Bangalore: With over 250 investment ventures in the bag already, 500 startups is taking a huge leap of faith by raising $50 million for the second round of investment. It has been a great year for Dave McClure, founder of 500 startups and company in terms of incubation and expansion. Dave McClure has already been investing in Latin-America and is now planning to spread the roots into Asia, Middle-East and the Eastern European countries. As a step towards the company’s expansion in Asia, a program called ‘Geeks on a Plane Trip to India’ was launched by 500 Startups last December which focuses on learning from startups with great ideas present in Indian market.

Startup entrepreneurs from all around the globe visited India to learn the ways of the business and some colloquial Tricks of Trade.The news of $50 million came along with another sweet sound to the ears of the startups, i.e. a $30 million fund for official investment in startup seed money launched by 500 Startups. McClure and company state that 500 Startups is a successful investment organization, not only in the level of startups but they have also been funding other incubators. Some of these incubators derive their roots from seed accelerator groups like Y Combinator, Techstars, Seedcamp, etc.

According to another ground breaking revelation, Mentors from 500 Startups will also be able to co-invest in its accelerator companies. This is something that not many of the other capital funding firms are doing at the moment. 500 Startups in no longer a one person show as Paul Singh and Christen O’Brien, who were mentoring companies in subjects of customer acquisition and expertise, have been promoted as business partners. O’Brien will be leading business development events and conferences while Singh heads the investment acceleration program as the Data/Metrics Guru. Bedy Yang and George Kellerman will also join the group of partners to expand the business of scouting emerging talent in Latin-America and Japan.

An added feather to the much decorated cap would be a conference called MamaBear that focuses on new technology for Kids and Mothers. The one day event organized by 500 Startups would see guest speakers from Disney, Sesame Street, BabyCenter and many more. With a lot of plans under the sleeves and really big money in the bag, the fresh team of 500 Startups looks all geared up for the long road ahead.