Accelerator and grant for startups

Associations of like-minded people who form a single and cohesive team and have a startup idea can submit a grant application and project estimate to receive a grant under the acceleration program in the amount of up to 25,000 US dollars (equivalent to about 1,025,000 hryvnias), developed UMAEF (direct investment fund, developed jointly by Ukraine and Moldova with the aim of attracting finance for new pilot solutions).

The submission deadline is October 20, 2024.

According to the terms of the program, natural persons or entities of entrepreneurial activity (primarily in the field of Deep Tech) are allowed to participate, who:

• form a team of 2-3 people;
• have startup solutions at any stage of development, including at the early stage of development (Pre-Seed Stage);
• can demonstrate that if their innovative idea is implemented, it will also have the potential for further development and scaling;
• successfully passed the assessment of applications, which consists of several stages (general compliance with the grant application and the presented cost estimate, interviews with representatives of the grantor and team members).

After passing the first stages of evaluation of teams and their innovative solutions, applicants will have the opportunity to participate in further events.

This procedure looks like this:

• if participants successfully pass the first stages of evaluation (compliance + interview), lasting up to 1 month, they can receive additional mentoring support and participate in meetings with various venture funds not only from Ukraine, but also from other European countries, the USA, investment up to $25,000 for development;
• if the participants not only successfully pass the first stages of assessment (compliance + interview), but also, in the opinion of the grantee's representatives, demonstrate significant success at this stage, they can also count on receiving additional "incentive prizes" - grant support for marketing services and advertising (up to USD 1,000), as well as other affiliate services (up to USD 50,000), in addition to the established standard investment amount.

Provisions of the costs that the applicant plans to reimburse for grant funds must be directly related to the implementation of the innovative solution and provide for the purchase of the necessary equipment, software, payment of costs for patenting the object of intellectual property, etc.

As for any other start-up, a person must prepare a technical task in advance, which describes the composition of the development team, their functions during the creation of the development and its implementation, the stages of the implementation of the project and its purpose, prepare a Pitch Deck, describing briefly the mission and vision of the project , market size, investment plan, etc.

Conclusions.

UMAEF has launched its own acceleration and grant programs for startups, providing applicants with direct investment of up to $25,000, as well as mentoring support, partner services and funding for marketing services to implement an innovative solution.

Thanks to their experience and specialization, the specialists of Prikhodko and Partners can provide support for this program or consulting support to interested clients.