliFi is to help diaspora around the world realize their financial goals in their home country.

Crowdz

Series A in 2020
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

Finli

Seed Round in 2020
Finli, Inc. is a technology company that offers a digital platform designed to streamline payment processes for family-oriented businesses. Founded in 2018 and based in San Marino, California, Finli provides business management software that facilitates invoicing, tuition collection, enrollment, and payment communications. The platform is tailored to serve daycare centers, preschools, afterschool programs, and local businesses, enabling them to efficiently manage their administrative tasks, including billing, payment collection, and customer management. This comprehensive solution allows families to oversee their financial responsibilities and invite contributions towards educational expenses, thereby fostering community engagement and support.

FinGoal

Funding Round in 2020
FinGoal, a company building tools for FinTechs, makes it easy for FinTech devs to serve their consumer endusers ​with radically insightful advice. Their proprietary technology analyzes each consumer’s specific spending data and preferences to ensure that consumers are always getting the most bang for their buck everywhere they spend money, from coffee to insurance to travel.

Salaryo

Venture Round in 2020
Salaryo Financial Technologies Ltd. is a financial technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, founded in 2017. It specializes in providing credit financing through an AI-based platform, offering small businesses instant and affordable financing solutions. Salaryo's services include fully-digital business term loans and flexible lines of credit, allowing users to withdraw funds as needed and repay at their convenience during a specified period. The company operates on a fixed subscription fee model and has processed over $200 million in loan applications within the year. Its automated lending technology streamlines the application process by incorporating features such as Know Your Client (KYC) verification, financial and professional analysis, payment processing, and electronic signatures, enabling rapid decision-making. Salaryo aims to support entrepreneurs and freelancers by alleviating cash flow challenges in selected business categories.

Cube

Seed Round in 2020
Cube is a financial planning and analysis software that empowers finance teams and businesses in delivering insights. It provides the capabilities to deliver custom reports for regulatory groups, executives, team leads, and key stakeholders. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York.

Rise Vest Technologies

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Unlocking Foreign Investment Opportunities For Africans We’re a technology-driven finance company connecting everyday Africans with the best dollar-denominated investment opportunities around the world.

Stackin'

Series B in 2020
Stackin' is the simplest entry point into finance with over one million subscribers and a mission to empower people to improve their financial lives via text message. Stackin' provides the necessary tools & curated products for a younger generation of consumers to build healthy financial habits over time in a fun, entertaining, judgement-free relationship. Powered by a custom messaging platform, data, machine learning and human touch, their personalized messages educate subscribers on how to save money, reduce debt and start investing.

Muse Finance

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Muse offers multi-currency business accounts, simple cash flow forecasting, and efficient financing for small businesses.

Forecastr

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Forecastr is online software that helps founders who hate building financial models in Excel actually understand their numbers, predict runway, and get funded.

Cube

Seed Round in 2019
Cube is a financial planning and analysis software that empowers finance teams and businesses in delivering insights. It provides the capabilities to deliver custom reports for regulatory groups, executives, team leads, and key stakeholders. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York.

Salaryo

Funding Round in 2019
Salaryo Financial Technologies Ltd. is a financial technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, founded in 2017. It specializes in providing credit financing through an AI-based platform, offering small businesses instant and affordable financing solutions. Salaryo's services include fully-digital business term loans and flexible lines of credit, allowing users to withdraw funds as needed and repay at their convenience during a specified period. The company operates on a fixed subscription fee model and has processed over $200 million in loan applications within the year. Its automated lending technology streamlines the application process by incorporating features such as Know Your Client (KYC) verification, financial and professional analysis, payment processing, and electronic signatures, enabling rapid decision-making. Salaryo aims to support entrepreneurs and freelancers by alleviating cash flow challenges in selected business categories.

Stackin'

Series A in 2019
Stackin' is the simplest entry point into finance with over one million subscribers and a mission to empower people to improve their financial lives via text message. Stackin' provides the necessary tools & curated products for a younger generation of consumers to build healthy financial habits over time in a fun, entertaining, judgement-free relationship. Powered by a custom messaging platform, data, machine learning and human touch, their personalized messages educate subscribers on how to save money, reduce debt and start investing.

Zogo, Inc.

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Zogo, Inc. develops education application that offers monetary rewards to learn about personal finance. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Newark, Delaware.

North Loop

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Borderless banking for global citizens

Crowdz

Seed Round in 2019
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

Fostrum

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Fostrum Financial Technologies, Inc. is a virtual banking platform based in Vancouver, Canada, catering to small businesses, startups, and freelancers. Established in 2018, the company offers a range of financial services, including invoicing, bill payments, interest accounts, corporate cards, and tailored financing solutions. Fostrum focuses on providing data-driven financing options specifically designed for digital small to medium enterprises, enabling them to manage their financial needs effectively.

Snippet Finance

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Snippet Finance Corp. is a New York-based company that operates a platform offering salary loans as a workplace benefit. The loans are designed to enhance financial wellness for employees, providing them with access to funds when needed. By integrating these financial solutions into the workplace, Snippet Finance aims to support individuals in managing their financial needs effectively.

The Music Fund

Pre Seed Round in 2019
The Music Fund is a spin-out from Winton, one of the most successful data-driven global investment management companies. The new platform will use expertise in data science and machine learning to invest in human creativity, starting with the music industry. The Music Fund will build a new global market and bring together two groups: musicians, who will receive capital to invest in developing their talent, and investors, who will benefit from an uncorrelated revenue stream. The data revolution enables accurate valuation and systematic risk control. The Music Fund distinguishes itself from traditional record labels by harnessing this data to invest at scale in the long tail of musicians using statistical methods well-established within the finance industry.

BridgeCare

Pre Seed Round in 2018
BridgeCare Finance, Inc. is a company based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in childcare education financing solutions. Established in 2016, it offers family payment plans to assist parents in covering their children's tuition fees. Additionally, BridgeCare provides a white-label platform for childcare data and community management, designed to support organizations that assist both parents and childcare providers. Through these services, BridgeCare aims to facilitate access to quality childcare and improve financial management for families.

Pluto Money

Pre Seed Round in 2018
Pluto guides Gen Z towards their financial goals during college and beyond by using behavioral & data science. Users take on personal and social challenges recommended based on their unique finances and similar peers to save for goals. They can also anonymously compare their finances with similar peers. Gen Z will account for 40% of U.S. consumer spending within just 2 years, yet they're hugely financially underserved. We're building the bank of the future for Gen Z—one that prioritizes financial wellness above all else. Pluto is backed by the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars (NYC). Download on the App Store today: http://apple.co/2wPYdml

Honeyfi

Convertible Note in 2018
Honeyfi, Inc. develops a financial management application for couples. It offers Honeyfi, an application that allows users to link their bank accounts and see transactions organized and categorized. The company’s application is also used to build a joint budget; and check in, plan, and encourage each other with financial reminders, alerts, and summaries. Honeyfi, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Huntersville, North Carolina.

Clever Girl Finance

Pre Seed Round in 2018
Clever Girl Finance Inc. is a financial education platform dedicated to empowering women through financial guidance. Founded in 2015 and based in Annandale, New Jersey, the company offers a range of courses focused on essential financial topics, including saving, investing, and debt management. Users can access these resources through monthly and annual subscription plans, making financial education more accessible. The platform aims to equip women with the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed financial decisions and achieve their financial goals.

BridgeCare

Pre Seed Round in 2018
BridgeCare Finance, Inc. is a company based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in childcare education financing solutions. Established in 2016, it offers family payment plans to assist parents in covering their children's tuition fees. Additionally, BridgeCare provides a white-label platform for childcare data and community management, designed to support organizations that assist both parents and childcare providers. Through these services, BridgeCare aims to facilitate access to quality childcare and improve financial management for families.

CashDirector

Seed Round in 2018
CashDirector S.A. is a company based in Warsaw, Poland, with additional offices in London, Palo Alto, and Paris. Founded in 2012, CashDirector specializes in designing and developing accounting platforms tailored for banks and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The platform offers a range of services including online banking, automation of financial tasks, cash flow management, invoice issuance, tax filing, and lead generation. By integrating innovative technology, such as AI accounting robots, CashDirector enables real-time booking of business transactions and bank operations. The platform aims to help banks differentiate themselves in a competitive market by providing value-added services that assist SMEs in managing cash flow and payments effectively. This support not only addresses the critical issue of cash management, which contributes to a significant percentage of SME failures, but also fosters long-term relationships and loyalty between banks and their SME clients.

CashDirector

Pre Seed Round in 2018
CashDirector S.A. is a company based in Warsaw, Poland, with additional offices in London, Palo Alto, and Paris. Founded in 2012, CashDirector specializes in designing and developing accounting platforms tailored for banks and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The platform offers a range of services including online banking, automation of financial tasks, cash flow management, invoice issuance, tax filing, and lead generation. By integrating innovative technology, such as AI accounting robots, CashDirector enables real-time booking of business transactions and bank operations. The platform aims to help banks differentiate themselves in a competitive market by providing value-added services that assist SMEs in managing cash flow and payments effectively. This support not only addresses the critical issue of cash management, which contributes to a significant percentage of SME failures, but also fosters long-term relationships and loyalty between banks and their SME clients.

FeezBack

Seed Round in 2018
FeezBack Technologies Ltd develops an online automated personal finance assistant. The company’s product includes a data driven fees assistant which is an online platform that assists users in banking services, including cost mitigation and fee management operations. Further, the company’s platform provides users with tools to understand, compare, choose, and manage their banking services. Additionally, it helps users navigate the financial world by transforming financial information into usable advice and personal recommendations. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Fincura

Convertible Note in 2018
Fincura unlocks all of the data that is trapped in financial statements and spreadsheets today so finance companies can use it to differentiate themselves, optimize their operations, and future-proof their businesses. By marrying artificial intelligence and human judgment, our financial insight engine can extract all the data – every line item from every document – and ensure that every team has easy access to this unified, transparent, deep data asset. Our secure, cloud-based architecture and focus on amazing user experiences allows us to enhance the product continuously, integrate with other systems easily, and launch new customers in days.

Stackin'

Seed Round in 2017
Stackin' is the simplest entry point into finance with over one million subscribers and a mission to empower people to improve their financial lives via text message. Stackin' provides the necessary tools & curated products for a younger generation of consumers to build healthy financial habits over time in a fun, entertaining, judgement-free relationship. Powered by a custom messaging platform, data, machine learning and human touch, their personalized messages educate subscribers on how to save money, reduce debt and start investing.

Optio

Seed Round in 2017
Managing personal finances is hard. Not only it is hard, it is not fun either. Studies have shown that this is a universal challenge around the world. Low level of financial literacy, outdated approach to managing personal finances and low income are among some of the reasons, to name a few. Still, it is a vital part of our lives. If we are not able to manage our finances properly, we all face the risk of a financial crisis. That’s why we decided to create OptioAI, AI powered service, which interacts with users in the form of chat bot. It gathers information from you, gets the data from your bank, analyses your goals, plans your budget, monitors your income and spending, makes necessary adjustments in the budget lines based on real-time data and helps you to maintain healthy finances. The more information OptioAI analyses from its users, the smarter and the more efficient it becomes. With OptioAI, managing personal finances is going to become easy and fun!

Salaryo

Pre Seed Round in 2017
Salaryo Financial Technologies Ltd. is a financial technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, founded in 2017. It specializes in providing credit financing through an AI-based platform, offering small businesses instant and affordable financing solutions. Salaryo's services include fully-digital business term loans and flexible lines of credit, allowing users to withdraw funds as needed and repay at their convenience during a specified period. The company operates on a fixed subscription fee model and has processed over $200 million in loan applications within the year. Its automated lending technology streamlines the application process by incorporating features such as Know Your Client (KYC) verification, financial and professional analysis, payment processing, and electronic signatures, enabling rapid decision-making. Salaryo aims to support entrepreneurs and freelancers by alleviating cash flow challenges in selected business categories.

Civilize

Seed Round in 2016
Civilize is a financial services community that provides services for debtors to pay their loans. It helps its clients organize and manage their finances to keep track of their payment processes. Civilize is based in New York, United States.

FinancialJuice

Seed Round in 2016
FinancialJuice is a free real-time news and financial content platform, their vision is to help traders and investors have their entire financial universe in one place and in real-time. Democratising access to market moving information and helping all investors be informed.

Self Financial

Seed Round in 2015
Self Financial is a venture-backed fintech startup that helps customers build credit and save money. It provides tools necessary for building on-time payment history and responsible use of credit, in collaboration with issuing banks.s services are for those who are new to credit or who might not have access to traditional financial products. It offers Self Credit Builder Account to help consumers build both credit and savings without relying on credit history and Self Visa Credit Card, a card that helps existing customers build their security deposit in instalments. Self Financial is formerly known as Self Lender. The startup was founded by Conor Swanson and James Garvey in 2015 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Crowdz

Angel Round in 2015
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.