As you probably already noticed – a new call for Raising Starts has been opened, the first pre-seed accelerator program in Serbia that provides professional and financial support for accelerated development to startups in the earliest stages of developing innovative products and services. The program is implemented by the Science and Technology Park Belgrade, in partnership with the Science and Technology Park Niš and the Science and Technology Park Čačak, with the support of the Swiss Government.
Through intensive lectures and workshops, startups participating in the program get the necessary guidance, knowledge and skills to develop their innovative business and market approaches, mentors with international experience who have gone through the global startup journey, a grant of up to CHF 20,000 non-refundable (no equity) and support from a community of successful founders, mentors and investors.
As such, the program is an ideal first step for startups that have just embarked on the development of innovative products and services – a stepping stone to the market, readiness for further investments and global growth.
We spoke with Andrea Aleksić, Lead Environment Artist, co-founder of Phobos, whom you already had the opportunity to meet on SGA channels, as well as their game Cloudburst, and we have asked her to share her experience with the Raising Starts program.
Andrea: Raising Starts was the first support program we got as a new indie team working on a video game project. The entire program was a valuable experience during which we had the opportunity to talk about our idea with numerous experts, refine our pitch deck and rehearse our performance in front of the expert committee. Participation in the Raising Starts program strengthened our team, which we further expanded with their financial assistance in the second phase of the program.
SGA: What was the mentoring support like?
Andrea: The mentoring support continued even after the program ended, which was also crucial for us in the next stages of collecting investments. In addition, the expert support of the Science and Technology Park Belgrade, which we received as a member of the program what was founding a company, regarding legal issues and the use of subsidies and benefits was also extremely important to us. Raising Starts is a great starting point and a good introduction to the entire process of developing a startup from idea to realization!
In addition to comprehensive training, startups are given access to modern innovation laboratories and special support in the field of intellectual property protection, and after the program, startups remain part of the community of the science and technology parks, which opens new doors and opportunities for them through connections with international mentors, investors and other startup founders.
As a reminder, applications are open until December 28th at noon on the official page of the program, and startup teams of at least 2 members and innovative companies founded no more than two years before the date of the Public Call’s publication can apply for the current Public Call.