Update Overload from 500 Startups- Team Shuffling, Hiring, New Office Space and a Surprise

500 Startups, a global startup accelerator with investments in all continents except Antarctica has been known for creating splashes and tonight (India time), they’ve made one more. Founded by Dave McClure, 500 Startups is known for its flamboyant approach and keeping up with its trademark style, has just offloaded and update overload. We’ll chart out the 4 broad updates here:1)     Team Reshuffling

• George Kellerman has been promoted to Partner. He will continue to lead their investments in Japan along with helping build more global partnerships.
• Parker Thompson has joined 500 Startups as a Venture Partner. He'll work with the accelerator program while also helping grow presence in the San Francisco startup scene.
• Paul Singh is now focused on leading dashboard.io as its Founder & CEO. Dashboard.io recently closed a financing with support from 500 Startups, Quotidian Ventures, NextGen Angels, Fortify Ventures, LX Ventures, Voodoo Ventures and others. He’ll continue to work with the 500 team as a Venture Partner.

2)     Hiring

With the addition of Parker, the 500 team has now grown to 22 people spreading across Silicon Valley, NYC, China, India, and Latin America. Building on this 22 member 500 Startups team, they are looking to recruit for their fundraising team (apply here).

3)     New Co-Working Space

500 Startups has just opened a coworking space in NYC’s historic Flatiron district. NYCbased 500 Startups companies, Shai Goldman (our NYC Venture Partner), and local startups will work out of the office.

And there are plans on opening a SF office within the next few months.

4)     Creativity Outburst- New Super Friends in the Valley

Call it a theme, a burst of creativity or just another way of creating more noise, 500 Startups has announced the *All New* Super Friends.

Know more about the SuperFriends here.

So, how does all this affect startups in India?

Well, 500 startups has been investing heavily and has already made more than 15 investments in Indian companies (see this, this, this, and this as examples) and will only be increasing the intensity. Any startup looking for a global play and a great network (along with financial support obviously), can look at applying for 500 Startups. Investors with a fund raising ability can also look at joining the accelerator.

The team at 500 Startups is currently in the process of finalizing companies for the Spring 2013 Accelerator Batch. The program will start mid April.

(edited by Jubin Mehta)