Carrying forward the task of supporting the entrepreneurial spirit, Techstars is now taking its accelerator program to Paris. This new Paris accelerator will induct ten startups, who’ll participate in its highly effective 13-week mentorship-driven program. It will flag off later in September 2017 in partnership with VC firm Partech Ventures, at their very own Partech Shaker building.
Talking about the launch of the accelerator program in Paris, the official blog post reads,
The arrival of one of the most successful startup accelerator players at the Partech Shaker marks a step forward in its journey to help entrepreneurs grow.
Under this fresh initiative, whose applications are now open, Techstars will pick ten startups for the first batch. Each of these startups will be provided $120,000 in funding for a six percent stake, which will be picked up by Techstars. The Paris accelerator program has nor been restricted to France and startups from across the globe can apply to spend time at Partech Shaker. Seasoned entrepreneur Bertier Luyt has been appointed as Managing Director for the Paris accelerator.
As for the mentors, the Paris accelerator will witness Deliveroo founder William Shu, Facebook product director Mike Hudack, and HelloFresh CTO Nuno Simaria mentor the first batch. During their long-standing partnership, Partech has also introduced Techstars to some giants in France and they’re now on board as partners. They include Air Liquide, Française des Jeux, Groupama, Renault, and Total.
Speaking on his appointment, Luyt in an official statement says,
I am excited to join Techstars to serve as managing director in our first accelerator in France, and look forward to helping entrepreneurs succeed in this newest program. (Also,) we are incredibly thankful to Partech for their role in helping to bring Techstars to Paris.
Techstars, for those unaware, is a global ecosystem which enables budding entrepreneurs with feasible business ideas to participate in its rigorous accelerators programs. It currently over twenty such programs across the globe, providing startups access to a handful of founders, mentors, investors and corporate partners. These individuals mentor the startups and help them figure out a steady business model to induce growth.
With regards to the same, Partech Ventures’ blog post says,
The arrival of Techstars also perfectly embodies Partech Shaker’s ambition to always improve the way it supports tech entrepreneurs as well as the way it helps large companies handle the challenges of their digital transformation. Partech Shaker and Techstars share many values, the first of them being to put the success of entrepreneurs we work with as our top priority.
The said organization was founded in 2006 by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and Jared Polis, with the primary aim of helping entrepreneurs succeed. And they sure have produced some charming graduates in the form of Uber, Twilio, and Sketchfab to name a few. And now we’re expecting a fresh batch of graduates to make it through to the Paris accelerator and emerge as one of these giants by 2018.
