Deadline: 29 February 2024
Do you have an idea to make your community more resilient, equitable & sustainable? Apply now for the Venture Fellows program, a 9-month hands-on experience offering funding & support to help turn your idea into a scalable startup for impact on local communities.
The program invests in diverse innovators to pilot good ideas that help communities become more resilient in response to the impacts of climate change.
Powered by Larta Institute, and funded by Wells Fargo, the program will invest in diverse innovators, entrepreneurs, and founders across the U.S. With a tagline of ‘Entrepreneurs Vs. Climate Change’ – the program will focus on supporting good ideas that can be translated into startups and then scaled to help create resilient, equitable, and sustainable communities in U.S. cities. The program is housed within Larta Ventures – a new initiative of Larta Institute – that invests in promising founders and impact-focused startups who are working to feed, fuel, and heal the world.
Program Overview & Benefits
- The Venture Fellows Program is a 9-month commitment — helping you move from an idea to startup launch.
- $100,000 in resources & funding to develop community-based solutions
- No cost program – no equity or fees
- 1:1 mentoring and group cohort sessions
- Connections, Resources, & Funding
- Up to $25K associated in pilot costs for validation of a project in targeted community
- Cohort based learning, knowledge hub, educational content
- Only selective pilots for funding of up to $25K associated with validation of a project in targeted community
- Trial & iterate your idea in local Los Angeles or Miami communities
- Market access support from local cities & NGOs
- Depending on your stage of idea:
- Pilot Preparation: Support for pilot planning, discovery, and research
- Pilot Ready: Deploy your MVP, pilot-ready solution in a local community
- Legal fees paid to incorporate your startup
- Legal services provided for incorporation
- Expert advice on creating your startup
- Setup your business with legal support
- Access to investors & grant funding to scale your new startup
- Hands-on help to prepare your pitch & materials
- Support identifying & applying for funding/grants
- Curated sessions with seed investors + Demo Day
Duration
- The program is a 9-month commitment, from April 2024 to December 2024.
Hours
- This is a part-time program intended to run alongside your education or job. They expect the hours required per week to vary depending on phase of the cohort.
Who’s Eligible?
- This program is open to established startups with traction as well as early-stage concepts who would like to test their idea. Your innovation could be a nonprofit model, a hybrid or a traditional business model. You can be based anywhere, but during the program will test your product in at least one underserved community in Los Angeles or Miami.
- They are looking for ideas that are solving a climate change related problem and can be scaled to other urban environments. They welcome applications from any field, sector, or industry that can have an impact on climate change resilience in urban settings. It could be in the categories of water, air, energy, sustainable cities, food security but they welcome applications outside those areas as well.
- The program is open to everyone, and they highly encourage applications from diverse & underrepresented innovators & founders including:
- Minority & women-led ideas and/or startups
- Innovators from marginalized communities
- Academic/student innovators (individuals or teams)
- Social entrepreneurs & grass-roots organizations.
For more information, visit Larta Institute.
