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Newspace Business Accelerator

Newspace is an acceleration program that provides technological, industrial and business mentoring and offers seed funding for early stage space startups. Successful Newspace applicants gain access to close cooperation with major global space tech companies that hunting for promising and innovative technologies.

Here the best projects selected via a multi-stage assessment receive intensive development through 4 months of intensive acceleration as well as opportunities to attract major new investment. Newspace offers startups AZN 100,000 worth of benefits package from different programme partners and provides up to AZN 20,000 seed funding to top 3 startups to support their growth through new business capabilities and improved operations.

How it works?

The program includes 4-month of acceleration program where startups learn the essentials of building a business around your disruptive idea. The startups' ideas get refined into a strong sustainable business to be funded and launched.

After the acceleration program, where startups are provided with 100,000 AZN worth of benefits package from different program partners, startup pitch their products in a Demo Day and the top 3 startups win up to 20,000 AZN seed investment and get a chance to sign a contract with Azercosmos (and other investors), join international technology and innovation exhibitions and Social Innovation Lab's 6-month Scale-up program to compete at international stage.

We encourage entrepreneurs to apply with a idea even if no work has been done on it. Our team will make sure you make a lot of progress during the accelerator program and be ready to rock in the Demo Day.

Selection criteria:

Your solution should:

  • comply with the challenges of the accelerator program;
  • be novel and innovative;
  • be business or/and social oriented;
  • promise cheaper, faster and efficient results.

Note: there is no restriction on age for the participants. We believe that great ideas require diversity of all ages, shades and genders.

The structure of the program.

After the announcement of the successful applications, the journey to Newspace starts:

Step 1: Intensive Bootcamp

Selected 10 startups in the first batch of Newspace program, go through an intensive 2-day Bootcamp to establish solid foundation of their startup. The program includes hands-on training and workshops on 10 essential modules in building a new tech venture.

Step 2: Acceleration Phase

The program continues with 16 weeks of acceleration program where the startups learn essentials of building a business on and around a disruptive tech solution. Through the hands-on workshop series they learn the most up-to-date tools, techniques and methodologies to validate their idea, formulate solid value proposition and build it into a sustainable business model.

For Accelerator period 10 startups are provided with AZN 100,000 worth of benefits package:

  • Satellite images and industry data;
  • Technical and technology mentorship, training and insights;
  • Business clinics, training and mentorship;
  • Prototyping and production support;
  • Matchmaking sessions with practitioners, corporate and investors;
  • Marketing, sales and publicity resources;
  • 24/7 available office space + utilities;
  • Other resources.

No matter how brilliant any idea, it is of no use if it doesn't resonate with the end user's needs. Startups learn how to articulate their business model into a perfect pitch and communicate it to the audience clearly. We also make sure startups build a working prototype of their product before the Demo Day.

Step 3: Demo Day

After 16 weeks of intensive acceleration program, it's time to showcase what the teams are made of in the Demo Day. In Demo Day startups come together to fight for the seed investment and take their sustainable tech solution to the next level. Lots of fun and excitement! Our Jury of experts select top 3 startups.

The winning startups in the Demo Day get up to 20.000 AZN:

  • First Place Winner: 10,000 AZN
  • Second Place Winner: 5,000 AZN
  • Third Place Winner: 3,000 AZN

The winners get a chance to sign contract with investors, join international trade shows and the 6-month of Scale-up program by Social Innovation Lab to further develop their business and gain access to international network.

On top of all, we ensure that startups have an unforgettable learning journey, they gain essential knowledge and hands-on experience of building a sustainable business as part of Newspace program. Most importantly, lot of fun!

Should it happen that you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to message the official Facebook page of “Social Innovation Lab” or contact us at +994558356538.

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