In order to strengthen the startup community in Serbia, the Innovation Fund has launched a new acceleration program – Katapult, which will provide mentoring and financial support to companies through intensive training and networking with investors. Katapult wants to help innovative growth-oriented companies to position themselves in the global market, as well as to improve their business development capacities by which they will increase the possibility of attracting private investment.
In order to encourage the participation of gaming companies and teams in the program, SGA cooperates with the Innovation Fund and connects the program to relevant mentors from our industry, who will mentor the gaming startups who potentially apply and pass into the acceleration program. You can see the names of some of the many mentors on the Katatpult accelerator website.
SGA will also organize a special program for its members on Tuesday, November 16, in order to support domestic gaming teams in preparing their applications. On that occasion, a representative of the Innovation Fund will talk about the program, while we will also deal in detail with the structure of the application, and have a Q&A with several of our teams who have successfully participated in other funding competitions organized by the Innovation Fund in the past.
The Katapult Acceleration Program is open to all innovative companies that are in the early stages of product development and market conquest, as well as companies with proven market traction that aim to accelerate their growth and raise additional funding. Therefore, it includes domestic gaming companies that are in the phase of ideation (entry grant up to 20,000 EUR), or growth (entry grant up to 50,000 EUR). In addition to the entry grant, a three-month mentoring program is offered in the first phase of acceleration. After the first phase, companies that provide a qualified investment within nine months from the end of the acceleration have access to additional financial support through a co-investing grant in the amount of a qualified investment, and a maximum of 300,000 EUR per company.
In the meantime, take a look at the conditions of the competition and the necessary documentation, and don’t forget that the deadline for applications is December 6!
Eligible applicants for the Catapult program are micro and small enterprises not older than six years at the time of application in the majority (minimum 80%) privately owned, with revenues of less than € 8 million in one of the previous two years. Funds for the implementation of the Katapult program in the total amount of seven million euros by 2024 are provided on the basis of a loan agreement between the Republic of Serbia and the World Bank. Additional technical assistance in the implementation of the program is provided by the World Bank and is financed by the European Union. Open calls will be announced twice a year, and the participation of women entrepreneurs in the Katapult program is especially encouraged.