Seedcamp – Big in the Big Apple with 4 new investments : Seedcamp

Our first Seedcamp New York was a huge success – we’re proud to say that our venture across the Atlantic bore some great results and left us certain that we will come back. We started off on Sunday with a pre-Seedcamp to meet up with all the teams – burgers and beers, what else. ERPLY, who hosted us back in February, made sure no one was left hungry, and it was a great opportunity to get to know the teams in advance. On Monday, we met everybody again, this time at the impressive Google cafeteria, to go through all the pitches and to prepare the teams for the onslaught of feedback they were sure to receive on Seedcamp day.

Mini Seedcamp proper

Tuesday kicked off with a great panel on Foursquare, the absolute poster child for a success story out of the Big Apple. Saul Klein interviewed Dennis Crowley (founder of Foursquare), Bryce Roberts (O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures), and Albert Wenger (Union Square Ventures) about the early days of the company, the ambitious take on a huge market, and the ways the founders and investors work together for a common goal. We were also struck by how formative the experience at Google was for Dennis in terms of the tools and lessons he applied in building Foursquare. We look forward to them expanding their team (hopefully) across Europe soon. The panel definitely set off the participants to shine during the pitches and presentations – 20 great startups, back to back, and well prepared by the feedback from Monday.

Mentoring like it should be

Mentoring sessions took place in the usual setting – although the quality and quantity of mentors definitely stood out. Never before did we have so many and such diverse mentors from both Europe, the US, and Canada, and the buzz continued throughout the afternoon. It was quite difficult to break up the discussions in the afternoon, but eventually everybody agreed that it was time to take the discussions outside. After a short panel about the success of Seedcamp companies in the US (ERPLY and Zemanta being our first outposts in the City), we broke for drinks on the 8th floor terrace with an incredible view of lower Manhattan.

Mentoring Sessions in Full Swing

4 new Seedcampers

Not only did we see 20 great teams on the day – we also took a large number of them to the Investment Interviews next day to determine who would join the Seedcamp Family. We are proud to announce today 4 (more than ever) new members of the family who convinced us about their product, vision, and tenacity to grow a great business:

Bilbus – from London and New York, Bilbus uses technology to solve the two biggest challenges facing small business working capital: cash flow visibility; and access to finance. The team convinced us with both industry experience and a real hunger to solve this big problem for SMEs.
Campalyst – With a team from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, this diverse group of northern all stars measures whether social media presence helps brands sell. Being up and running since only three months, it’s really impressive what Campalyst has already achieved.
Compilr – from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: An online ide that allow developers to code from any device anywhere in the world. Patrick impressed us not only with a great product, but also with thousands of users from around the world, who show that new ways of coding and collaborating are coming to a browser near you.
Zin.gl – Hailing from Russia, and having their eyes set on the US market, Zin.gl has convinced us with their vision of leveraging the Social Graph (FB, Twitter, Foursquare) to make dating a better experience.