Accelerate@Babraham is one of the best opportunities for early-stage bio-science ventures to stress test their ideas in a safe and supportive environment. The programme has been evolved and enhanced with our delivery partners for 2024 and is now made up of three distinct phases. Applicants need to be available and eligible to attend in-person events in Cambridge, UK. Details below...
A competitive and rigorous selection process will determine which five companies will make it through. Participants will be selected based on quality of technology/research, technology readiness level, commercialisation readiness level, market need and commitment to the programme. Short-listed applicants will need to succinctly and confidently communicate their idea, its potential impact and their longer-term ambitions at interview to be in with a chance of securing one of the five places on the 2024 programme.
Concentrated, intense and potentially life-changing! Bespoke weekly seminars, interactive workshops and 1-2-1 mentoring to help hone ideas, polish each venture’s commercial proposition and develop company structure to enable the delivery of a compelling investor pitch time after time. Key to the programme is the Triple Chasm framework, structured homework, weekly feedback, tailored mentorship, and practice Science Advisory Boards.
Accelerate@Babraham’s experts and mentors are all highly skilled and experienced in their respective fields, ideally positioning them to provide Accelerate@Babraham companies data-driven, comprehensive business analysis and support, expert scientific/technical advice and founder coaching and skills. They are also not afraid to challenge having been there and done it before – multiple times!
Contacts made during this process are often career-long connections.
Phase 2: Lab Induction & Set Up. Completion of risk assessments and lab induction to familiarise ventures with the communal lab space that will become their home as they progress through the programme. All bases are covered here - from where to hang lab coats to the ordering and handling of specialist materials - to ensure time in the lab is focused on the delivery of scientific results.
Phase 3: 12 Months Free Lab/Office Space. Supported by the expert communal labs on-site technical team to guide and assist with getting up and running, ventures enjoy dedicated lab time in serviced facilities to ensure key experimental inflection points are reached, proof of concept is complete and commercialisation/technical readiness levels established.
Across all phases, access to networks, wrap around support & detailed feedback on proposals and pitch decks and 1-2-1 guidance are a constant, encouraging participants to continually question, enhance, revise and solidify the trajectory of their ventures. Are you lab ready now? That’s fine, we can accommodate you in the lab straight away – talk to us to find out more! Jenny.hirst@babraham.co.uk
Our experts and mentors are all highly skilled and experienced in their respective fields and will provide you with data-driven, comprehensive business analysis and support, expert scientific/technical advice and founder coaching and skills. Prepare to be challenged by those that have been there and done it before – multiple times!
Each of the five winning ventures will receive £10,000 non-dilutive funding. Use it to stock your lab, secure IP, file for a patent…whatever you like (almost!).
Got further questions? Take a look at our FAQs by clicking below.
If you want to know what it’s really like, talk to those that have gone before! Our previous cohorts have been kind enough to allow us to do just that. Explore their experiences below and then ask yourself…is this for me?
Accelerate@Babraham intake learns how to walk through walls
Presentation Day showcases success of Accelerate@Babraham Start-up Competition
Startups the rock stars of our generation
Applications are invited from life science start-up companies working in therapeutics, reagents, technology platforms and diagnostics who would benefit from access to fully equipped, serviced lab and office space, business and technical support from practitioners, and the opportunity to expand their network and deeply embed in the outstanding Cambridge life science cluster.