Startups accepted in 4th edition of MVP Academy accelerator will receive over $1 million in perks. These come in the form of services from mentor companies across the MVP Academy network and have been enabled to help founders accelerate their business during the nine weeks of the program. Besides, the teams will get industry connections, mentoring sessions with tech professionals and access to investment opportunities. Participation at MVP Academy is free of charge. Tech startups can apply on the program’s website www.mvpacademy.co by Sunday, 19 February 2017.
Organised in partnership with CyberGhost VPN, with the support of Bitdefender, Microsoft Romania and Raiffeisen Bank, MVP Academy accelerator will take place this year between 6 March and 8 May, at TechHub Bucharest.
For over nine weeks, tech startups accepted into the program will go through tens of hours of 1 on 1 mentoring sessions with local and global experts part of the MVP Academy network. They will work on defining their business development strategy, product features, product market fit and will practice their investment pitch. The most promising teams of this edition will have a chance to raise an investment through MVP Angels, the angel investors network associated with the acceleration program, in exchange for a minority stake in the company.
Perks valued at over $1 million from mentor companies
As part of the MVP Academy accelerator 2017, all the companies and founders will have access to various perks valued at over $1 million. Most of these are tools and services that cover startups’ needs to develop their products faster:
“Early stage startups need a lot of business and technical support to accelerate their company’s growth. Some of them are established companies, with recurring revenue so what they need is to test various distribution channels. Others are working on their product, and they need specific technical tools and programs. Starting with 2017, we will be able to give them free access to various tools for hosting, e-mailing services, marketing tools, storage services etc. that will allow founders to validate new product features and to identify emerging opportunities much easier. These perks are another benefit of our program that will help the teams to accelerate their companies as much as possible during the 9 weeks of the program.”, said Bogdan Iordache, Managing Director MVP Academy.
Hands-on guidance from global mentors
EUR 1.7 million is the total financing of all the MVP Academy alumni up to date. Companies as Axosuits, InnerTrends, Reflex, Urby and TypingDNA have been a part of the program during previous editions.
Founders and teams with a solid professional track that are building tech products with global potential are invited to apply until Sunday, February 19, by filling in the registration form available online on the program’s website www.mvpacademy.co.
Among of the mentors that will offer support to the MVP Academy teams are Max Kelly (Managing Director, TechStars Londra), Robert Knapp (Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN), Enis Hulli (Associate Partner 500 Startups Istanbul), Martyn Davies (Programme Director Ignite accelerator, London), Paul Smith (Head of Program Dubai Future), Florin Talpeș (Founder & CEO Bitdefender), Radu Georgescu (Founding Partner GECAD Ventures), Carmen Sebe (Business Advisor), Vladimir Oane (Director of Product Hootsuite), Lucian Todea (Founder & CEO Soft32), Adrian Gheară (Tech Startup Advisor & Investor), Bogdan Rîpă (Senior Director of Product Management at Fitbit).
To be accepted into the program, startups need to be working on a tech-related product, have a functional prototype, target a global market and show commitment in building their business. Taking part in MVP Academy is free-of-charge, and applications are open until Sunday, 19 February 2017, on the program’s website.
Founders that want to find out more about the program can reach out to the organising team at TechHub Bucharest or during their mentoring sessions and presentation events in various cities across the country. By now, they have organised free mentoring sessions in Iasi, Timisoara, Cluj. Next stops will be in Bucharest and Sibiu. More details on this topic are available on the program’s website.
MVP Academy is a program organised in partnership with CyberGhost VPN, with the support of Bitdefender, Microsoft Romania and Raiffeisen Bank, and perks from F6S and other companies. Program’s coverage is achieved with the support of Start-up.ro, Startup Cafe, EuropaFM, Business Review, Softlead, IQAds, eFinance, Agora and local tech communities.