Seattle's YongoPal raises cash, plans move to Mountain View |
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Seattle's YongoPal raises cash, plans move to Mountain View
Here's the good news: YongoPal, which won the University of Washington business plan competition earlier this year with an idea to bring English language training to South Korean students, has scored a new round of funding from Dave McClure's 500 Startups. But here's the bad news: As part of the funding round, the company is moving to Mountain View, California.YongoPal announced the move on its Facebook page today, and it was reported today by education blogger Kirsten Winkler.
I am told by 500 Startups adviser Dave Schappell that YongoPal's move will be temporary, but you never know once young entrepreneurs get the taste of the Silicon Valley startup scene and sunshine. [Post updated]
I've got an email into YongoPal co-founder Darien Brown (who is traveling in South Korea) to get more details on the move and financing round.
The news could be especially troubling for the Seattle tech community, setting a potentially dangerous precedent. After all, it is critically important that the region hang on to its young entrepreneurial talent. (Some in the Seattle startup community have argued that one of the things holding back the region is that most of the entrepreneurs are in their 30s and 40s rather than their 20s).
Schappell, the founder of TeachStreet, said that Seattle upstart InternMatch also recently moved to the Bay Area to participate in the 500 Startups' incubator program. He said it was likely that they would move back here too.
YongoPal earlier this month announced that a new version of the service would be launched on November 1 after experiencing problems with the initial service.
UPDATE: Brown confirmed that the company raised $100,000 and will be moving to Mountain View in mid-November. But he said it is the intention to come back to Seattle, noting that the founders have condos in Seattle. "We also want to be back in the Founder's Co-op/TechStars space in time to enjoy Seattle during the summer," he said.
Here's a video of Brown discussing the YongoPal concept at the UW business plan competition earlier this year.
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