When you succeed at first, you have every reason to expand and take up newer and bigger challenges. That’s exactly what Startupbootcamp is doing after the very successful first edition, which was launched as a quarter long program in Copenhagen between August and November, 2010. It brought 10 teams of 32 selected entrepreneurs from 12 different countries, face to face with 75 top mentors in the industry. All that came with thanks to Startupbootcamp’s co-founder, Alex Farcet who put a good number of months to find the right mentors to guide these entrepreneurs.
Today that goes a step ahead as Startupbootcamp announced the formation of the first European Startup Accelerator program. The program will take place annually in Madrid and Copenhagen in 2011 with the inclusion of Berlin and London in 2012. This comes as a joint venture between Okuri Ventures in Spain and Rainmaking in Copenhagen. Following is the event outline in the two cities:
Madrid
Application period starts from January 21 and ends on May 15 for the June to September period.
Copenhagen
Application deadline is July 15 for the September to November quarter.
The dates for the programs in London and Berlin are yet to be announced, but I guess these will take place in 2012 at the earliest. This expansion is definitely a part of the Startupbootcamp agenda and I guess it is quite an impressive move to limit expansion currently. Primarily because it helps to keep the venture more focused and let entrepreneurs fully leverage the experts available.
I am not going to talk any more on the details of this and focus more on why startup accelerators are an absolute essential. Firstly because initiatives such as these help create a healthy ecosystem in a region, there is a great necessity to bring entrepreneurs, mentors and investors closer together and leverage the expertise of each to put innovation into practicality. The mentors will consist of both local and international experts sharing their tips with aspiring founders to help them create a better startup. Think of it, when entrepreneurs are not bound by barriers of nationality and anyone can have the equal opportunity to take advantage of such a system. The believe in diversity is the key in bringing the best innovation.
There will be the European International Investment Day for all those startups that qualify the mentoring period. This day would give them the opportunity to pitch their products to venture capitalists and Business Angels, in short would bridge the barriers set up by regional divide.
Here’s what the Boot Camp has to offer:
- 10 teams selected from over 150 applicants
- 3 month program
- 4.000 EUR per team member
- Free office space
- 75+ mentors per chapter – serial entrepreneurs and subject experts (all volunteers)
- Investor Day with over 100 Business Angels and Venture Capitalists
If mentoring and investment is what has been holding you back from launching your startup or sharing it, now is the time. Applications for the Madrid program are open for now and there is no barrier on experience and age. You can fill out the questionnaire here and wait for clearance on the interview. We wish you best of luck with your venture and look forward to some big stories making waves in the global startup scene!
