spherik brochure
DESCRIPTION
Romanian startup accelerator for the new generation of Central and Eastern Europe entrepreneurs.TRANSCRIPT
www.spherikaccelerator.com
We aim to create an ecosystem of value generation by pooling together
major stakeholders, from universities to private companies and local
administration.
The Spherik Accelerator is born out of the belief in the creative capacity of
the new generation of Central and Eastern Europe entrepreneurs.
The Spherik approach maximizes the probability of a startup’s success by
providing the resources needed for the product, the market and the capital
to harmoniously blend. We boost the companies’ access to know-how
by providing education, mentorship and ambassadorship. Our approach
includes post-acceleration support in order to refine the business past the
acceleration phase.
The accelerator is located in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Often
described as Romania’s “techno-polis”, Cluj-Napoca is an ideal regional hub,
at equal distance from the regional capitals of Bucharest, Budapest and
Belgrade.
Cluj-Napoca is one of Romania’s largest university centers, with close to
100,000 students and 6 public universities. We are located in the first
technological park in Romania, Liberty Technology Park Cluj, the ideal tech
habitat, where several companies from IT&C and R&D industries develop,
connect and engage to offer exceptional growth to local initiatives.
ConceptSpherik Accelerator offers
entrepreneurial teams access
to the right tools, education and
mentoring in order for them
to generate competitive
businesses for the global market.
Ambassadors represent startups
in Silicon Valley and other key
areas, in order to facilitate their
access to key resources and know-
how.
The Spherik acceleration process drives startups through the exploratory
process of validating their product, customers and business model,
preparing them to scale.
Our approach is built around three dimensions for any new company:
the product, the market and the capital. We believe that understanding
each aspect, and providing the necessary tools for these 3 key areas
to intersect is critical to a project’s success.
Product. We assist startups in developing their product concepts to
customer validation and then to commercial readiness. We work with
startups through the customer development process, providing much-
needed guidance and access to invaluable sources of feedback – actual
customers.
Market. Launching a company and a product is a process that spans over
a period of time with the objective of building awareness and momentum
to drive sales while identifying the key market for each specific project.
The Spherik approach helps startups build targeted go-to-market strategies
that establish sustainable market traction which can be replicated
in additional markets.
Capital. We know that capital is much needed for a company to create, grow
and perform. We also believe that there is a „right time” for each stage
of raising financing and want to use our members’ expertise to give each
accelerated program the necessary information in order to attain
the needed capital requirements, when they are needed.
OurApproachDeveloping an understanding
of the market potential,
competition, funding needs and
path to profitability is our main
focus for every startup joining
Spherik Accelerator.
Spherik Accelerator aims to offer the most
promising Romanian startups a fast track
opportunity to achieve international success
through direct access to entrepreneurs in Silicon
Valley and other entrepreneurial hubs.
Startups
Innovation comes from talented people with strong ideas who know how
to find the right partners and ask the right questions that can turn an
innovative concept into reality.
We are looking to accelerate Romanian innovative ideas that have a real
commercial potential on the global market.
By placing investment opportunities alongside business expertise and
resources from research universities, we are able to develop early stage
ventures to attract a mix of follow-on investment. This will move initial
ideas towards scaling and expansion, past excellent pitch desks and
exponential financial projections.
Our integrated events program prepares your team to seek customers,
grants or investment that can get your product launch-ready.
The Spherik program is intended to teach founders the skills needed to
create a company, hire a team and develop a product that is good enough to
bring to market.
Targeted mentoring and assisting the launch of these ventures will increase
the success rate of new regional ventures.
The team at Spherik offers
resources, strategies, advice
and knowledge in order to
expand the capabilities of
early stage start-ups.
As an important component of Spherik Accelerator,
universities translate research outputs into
defined product offerings in identified markets,
transforming discovery to enterprise.
Universities
We are an active, participatory collaborator for academic partners that
complements their own expertise and increases prospects for success in the
process of research commercialization.
Researchers work with Spherik to transform research-derived ideas into
high impact technologies and products.
Our team and partners identify best entrepreneurs and researchers
through partnership and continuous assessment of prospects. Our goal
is to accelerate late stage research ideas to the marketplace and drive
collaboration with industry partners and venture investors.
By being a Spherik member, universities can bridge the gap between a lab-
based technology and an investor-ready product prototype, ensuring the
most effective ecosystem for multi-disciplinary and multi-party research.
We work with partners to secure follow-on investment from angel investors
and/or investment funds.
As a Spherik member, each university can tap into more vast resources
and far-reaching connections to also meet students’ growing interest in
pursuing start-ups.
Spherik Accelerator bridges
the gap between promising
research outputs and the
marketplace.
The Spherik Accelerator aims to leverage the success
of private companies by connecting them with
new ventures that share the same commitment to
innovation and growth.
Privatesector
The long term success of a business depends on its ability to continually
reinvent itself, to make the most of the resources it has, while also
capitalizing on new opportunities in the marketplace.
The Spherik Accelerator offers opportunity to both invest in innovative
projects and ease the effort needed to identify new lines of business, trends
and focus markets.
The Accelerator will help unlock the potential of intrapreneurial spinoffs
around new inventions and technologies.
By joining Spherik Accelerator, a company can advance the development
and commercialization of new technologies that satisfy unmet market
needs and benefit the public good.
Industry players can also achieve visibility and prestige by being associated
with innovation, entrepreneurship and the success of new projects, not only
as a PR tool but also as an important recruiting asset.
As part of the Spherik
ecosystem, industry players
have acces to a pool of highly
dynamic and creative people
and products, stimulating
innovation and excellence.
The fundamental value of the accelerator lies in
its ability to drive economic growth and foster an
entrepreneurial culture within the local community.
Localcommunity
Built on a collaborative model, the Spherik Accelerator encourages
cooperation between public and private initiatives, developing manageable
steps and components to deliver powerful and scalable results.
Spherik Accelerator provides the environment for industry and higher
education institutions to work together. We bridge existing gaps and offer
a credible framework under which local innovation can succeed.
Cluj area has the opportunity to create a central plug-in point where
Romanian startups can gain visibility and community validation, while both
local and international investors can become active and discover great
initiatives to invest in.
By joining Spherik Accelerator, local authorities contribute to unlocking
capital and community engagement opportunities for startups.
Spherik Accelerator is
essential to the growth of
the local entrepreneurial
ecosystem.
The Spherik acceleration
program contributes to the
increase of employment and
improves competitiveness.
Mentorship inside accelerators is definitely one of
the biggest challenges. We encourage founders to
reach out and focus on building trust.
Succesfulentrepreneurs
Successful entrepreneurs know how hard it is to succeed. They also know
the societal value of entrepreneurship, and they tend to support the
entrepreneurial mindset developing further.
Working with the Spherik Accelerator, successful entrepreneurs have
the opportunity to be key assets in the development of new ventures.
They interact, support and mentor the accelerated teams, becoming a key
part of their success.
The value of the acceleration program for startups lies in mentorship, skills,
education and inspiration. It works both ways, as mentors are given access
to the frontline innovations in their industry sectors, knowledge that also
helps in their roles.
Moreover, successful entrepreneurs can support new projects as early stage
investors or advisers.
Trust, knowledge-sharing
and follow-through are the
essential requirements for
successful mentorship.
www.spherikaccelerator.com
21 Gării St., Cluj-Napoca 400267, Romania
T + 40 264 435 362, F + 40 264 435 369
Andrei Roth / project manager
M + 40 742 030 557
Cătălina Amihăiesi / manager accelerator programs
M + 40 752 258 696
Contact
