The Lisbon Challenge accelerator closed its application process on Sunday to commence the 10 week program for startups.
The Lisbon Challenge acceleration program is underway with the startup selection phase after ending its application process yesterday.
This year’s program will consist of startups working in the following fields:
INDUSTRY
- ENTERPRISE
- FINTECH
- INDUSTRY 4.0
- CYBER SECURITY
- HEALTH & WELL-BEING
TECH
- BLOCKCHAIN
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
- MACHINE LEARNING
- CLOUD COMPUTING
- BIG DATA
The program offers a pre-seed funding of €10K for 1.5% equity, giving startups a good valuation to start with.
Like any good accelerator, access to mentorship in the form of experienced entrepreneurs and market experts will be readily available, and this year the Lisbon Investment Summit will take place right in the middle of the Lisbon Challenge’s investment phase in June, so there will be more opportunities to connect with investors.
The validation phase begins April 4 with a focus on problem-solution fit and validating the startups’ minimum viable customer segment.
According to the Lisbon Challenge website, “Time after time, most start-ups that attend LC, start off by stating that they have the problem-solution fit completely validated and evidence that their product has market need. But validation is never enough, in fact a start-up’s growth is based on validation, so this process should be a continuous one.”
Following the validation phase will be product phase, followed by growth and investment.
After completing the acceleration program there will be an incubation phase from June 11 – November 30 where startups will learn to become “independent,” and there will be a pre-selection for Beta-i Corporate Pilot Programs, which aim to “foster innovation by helping corporations to connect & partner with startups.”
The eight Lisbon Challenge mentors include some familiar names that Portugal Startups has covered such as Celso Martinho, Founder and CEO at Bright Pixel; Vasco Pedro, Co-Founder and at CEO Unbabel; Daniel Araújo, Co-founder and CEO at Attentive; as well as representatives from Microsoft and Google.
Bright Pixel recently partnered with Startup Braga ahead of the acceleration program’s launch February 8.
Read More: Bright Pixel partners with Startup Braga Accelerator ahead of Feb program
Last month Unbabel raised $23M to its expand AI and human translation platform operations.
Read More: Unbabel raises $23M to expand AI, human translation platform operations
And Attentive was the winner of the Lisbon Challenge Fall 15 Edition.
Read More: ATTENTIVE.US wins Lisbon Challenge and secures a €100k investment