Seedcamp Week is an intensive week-long event held in London every September and is targeted at young entrepreneurs from across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Applications are submitted online and based on these, a judging committee will select up to 20 teams to participate in the event.
The focus of this week is around providing an incredible experience for the 20 selected teams. There is a diverse mentor network of serial entrepreneurs, corporates, product designers, venture capitalists, recruiters, marketing specialists, lawyers and accountants that help the selected teams put together the foundations of a viable business.
The aim of this week is to collapse the time it takes startups to make and develop these critical relationships from months to a week and establish an unrivaled foundation on which the business can be built.
At the end of the week the funding decision will be made to invest up to €50K each in 5 teams for a small equity stake (5%-10%). (Sometimes, more than 5 teams are selected.)
The funding amount is purposely kept low enough that teams do not have to give away a large portion of their companies. The idea is to take enough money to develop a great product and build towards a higher valuation. As such preferred stock, board rights, or other rights often required by institutional investors are not asked for.
The three months following Seedcamp Week and the investment, is when the winning teams with the Seedcamp team begin building the product and company together.
The provided funding covers the teams’ move to London for at least three months, in which they are also provided access to services worth 2-3 times the invested €50K. The goal of this 3-month period is to help grow and nurture the teams by providing the same level of intensity and in-depth focus on developing the product and business.
During the course of the three months, the groups will have an opportunity to take advantage of the same ecosystem of experts which participated in the Seedcamp event through weekly dinners, topical lunches, conferences, and continued mentorship on various issues from scaling the business to raising further funding to M&A. Additionally, during the three months, assistance will be provided with all the paperworkto set up a company properly.
Six weeks into the project, a Demo Day is held where teams can show their products to the other groups from Seedcamp and a select group of investors. And eleven weeks into the project, an Investor Day is held where startups can present to potential investors.
For those interesting in knowing more about Seedcamp, check out the Seedcamp website; and those who want to apply can use this Seedcamp application form.
From the Arab region, Content Syndicate participated in Seedcamp Week 2007 and was nominated as one of the top 10 startups out of 260 participating startups from 40 countries.
As part of the INJAZ Egypt Company Program in 2011, over 1000 university students from across Egypt have formed start-up companies. On Saturday, September 24th, the top 500 of those students, organized in 22 teams from 11 Egyptian universities, will be taking part in a trade fair and will be competing for 10 seed funds plus incubation from corporations such as Mobinil, Exxon Mobil and Abraaj at “Dare to Dream: Empowering Egypt’s Young Entrepreneurs 2011“.
