INVEST INCUBATOR HELPS YOU TO LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS

Startpagina Nieuws INVEST Incubator helps you to launch your business

From the INVEST Incubator, you’ll get help in getting funding, access to INVEST Alliance partner universities’ selected specialists and resources, and entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring to help you to launch your business and become a more competent international entrepreneur. 

INVEST Incubator has two tracks:

  • Pre-incubation program for those teams who have not yet registered their business and launched their MVP
  • Incubation program for those teams who have already registered their business and launched (or are just about to) their MVP.

Applying for the program is easy:

  1. Send your application by the 30th of October, 2024 (see detailed instructions below)
  2. Present your idea to the jury


Who is the INVEST Incubator for?

You can apply for the INVEST Incubator if your team includes at least one person who is a student, staff representative, or alumni of INVEST partner universities or an active stakeholder in the regional INVEST Living Labs.
In addition to yourself, your team must have at least one person with whom you develop the business idea further.


What do I commit to when I apply?

When you apply, you understand that the INVEST Incubator will publish at least one blog post about your team that relates to your experiences with the program.

You are able and committed to spending your time developing your business idea for at least a few hours a week during the whole coaching period which is 4 months long. During this time there will be a total of 3-5 meetings with your coaches. Some of the meetings can be organized together with multiple startup teams.

 

What are the benefits of the INVEST Incubator?

If you are selected for the INVEST Incubator, you will have access to a 4-month training period during which you will be assisted by experts representing different fields and countries from the INVEST Alliance.

  • If you so choose, you will get to know and network with other start-up entrepreneurs.
  • You will get some help in acquiring financial support. 
  • You will get access to selected resources and specialists of INVEST Alliance partner universities
  • You get visibility for your new start-up business.

There can also be additional financial support available for teams selected into the Incubator depending on the home university of the selected team.


Here’s how to apply for the INVEST Incubator

  1. Complete the one-page business plan (get the template here)
  2. Send an email with your contact information and the one-page business plan as an attachment to the representative of your university (The title of the email should be Application to INVEST Incubator):
  1. If your application is selected to be presented to the jury, prepare a pitching presentation of your idea (link to the presentation template here)
  2. Practice presenting your ideas within the time limit (5 min)
  3. Present your business idea to the jury on an online pitching event, which will be in November.

If you want more information, please contact your university representative (see above)


Selection criteria

The selection criteria the jury will use are:


Fit with INVEST focal points or any INVEST Living Labs: Focal point A: Water, Energy, Food or Environment, Focal point B: Quality of Life, Focal point C: Entrepreneurship 

 

International potential: Does the business idea have chance to be internationally successful business?

Product-Market Fit: Are there customers that will buy your product or service at the price you want to ask? How well does your product or service standouts from the competition relative to an important customer need? You have a good product-market fit if your product solves a currently poorly solved important customer problem better and/or more cheaply than existing competing solutions.

Feasibility: Are you able to deliver a product that works as planned? Does the product or service you are offering work? Is it really solving the problem as planned? Do you have the resources, such as skills, to produce it as planned? 

Profitability: Will the business generate the amount of income and profit you want? You might have a good product-market fit and high feasibility, but your business will not bring you and your investors the income you want. This will result in business failure. 

Degree of Proof: How certain we can be of the quality and depth of your understanding on which the business idea is based on? How experienced you are? Have you already tested parts of the business idea somehow? What other proof do you have?