Deadline: 21-Apr-23
Applications are now open for the Biodiversity Accelerator+ Program, a three-month hybrid programme designed to scale businesses creating a biodiversity-positive impact.
Goals
- No longer is biodiversity the interest of only the tree huggers – from governments to financial institutions, from large MNCs to small landowners, the world is waking up to the urgency and the importance of addressing the biodiversity crisis.
- Their goal is simple: To support companies addressing the biodiversity crisis, by providing them with the resources they need to scale.
- For them, that means providing targeted coaching to build a profitable business – one with better products, more customers, and the investment firepower to back it up.
- Getting ready for your next fundraising round isn’t just marketing for show – it’s about having a stronger team, a defensible go-to-market strategy, a clear competitive moat, and much more. They’re here to help you get there – no strings attached.
Benefits
- Targeted Coaching: Professional mentors provide strategic support according to a customized roadmap that encompasses topics related to your go-to-market, business growth, fundraising, and marketing strategies.
- Global Community of Impact: Tap into their global network of investors, corporates, mentors, partners and academics working within the stakeholder ecosystem of nature and biodiversity.
- Mission-Aligned Capital: Access all their resources, in-person events, and coaches, fully funded and without giving up any equity. Companies in the cohort stand a chance to unlock >US$100K from Silverstrand Capital, with potential co-investments from their network.
Cohort Perks
- Over $200K worth of services & coaching – offered fully, for free: Grow your business with professional help, while protecting your equity. Their founders also have free subscriptions to services like Fingerprint For Success.
- Access to our Exclusive Resource Hub: Investor and media databases, legal templates, start-up glossaries, industry reports, and more
- Broad Media Reach: Amplify your reach: Their founders have been featured in publications like Mongabay and Impact Entrepreneur. They’ve also worked with e27 and eco-business.
11-Week Online Programme
- Core/Elective Structure: Building off from the strategic playbooks, the online programme consists of core and elective modules, to ensure your time is spent in a targeted way to best grow your company.
- Dedicated Mentor Check-Ins: Each company will assigned one dedicated mentor – an “entrepreneur in residence” – who brings overall strategic experience in building a business, to help you connect the dots on what you’ve been hearing from the different coaches you’ve worked with, and make sure you’re focused on the right areas to drive your business in both the short and long term.
- Group Sessions and Follow Up 1:1s: While they have found that founders often benefit from exchanges between peers, some topics need more individual support to make meaningful progress. The BA+ is designed to reflect this and bring out the best outcomes for different business areas.
- Funder, Entrepreneur, & Cohort Fireside Chats: Network with, and learn about, the strategies of mission-aligned funders and successful entrepreneurs in the space through intimate fireside chats. Because there are some experiences only founders understand, they’ve also allocated for cohort-only sessions for members of the cohort to catch up and exchange ideas, frustrations, and more.
Demo Day
- Everything culminates in an in-person demo-day, where founders get to showcase their work and pitch to a crowd of like-minded investors, across a variety of profiles.
Eligibility Criteria
- Start-ups that are:
- addressing the biodiversity crisis
- generating early revenues, with a proven product-market fit or looking to pivot their business model
- interested to expand operations in Asia
- Preference will be given to companies based/with operations in South East Asia, or with interest in expanding to the region.
- The programme will support up to 8 companies, selected based on the strength of the team, business, and impact on biodiversity.
- 8 seed to pre-A start-ups
- Fully funded 1-week kick-off in Singapore
- 3 months online: Group sessions & strategic 1:1 coaching, based on a core/elective programme structure
- Fully funded, in-person demo day
Why don’t you offer an upfront injection of capital?
- The Silverstrand philanthropic budget has been fully allocated to paying for the professional services of a curated network of coaches, as well as for financing the logistics of the in-person kick off and demo day. For founders, this translates to gaining a highly strategic network, at no risk or sacrifice of equity.
- All they ask for is time, as they are looking to support companies that want to build longer term relationships with them and their network of partners, and who are willing to put in the work to take their companies to the next level. They will explore the potential of investing into the companies post-programme.
For more information, visit Biodiversity Accelerator+.
