... opportunity to grow, receive support, and attract investments while remaining in their region. Examples of Successful Startups that Went Through 500 Startups Credit Karma Credit Karma is a fintech company that provides users with free access to their credit reports and financial products. The startup went through the 500 Startups acceleration program, which helped it secure funding, enhance its product, and quickly scale its business. In 2020, Credit Karma was acquired by Intuit for $7.1 billion, marking one of the largest deals in the fintech ...

... investors in them received huge profits from the growth of these companies. Investing in startups differs from traditional ways of investing money (for example, buying shares of large companies, bonds or real estate). Unlike established businesses, startups do not have a long history of financial reporting, a proven market, or guaranteed profits. This makes the analysis more difficult and the risk higher. So why invest in such projects at all? The fact is that venture investments can bring significantly higher returns compared to traditional assets....

... Sweden The birthplace of Spotify, Klarna, and more: continues to generate unicorns, particularly in fintech and game development. High levels of living standards and education, nearly complete digital penetration. Stockholm is one of Europe’s leading startup hubs (reportedly #2 in Europe for unicorns per capita after London). The government supports social guarantees for entrepreneurs (reducing risk) and invests in tech education. Note: The number of unicorns is stated as of April 2025; the characteristics summarize ...

... the venture market today: The AI investment race is picking up speed: Elon Musk's xAI is in talks to raise $4 billion in new capital (on top of its planned $5 billion in debt), and its valuation has soared to $80 billion. Meanwhile, rival OpenAI is reportedly targeting a round of up to $40 billion, as the scale of AI funding reaches unprecedented heights. Defense tech boom: Defense-tech startup Mach Industries has secured a $100 million Series B, demonstrating VC funds' growing interest in military and aerospace developments amid the geopolitical situation. Big deals outside of AI: Geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy has raised $100 ...

... resources for developing its AI platform and data center infrastructure. According to insider estimates, xAI's valuation now exceeds $100 billion, placing the company among the most valuable private firms in the world. Another ambitious player, the startup Safe Superintelligence (co-founded by Ilya Sutskever), raised about $2 billion at a valuation of over $30 billion to create safe AI systems. Furthermore, industry sources report that Anthropic is in final negotiations for a new round worth $3–5 billion, which could raise its valuation to a staggering $170 billion. Additionally, according to media reports, industry leader OpenAI raised $8.3 billion in investment at a ...