US accelerator TechStars kicks off its London expansion today

US startup accelerator TechStars is opening its doors in London for the first time today, following its expansion into the UK after its purchase of Springboard.

Techstars London, based in Warner Yard in east London’s Tech City area, will give 11 startups three months of mentorship and guidance in its accelerator space, and a further three months in the building once the programme has finished. The chosen teams were selected from more than 1300 applications originating from 72 different countries.

The accelerator is known best for its activities in the US but it recently bought Jon Bradford’s Springboard accelerator to establish a European presence.

Of the 11 companies, five have a focus on the financial technology sector and two have a “very strong social agenda”, TechStars said. Founding members include people from Colombia, Holland, Ireland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and the UK and diverse backgrounds including a former private equity director and veteran games developers.

Specifically, the 11 startups are:

• FeedPack – a fledgling business that provides companies with feedback about their courier service.
• Iptvbeat – They’re bringing Google Analytics for IPTV to the table.
• Modabound – A platform for college students to buy and sell clothes.
• Moni Technologies – A new mobile money transfer service.
• OP3Nvoice – Conversation management and intelligence.
• Osper – Banking for young people.
• Paymins – Micropayments for social networks.
• Peerby – A system to allow people to borrow things locally.
• PlayCanvas – A development platform for video games.
• QuanTemplate – A platform for insurers to optimize their risk in real time.
• VetCloud – A practice management system for veterinary surgeries.

The teams will spend the next 13 weeks frantically working towards demo day on 27 September in TechCity.

TechStars track record for helping startups along their way is pretty solid, with more than $330 million invested to date in the US since 2007. In the same time period it has helped 223 companies, of which most (181) are still active, 20 have been acquired and 22 have failed.

Featured Image Credit – Getty Images