Accelerator News

New Ignite100 accelerator launches with £1m fund

Another day in Europe, has launched another accelerator. The Difference Engine - a program of accelerator in the North of the UK, we covered last year, which borrowed heavily from the model of YCombinator / TechStars - was "rotated", announcing a rejuvenation and a new name. The program will Ignite100 new accelerator starts with a fund of £ 1 million to invest up to £ 100k per team for ten teams later this year in the North East of England. The program set for launch in September and will take applications from anywhere.

Technically beating Seedcamp - currently leading the accelerator in Europe - in the financing by the team, even if it has a larger £ 3m of funding (to date, and collection of funds is not yet completed), the more it tends to attract a pretty stellar array of a list-founders and VCs as mentors. This does not mean Ignite100 will not, however, and listen to the word "street" I know a lot of appetite for more accelerators in the UK to investors, so it should not ready to be lacking in mentors.

Seedcamp takes a variable participation of nearly 8% -10% of his starts, while Ignite100 take a series of 8%.

Ignite100 familiar pattern, a 13-week program will be funded by accelerating funding for companies in the North East Technology Fund, managed by IP Group plc, and funding for companies in the North East Proof of Concept Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures and angel investors including Hotspur Capital Partners.Financing for companies in the Northeast Technology Fund is supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the regional development agency One North East (ONE). It is also hanging in the participation of angels.

The teams will receive initial funding a "ramen" of £ 15 000 at the beginning of the program, with the remaining balance of £ 100,000 is for teams who finish the program and meet the "pre agreed criteria" - which presumably means the team shows that it has some traction with its product.

Jon Bradford, the guy who launched the Difference Engine and continued to run Springboard in Cambridge, returns as the Executive Director. He said the partners and mentors come from the likes of Google, Microsoft, PayPal and Amazon Web Services program will be "convincing." The effective operation of the program will be reduced to Paul Smith, an entrepreneur Northeast-based technology.

NASA officials visit USM's Accelerator - WDAM - Channel 7 ...

HATTIESBURG, MS. (WDAM) - Top officials from NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County were in Hattiesburg Wednesday visiting Southern Miss's high tech business incubator, the Accelerator.

NASA previously gave the Accelerator grant money totaling a million dollars to invest in advanced equipment for the facility. Part of Wednesday's visit was designed to learn how those dollars were used and to discuss future partnerships between the two organizations.

The Accelerator features state of the art office and research space for companies that want to develop and produce innovative products for a variety of applications like national defense.

Stennis officials like the Center's Director, Patrick Scheuermann, explained that it's important to inspire the creativity of small businesses.

"And NASA is really kind of moving into that generation of trying to not only get the inspiration of the students that graduate from the colleges in order to be able to stay home in Mississippi working at NASA Space Center and other great companies throughout the state, but also encouraging small businesses and entrepreneurship because that is really where a lot of innovative ideas come from," said Scheuermann.

During their visit, the NASA group received an in depth tour of the Accelerator from the facility's Executive Director, Sunny Webb.

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