Sber, a financial institution, has launched a new batch of Sber500, an international seed accelerator for technology entrepreneurs. All stages of the program will be supervised by foreign mentors and experts with experience and networking around the world.
Registration is currently ongoing and will remain open until May 25th, 2024.
Startups from all over the world are encouraged to apply, with AI-powered projects set to receive additional mentoring support and priority in the selection process. All applicants must already have a minimum viable product, or MVP, a staffed team, and first sales. However, deep-tech startups with an in-depth scientific basis are exempted from applying, as they may not have any sales.
This 12-week program will start with an online boot camp for the over 100 qualified startups. International industry experts will evaluate their businesses, give recommendations on how to boost them, share insights about successful development, and positioning of similar projects on markets outside Russia.
A total of twenty-five finalists will later be picked to join the seed accelerator’s main program. In the fall of 2024, a demo day will be held, where startups may raise investment. Moving forward, winners may pilot their solutions at Sber and across partner corporations.
Speaking at the launch of the accelerator program, Alexander Vedyakhin, Deputy Chairperson of the Executive Board at Sberbank said, “The mission of our seed accelerator, Sber500, is to identify at early stages the solutions with the potential to lead their industries, as well as to offer them expertise and spotlight them for the entire innovation market. Both Sber and the entire country are interested in having more companies like that. In the last four years, Sber500 graduates have raised over USD 40 million in investments and signed more than 7,000 commercial contracts.”