Get the Right Accelerator Program for Your Tech Startup

For a dozen years, accelerators and mentorship program flourish all over Europe. According to the report of Gust in 2015, there are almost as many accelerators in Europe than in North America.

A tech startup has a large choice of programs to apply to. To better get to know the options, Scientist met PanaceaStar, a British accelerator and asked Stavroula Bitsi for some insights.

Briefly, who are you and what is your background?

My name is Stavroula Bitsi and I am the Ecosystem Curator for PanaceaStars. I am completing a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the Royal Veterinary College in London. I have always been interested in assisting and accelerating technology translation as often commercialization of original ideas into marketable products can take considerably long or never be realized.

Can you present Panacea Innovation: its history, its activities, its missions, …

Panacea Innovation was born in Oxford in 2015 as Oxford Biotech. Panacea Innovation is a science and technology translation ecosystem that aims at becoming an umbrella underneath which novel initiatives are introduced to mine for “undervalued assets” in the academia-industry-investment triple-helix and give rise to high-impact assets.

PanaceaStars, Panacea Innovation’s wholly owned subsidiary, is our comprehensive tech translation vehicle for mining, de-risking, accelerating, and funding early-stage deep science companies. Our mission is to support great innovators in their drive to develop proofs-of-concept from the earliest stages and prove they have what it takes to scale their ideas.

What do you offer to startups?

Our 3-month accelerator program, which is free to enter and with no strings attached, offers selected startups access to a £100K-worth package of benefits including:

• 4D (Scientific, Business Development, Legal/IP, Investment/VC) mentorship and ongoing support
• Networking opportunities with other entrepreneurs from the UK and Europe
• £30,000 non-dilutive prize, facilitated lab and office space for the winning team

After the conclusion of the accelerator, shortlisted startups are invited to join the 8-month Elevator, where we provide the complete toolkit of early-stage investment, R&D, business support, mentorship, incubation, and top-notch industry partnerships.

To which field of research does it apply? What kind of researchers may be interested in your services?

All deep science ideas within our three themes: BioStars (healthcare and life sciences), AIStars (artificial intelligence) and TEMStars (technology, engineering, and mathematics) are welcome. The accelerator competition is open to post-graduate and MBA students, academics, industry professionals and other aspiring entrepreneurs with relevant skillsets.

We welcome applications from individuals or teams, while the PanaceaStars entrepreneurship platform can be utilized to either recruit other entrepreneurs to broaden existing teams’ skillset or to look for a team to build or join.

What is the main advantage of your mentoring?

We have an outreach and a series of formal collaborations with Europe’s most prestigious academic and research institutes and corporates. So far we’ve helped to build more than 70 companies, with over 50% survival rate - the industry’s highest ever. We are only looking for game-changing ventures that will help shape the world.

Our main advantage is that we are not a traditional accelerator/incubator as we do not limit ourselves to throwing demo-days and events, we are in it for the long term. We provide an ecosystem of advanced R&D facilities and a sophisticated network of investors, stakeholders, regulators, corporate partners, legal firms and academic institutions which would greatly benefit any early stage venture.

What do the startups of your community say about Panacea?

Startups that have previously participated in our accelerator program have cherished the networking, having made useful contacts and having enjoyed conversations with like-minded people. We provide a shortcut right to the top mentors in the industry and our startups feel that their business plan and pitch improve thanks to our expert advice, making them much more investment-ready.

What are the alternative solutions to not selected startups?

Our strategy is to support truly early-stage startups, yet they must have sound preliminary data that suggest the potential development of breakthrough technologies. If we don’t select a startup because the idea is not concrete enough or we believe that our package won’t take them to their next inflection point, we would advise them to try to work more on their technology and business plan. In case they might be too advanced for our investment opportunities, we would make the necessary introductions to other later stage investment funds.

Do you plan a call for projects in the near future?

The application process for our PanaceaStars cohort is currently open. The deadline is the 18th of February 2018.

Any last word?

I would like to invite all aspiring entrepreneurs that could benefit from the opportunities we offer to have a look at our website. Good luck!