Active investors, top-notch entrepreneurs and experienced professionals will work with the next batch of MVP Academy accelerator. Tech startups with global potential can still join the next edition of the program by submitting their application on the program website until Thursday, March 31st.

The third edition of MVP Academy will take place in between April 11th – May 31st at TechHub Bucharest. Throughout the accelerator, startups will define their products and launch them on the global market, will receive product and business consultancy, will attend a series of dedicated workshops, will learn to pitch their products and will have access to an international network of over 400 mentors and 700 startups. Besides, some of the best teams accepted in the program will have the opportunity to raise a seed investment (50.000 EUR on average) from MVP Angels, the angel investors network associated with the program, in exchange for a minority stake in the company.

Business and product consultancy

Startups that will be part of the next batch of MVP Academy accelerator will receive on-going consultancy and will attend weekly 1 on 1 coaching sessions that will help them define their product and business strategy, take decisions faster and define a development plan on the medium term. Bogdan Ripa (Director or Product, Vector Watch) and Bogdan Sandulescu (technical expert) join the coaching team starting this year to work hands-on with the teams that need help in their specific areas of expertise.

Access to an international network of 400+ mentors & 700 startups

Moreover, the teams will have access to an international network of 400+ mentors and 700 startups and will work with active investors, top-notch entrepreneurs and experienced professionals that will help them define their product, find new clients, investors or potential distribution partners, as well as overcome the obstacles they face.

During the 1 on 1 mentoring sessions that will take place throughout the program, the teams will work with:

• Active investors such as Max Kelly (Managing Director Techstars London), Tristan Watson (Managing Director, Ignite100), Cosmin Ochișor (Business Development Manager, hub:raum)  or  Dan Lupu (Partner Early Bird Capital);
• Top-notch entrepreneurs that built successful tech products at global scale among which we remind Florin Talpeș (Co-Founder & CEO, Bitdefender), Robert Knapp (Co-Founder & CEO, CyberGhost) or Vladimir Oane (Co-Founder & CPO, UberVu by Hootsuite);
• Experienced professionals and potential distribution partners such as Stejara Pîrcan (Commercial Director, eMag), Adriana Iordan (Sr. Director of Product, Avangate), Alina Cazacu (Senior Manager Non-Core E-Activities, Telekom Romania) or Denis Chiurtu (Startups & Academic Program Manager, Microsoft).

The list of mentors that confirmed their involvement in MVP Academy accelerator is available online on the program website. This list will be constantly updated with new mentors chosen to fit the specific profiles of the teams accepted into the program.

Workshops, case studies, Q&A sessions

Powered by CyberGhost with the support of Telekom Romania, Bitdefender, BCR, Microsoft, hub:raum, Raiffeisen Bank and Retargeting.biz, MVP Academy gives startups access to educational resources adapted to fit their development needs. By attending the dedicated workshops organized throughout the program, the entrepreneurs will acquire key competences in areas such as building a startup, customer development, product development and metrics, talking with the media, sales, digital marketing, legal aspects & intellectual property, or finances & raising money. Besides, they will listen to hands-on case studies and attend “Ask the expert” and Q&A sessions with investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals having relevant experience.

Mike Butcher (Senior Editor, TechCrunch), Steffen Ehrhardt (Performance Commercialization & Internationalization Lead EMEA, Google), Alin Vlad (Online Marketing & Sales Director, Heimdal Security), Ana Maria Andronic (angel investor and counsel, DLA Piper), or Bogdan Iordache (Co-Founder How to Web & TechHub Bucharest) are some of the specialists that will deliver workshops throughout the program.

Pitch practice sessions

Throughout the program, the startups will perfect their pitch by attending individual and group pitch practice sessions on a weekly basis and getting constant feedback from experienced professionals in the tech industry. This way they will learn how to present their products to convince investors, clients, and potential partners.

Demo Day

MVP Academy will wrap-up at the end of May with Demo Day, an event that gets startups out of their comfort zones and brings them on stage to pitch their products and business models in front of a relevant audience comprising investors, journalists, potential partners, and experienced professionals. Demo Day offers an excellent chance to identify further development opportunities and start discussions for raising money and / or closing strategic partnerships.

Applications are open by Thursday, March 31st

MVP Academy targets tech startups with less than 2 years of activity, that have developed at least a working prototype for their product, haven’t raised more than 50.000 EUR to date and have not graduated other accelerator with the current product. Applications are open by Thursday, March 31st, on the program website.

MVP Academy is an acceleration program powered by CyberGhost, organized with the support of Telekom Romania, Bitdefender, BCR, Microsoft, hub:raum, Raiffeisen Bank and Retargeting.biz. The visibility of the program is ensured by Academia Catavencu, Crunchbase, Ctrl-D, Digjitale, Europa FM, Geektime, Goal Europe, Incont.ro, IT, Dogadjaji, IQAds, Lumea SEO PPC, Market Watch, Newtrend, Refresh.ro, Romania-Insider.com, Romania liberă, Softlead, Startup Café, Start-up.ro, The trends, Times New Roman, Today Software Magazine, Trade Ads Analyzer, UIeMagazine, Wall-Street, Yoda, zOltan77.com, Zona IT, 150sec.com.

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