StartX is a non-profit
startup accelerator and founder community associated with
Stanford University.
It was founded by Cameron Teitelman and Dan Ha in 2011.
It began as a spin-off of Stanford Student Enterprises, the non-profit financial arm of the Associated Students of Stanford University, which sponsored earlier events called SSE Labs in 2009 and then SSE Ventures. The StartX accelerator differentiates itself from other accelerators in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
, such as
Y Combinator
Y Combinator (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator launched in March 2005. It has been used to launch more than 3,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Quora, PagerDuty, Reddit, St ...
, in that it is an educational
non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that takes no equity in the companies it helps start.
At least one member of each company must have some Stanford connection, but undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff are involved in the seminars and advise program. One of its first ventures, Alphonso Labs, developed the
Pulse App.
WifiSlam was acquired by
Apple Inc
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
for about $20 million.
StartX's staff is primarily composed of student volunteers from Stanford.
StartX received a $800,000 grant from the
Kauffman Foundation in August 2012 (which allowed Teitelman to earn a salary), and $400,000 from Silicon Valley companies in February 2012.
In May 2012, StartX created a specialized track, called StartX Med, for medical-related startup companies.
In September 2013, Stanford announced a grant of $1.2 million every year for three years to StartX.
Along with
Stanford Hospital and Clinics
Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the S ...
, it created a new Stanford-StartX fund (of uncapped amount) to invest in current and alumni StartX companies.
To receive the investment from Stanford, StartX companies must raise at least $500,000 on their own from professional
angel investors or
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
ists.
Stanford-StartX approved 6 companies by 2013.
Notable Companies
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Nearby
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Boosted
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Protocol Labs
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LimeBike
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Ethos
Ethos ( or ) is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to ...
*
OpenSea
OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace headquartered in New York City. The company was founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah in 2017.
OpenSea offers a marketplace allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directly ...
*
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...
*
Branch
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...
*
Life360
Life360 Inc. is a San Francisco, California–based American information technology company that provides location-based services, including sharing and notifications, to consumers globally. Its main service is called Life360, a family social n ...
*
Poynt
*
Kodiak Sciences
References
{{US Business Incubators
Stanford University
Companies established in 2011
Business incubators of the United States
Startup accelerators