The US may still be the centre for technology funding with companies such as Y Combinator recieving a great deal of press for their programme and events, but here in Europe we do have some fantastic opportunities for fledgling tech start-ups – with the Oxygen Accelerator a case in point. The UK-based programme offers ten start-ups up to €41,000 investment per team and mentors from the likes of Google, Paypal and Amazon for a 26 week course of acceleration and incubation and only taking 10% equity.
A couple of the more interesting start-ups from last year’s intake include Hobzy – a way for people to share their hobbies and get feedback and inspiration from others, and Bertie & Bean – a children’s clothing exchange to make it easy for parents to exchange “nearly new” clothes that their kids outgrew during that 5″ growth spurt over the summer (a service which will be launching a beta in the next couple of days).
The programme itself is based at Birmingham Science Park with the next one kicking off on October 1st. The first 13 weeks are an acceleration bootcamp followed by a 13 week incubator phase, with 110 mentors already signed up for this
year’s programme to give start-up founders all the help and advice they will need along the way.
Does your start-up need some investment and a helping hand? Applications for Oxygen 2012 are open now, with a closing date of 31st July 2012. Do you have the next European tech start-up? Send off an application HERE