Northern Ireland startup founders have the chance of securing £50,000 investment under a new programme from Techstart Ventures and Ormeau Baths.
Known as Ormeau Labs, the funding will be awarded to eight entrepreneurs, along with mentoring support from both organisations and access to international markets.
The investment will be made up of a £65,000 uncapped convertible loan note less a support fee of £15,000 which “contributes to the out-of-pocket programme support costs and access to Ormeau Baths for a year.
Applicants must have a “rapidly scalable idea” and have a “big problem to solve”.
They can be solo founders, in the early stages of forming a team and may also be pre-product and revenue.
“It can simply be an idea at this stage, or you may have already started building an early version of the product,” according to the Ormeau Baths website.
The programme will run for three months initially and be driven by mentors, with personalised content less than an hour a week, and then become “lighter touch” with bi-weekly check-ins and on-demand support where required.
The majority of the content will be delivered virtually but in-person sessions will be run in Ormeau Baths throughout the course of the year. All teams will be provided desks at Ormeau Baths for up to one year.
Founders will also be offered the chance to travel to both Europe and the US, with costs covered by the programme.
Applicants can also take part while still in employment, but must have an intention of leaving their role within three months.
