How to pitch your IOT startup to investors - Edith Yeung @ IoT World 2016

How to pitch your IOT startup to investors Internet of Things World 2016

Edith Yeung | @edithyeung | April 7, 2016

Edith Yeung is a Partner at 500 Startups’ Mobile Collective, focusing on investing in mobile apps and consumer internet startups. Before 500, Edith was the VP of marketing & business development for Dolphin Browser. Dolphin Browser is a Sequoia-backed mobile browser with over 150 million installs worldwide. She also founded RightVentures - seed stage investment firm focusing on mobile and consumer internet companies. Prior, she led many operation roles at Oracle, Siebel, AT&T, Symantec, Telstra, Cisco, Autodesk, etc.

Edith Yeung | @edithyeung | edith.co

/ Since July 2010 1,500+ investments3

500 Startups Is the Most Active Seed Investor in the World1

$240M in AUM2

The various geographies highlighted in the map result from investments we have made across all 500 Startups funds. 1.  CB Insight https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/2015-early-stage-investors/ 2.  Approximated as of 2/23/2016 and includes the following 500 Startups funds: (a) 500 Startups, L.P. and 500 Startups-A, L.P. (together, “Fund I”), (b) 500 Startups II, L.P. and 500 Startups II-A, L.P. (together, “Fund II”), (c) 500 Startups III, L.P. and 500 Start

ups III-A, L.P. (together, “Fund III”), (d) 500 Startups IV, L.P. and 500 Startups IV-A, L.P. (together, “Fund IV”), (e) 500 Startups Annex Fund, L.P. (“Annex”), (f) 500 Luchadores, L.P. (“Luchadores”), (g) 500 Durians, L.P. (“Durians”), (h) 500 Mobile Collective, L.P. (“Mobile Collective”), (i) 500 Kimchi, L.P. (“Kimchi”), (j) 500 TukTuks, L.P. (“TukTuks”), (k) 500 Startups JP, L.P. ("Japan”), (l) 500 Istanbul, L.P. ("Istanbul”), (m) 500 Nordics, L.P. (“Nordics”), and (n) 500 Falcons, L.P. (“Falcons”), (o) 500 Kulfi, L.P. (“India”), and (p) 500 Fintech, L.P. (“Fintech”).

3. Approximated as of 2/29/2016 and includes first and follow-on investments from all 500 Startups funds.

Over 20 countries

IoT will encompass between 20 and 30 billion connected devices by 2020 The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data.

Source: Chris McCann h9ps://medium.com/@mccannatron/esports-‐market-‐ecosystem-‐map-‐c6ae5bc6a7d0


IoT Startups Raised Over $1.9B In 2015

Edith Yeung | @edithyeung | edith.co Source: CBInsights-‐ h9ps://www.cbinsights.com/blog/internet-‐of-‐things-‐startup-‐funding/

What 500 Startups is looking for: Invest in founders with strong vision, manufacturing know-how, hardware & software, data domain expertise, engineering excellence focusing on: •  Virtual Reality •  Augmented Reality •  Family / home •  Kids •  Women •  Elderly / medical •  Real Estate


•  Industrial •  IoT security & privacy •  IoT communication software •  Software & hardware that could

help build & force large companies to evolve from a product-centric model to a service-centric model

What 500 Startups is looking for: Invest in founders with strong vision, manufacturing know-how, hardware & software, data domain expertise, engineering excellence focusing on: •  Virtual Reality •  Augmented Reality •  Family / home •  Kids •  Women •  Elderly / medical •  Real Estate


•  Industrial •  IoT security & privacy •  IoT communication software •  Software & hardware that could

help build & force large companies to evolve from a product-centric model to a service-centric model

Silk Labs – IoT Security Strong vision, manufacturing know-how, hardware & software, engineering excellence from Mozilla and Firefox.


How to get some $$$ from investors


Before pitching an investor… •  Research what stages (seed, Series A, B, C, etc), check size,

industries, categories, geography, frequency the specific investors focus on

•  Get warm intro from other investors (already invest in you) or entrepreneurs they invest in

•  Short & precise pitch email •  Traction •  Product •  Pain point •  Team


Early stage IoT / Hardware Investors •  Flextronic's Lab IX (http://flextronicslabix.com) •  Bolt (https://www.bolt.io) •  Brinc.io (http://brinc.io) •  Highway1 (http://highway1.io) •  Lemnos Labs (http://lemnoslabs.com) •  HAX (https://hax.co/) •  Hardware.co (http://hardware.co) •  AlphaLab Gear (http://alphalabgear.org/program) •  BetaSpring (http://www.betaspring.com) •  TechStars (http://www.techstars.com/programs/iot-program/) •  500 Startups (http://500.co/)


Series A IoT Investors •  Intel Capital (http://www.intelcapital.com/) •  Qualcomm Ventures (https://www.qualcommventures.com/) •  Foundry Group (http://foundrygroup.com/) •  Khosla Ventures (http://www.khoslaventures.com/) •  Andreessen Horowitz (http://a16z.com/) •  KPCB (http://www.kpcb.com/) •  True Ventures (https://trueventures.com/) •  NEA (http://www.nea.com/) •  Sequoia Capital (https://www.sequoiacap.com/)


During your pitch Be sure to cover the following: •  Product demo (if you have it) •  Traction, traction, traction •  Team (team, investors, advisors) •  Market size & target market •  Pain point •  Product •  Business model


•  Competition •  Market Trends •  Unfair advantages •  Your ask! (Money /

advice / intros) •  Ask for feedback

After the meeting… Email follow up within 24 hours

•  Thank them! •  Deck •  Traction •  Team •  Action items •  Your ask •  Ask for follow up meetings or phone calls


You can find my presentation at: •  Deck http://www.edith.co/#blog •  Email [email protected] •  Twitter @edithyeung •  Newsletter http://www.edith.co/#newsletter
