500 Startups debuts fifth batch of companies

Startup incubator 500 Startups announced its fifth batch of companies today, with over half coming from international markets.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":566954,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"B"}']

As VentureBeat has previously reported, 500 Startups is an early-stage seed fund and incubator program that’s become a brand name over the last few years. The group invests $25,000 to $250,000 in primarily consumer and small-to-medium-sized Internet startups as well as startups related to web infrastructure services. This batch of companies is the first that included 500 Startups’ new application process through AngelList. (Previously, 500 Startups was invite/recommendation only).

“The (application) process worked really well for us, and we plan to keep working with AngelList for future batches,” the group said in a statement. “We received hundreds of applications and ended up selecting eight companies.”

500 Startups emphasized how diverse its latest batch is, noting that 21 percent of the 33 companies it chose have at least one female founder, and 57 percent are based outside of the U.S.

We’ve listed all 33 of the new 500 Startups companies below, along with a brief description of each. The group of founders from the batch also created a short video about “Sh*t 500 Founders Say,” which is also embedded below.

• BabyList – A baby registry that works like Pinterest. Put anything on the web onto your baby registry. Makes pregnancy less overwhelming and more fun.
• Chewse – Marketplace for groups to order great food easily.
• Cinemacraft – Because video thumbnails are archaic, Cinemacraft’s videogram service produces an interactive pictorial summary of the video (comic). Makes video thumbnails come to life.
• Club W – Curated, personalized wine subscription service.
• CompStak – Creates transparency in commercial real estate by gathering information that is hard to find, difficult to compile, or currently unavailable.
• Cubie – Cubie Messenger (Android, iPhone) is a free messenger that creatives can use to chat and draw. Over 4M users and growing.
• Cuponomia – Cuponomia is a marketplace to search, discover, and share deals and online coupon codes in Brazil.
• Curious Hat – Builds mobile exploration tools for curious children.
• Dealflicks – Offers movie tickets and concessions for up to 60% off. Like Priceline or Hotwire but for movie theaters.
• everbill – Provides an easy way to issue invoices and estimates.
• femeninas – Fashion and beauty portal for women.
• gazeMetrix – Looks at videos and pictures and help brands measure their visibility.
• Hunie – A community that helps designers get constructive and honest critiques from fellow designers.
• Iconfinder – Wants to be the world’s leading site for icons.
• iDreamBooks – Rotten Tomatoes for books.
• Instamojo – Sell your digital creations with just one click. Gumroad for India.
• Kickfolio – Helps brands promote their iPhone apps. Instead of screenshots or movies, brands can embed interactive iPhone app demos on any web page.
• LaunchGram – Aggregates news about products and launches coming soon in verticals such as movies, electronics, video games, and cars.
• Markerly – Increases publisher page views and engagement by providing next generation social sharing and discovery tools.
• Pick1 – Retargeting via automated market research – big data for opinions.
• Privy – Automated, digital ad agency.
• Qual Canal – Tracks conversations about TV shows in social media to deliver insightful audience information to broadcasters, brands, and agencies.
• Repairy – A web-based customer relationship and resource management system for car repair shops and dealerships, integrated with a spare parts marketplace.
• SupplyHog – Creates a better way to purchase building materials.
• Tealet – Marketplace that connects tea drinkers with tea growers.
• TouristEye – Lets you plan trips on the web and view all the info & maps offline on your mobile.
• TradeBriefs – Empowers Indian professionals through industry expertise and jobs.
• Traity – Measures people’s reputation in worldwide 360 feedback to improve transactions between strangers.
• Translate Abroad – A suite of simple translation apps that uses your smartphone camera to instantly translate text without Internet.
• UniPay – A mobile payment platform for Brazil.
• WalletKit – An SaaS platform to create, manage, and deliver digital passes to mobile wallets.
• Wideo – An online platform that will allow you to create, quickly edit, and share your own animated videos.
• WhoAPI – Delivers extensive information about domain data.