Recruitment for the Huge Thing accelerator program has started; carried out in cooperation with Alior Bank – one of the most dynamically developing banks in Poland.
20 startups from the financial technology (FinTech) sector will be able to participate in the 4-month program and acquire funding of up to 45k Euro for further development of their ideas.
Teams from the Central-Eastern Europe region, who work on solutions from the field of FinTech, are invited to be a part of the fourth edition of Huge Thing. Therefore, startups working on ideas concerning blockchain, biometrics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet, should apply. There will be two 4-month-long accelerating programs. Each of them will wrap up so-called Demo Day – an official final presentation of teams and the results of their work in front of business representatives and investors.
Alior Bank already has experience in running projects in collaboration with startups. Cooperating with young companies from the FinTech sector allows to provide customers with the most innovative products and services. The program’s goal is to find new solutions, which could be developed in cooperation with Alior Bank.
Teams applying to the program need to have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) – a minimum, simple version of their product, ready for testing with first clients. Other considerations: the make-up of the project team, enthusiasm to further develop the project, desire to work and learn from the mentors involved in the program. The field to which the project pertains is also important.
The best teams will be invited to the pre-accelerator, whose goal is to help the organizers choose personalized development paths for startups, and see how the participants work during workshops and sessions with mentors. Teams will have a chance to confirm whether their solution qualifies for implementing a pilot project with the assistance of Alior Bank. The pre-accelerator will last for three weekends.
Qualifying teams will take part in the Huge Thing accelerator program. The program has been divided into two parts. The first one will focus on workshops, while the second one will address startups’ individual needs. Also, trips to two important startup centers, London and Berlin, are planned, where a meeting with FinTech industry representatives and potential buyers of startup services will be held. Each team will be assigned a guardian, who will support and check the team’s progress in achieving set goals.
The recruitment process remains open until April 17, 2017.
The HugeThing.vc accelerator program is on the list of 10 projects chosen by The Polish Agency of Enterprise Development under the Scale Up contest, carried out within the Start In Poland government-based program.
HugeThing.vc is an accelerator program inaugurated in 2012 by SpeedUp Venture Capital Group. To date, 31 teams altogether have attended editions of the program. Their participants have worked under the supervision of mentors from companies and organizations such as 500 Startups, Google, Microsoft, Allegro, and Wiseguys. The program has been awarded with CESAawards 2016 for the best accelerator program in Europe. For more info visit: www.hugething.vc.
