Over the years, I have personally witnessed demo days, startup showcases and met with many startups incubated at incubation centers in Pakistan. One of the major concern with all these incubators is the lack of international perspective and openness to new ideas.
Right now, when the techies in Silicon Valley, or Oslo, or Singapore are obsessed with the concept of Blockchain, you will hardly find someone here in Pakistan who understands the concept and will encourage you to do something in the domain. In order to speed up with innovations in West, we need to increase our pace, be open to ideas and do things which scare us.
This is exactly, where an accelerator at Oslo, the capital of Norway comes in the picture.
Katapult Accelerator is a startup program offering mentorship along with investments up to $150k in a 3-month incubation program at Oslo. The applications for the program close on 15th of December.
See also: Pakistani startup SheKab selected for Norway’s Katapult Accelerator
Katapult Accelerator program is a Norway-based incubation program which has a lot to offer to an impact based startup. The incubation program explicitly looks for and hunts down startups which are working in the Environmental, Societal and Exponential technology domains and hence bringing value to the world.
What is Katapult Accelerator offering and why you should apply
1. Networking
Since this is an international accelerator and you will be flying to Oslo. There is a high probability that you will meet a diverse group of people from different countries of the work. Hence, you will be able to learn, connect and forge partnerships which you would never had thought in your home countries.
2. Perspective
By joining such a program, you will be able to get an international perspective on your designed solutions. This is going to be helpful in the long run. Whether you plan to scale your current business or launch a new one, the learnings in the program will help you make better decisions in regards to that.
Startups selected for Katapult will also get an opportunity to attend the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA), the leading New York-based accelerator which is one of the partners to this program.
3. Investment
Katapult promises an investment of $150K right off the bat. Other than that, on the demo day, investors from around the world fly to meet and investment in startups. These kinds of investors can open door to many more opportunities as well. In Pakistan, fundraising is a huge issue so this accelerator can help you in fundraising as well.
Who can apply:
The startups that are working to bring any kind of positive entropy to the world can apply for it. The program looks for startups working in the environmental safety domain, societal domains and startups which are using technologies which have experienced exponential growth.
1. Environmental Domains
The startups that are working in any way to promote clean energy, efficient usage of land/sea resources come in this domain. The startups that are working on smart cities project are also considered.
2. Societal Domains
The societal domains like food and water conservation, promotion of health and education, general awareness and community development come into this. This domain also includes the concepts like inclusion and promoting gender-related and other diversities.
3. Exponential Technologies
Especially in the twenty-first century, we have witnessed a lot of new technologies changing the way humans have been living and interacting. This domain focuses exactly on these cutting-edge technologies, the domains like Blockchain, AI and VR, the ones which have the potential to exponentially scale.
How can you apply:
The accelerator program was founded just recently, it is accepting applications for their second cycle. The aspiring startups can apply through the form given at this link. The program will stop accepting applications after 15th of December so apply soon and the incubation begins in February in next year.
For further details, visit the accelerator’s homepage. Any further queries may also be dropped at [email protected].
