CEED Tech, the Central European consortium of tech accelerators announced an open call for applications to its five accelerator programs, kicking off in January of 2016. The open call runs from August 27 through November 1. Up to 50 startups from the CEE region and beyond will receive up to €30,000 in seed funding. Iin addition, a €250,000 follow-on fund is available at each accelerator for the best performing startups.
This is the second major funding and acceleration round backed by CEED Tech. The first set of programs ended this Spring with 6 Demo Days across Europe. In 2014, 34 startups, from 15 countries, were funded and accelerated in Prague, Tallinn, Budapest, Vilnius, and Bratislava. The CEED Tech accelerators have already allocated over €2 Million in EC grants thus far. Additionally, many startups finishing these programs have already secured, or will soon secure private investments to help them grow.
“CEED Tech as a whole collected over 750 applications this past round, for up to 50 spaces. So clearly there is a growing demand from startups in the Central European region for mentorship, guidance, and support,” said Cedric Maloux, of StartupYard, Prague, a CEED Tech member.
The CEED Tech accelerators, powered by over 300 industry expert mentors and investors from around the world, run for an average of 3 months, and prepare startups to launch their products globally, while gaining further investment. CEED Tech is backed by grant funding from the European Commission, and will have allocated €5 Million in grants to seed-stage startups by the end of 2016.
CEED Tech is funded by the FIWARE program, which is a middleware platform driven by the European Union, for the development and global deployment of applications for Future Internet. The API specification of FIWARE is open and royalty-free, and the involvement of users and developers is critical for the platform to become a standard and reusable solution.
Check CEED Tech's website for details of the two packages available: Full Business Acceleration in exchange for equity, or equity-free FIWARE-only support. Applicants may rank their first and second choice accelerators, for a better chance of being selected.
