Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator program calls on South African tech startups to apply for its program, commencing on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.

The Silicon Valley-based institute seeks aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs to create innovative solutions for a sustainable future.

The program supports early-stage entrepreneurs and teams to build their ventures while providing a network of startup experts that share equity in their success.

Spread across 90 countries in over 200 cities, the Founder Institute is set to globalize Silicon Valley while empowering exceptional entrepreneurs to build companies that will create millions of new jobs.

Founders who have participated in the program have obtained traction, accepted into seed accelerators, raised funds, and build viable products.

According to Founder Institute, the program has supported more than 5 000 alumni in raising over $1 billion while they create their products.

“Having committed to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through this program, the Founder Institute is looking for founders and/or teams in their early stages of business (pre-seed), leveraging tech, with potential to scale globally,

“The program focuses on founders versus ideas in the admissions process and identifies founders of the highest potential through a collection of aptitude and personality tests that have been in development with leading social scientists since 2008. To date, over 35 000 people have applied to the program.”, says the Institute.

All business applicants from across sectors are filtered and selected at the institute’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Selected start-up founders will have the opportunity to:

• Get constant feedback and hours of mentorship with South African and international mentors, investors, alumni and entrepreneurs.
• Make progress on their business using a proven, structured process to gain traction towards getting funding
• Get fast-tracked to a suite of post-programmes, including Funding Lab, and receive expert support for years to come.
• Expand their support network to include start-up founders, CEOs and investors from the Founder Institute’sglobal network of 5 000+ alumni and 20 000+ mentors across over 92 countries and in 200+ cities.

How to apply

Are you a South African entrepreneur with an idea to validate, or are already in business and looking to take the next step? Then you can apply here. The deadline for applications is Monday, February 28, 2022.