Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42

Build your startup and learn from the best

Is your startup ready to Go Beyond?

IDEAS. INNOVATION. IMPACT.

Deadline: 13 August at 12:00 (noon) CEST

Bridgeway Accelerator 42 has a deep understanding of the international development sector—where it has been, and its future potential. Our teams have applied business and technology solutions to build capacity and strengthen programs for development organizations around the globe.

We are a nexus player, working across government, business and civil society, and at the intersection of international development and digital technologies.

We bring breakthrough thinking and approaches from the private sector to help development organizations deliver sustainable outcomes to drive effectiveness today and prepare for tomorrow.

By tapping into the best of Bridgeway's ecosystem and alliance partners—global reach, extensive capabilities, cross-industry perspectives, and a skilled force of experience and knowledge —we can provide end-to-end solutions.

Our focus verticals:

* AI,
* Robotics,
* Enhanced Reality
* Gamification
* Big Data.

You will get:

- Up to €80,000 in funding (first stage equity free)
- Mentoring and training
- The chance to connect with large European, US and Asian corporations.

Bridgeway Accelerator is an acceleration/investment program for early-stage startups based in San Diego/California and Belgrade/Serbia. Our goal is to take companies from the concept to a capital access position in a 3 + 3 -month program.

Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 has been conceived as a 2-phase incubation/acceleration program: IDEAS/BUILD > MEASURE/LEARN, in which the selected start-ups/SMEs will be offered a set of technical and business services to develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and reach commercial and/or investment agreements with our partners, corporates and/or private investors.

On the following link, you can see our list of partners:

https://www.bridgeway.company/partners

Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 - Guidelines for Applicants

Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 has been conceived as a 2-phase incubation/acceleration program: IDEAS/BUILD and MEASURE/LEARN, in which the selected start-ups/SMEs will be offered a set of technical and/or business services to develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and reach commercial and/or investment agreements with our partners, corporates and/or private investors.

​

Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 will use a funnel approach for project selection and the funding is results-driven, depending on specific metrics of success (KPIs and commercial deliverables) described for each phase and investment committee decision:

​

▪ IDEAS/BUILD: up to 35 projects will enter this phase. This phase will help the start-ups to clearly define their concept and build towards MVP. The objective is to develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to be introduced into the market. To that aim, startups/SMEs that are invited to this phase will have access to dedicated coaches and mentors, a technical infrastructure with a set of tools ready to be used, a different set of training modules on technical and personalized business development support. At the end of this phase, startups/SMEs will participate in a virtual pitch contest, after which the projects with a major market potential will be invited to enter the second phase of the incubation.

​

▪ MEASURE/LEARN up to 10 start-ups/SMEs with a solid MVP and market potential will access the last step. This phase is dedicated to building solid partnerships and detecting real investment opportunities for the top companies in the call. The projects will be encouraged to gain enough traction for the next investment phase in terms of sales, prospects, users, markets and customers. Up to 5 participants will pitch their developed solution and business model in front of partners, selected investors and the press in a Final demo day.

Each project funded will receive up to €80k depending on the stage reached in the incubation process under a lump sum scheme, based on the approval of different milestones or KPIs and along with the funnel approach and investment committee decision.
​

Funding Principle

The accelerator will be based on a 2-phase process IDEAS/BUILD > MEASURE/LEARN. Each phase comprises a set of activities that qualify for financial support. All the funds disbursed will be based on concrete results and not administrative justifications.

​

▪ OPEN CALL: This is the submission of proposals. No funding attached.

Timeline: Deadline for submissions is 13 August at 12:00 (noon) CEST. The evaluation process will last from August 14tht to August 30th, 2019. The evaluation will be based only on the materials provided in the application process. Materials will be evaluated by 4 groups of evaluators: Bridgeway Accelerator operational team, external technical team, external business team and investment committee.

Projects and teams will be evaluated on the scoring base and the project/team with the highest score will be asked to join the program.

▪ IDEAS/BUILD: No funding attached. The selected participants are required to develop an MVP.

Timeline: The first week of September is the beginning of startup onboarding. Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 Ideas/Build is a 3-month long program, from September till the end of November.

Location: Companies will be working remotely with dedicated Program managers, Bridgeway Accelerator team and Bridgeway network of experts, partners and investors.

If the opportunity arises for the physical presence of the founders the opportunity will be presented to the founders. Founders can solely decide if they will accept the opportunity or decline with no bearing of staying in the program. At the end of this phase, the Investment Committee will make a decision about startups that will go to the next phase. The number of startups is up to 10.

​

To stay in the program startups will need to perform individually set monthly goals.

​

This phase is equity-free.

▪ MEASURE/LEARN: up to €80,000 attached to the accomplishment of the KPIs defined among each SME and its coach at the beginning of this phase using a set of common objective criteria, i.e. those that ensure equal opportunities for funding to all participants.

​

​

Timeline: The First week of December startups/SMEs will participate in a pitch contest, after which the projects with a major market potential will be invited to enter the last phase of the incubation. Bridgeway Accelerator Program 42 Measure/Learn is a 3-month long program, from December till the end of February.

Location: Companies will be working remotely with dedicated Program managers, Bridgeway Accelerator team and Bridgeway network of experts, partners and investors.

If the opportunity arises for the physical presence of the founders the opportunity will be presented to the founders. Founders can solely decide if they will accept the opportunity or decline with no bearing of staying in the program. The projects will be encouraged to gain enough traction for the next investment phase in terms of sales, prospects, users, markets and customers. Participants will pitch their developed solution and business model in front of partners, selected investors and the press in a Final demo day.

At the end of this phase, the Investment Committee will make a decision about startups that will receive the funding. The number of startups is up to 5, and the amount of funding is up to €80,000 per startup.

​

What are you waiting for?

APPLY NOW - Places are limited!