TechStars London has unveiled 11 startups that comprise its cohort for this year, TechCrunch reported.
The startups came from the US, Estonia, Germany, Spain, Israel, Ireland, South Korea and the UK. The 11 startups were culled from the 1,500 applicants. The number of applications received by the program this year rose from around the 1,300 that were submitted to TechsStars when it debuted in London last year, the report said.
Of the chosen startups, five have already secured financing worth $4 million in all. IPTVbeat, a startup that joined TechStars last year was able to bag seed funding worth $2 million, the report said.
Two of those included in the cohort are already successful entrepreneurs. There are already over 50 employees working for the entire team of startups chosen for TechStars London. According to TechStars, they had to obtain 13 visas for prospective entrepreneurs before the program started, the report said.
Jon Bradford of TechStars London told TechCrunch that the roster of startups this year challenges views of the type of firms that join an accelerator. On the question as to what older startups intend to get from participating in an accelerator, Bradford said, "Experienced entrepreneurs are much more pragmatic and recognise what they know and what they don't."
Bradford added that teams that have financing and product draw a huge benefit from TechStars. He said, "It allows them to concentrate on building their business without the need for raising funding. They can use the program to accelerate customer traction and engagement through the network we expose them to."
The London teams for TechStars 2014 will have their Demo Day on June 20. Those who made it are Germany-based Avuba, UK/US-based Eat In My Seat, eRated from Israel, Good Audience from the US and Estonia-based Lingvist. The other startups are UK-based Magnific, Spain-based Proximus, Ireland-based Pubble, Smile Family from Korea, US-based Spatch and UK-based Zzish, the report said.
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