Innovative Czech start-ups are given new opportunity for further growth – Czech ICT Incubator @ Silicon Valley, launched by Czech ICT Alliance in co-operation with CzechInvest, Rockaway investment fund and Seznam.cz (major Czech Internet search company with local dominance over Google). The new program will provide mentoring in the Czech Republic, the best companies will be then sent to the global capital of start-ups, San Francisco. Runway will host the teams in their offices located in the Twitter-building – which are not only offices but also a great community full of energy and entrepreneurial spirit with proven track record and previous exits.
Each of the three rounds in 2015 will host three start-ups, who will not only get the Runway presence for 4 months, but also mentorship from co-operating Silicon Valley organizations, and support for networking and conferences presence. Local support will be provided by Roman Horáček, Regional Representative of CzechInvest in West Coast based in San Francisco. Rockaway and Seznam.cz will provide optional investment to cover not only full costs of Silicon Valley stay, including travel and accommodation, but also potential expansion, marketing and business development. A basic formal requirement for participation is to either have at least one Czech co-founder or to be a Czech legal entity. The first successful teams will head to Silicon Valley at the end of January 2015 after the vote of jury comprising of Silicon Valley experts and mentors. Call for applications is already open at www.czechict.cz/inkubator.
“CzechInvest has already supported nearly 40 Czech start-ups in its CzechAccelerator program, 16 of which directly in Silicon Valley – e.g. maker of 3D printers be3D or senior apps maker Ki-Wi Digital,” says CEO of CzechInvest agency Karel Kučera. We want to expand our support to Czech start-ups. We not only plan to continue with our successful CzechAccelerator program but also provide an umbrella for government support for Czech start-ups. We appreciate this initiative led by Czech ICT Alliance and becoming its official project partner,” Kučera adds. “This project is unique also by the extent of partners and Czech start-up ecosystem members: leading technical universities, major accelerators such as Wayra or incubators all over the Czech Republic,” comments Michal Zalešák from Czech ICT Alliance.
If you want to help the best of breed innovative start-ups from the Czech Republic, please get in touch with us at info@czechict.cz.