Teliportme, First Indian Company to be Blown Up by 500 Startups

Monday May 21, 2012 , 3 min Read

500 Startups, as they describe it, is an accelerator that has been blowing startups since 2009 ; they provide early-stage companies with funding ranging from $10K to $250K via seed investments. Founded by Vineet Devaiah, Teliportme is the first startup from India to undergo this program which started on April 2nd, 2012. TeliportMe lets you explore places through the images and panoramas taken by users through the Android app - 360.

The current program is 4 months long and I got in touch with Vineet to know about the experience. "500s is very bullish on International markets and India is their second biggest focus after China and we are one of the first Indian companies," he informs. The program is usually 3 or 4 months long and teams or parts of the teams work out of the Mountain View office. "500s has a wide international focus and picks up companies who can deliver to the same " says Vineet.

Vineet is an alumnus of Cornell University and was always encouraged Professor Steve Bennett at the college to startup. He had an enriching work-experience with a couple of companies before starting up Teliportme. Applying for 500s was a very last minute decision "I did not prepare for applying it or any other incubator for that matter, it was within 10 minutes over a phone call with Paul Singh ( Partner at 500s ) that the whole thing fell in place. Working amidst entrepreneurs of the highest caliber, 500s is one of the best experiences a startup entrepreneur can have. As the philosophy is 500 Startups helps early stage ventures with three important things- Design (Great products start with a great user experience), Data (Helps make informed product and marketing decisions) and Distribution (scalable, cost-effective customer acquisition).

Talking about the advantages about the program, Vineet says, "The kind of mentorship one receives and the people one meets is absolutely phenomenal. There are over 160 mentors and interacting with people like Naval Ravikant and Aaron Patzer has been much more than enriching." Many of the products/offerings at the program undergo modifications or fine-tuning in their business model and come up with a new and a better product." says Vineet. Teliportme should be ready for a big launch by mid-June.

We'll keep you updated about everything that goes on at Teliportme. We expect more Indian companies at the 500s soon and for help in this regard, Vineet can be reached at [email protected]. Check out the 500s program here and Teliportme here.

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