Deadline: 30-Jan-2026
SE Ventures Accelerator Program offers pre-seed startups an opportunity to refine their product-market fit with guidance from industry experts, real customers, and leaders from Schneider Electric and AVEVA.
The program’s priority areas for the H1 2026 cohort include Power Electronics, focusing on next-generation power conversion and protection technologies for grid, industrial, mobility, and high-power applications; Software-Defined Industrial Automation, which integrates software-defined control, real-time compute, OT/IT convergence, and flexible industrial architectures; Thermal Optimization & Cooling, covering advanced thermal management for data centers and industrial systems, including new cooling architectures, materials, and control approaches; Agentic AI for Industrial Workflows, aimed at autonomous and semi-autonomous AI agents that optimize industrial workflows, decision-making, interfaces, and human-machine collaboration; Physical AI & Robotics, developing physics-informed AI models that enhance real-world robotic systems, motion planning, perception, and autonomous operations in industrial settings; and AI-Driven Materials & Process Engineering, which leverages AI models for the design, optimization, and engineering of new materials, industrial processes, and manufacturing operations.
The 12-week accelerator program is designed to help founders move beyond just funding by providing specialized expertise to navigate technical complexity and address unique customer pain points. In the 2025 cohort, SE Ventures facilitated over 155 stakeholder connections that led to eight formal engagements with business units for participating startups, enabling them to determine ideal use cases and gain initial market traction.
Participating startups also receive a $100K SAFE award, uncapped, with the potential for additional investment from SE Ventures’ $1B platform in future rounds. They gain access to Schneider Electric’s global ecosystem, including 650,000 service providers and partners, 4,500 EcoXperts, and over 45,000 system integrators and developers, as well as AVEVA’s Connect ecosystem, which includes more than 5,700 certified developers.
Startups benefit from real-world validation through mentorship from subject matter experts tailored to their problem statement or technology, along with introductions to SE Ventures’ global investor network, customer partners, and leading founders. The program also fosters a specialist founder community through events, activities, and ongoing connections during and after the 12-week period.
SE Ventures is seeking pre-seed startups that are post-incorporation with a full-time team, building disruptive products in Energy Tech, Industrial Tech, or Enterprise AI, and planning to raise seed funding within the next 12 months.
For more information, visit SE Ventures.
