• Huge Thing and Visa Foundation announce a new edition of their initiative to support aspiring female founders from Poland and Ukraine
• Female Startup Pre-Accelerator is the second program in the series of initiative on training and assisting female founders
• Applications are accepted until May 31st

Established in 2012 by SpeedUp Group, Huge Thing became one of the first operational startup accelerators in Poland. Since then, it has been holding on to its mission of supporting the development of the startup ecosystem of both Poland and the wider CEE region. Today, in addition to assisting aspiring innovators in business development, the Huge Thing team utilizes its expertise to assist organizations from both the private and public sectors in innovation management.

Last December, Huge Thing partnered with Visa Foundation to launch the Facilitating Female Founders Program, the first edition of its series of initiatives dedicated to training and assisting female founders from Poland and Ukraine. This April, they announce the second edition of the initiative: the Female Startup Pre-Accelerator.

Eligibility and Roadmap

The applying startups need to have at least half of their leadership team (or at least 30% of the senior leadership team) consisting of female founders with Polish or Ukrainian citizenship. The pre-accelerator is meant to support them at the idea or Pre-Seed stage with developing an MVP.

Startups are to apply on the Huge Thing website or the Vestbee platform before May 31st 2024. The selected startups get enrolled to the next phase of the Program – the Bootcamp – that runs from June 10th to 14th, and the 25 startups that qualify for the main part of the Program will be announced on June 18th. The program runs fully online, beginning with the Hello Day on July 1st, and on for the whole two months until August 31st. It will culminate with the Final Demo Day on September 16th.

Contents and Benefits

The goal of the program is to provide every participant with valuable guidance and advice from Huge Thing’s and SpeedUp Venture Capital Group’s expansive network of experienced mentors and partners.

This edition’s tutors include:

• Kasia Gryzło of HearMe.pl
• Wiktoria Wojcik of inStreamly
• More to be announced. Follow Huge Things’ social media to stay updated.

More specifically, founders will receive 35 hours of training in fundraising. It will cover such areas as building the product, setting the strategy, getting the first customers, organization culture, fundraising, and IP. Additionally, every participant will have an opportunity to schedule up to 4 hours of 1×1 consultation with their chosen mentors and 2 hours with tutors.

Upon the completion of the program, all participants get invited into the exclusive Female Founders Club, where Huge Thing will offer them extra activities. The Club is also meant to be a space for founders to support each other by sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Networking opportunities represent another benefit as startups get the opportunity to network with other startups, corporates, and venture capitalists, as well as gain valuable insight into the industry. As Huge Thing is a well-known brand in the CEE startup ecosystem, accelerated startups gain increased visibility and brand awareness from participating in the Program.

At the end of the Program, the organizers will select 10 participants who will additionally receive USD 10K of equity-free cash prize.

For more information, please see the Program’s page and follow Huge Thing’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Before applying, please make sure to get familiar with the regulations.