Entrepreneurs and start-ups from Scotland’s technology sector have until December 30 to apply for the second cohort of start-ups in pre-seed tech accelerator, Seed Haus.
Only five companies are chosen in each round. Successful applicants can access up to £30,000 of equity investment from some of the country’s most successful and high profile tech investors.
Seed Haus, was co-founded by CEO Calum Forsyth, and Chairman Robin Knox. The accelerator fills a gap in Scotland’s startup support system by providing not only pre-seed investment but office space in an architecturally designed incubator, regular mentor meetings, workshops, investor sessions, and peer meet-ups. Seed Haus is the only incubator in Scotland to provide entrepreneurs with start-up capital as part of the package.
The accelerator boasts a wide-range of well known business leaders, serial entrepreneurs and investors from Scotland’s business community as Partners and investors, including: Alistair Forbes, James Watt of BrewDog, Gavin Dutch, Paul Walton, Judy Wilson, Rob Dobson, Paddy Burns, Chris van der Kuyl, Paul Davidson, and Sir Tom Hunter.
The first round of start-ups joined Seed Haus earlier this year, with companies including a private social network, wearable technology, cyber security and alcohol delivery making it into the accelerator programme. The successful applicants were:
Seed Haus CEO, Calum Forsyth, told DIGIT: “Our deal terms are incredibly founder friendly. The founders backed in cohort 1 were originally looking to raise around £100,000 with very little traction. Based on the current investment climate in Scotland, that would have meant selling a big part of their business, at a formative stage, hampering future growth and fundraising. Pleasingly, they saw the value in aligning with Seed Haus which allows them to hold on to a greater portion of equity and lay the foundations for a truly scalable business.”
Knox added: “We are granting startups some breathing room to build out their metrics and evidence preliminary traction. The opportunities we work with are at an early stage but they might have sold 20-25% of their business to reach the same goals without the framework of Seed Haus. In simple terms, we are helping startups to do more, with less.”
Applications for cohort 2 close on December 30 and founders should apply directly through the Seed Haus website.