Applications for Startup Foundation Grants 2021
The purpose of the Startup Foundation is to support the positive growth and renewal of the Finnish startup ecosystem. The establishment of the foundation enabled the growth story of Slush. Since then Junction, Wave Ventures, Shortcut and most recently Maria 01 have been birthed, all of which contribute to the progress of growth entrepreneurship in Finland.
In order to promote growth entrepreneurship in the future, it is also necessary to make efforts to build new pillars. We need to strengthen the ecosystem by accelerating its development and renewal. All in all, new, visionary and bold ideas are needed.
We need new entrepreneurs, more diverse teams and more collaboration between universities, research institutes, investors and startups. We must also be able to attract more of the best foreign experts to the Finnish ecosystem.
To support the positive development, the Startup Foundation awards grants to projects of common interest and aimed at developing the ecosystem. In 2021, grants will be awarded for the preparation of new projects (5,000 euros) and for the launch of projects ( 20,000 euros). A total of EUR 100,000 has been set aside for these grants.
Grants will be awarded on the basis of applications which must describe:
- What change to the startup ecosystem does the project aim to bring about?
- Why is this change important?
- In what ways does the project renew the startup ecosystem?
- How has the project been validated or tested?
- Implementation plan incl. budget
- Communication and interaction
The applications are evaluated based on the quality of the plan, network and partners, as well as the impact and scalability of the project.
Grants are applied for through the Foundation’s grant system. The application period starts on 22.9. and ends on 17.10.