Monthly Ventures - Silicon Valley Seed Fund
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Contact
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Contact

StartupMonthly in the Press


StartupMonthly Announces New Early-Stage Fund

StartupMonthly Starts Investing in Startups with Strong Technical Foundation, San Francisco, US; May 2nd, 2013

"We are excited to be able to help entrepreneurs in our extensive ecosystem not only as advisers and mentors but now as solid investment partners."

StartupMonthly today announced the raising of its first fund. The fund, based in San Francisco, will invest in early-stage companies focused on the Mobile, Internet, and Information Technology markets.  The fund will leverage the global ecosystem of entrepreneurs, partners, and mentors built by StartupMonthly to accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies.

StartupMonthly investment company's partner and major investor is IMI.VC headed by Igor Matsanyuk, a prominent investor from Russia.

“We are thrilled to partner with a seasoned investor, Igor Matsanyuk, who can bring in tremendous investment expertise and substantial network as one of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs,” said Mr. Yuri Rabinovich, Founder and CEO at StartupMonthly and Managing Partner at Monthly Ventures fund.

StartupMonthly will fund exceptional startups with up to $300,000 in initial investment and offer them free participation in the StartupMonthly startup acceleration program in their offices in San Francisco. This unique mentorship program has been designed by StartupMonthly based on best practices of lean startup and customer development methodologies with input from the StartupMonthly advisers and mentors. The program will help funded startups to quickly build and launch the right minimum viable product, analyze customer engagement and metrics, and then react and iterate accordingly.

"The StartupMonthly partners have achieved tremendous progress in building the ecosystem around their brand in the US and worldwide and have a great opportunity to start capitalizing on it by investing in the best companies in this ecosystem," said Mr. Igor Matsanyuk.

StartupMonthly was founded by Yuri Rabinovich, Ziv Yoash, and Vadim Slavin and is managed by Yuri and Vadim.

Yuri is an entrepreneur and software architect, with experience honed at IBM Research and Israel Defense Forces, where he served as an engineer and a team lead. Yuri has worked on multiple initiatives to foster entrepreneurship in the world and to build a global organization.

Vadim is an accomplished software engineer, research scientist, a solutions architect, and an entrepreneur with experience in advanced research in information and data sciences. He had a distinguished early career at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center.

Ziv counsels startup companies in business and other aspects of the venture such as formation, financing, mergers and acquisitions across a variety of industries. Ziv served as a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces and is actively involved in the Israel high tech community.

In the past two years the team staged more than 90 events in Russia, Silicon Valley, Baltics, and Israel and have worked with more than a hundred startups as hands-on advisers and mentors.

"We are excited to be able to help entrepreneurs in our extensive ecosystem not only as advisers and mentors but now as solid investment partners," said Mr. Vadim Slavin.

For more information, please visit http://www.startupmonthly.org

For further information, please contact:

Vadim Slavin, Managing Partner at StartupMonthly, LLC
Tel. +1 (650) 416-6882
vadim.slavin(at)startupmonthly(dot)org

About StartupMonthly

StartupMonthly is a startup accelerator and a seed fund based in Silicon Valley which is devoted to helping entrepreneurship communities around the world create, quickly innovate, and grow startups in Mobile, Internet, and Information Technology markets. StartupMonthly brings together a community of like-minded, passionate entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and partners to work on creating great companies.  

For more information, please visit http://www.startupmonthly.org

About IMI.VC

IMI.VC is an investment company funding innovative mobile applications that are able to change the market and behavior of mobile device users. IMI.VC was founded in 2011 by Igor Matsanyuk, one of the world's most successful Internet entrepreneurs. Currently IMI.VC portfolio includes leading mobile and social gaming companies: Game Insight, Farminers Startup Academy business incubator, Narr8, Planner5D, Dish.fm, and My.Apps. Board of directors of IMI.VC venture company consists of: Gregory Finger, Mikhail Vinchel, and Igor Matsanyuk.

For more information, please visit http://imi.vc/

San Francisco-Based StartupMonthly Closes First Seed Fund 

Bay Area Tech Wire, May 03, 2013

San Francisco -- StartupMonthly, a San Francisco-based startup accelerator focused on the mobile, Internet and IT markets, said it has closed its first seed fund, with plans to invest up to $300,000 in early-stage companies. The fund is majority backed by IMI.VC, a venture capital firm headed by Russian investor Igor Matsanyuk. Companies receiving funding also will be offered free participation in the StartupMonthly accelerator program. StartupMonthly was founded by Yuri Rabinovich, Ziv Yoash and Vadim Slavin, who in the past two years have staged more than 90 events in Russia, Silicon Valley, the Baltics and Israel. Together, they have worked with more than 100 startups as hands-on advisers and mentors.


Ream More...

San Francisco Accelerator Startup Monthly Raises Seed Fund

StartupMonthly Founders
VentureWire, Lora Kolodny, May 02, 2013,
(c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

A San Francisco-based accelerator, Startup Monthly LLC, has formed its first seed fund, chief operating officer and co-founder Vadim Slavin told VentureWire.

Dubbed Monthly Ventures, the firm aims to invest in about a dozen startups per year, committing a minimum of $50,000 to each startup accepted into Startup Monthly, at the outset.

If the companies achieve mutually determined milestones by agreed-upon deadlines, then Startup Monthly will invest up to another $150,000 in them, directly. It also promises to help startups attain additional capital from Startup Monthly partners, bringing their total seed funding up to $300,000 via the accelerator.

Generally, Monthly Ventures seeks a 10% stake in companies it invests in at an early stage, and asks that companies set aside a 1% equity stake to deliver returns to advisers matched by Startup Monthly.

The accelerator would not disclose exactly how much it has raised to date. Based on stated goals (up to $200,000 seed funding each for about 12 companies) that number is likely $2.5 million or more.

IMI.VC, a venture capital firm in Moscow, is the single outside partner in Monthly Ventures. An analyst at IMI.VC, Andrey Ustyugov, writing on behalf of founder Igor Matsanyuk, told VentureWire about the firm's interest in the San Francisco accelerator and seed fund:

"We are investing globally. We have been tracking [Startup Monthly's] activity for a long period and were surprised by how fast they are moving forward, and growing. We believe that with the help of our funding they will be able to build a great accelerator."

Among others, IMI.VC's portfolio includes: GameInsight, a developer and publisher of free-to-play, ad-supported mobile and social games, Farminers, a startup incubator in Russia, and Planner5d, a floor-plan design tool, that has a user base of about 800,000 today.

Prior to establishing their U.S.-based accelerator and fund, Monthly Ventures' co-founders--managing partners Yuri G. Rabinovich, Mr. Slavin and Ziv Yoash--helped 24 "idea-stage companies" progress to running seed-stage businesses, via a series of entrepreneurial education and networking events under the brand name Idea Accelerator.

They found participants who had come up with great ideas at hackathons and other brainstorming events attended by hopeful entrepreneurs and technical talents.

Entrepreneurs should be drawn to Startup Monthly's offering of hands-on help from deeply technical mentors, most well-known founders and angel investors, said Mr. Rabinovich.

Among its mentors are: David Weekly, Facebook 's developer-relations lead, Christina Brodbeck, an early YouTube employee and entrepreneur, and Keith Teare, a partner at the venture fund Archimedes Labs.

Pointing out that Startup Monthly's founders and early partners hail from Russia, Israel and other locations outside the U.S., Mr. Rabinovich noted:

"We know how local venture capitalists and angel investors view outsiders…who have come here to get funding and grow their businesses or improve their technology. We can help them with everything from fundraising to recruiting, which can be quite challenging, if rewarding, in the Valley."

The accelerator and fund operates out of Rocketspace in San Francisco, a co-working and events venue.

It admits companies on a rolling basis, rather than in "batches" as with prestigious accelerators that operate startup bootcamps. Mr. Rabinovich said, "We want to avoid admitting companies only because we have an admissions deadline. And we do not want to miss great entrepreneurs, if they need help, now, but we do not have open admissions."

The accelerator plans to conduct three demo days a year, allowing current and alumni companies to pitch a community of investors.

Mr. Slavin noted, "There are way too many good companies. And TechStars can't accept them all. I know everyone is asking why do we need another accelerator in the valley. We are all accomplished research scientists and we bring a particular strength, especially around big data and analytics."


Read More...


Weendy Closes Seed Round for Sports Mobile App

VentureWire, Lizette Chapman, February 14, 2013,
(c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Outdoors sports enthusiasts and engineers Katerina Stroponiati and Yiannis Varelas knew there had to be a better way.

The pair, who met while attending the Technical University of Crete in Greece, would often spend the day driving around, searching for spots to windsurf and kitesurf instead of enjoying their time on the water.

"It happens all the time. Forecasts are inaccurate. Most of us and our friends would drive for two hours and then find out the conditions are not as they are expected," said Mr. Varelas.

So, the two decided to build a mobile app and crowdsource real-time weather conditions from other sports enthusiasts facing the same problem. The pair moved from Greece to Silicon Valley, entered the StartupMonthly accelerator, created the company Weendy Inc. and have now closed a $250,000 seed round, VentureWire has learned.

Archimedes Labs led the round with participation from a handful of individual investors.

Since launching the Weendy app on iOS and Android publicly in late December, Weendy has attracted 15,000 users, with more than half of them using the app every week, spending an average of three minutes. Roughly 8% of users are creating content, posting real-time weather-condition updates.

Now, Weendy has hired two marketing specialists (who also spend considerable time windsurfing, snowboarding and skyboarding) to strike partnerships with professionals in the field of outdoor sports. These so-called ambassadors, which now number ten, will write blogs and post videos to the Weendy website as well as contributing their updates on weather conditions to the Weendy app.

Ambassadors include pro athletes Laure Treboux, Moritz Mauch, Alessio Stillrich, Mattia Fabrizi and Fabio Calo.

Ms. Stroponiati said Weendy, which is free to download, will generate revenue by charging for advanced features and through allowing sports-focused brands like Red Bull and Billabong to engage with their users.

"The vision is to expand. We figured out we can replicate this in every (outdoor sports) market. Snow and snowboarding is next and downhill biking," she said, adding the company goal is to reach 300,000 users by June and then raise additional capital to further scale.

http://weendy.com

Write to Lizette Chapman at lizette.chapman@dowjones.com. Follow her on Twitter at @zettewil

How Greek startups are doing their part to beat the crisis

Picture
by Harry Mylonadis
.... Regardless of the country of incorporation, an issue that was consistently mentioned by startups was the access to funding. Although some funds have started to appear on the map, the country is certainly lagging behind. Yiannis Varelas and Katerina Stroponiati founded Weendy, an app for real-time social updates for extreme sports, around a year ago but couldn’t get access to the funding and support they needed.

Committed to carrying on with their passion, they packed their bags and headed off to San Francisco where they joined the StartupMonthlyaccelerator and have already secured their follow-up round. Another issue that they pointed out was that of not having enough Greek founder success stories for people to look up to.

Read More...

What We’ve Learned From Teaching the Trainings

Picture
By Azat on November 20, 2012
A couple months ago, the team of StartupMonthly: Yuri Rabinovich and Vadim Slavinas instructors and facilitators, Micah McGraw as an assistant (thanks Micah!), and I as an instructor and author, ran another class of my Rapid Prototyping with JavaScript and NodeJS training.

The training is a two and a quarter day intensive hands-on workshop designed for advanced beginner and intermediate programmers. The main goal is to take an idea to a functional prototype, known as Minimal Viable Product or just MVP in Lean Startup circles.

Read More...

Get funded! An idiot’s guide to mastering the venture capital game

Picture
By Christina Farr on November 12, 2012 for venturebeat.com
In Silicon Valley, we’re so often mired in jargon that we forget to ask the most basic questions about how venture capital works.
Christine Herron, director at Intel Capital and a venture advisor at 500Startups and StartX (a Stanford-affiliated nonprofit accelerator), addressed an intimate audience of investors and entrepreneurs this afternoon at Startup Monthly’s Smart Money conference.

Read More...

Where Investors Go To Learn – Smart$Money Executive Program in Silicon Valley Kicks Off Next Week

Picture
By Wayne Sutton on November 9, 2012 for SocialWayne.com
Next week kicks off the StartupMonthly‘s Smart$Money Executive Program in Silicon Valley November 12-15. The StartupMonthly Smart$Money Executive program informs, inspires, educates, and prepares business angels and venture capitalists for their future investments in IT startups. During the program, investors will share and learn about angel and VC investments, deal-structure, market trends, and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Along with connecting to leading investors in Silicon Valley and visiting successful startups and companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. Also visiting accelerator programs such as 500 Startups.

Read More...


Silicon Valley + San Francisco + 500 Startup People + Waterfront Party = Startup Social Party Takes Over One Ferry Plaza for the Greatest Entrepreneur Startup Party of the Season

Picture
By Owen Geronimo on October 24, 2012 for FashionTech
Proving that getting dressed up and getting out to meet new people is definitely not going out of style, the Startup Socials Party on October 19th  was the largest gathering yet of the bright, beautiful, and business-minded startup communities gathered together by the Startup Monthly Team and co-hosts including SFFAMA and Fashion+TechSF. The crowd, at once cosmopolitan and cool as well as confident, fun and boisterous, enjoyed panoramic views of the nighttime Bay Bridge and San Francisco’s stunning waterfront from the popular outside patio and killer musical curation by a trio of DJs including Adrenalin Room and SNR Music. The dance floor was never empty and always full of surprises while the three-story venue provided plenty of space to meet, mingle and survey the scene.

Read More...




Startup Monthly and YouNoodle Double Demo Day and Startup Summer Party at NestGSV

Picture
by fashiontechsf on August 2, 2012

YouNoodle Camp 2012 and Startup Monthly presented a showcase of the world’s best startup ideas on July 26th with back-to-back Demo Day presentations by startup entrepreneurs for investors and mentors at the new “Ecobator” NestGSV flagship campus in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Read More...


StartupMonthly Startup Accelerator Culminated in a Demo Day of 5 Early-stage Companies

Palo Alto, CA -- Startup Monthly, the global entrepreneurship and startup accelerator, closed in on the end of their first ever startup accelerator program on July 26th. Five teams completed the two-month program at the final Demo Day in Redwood City. These early-stage startups have traveled from Eastern Europe and Baltics to scale their businesses to the US and global markets.  Startup Monthly provided accelerator services to guide these teams through the web of Silicon Valley, exposing them to mentors and resources, and ultimately making them into fundable companies with demonstrable traction on the US market. The teams participated in over 30 mentorship sessions, attended 15 startup events, met with more than 20 mentors, and pitched at four demo days.

The final Demo Day featuring the 5 teams was hosted by Startup Monthly at NestGSV and co-hosted by YouNoodle and QuartSoft. The invited investors heard the presentations from the startups, followed by a closing reception and a party.

Startup Monthly helps entrepreneurs, business developers, and software engineers quickly create, innovate, and grow tech startups for scalability in the U.S. and global markets. This Silicon Valley-based company focuses on advancing early-stage companies from the Baltics and Eastern Europe. www.startupmonthly.org

GigBasket
These two Lithuanian founders have set out to make the job-searching process much simpler. GigBasket is an application that allows you to “pin” job postings and opportunities into one place. The “basket” is essentially an organizer, complete with a calendar to remind you of application or interview deadlines. This beta-tested site will be releasing a new feature this summer-- Job Suggestions, an aggregation of current job postings customized to your preferences.

MapsWithMe
This startup provides the convenience of full-scale offline maps, geared towards the modern-day traveler. It features offline search capabilities (cities, street names, and other categories), GPS positioning, and a detailed map of the entire globe. Founded by a team of four from Belarus, MapsWithMe focuses on serving cartographic functions better than GoogleMaps, and does it for free.

Goodwillion
Imagine social networking, with a philanthropic twist. Goodwillion places charity on a social platform, where users can bid on or auction off meetings. The winnings are then donated to a charity organization. Users can choose meeting objectives which range anywhere from business consulting to a casual cup of coffee. Goodwillion’s roots lie in their soaring success in Belarus, where they raised over $40,000 in funding. They have now launched the project globally.

TropicMind
Simply put, TropicMind is the educational club penguin. This RPG-based virtual world allows children to play and learn various subjects such as math, physics, biology, and world history. The site contains over 250 educational games and well-crafted animations. Their claim to fame is that parents support it and children can’t stop playing it, not to mention that one in every eight kids in Lithuania is an active user.

SmartWall
SmartWall is an interactive platform that solves the problem of inefficient communication between mass gatherings of people.  It enables public aggregation of all user comments through twitter, facebook, sms, emailing and other sources. Their features include hashtag management, moderation, filters, voting, custom widgets and a social CRM.

GigBasket Chronicles: 3 Tips for Fellow Startuppers After 1-Month Spent in Silicon Valley

Picture
By Edmundas Balcikonis, July 10, 2012

Hi my name is Eddy, I am a CEO of GigBasket – “Your personal job opportunity basket”. It has been a bit more than a month since Eugene and I, CTO of GigBasket, flew to San Francisco from Vilnius, Lithuania. Just like any other startup heading towards Silicon valley, we hope to make it big – develop a great product, raise money and scale it to the rest of the world. You know, the regular startup world domination stuff.

And this is not all that we did in this single month. What can I say, San Francisco and whole Silicon Valley is the place for startups. Also, StartupMonthly, a new startup accelerator we are participating in with GigBasket, is taking really good care of us.

All of this was would not be possible if not for Startup Monthly Vilnius 2012 (STM) conference. STM was a great event (see photos here), organized by amazing people – thank you all guys! If not for you, Eugene and I would never had teamed up and started working on GigBasket, not to talk about this trip to startups haven't called Silicon Valley. Continue Reading


Lithuanian Startup: GigBasket Moves To US To Launch Job Pinning Site

Picture
nibletz.com, June 15, 2012
The two Lithuanian co-founders behind startup GigBasket have moved to the United States to launch their job “pinning” platform. GigBasket allows users to save job openings to a users GigBasket account from virtually any site in the world.

If you’re familiar with Pinterest and the “pinning” concept of being able to go to any website and “pin” something which then posts that something to Pinterest, then you will automatically understand how GigBasket does the same thing for jobs.

The platform works in two different ways you can add a job manually that you may have seen online, or you can add the bookmarklet to your browser by simply dragging it to your bookmarks bar and then hit the GigBasket button anytime you see a job you find worthy of applying for.


Picture

Startup Monthly Vilnius – Great Success and Only the Beginning!

EU-Startups, May 2, 2012

3th of April, 2012 might have been just another Friday the 13th. Not quite so in Lithuania, where the very first Startup Monthly event in the region was officially opened. With more than a hundred participants, organizers and volunteers (who deserve a big THANK YOU from all the attendants) this three-day event turned out to be a huge success. Continue Reading

Silicon Valley Experts Mind-Hunt Across Russian Startups

Russia Today, April 30, 2012

Starting your own business is not easy, especially when the world is gripped by financial crisis and you live in a country which international investors look at with suspicion. But here’s where guys from California come in.

A Silicon Valley based Entrepreneurship school – Startup Monthly – have spent  two weeks in Moscow choosing interesting business projects to bring them to the US innovation hub in Northern California.  The heads of the project, Vadim Slavin and Yuri Rabinovich, both have a Russian background. But it’s not just a call of blood, but it’s the belief in the abilities of young Russian businessmen that drives them, as well as an easier – to –understand Russian mentality. Continue Reading
Picture

Picture

V. Slavin: Vilnius Can Become a "Startup Center"

Ekonomika.lt, April 22, 2012

One of the Startup Monthly founders Vadim Slavin believes that Lithuania could become part of Europe's "startup community center". Technology has always been my passion, but as a child I wanted to build spaceships. I am a Soviet space age child, so it's always been my dream. I also wanted to participate in research, solve complex technical problems. I think that entrepreneurship goes hand in hand with technology because if you want to change the world or at least a small part of it, you need to develop technology that would be useful to people, to address a specific problem.... Continue Reading

Белорусский Стартап Назвали Лучшим на Startup Monthly в Вильнюсе

IT.TUT.BY, April 15, 2012

Белорусы, создатели стартапа MapsWithMe, стали лучшими на Startup Monthly в Вильнюсе и получат в качестве приза девятинедельную стажировку в Кремниевой Долине.
Belarusians, the creators of startup MapsWithMe , were the best in the Startup Monthly in Vilnius and will receive a prize nine-week internship in Silicon Valley. Continue Reading
Picture

Первый Российский День Соинвестора

Журнал «DS», April 3, 2012

В субботу, 24 марта 2012 года, в Москве прошёл, на первый взгляд, очередной startup event, хотя отличий предостаточно: формат, количество и качество участников и инвесторов, время, организация и проведение и другие составляющие. Это событие — Первый Российский День Соинвестора, проведённый Startup Monthly... Continue Reading
Picture

Picture

Итоги Первого Российского Дня Соинвестора

Investment Innovation Business via Бизнес Инновационных Технологий, March 26, 2012

В субботу, 24 марта, акселератор из Кремниевой долины StartupMonthly провел в Москве первый российский Сo-Investment Day. Из 30 презентовавшихся ИТ- и интернет-проектов инвесторы выделили топ-10.

Калифорнийский проект StartupMonthly - новый элемент в российской стартап-инфраструктуре.  Что, впрочем, не мешает ему чувствовать себя как дома: трое из десяти членов команды StartupMonthly имеют русские корни, хотя в России давно не живут. Continue Reading

Stylematic to Present at Startup Monthly March Demo Day 03.11.12

San Francisco Fashion And Merchants Alliance, March 8, 2012

Our demo days are hosted monthly as part of Pitch Accelerator workshop where startups present their progress to panel of investors in order to get feedback on their idea, business model and potential fundability of their startup. Continue Reading

Как Российский Проект «Социальный Будильник» Выходил на Рынок США

Forbes Russia, January 31, 2012

Основатель сервиса «Будист.ру», вышедшего в полуфинал конкурса стартапов Forbes, — о двух неделях в Кремниевой долине. Continue Reading
Picture

Picture

Startup Monthly Is Helping Entrepreneurs Get Off the Day Job Drip.

StartupGrind, January 20, 2012

Occasionally there are just noble causes that you have to support (I’m talking to you SOAP people) and Startup Monthly is one of them. Founder Yuri Rabinovich has been husstling throughout 2011 to get the program off the ground and into the lives of hundreds of entrepreneurs. Continue Reading

Startup Monthly’s Coming-Out Party Is on!

Oobly, January 27, 2011

The Startup Monthly Idea Accelerator program is having a “Coming Out Party” on Thursday, January 27th, 2011. The event starts at 6:30pm at the HackerDojo HQ in Mountain View, California. Details of the pilot session of “Startup Monthly Idea Accelerator” program scheduled to start on February 25th 2011 will also be revealed. Continue Reading
Picture
© Copyright 2013-2020 MonthlyVentures LLC. All rights reserved.