The end of the world in DC: Chile shakes things up at Distilled Intelligence 2.0!

Could it really be ‘the end of the world’ in DC?

Sitting in the auditorium of the Carnegie Library (Historical Society of DC) in my hometown of Washington, DC I could not believe my eyes when I saw Founder Institute alumni,  Pablo Ambram from the multi Award Winning Agent Piggy pitching at Distilled Intelligence 2.0 (probably he was surprised to see me outside of Chile too, haha). And as it turns out it was not just him who had traveled from Chile ‘The End of the World’ South America – 6 other startups had made the trip as well. They were each competing against 99 other teams for seed capital + 6 months mentorship at The Fort Accelerator in Washington, DC.

And for good reason, according to Fortify.VC co-founder Jonathon Perelli, last year’s inaugural teams from DI 1.0, 9 in all, have raised US $30 million and created 200+ jobs. This year, from preliminary numbers they are anticipating DI 2.0 teams to achieve at least double the success.

It’s kind of like the Olympics, a fraction of a point is the difference between whether you win or lose.

– Pablo Ambram, Agent Piggy, after hearing he had just missed advancing to the finals

Continue reading

Fortify.VC invites you to startup in Washington, DC with investment and mentorship

From the international startup media hustlers who brought you the first news of Riverwood Capital’s $100k LatAm Startup Challenge and also organized Chile’s Startup Pavillion in TechCrunch Disrupt  SF, we thought we would share some east coast U.S.A. love today.

Our big news of the day comes from our founders funding founders friends at Fortify.VC who are based in my very awesome hometown of Washington, DC (and yes, of course, we personally know them).

Their second annual pitch competition, Distilled Intelligence 2.0, is now open for submissions.

Start your application now

10 startups are going to each receive $100k in seed capital and hands-on support directly from the Fortify.VC co-founders in their 6 month accelerator ‘The Fort‘ in downtown Washington, DC. To understand the value of this, let me give you a little perspective – last year’s inaugural group of Distilled Intelligence 1.0 winners have raised $27 million USD since October 2011!!!

Continue reading