Another day in Europe, another startup accelerator program springs into action. This time it’s the return of Estonia-based Startup Wise Guys with the launch of a new B2B-focused accelerator called BusinessTech. The 4 month bootcamp-styled program, which is funded in part by the Enterprise Estonia Structural Fund, is open to startups from anywhere in the world, though, naturally, it’s largely targeting the CEE region.
Specifically, the program is seeking B2B startups, citing areas such as payments, security, and the cloud — emphasising the opportunity to build a bridge between existing enterprises and the upstarts accepted into the accelerator. The deal on offer falls into the upper region of the standard accelerator offering. Startup teams get up to €15,000 in funding, contingent on number of founders, in return for giving away 8% equity. There’s also an opportunity of €1 million in follow-on funding via a partnership Startup Wise Guys has with the tax payer-funded SmartCap VC fund.
What’s noteworthy is the program has added an extra month to Startup Wise Guys’ previous model — up from 3 months — with the extra time pegged for forging those enterprise partnerships and software trials, and raising further funding. Aside from that it appears to follow a familiar model, offering mentoring and a program designed to accelerate the early-stage startup cycle of business planning, lean product development and iteration — culminating in the much coveted Demo Day where startups pitch in front of investors (and sometimes the press). The latter will take place in both Tallinn and in London.
The list of 100 or so mentors isn’t being fully unveiled just yet. However, PayPal, Microsoft and Clarified Security are signed-on to help.
Startup Wise Guys has previously accelerated 24 companies from 15 countries. It cites stand out B2B portfolio companies as Cloutex, a data integration and synchronization for SaaS services; Monolith, analytics for bricks ‘n’ mortar retail stores; and Vitalfields, the SaaS for farmers. Together they have gone on to raise $2m in the first quarter of 2014.
For the BusinessTech program, Startup Wise Guys is looking for 10 teams. Applications are now open and the accelerator kicks off proper in mid-July this year.
