SigmaLabs accelerator, sponsored by Yahoo Israel, will be opening its doors September 2015 to seed-stage startups in the fields of Big Data, Native and Video Advertising, and Fintech.
The accelerator is the brainchild of Aviad Eyal and Martin Moshal of Entrée Capital, who wanted to create a pre-seed accelerator ‘for Founders by Founders’. Eran Bielski of Entrée Capital has been appointed to manage the accelerator, supported by Linat Wager, head of innovation and start-up relations at Yahoo Israel; Yoelle Maarek, VP of research in EMEA and head of Yahoo Labs in Haifa; and Ido Yablonka, head of Yahoo in Tel-Aviv and former CEO of ClarityRay. SigmaLabs accelerator is Yahoo’s first acceleration program globally.
In addition to Yahoo Labs in Haifa, Yahoo Israel is comprised of three former local startups. Because of its strong startup makeup, Yahoo fully understands the value of this community and is proud to support program participants with an extensive benefit package including potential access to anonymized Yahoo data so as to field test their technology, personal feedback meetings with senior Yahoo executives both in Israel and Silicon Valley, mentorship from local Yahoo leaders, and invitations to exclusive events.
Additional office hours and lectures will be provided from prominent US and EU VCs, including Entrée Capital, who are funding the accelerator and committing their time, energy, and resources to the program. Mentorship from some of the best founders from within the Israeli tech community will further be provided, as well as legal and financial consulting, lectures, and workshops from top-tier investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
SigmaLabs accelerator will work on a ‘pay it forwards’ model whereby graduate startups are expected to contribute to subsequent classes of startups and can decide, at their sole choice, to contribute equity back to the accelerator. Additionally, there are a number of financial incentives that startups can choose from, such as a $250,000 convertible note from a leading VC for the outstanding graduate from the program that has met key metrics and $25,000 convertible notes made available to startups that complete the program with high scores – the emphasis being that the startups decides if they want to take advantage of any of these voluntary incentives earned on merit.
SigmaLabs accelerator has partnered with Bank Hapoalim to serve as the ‘startup banker’ with a set of incentives designed specifically for the startups. The bank may also choose to participate in the equity of startups that meet its requirements beginning with a $25,000 convertible note. [Microsoft has also agreed to sponsor over $150,000 to each startup in the form of licenses, tools and Azure cloud platform credits]
SigmaLabs accelerator is Located in Ramat Gan (Bursa area) and startups will also have access to Yahoo’s offices in Tel Aviv a few hundred meters away.
The acceleration program will run for 4 months, September through December 2015, ending with a demo day. The acceptance process will be comprised of an online application, phone calls, and finally face-to-face interviews. Online applications can be completed at http://www.sigmalabs.co
Quote from Linat: ”Yahoo Israel is excited to partner with Entree Capital and sponsor SigmaLabs accelerator taking Yahoo’s investment and support for the Israeli innovation eco-system to the next level. With an engineering hub in Tel Aviv and Yahoo Labs in Haifa working on core Yahoo products such as Yahoo Mail, Gemini, Yahoo search and native advertising platform, video platform, and ad security and search, Yahoo has great interest in Israeli innovation, technologies, and talent. We hope to provide the accelerator’s participants with all the training, mentorship, connections, and resources they may require to build successful companies. We believe this partnership will create great collateral value and opportunities that will benefit the Israeli tech landscape as a whole.”
Quote from Eran: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Yahoo Israel and to start accepting applications for startups to join the SigmaLabs accelerator. With a wealth of first-rate resources at our disposal, we are confident SigmaLabs will provide unique and unparalleled value for its members. Our vision is to help guide our founders and startups on their way toward becoming leading global companies that shape the future of the tech industry”.
For more information contact : eran@sigmalabs.co