@LaunchYU_York Offers $3,000 - $5,000 In Cash Awards To Participating StartUp Ventures @matrixthinker @OCEinnovation @YorkUniversity

The LaunchYU Accelerator program is a 4 month program, run through our partnerships with ventureLAB, YEDInstitute, and the BEST program at Lassonde School of Engineering.

The program is designed to support entrepreneurs as they Build, Launch, and Scale their ventures.

The intensive program provides lectures, workshops, one-on-one mentorship, and other services that help these early-stage ventures as they launch and grow their businesses. The program also provides participating ventures an opportunity to receive a maximum of $8,000 in cash awards. For each cohort, LaunchYU offers a total of $30,000 in cash awards for the participating ventures.

The program also provides access to resources like collaborative working space, legal advice and services, cloud and virtual infrastructure, access to maker spaces, investor meet-ups, industry connections, and more.

At the end of the program, ventures participate at a Graduation Demo Day where they pitch to an audience consisting of investors, corporate executives, successful entrepreneurs and government officials.

The social enterprises (for-profit and not-for-profit) participating in the program, will also be a part of VentureLAB's CommunityBUILD program. These ventures will be eligible to receive additional 3 months of incubation support through the CommunityBUILD program.

Program Requirements:

• To participate in the LaunchYU Accelerator Program, you must apply as a startup venture. If there are multiple co-founders for the startup, all co-founder's shall submit a single application form here.
• The LaunchYU Accelerator Program is designed to support all types of ventures, including for-profit, not-for-profit, and for-profit social enterprises.
• The program is open to all individuals, regardless of their affiliation with York University. The program is open to all external community members, students, alumni, staff, and faculty members.
• The program will include regular sessions of 3-4 hours conducted on once a week. Apart from these sessions, there will be one-on-one sessions which can be scheduled at the convenience of the participants and the mentors.

Selection Process:
A maximum of 20 ventures will be selected in each cohort of the accelerator. This will include the five social enterprises who are also part of CommunityBUILD program.
All the applications submitted will be evaluated and selected applicants will be invited for an in-person interview.
The final selection of participating ventures will be made after the interviews.

The ventures will be evaluated based on 2 major criteria:

• Capability of the founding team to execute
• Potential impact of the venture idea and the ability of the venture to scale

Program Cost:
The LaunchYU Accelerator program is offered at no cost to the participating ventures.
LaunchYU or York University does not charge any fees or claim any equity share from the ventures participating in the LaunchYU Accelerator program.
The only contribution expected from the participants is their commitment to their venture and their active participation in the program.

For submission guidelines please visit http://launchyu.ca/contact/