Why pre-seed is more than just a good idea — Startup Boost announces its rebrand to FoundersBoost and alumni funding of $85m

FoundersBoost
3 min readJun 16, 2021

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FoundersBoost Pre-Accelerator

On the tailwinds of eight successful Demo Days last week, Startup Boost is announcing their rebrand to FoundersBoost, a move that aligns with their commitment to the engines powering the startups, the founders. FoundersBoost is on a mission to boost pre-seed stage founder outcomes by helping them to prepare for accelerators, investment, and revenue globally.

The FoundersBoost 2021 Spring cohort consists of 55 pre-seed stage tech startups, 80% of which have under-represented founders, spread across 8 programs that took place in DC, LA, UK, Kenya, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Toronto, & Vancouver.

The pre-accelerator objective is simple: target an underserved stage (pre-seed) where startups need the most support, find the most promising startup founders, help them prepare for capital through amazing 1-on-1 mentorship, and increase their odds by letting them keep their resources (no fees or equity taken).

The success of the program over the last 4 years has excited all those involved, with co-Founder Gene Murphy stating,

“FoundersBoost has had 4200 applications, opened 14 chapters globally in the US, Canada, Europe, & Africa, and most importantly, our alumni have gone on to the world’s top accelerator programs and raised, a freshly announced, $85m to date.”

To make it all work, FoundersBoost centralizes much of the programming costs and administration support into HQ.

“We enable startup ecosystem leaders to launch and run top quality pre-accelerator programs by taking on much of the heavy lifting and giving them the added support of a distributed global network of leaders and mentors. We see the overall profile of the pre-seed stage enhanced in all the ecosystems we touch,”

said Blake Caldwell, CEO & co-Founder of FoundersBoost.

FoundersBoost’s primary mission is to put founders first while helping them achieve success. They plan to continue to expand to new regions as they run their programs in the Fall & Spring. Furthermore, they support many more founders through BoostX, their online platform for community and resources.

Additionally, FoundersBoost is going live with their Demo Day on-Demand for the 2021 Spring cohort. They invite all interested parties to enjoy the 2021 Spring cohort Demo Days by going to their Demo Day on-Demand at foundersboost.com/ddod until its close on June 28th.

To find out more about the pre-accelerator, please visit FoundersBoost.com

Key Points:

  • Startup Boost has now rebranded to FoundersBoost
  • FoundersBoost’s mission is to boost founder outcomes by helping them to prepare for accelerators, investment, and revenue
  • 55 companies from their 2021 Spring cohort can now be viewed at their Demo Day on-Demand pages until June 28th
  • Over 80% of the startups in the cohort have an under-represented founder.
  • FoundersBoost takes no equity, charges no fee, and operates 14 chapters globally in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa
  • In 4 years, 300 startups have been pre-accelerated with an alumni now having raised over $85 million in investment

NOTES TO EDITORS — ABOUT FOUNDERSBOOST

Image for article available: Here

FoundersBoost is a six-week mentorship-driven global pre-accelerator program which prepares pre-seed stage tech startups for accelerators, investment and revenue generation. FoundersBoost takes zero fees & zero equity; it is organized by volunteer city directors in Africa, America, Canada, and Europe who work with successful entrepreneurs, investors and community leaders who give their time to make sure promising pre-seed startups succeed.

To date, FoundersBoost has helped 300+ startups chosen from over 4,200 applicants. Alumni have gone on to raise $85m to date and have been selected for the world’s top accelerators including programs such as YC, Techstars, 500 Startups, MuckerLabs and more.

To find out more please go to FoundersBoost.com

For media inquiries and creative assets, please contact:

gene@startupboost.org

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FoundersBoost

FoundersBoost is a global pre-accelerator program with a mission to lead pre-seed stage startups towards Accelerators, Investment, and Revenue.