Pre-seed investor Techstars, has announced that it’s seeking aspiring entrepreneurs from across Ireland and the UK to participate in Startup Weekend Deep Tech (26 – 29 July). This is significant in that it’s being brought to Belfast for the first time, in partnership with the prestigious Queen’s University Belfast. To date, Techstars Startup Weekend has taken place in over 150 countries, with over 7,000 programmes and 428,000 participants.
Techstars Startup Weekend is a three-day programme that will provide invaluable opportunities for ambitious minds to help them gain real insights into startup life. It will enable aspiring entrepreneurs to connect with other creators and learn from experienced founders all whilst enhancing their knowledge in deep tech, from InsureTech to HealthTech, AI and more.
The 54 hour-long programme will bring together the best would-be entrepreneurs in the deep tech sectors and give them the chance to meet a team, ideate, receive mentorship and pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. The overall objective of the event is to help ambitious minds establish whether founding a company within deep tech is for them. Techstars’ Startup Weekend methodology has successfully yielded thousands of companies, some of which became unicorns, including Zapier, Rover, Yotpo, EquipmentShare and Carousell.
RELATED: Techstars Startup Weekend DeepTech Belfast [EVENT]
Day one of the event will see team formation and plenty of networking opportunities. Day two will be centered around customer validation, mentoring and building the solution. The final stretch of the programme will feature pitching and selection of winners.
Queen’s University Belfast has been credited with creating successful spin-out companies for the second consecutive year (2020) by The Octopus Ventures report. This recognition highlights Queen’s strong emphasis on research and commercialisation through its commercialisation arm, QUBIS. The report specifically commends Queen’s for its high-value exits in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, and life sciences? (QUBelfast)?? (Sync NI)?.
In addition, Queen’s University has demonstrated a significant impact on regional economic development, particularly in Northern Ireland’s flourishing life sciences sector. Notable successes include companies such as Re-Vana Therapeutics, which raised 3 million euros in pre-series A financing, and Titan IC, acquired by Mellanox Technologies. Additionally, Sonrai Analytics secured over 828 thousand euros in seed funding, with the company currently working on an 8 million euro project to improve cancer outcomes? (Queen’s University Belfast Alumni)?.
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According to Ulster Bank and Beauhurst’s Startup Index, 14,000 new companies set up in Northern Ireland in 2023, a 59% increase on 2022. In addition, a report from The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that, in Northern Ireland, 6.5 percent of the working-age population describe themselves as “early stage entrepreneurs.”
Open to thinkers and doers across the UK and Ireland, interested attendees can register for the programme by July 25, 2024.
Speaking about the significance of Startup Weekend DeepTech in coming to Belfast, Program Manager at Techstars leading this Startup Weekend, Emilie Vallauri said: “Techstars is excited to collaborate with Queen’s University Belfast and QUBIS to accelerate the emergence of the next generation of deep tech entrepreneurs from Belfast. We are proud to support this vibrant tech ecosystem and to contribute to the creation of new startups in the insurtech, AI and healthtech verticals.”
For further information on the Techstars Startup Weekend DeepTech, please click HERE.
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