Hardware accelerator Highway1 is accepting applications for its Autumn 2015 intake. The four-month programme is searching for up to 15 international companies and will take place at Highway1’s lab space in San Francisco, starting in August.
Highway1 gives start-ups access to a network of mentors, a classroom curriculum, lab and office space and $50,000 in seed money in exchange for a 4-7% equity stake. The curriculum covers how to scale a hardware business, from product design to engineering support, supply chain management, manufacturing & logistics, marketing and retail.
Entrants will also take a 10-day trip to Shenzhen, China, to learn about building a global manufacturing and supply chain network.
At the end of the programme graduates will pitch their concepts and show working prototype to investors, industry leaders, and media at an invitation only Demo Day event. Alumni are granted long-term access to the accelerator’s prototyping facilities after finishing the programme.
“We are looking for dedicated entrepreneurs who want to build a company, not just one product,” said PCH Founder and CEO Liam Casey. “We help put our hardware start-ups in the best possible position for investment. As we can see from recent successful crowdfunding campaigns, there is a tremendous amount of consumer excitement about hardware tech right now. Our goal is to make hardware investing as appealing to Venture Capital and Angel Investors as investing in software.”
The Spring 2015 class of 11 companies, selected from 275 applicants, raised a cumulative $4 million. In total, Highway1’s 45 graduating companies – which include Irish start-up Drop – have raised more than $50 million for projects in wearable tech, the Internet of Things, connected home, health care and robotics.
Applications are being taken at http://highway1.io/apply/ with a closing date of 29 May 2015.
Highway1 is a division of PCH, a designer of custom product solutions for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies which has its corporate headquarters in Cork.
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