Silicon Valley accelerator to have Yorkshire presence
The world’s largest pre-seed business accelerator, The Founder Institute (FI), is set to open a Yorkshire chapter for its global community of start-ups.
The Silicon Valley-based business growth specialist, which operates in more than 80 countries and over 120 cities, will run its 14-week training, mentoring and networking programme at Nexus, at the University of Leeds.
Designed to help entrepreneurs at “pre-seed” level, the programme will give advice and support on a wide range of business considerations, including vision validation, branding, legal, product development, funding, recruitment and growth.
Nexus’ Engagement Manager and Founder Institute Yorkshire Chapter Director, Chelsea Boothroyd, will be working on the programme.
Boothroyd added: “It’s incredibly exciting to be launching a Founder Institute chapter here in Yorkshire. It will give businesses in the region the opportunity to benefit from knowledge and networks from Silicon Valley and across the globe. The FI programme is the missing piece in the jigsaw of support on offer to entrepreneurs across our region.”
Phill White, FI Yorkshire Director said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Chelsea on this exciting programme and are delighted to be hosting it within the new Nexus hub, which is quickly becoming the go-to place for entrepreneurial activity in the region.
“Chelsea has tremendous links with the local ecosystem and a passion for supporting businesses and we’re looking forward to working with her to help start-ups validate their ideas, build their teams, secure advisors, scale their business and raise vital funding.”
The Founder Institute supports the launch of some 350 start-ups every year across the world and has a global community of over 3,500 businesses.
