Remember when PKO Bank Polski, Impact’17 strategic partner, made the Bridge to MassChallenge announcement at Impact’17 back in June? September 1 the applications open, bringing Poland one step closer towards having MassChallenge to Warsaw. The acceleration programme is looking for 200 most innovative startups from the CEE region to help them develop and go global. So if you’re a company with a ready product or service, and you’re ready to move to a bigger market, Bridge to MassChallenge is the key to do just that.
What is MassChllenge? One of the biggest acceleration programmes in the world, available in the US, the U.K., Switzerland, Mexico, and Israel. During the seven years of its existence, MassChallenge has helped over 1,200 startups who have got over two billion funding and created over 65,000 new workplaces.
Now it’s time it hit CEE. It’s going to be based in Warsaw, a young but quickly developing startup hub, comparable to Berlin or London. It’s all made possible thanks to MIT Enterprise Forum Poland and PKO BankPolski, supported by Impact CEE who’s going to invite the best startups to promote themselves at Fintech’17 in Krakow.
“MassChallenge is one of the most recognisable acceleration programmes globally. We’d like to use the potential it has and draw the best startups from the CEE region to Poland. We aim to give the best projects an opportunity to go global. PKO Bank Polski is the biggest bank in the region and we’re open to innovations. We’re hoping that among the startups that enter the programme, we’ll find ones we’ll be able to start a cooperation,” says Szymon Wałach, Managing Director Retail Client Division at PKO Bank Polski.
Not sure it’s for you? If you’re got a ready service or product, traction, and you’re willing to expand to new markets, you’re most likely eligible. As long as your revenue isn’t bigger than a million dollars per year and funding not exceeding two million dollars, you’re good to go.
Out of all applicants, the best 25 will be invited to a four-day boot camp in Warsaw, with workshops and extensive mentoring sessions led by experts from Israel and the US. The top ten most likely to scale their business and go global will be invited to a four-day boot camp in Boston. That’s the opportunity you’ve all been waiting for: you’ll have a change to meet with potential investors and partners, and talk to global companies about the implementation of your product.
In the future, granted the pilot programme is a success, MassChallenge will operate as a Warsaw-based acceleration programme, taking up to 80 startups a year. It’ll help them scale up, develop quickly and get that traction.
Interested? Apply now here. You’ve got until October 6 so make up your mind fast!
