The world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator aims to help entrepreneurs across the South Caucasus get traction and funding to build global companies.
Founder Institute (FI.co) announced today about expanding its footprint in South Caucasus with the launch of its Virtual 2022 program and invites any aspiring entrepreneur or team interested in building a company with some of Armenia’s and Georgia’s top startup mentors to participate in the program from the comfort of home.
“If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that travelling somewhere to meet in person is not as important as we thought,” says Adeo Ressi, Co-founder and Chairman of the Founder Institute. “Making our programs online not only makes the program safer, but it also allows us to help entrepreneurs in new regions where we’ve never had a physical presence. No matter where you are located, you can now work with our amazing team and mentors in Tbilisi, Yerevan, and around the world to build a future-proof business.”
Whether there’s a need to test and validate early hypotheses or the startup is ready to push to the next level, Founder Institute is the #1 place in the world to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. It provides a structured process of aggressive weekly growth sprints to validate early ideas before making large financial commitments, refine startup vision, improve key metrics, and prepare for investor diligence.
“The Georgian startup ecosystem is experiencing rapid growth, and we’re excited to see the Founder Institute open its doors for Georgian entrepreneurs. We’re confident that FI’s methodology and presence in the region will accelerate this growth even further,” says Avtandil Kasradze, Chairman of Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA).
“Founder Institute is a time-tested program that has helped thousands of teams around the world. It can be a future-defining experience for early-stage founders and thus it should be accessible to as many of them as possible. This makes us excited to join forces with our Georgian partners, and to bring our two markets together in a regional Founder Institute cohort”, says Narine Kotikyan, Director of Founder Institute Armenia Chapter.
Scheduled to start in May 2022, the main 16-week program targeting the Caucasus will bring together some of the top startup founders and experts from Armenia and Georgia, who will guide and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs to build exceptional companies. Additionally, there will be free online events over the coming weeks, where the founders can learn more about the acceleration program details, regional startup ecosystems, funding opportunities, success stories, and more.
The next event is scheduled for March 16.
To join the upcoming Virtual 2022 program from Armenia and Georgia, entrepreneurs are invited to apply at: https://fi.co/apply/9962/map
Since 2009, Founder Institute’s highly structured accelerator programs have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs to grow quickly, know what to do next, and make key connections through the largest community of startup advisors in the world.
The journey starts with the renowned ‘FI Core’ accelerator, which pushes founders at the idea and pre-seed stages to reach the milestones needed for investment and sustained growth. Alumni of FI Core then receive free access to our advanced ‘Founder Lab’ accelerators for years to come and can get matched with prospective investors in the FI Venture Network – a collection of global funds actively investing in the earliest rounds of funding.
The results speak for themselves: FI Alumni have raised over $1.5 billion in funding and are building impactful businesses across 200+ cities and 90+ countries across the globe.
