Startup Reykjavik is the name of Iceland’s first startup accelerator.
This is, in my opinion, a very big step for the Icelandic startup environment, and two weeks into the project everything seems to be going very well. The process is simple: 10 business teams are chosen to take part in this 10-week project, and in exchange for a 6% share of their company, they get the following:
$16,000 in seed funding
Office space with internet and all the essentials
Mentorship from 40+ mentors
A chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists
Last Thursday I visited the Startup Reykjavik organizers and some of the teams, and I was very impressed with how well this project seems to have been organized. Ironically, the Startup Reykjavik offices are in a former building of one of Iceland’s largest banks. Only a few years ago, the Icelandic banking system was one of the biggest factors in the country’s economic problems, and now one of those banks is funding and hosting Startup Reykjavik. I think that might be a good sign that Icelanders have started to realize the importance of startups for the economy.
I talked with some of the 10 startups, and all of them seem to consist of good teams and interesting ideas. You can find a full list of the startups on Startup Reykjavik’s website, and I will try to post some interviews with the teams here on my blog in the coming weeks.
Frumkvöðull í meira en 20 ár. Stofnandi 7 fyrirtækja og Frumkvöðlar-samfélagsins. Skrifar um ferðalagið — gott og illt.
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