Making ideas investment-ready with Startup Dhaka Incubator
Startup Dhaka has been promoting the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh for more than five years now. Since its inception, Startup Dhaka has been at the front lines, running accelerator programs, startup workshops, and online and offline courses. Startup Dhaka has worked with 1500+ startups, facilitated 68 investments, arranged over 35 startup events, and has published over 78 online courses. In line with these contributions, Startup Dhaka is set to launch a 3-month incubator program. The Startup Dhaka Incubator is an intensive, result-oriented program, tailored to making business ideas market- ready and investment-ready. Be it a tech company or a conventional one, Startup Dhaka Incubator will work with any idea that addresses a concrete problem and has the potential for changing lives.
Shohoz, one of the fastest growing ride-sharing platforms in Bangladesh is the supporting partner of Startup Dhaka Incubator. Facebook, Amazon Web Services, Edge Research & Consultancy, University of Liberal Arts, and Startup Bangladesh have also joined the Incubator as partners, to help startups transition into the real world of business from just a cool idea.
Applications are now open, and in the coming days, Startup Dhaka will host several info sessions to orient the participants with the incubator. The first info session was held on 13th March 2019. After all the info sessions, teams will have a clearer sense of expectations for the next three months with the scope to interact with the program partners.
Startup Dhaka Incubator is a combination of online sessions and one-on-one KPI mentorship during office hours. Participants can take lessons from the convenience of their own homes or offices. They will meet mentors for one-on-one sessions once every week to discuss exclusively their business problems. The KPI session will additionally assess business performance through tasks assigned to them after attending online learning sessions. At the end of three months, Startup Dhaka Incubator will host a Demo Day for the companies with investors to pitch their respective products.
The incubation program is designed to help early-stage startups turn their ideas into a minimum viable product (MVP) in 90 days. Startups will not have to give up their equity but the program will cost BDT 50,000 after acceptance into the incubator, and will receive BDT 20,000 scholarship sponsored by Shohoz. The total value of the incubator program is over BDT 8,00,000 where program benefits are measured in monetary value. The three months of intense learning will help founders be investment-ready. Accepted teams will additionally get office space and grants option from Startup Bangladesh, FbStart package from Facebook, AWS credit from Amazon, investment counseling from fund managers of IDLC VC fund, investment linkage and exclusive fundraising mentorship from Edge Research & Consulting, and the chance to be featured in Tiger Cage, the country's first Startup Funding reality show.
Excited about the new project, Mustafizur Rahman, CEO & Founder of Startup Dhaka said, "We are very excited about Startup Dhaka Incubator. We have seen many startups struggling to validate their ideas in the market for lack of right mentorship. Our experience in investing and mentoring early stage companies has given us real advantage in providing practical insights that founders can readily apply in their businesses."
Startup Dhaka Incubator would not have come to fruition without Shohoz, Facebook, Amazon Web Services, Edge Research & Consultancy, University of Liberal Arts, and Startup Bangladesh coming forward with a mutual goal of growing the startup ecosystem of Bangladesh. For more information about the program, contact nahid.sdasia@gmail.com.