Featured

ASA – The new Startup Accelerator on the block

Avatar

Rafael Pires

Apr 17, 2015

asa - Anje Startup Accelerator

The Portuguese startup scene is growing at a fast pace. Besides the investment wave we saw during the last weeks, all the news we get every single day are a good proof of that. There’s a new Startup Accelerator in the country brought to the world by ANJE – the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs.

anjeWe are talking about ASA – ANJE Start-up Accelerator. ASA aims to encourage and support the entrepreneurial activity, creating new technology-based companies in Portugal. Startups in areas with high technological intensity will be a priority, but the support to entrepreneurship within the academic community is also part of their goal.

The new accelerator has a maximum duration of 2 months (between May and June 2015) and covers 4 sequential phases:

  1. Call for application: Open till April 26th, the results will be published on the 30th. Only 30 applications will be selected.
  2. Workshops: All the teams will go through a series of workshops, but in the end, only 10 teams/projects will move on to the next phase.
  3. Six-week acceleration program: The selected teams will experience a 3 stage acceleration program: Tune, Build and On Stage, lasting around 2 weeks each.
  4. Entrepreneurship Conference: Panels to debate the latest technological trends and emerging markets. Each project/team will pitch their evolution. It’s expected to be around June 2015.

Are you already considering to apply? Make sure you comply with the requirements. ASA is looking for teams of two to three people with 18 years of age or older. The goal must be to set up a company in the North and Central Portugal and Alentejo. Applications from individuals won’t be accepted.

Regarding mentors and partners, there’s no information available, but some details about potential prizes are known. After the 3rd phase, an amount of €22,000 can be allocated to projects with a good performance during the program, that will end up establishing the company. This is valid for the 10 teams/projects. To the cash prize, 24 months of incubation at ANJE are added, as well as a package of services involving partners such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Bizspark.

share