LINK
ACCELERATION PROGRAM

Fast-track access to Seed Funding in India 

ARE YOU READY TO FAST-TRACK THE GROWTH OF YOUR TECH STARTUP AND BE AN INVESTMENT-READY COMPANY BY LEVERAGING LINK’S IN-HOUSE RESOURCES AND GLOBAL NETWORK?

Launched in 2015, LINK Acceleration program receives 1000+ applications per year and counts 20+ startup alumni.

 

Our program is targeted at startups looking for traction to raise a seed round in order to solve global problems. Our commitment is threefold: a focus on business, execution above all and a driving mentorship.

season

BENGALURU
SEASON 4

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TO BE DETERMINED

Deadline

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HOW OUR PROGRAM WORKS

THEY COULD BE YOUR MENTORS

50+ MENTORS WORKING TO MAXIMIZE YOUR COMPANY’S GROWTH ARE ON HAND TO ASSIST YOU

AJAY
GOEL

Investor at Stanford Angels & Former Senior VP at Cisco and MD of Symantec India

NANDU MADHAVA

EIR and Former Director of Growth at Twitter India

VIR
KASHYAP

COO of Babajob.com and Angel Investor

KRANTI
M

Former VP of Design
at Furlenco

CHETAN KUMAR

Former VP of Subscriptions at Saavn and Director of Retail at Flipkart

ARPITA GANESH

Founder & CEO of Buttercups

RISHABH
DEV

Growth Hacker in Residence and MD of Mapplinks

BERT
MUELLER

Co-founder& CEO
of California Burrito

100+ COMPANIES ACCELERATED
OVER €100M IN FUNDING RAISED

SEE NUMA ALUMNI

OUR PERKS

€700K of assets, advantages and perks accessible via more than 70 partners

F.A.Q

What does NUMA provide?

In exchange for a 4% equity stake, each startup participating in the 5-month program will benefit from: - Weekly one-to-one meetings with an Entrepreneur in Residence.
- Office hours with Resident Experts in Growth Hacking, Finance, UX/UI, Graphic Design, Content Marketing and more.
- Open access to 50 experienced mentors, entrepreneurs and industry experts.
- Indefinite access to NUMA’s workshops, tutorials and resources.
- PR exposure through NUMA’s corporate events and communication materials.
- Connections to investors through the Demo day and other investor meet-ups.
- Qualified introductions to our corporate partners.
- Introductions to NUMA’s international network of alumni, partnering accelerators and foreign offices (currently France, Russia, Spain, Mexico and Morocco).
- 7-month free office space.
- More than 50 perks including free consultations with partnering accounting and law firms. The face value of these services amounts to approximately 767K€ per startup. In addition to these acceleration services, NUMA provides a financial support of 2500€ to startups when they join the program (bootstrapping cash).



How to apply?

The selection process consists of three steps, starting right from the application. Only complete applications are evaluated. Applications are reviewed by the NUMA team and are scored by 3 evaluators. The score your project receives reflects various key factors of success including your team, experience, market and product. Depending on your score, you may be invited to participate in one-on-one interviews and pitch sessions. We are currently selecting 8 to 10 startups for each season, depending on the quality of applications we receive. Others info: NUMA is committed to protecting the confidentiality of the applications it receives. Rest assured, we have no interest in sharing your application with non-evaluating parties. Your ntellectual property is protected. You do not have to write a business plan. All you have to do is to complete the application form. You’ll have to fill out information about your business, the team, the market.



What’s the selection process?

One-on-one interviews During the interviews, you’ll be invited to pitch in front of a jury of experts eager to know more about your project and your team. The pitch should last no more than 5 minutes followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. Obviously, we’d much prefer meeting you in person at NUMA Bengaluru. However, should you not be available to attend in person, we can arrange a video-conference. Keep in mind that both connection problems and sound quality can end up impacting the presentation.
Results are usually communicated within a week. Formal agreement
If you’ve made it to the finals, along with our sincere congratulations you’ll receive an agreement detailing the program’s conditions and a bunch of legal documents regarding our future partnership. You’ll need to confirm that you accept those terms and conditions. Can I meet with you during the selection?
Unfortunately, we can’t meet in person with every startup that wants to take part in the program. There are just too many. Essentially the NUMA application process is the way we decide which of them to meet in person.



What kind of startups are you selecting?

NUMA’s acceleration program is dedicated to early stage startups at the seed or early-growth stage. The program doesn’t have any specific industrial focus. Accelerated startups operate in a wide range of sectors which provides us with a wealth of industrial insights. I’m a single founder. Can I still get accepted into NUMA, or do you only look for teams?
Although the selection process isn’t narrowed to that single criteria, the team plays an important role in our evaluation. NUMA is looking for great teams with talented founders who have or can attract, the core skills their businesses will need to be successful.
Finding the right cofounder can take a while and we don’t want you to spend the short time you have with us recruiting or looking for a partner. Remember, our job is to accelerate your business and we cannot do it unless the basic components are in place. We’ve seen too many well-meaning entrepreneurs with great potential either completely stuck with their project because no one could execute on decisions or burned out from carrying too much responsibility on their own.
If you’re solo, take this as your first challenge: convince someone that you’re an excellent business partner and that your project has great potential. If you can’t do that, how will you persuade your customers? If you’re not ready yet, consider taking some time to strengthen your founding team and apply for the following season. NUMA won’t disappear and there will be another chance. We feel we’re more advanced than other startups. Will we still get something out of the program?
We help early stage startups all along their journey to KPIs that are fundable by VC investors. Whether they are in the product design phase, market testing their product, growing their client or user base or even looking for VC funding. A number of startups we accelerate have a fully-developed product or generate revenues when they join the program. We work with them on their go-to-market strategy, business model, provide qualified introductions to corporates in our network or advise them on their funding strategy.
No matter where you’re starting from, we adapt to your needs and you will extract significant value from the program. Does my company need to be incorporated before joining the program?
No, your company doesn’t need to be incorporated to join NUMA. This won’t influence in any way your application. Your company’s incorporation can be done at any point in time during the first 2 months of the program. Partnering law firms will be able to assist you with the paperwork.
However please note that NUMA’s 2500€ can’t be provided until your startup is legally set-up. I’m not Indian; can you help with visa issues?
Sorry, visa procedures are outside our area of expertise! However, we can introduce you to immigration agents previous startups have been working with or simply guide you to the relevant public institutions. If anyone on your team requires a visa for their 6-month stay in Bangalore you should start your visa application procedures as soon as your participation is confirmed.



What is happening during the 5-months program?

Do I have to be in Bangalore during the entire acceleration program?
Yes, we require you to be in Bangalore. Much of the program’s value hinges on your presence in town to attend events organised for you (scrums, coaching sessions, speed-dating with corporates…). Being physically close to NUMA will also allow you to leverage all the informal opportunities with our mentors, alumni, corporate partners, angel or VC funds which visit NUMA from time to time. What is the Demo Day?
The Demo Day is the last event of the acceleration program. You’ll be provided with the opportunity to present your start-up to a large panel of investors, corporates and journalists. Who are the experts?
NUMA works with a wide network of 50 experts with complementary profiles to ensure accelerated startups have access at all times to all the expertise their project needs. Those experts are either web entrepreneurs, industrial experts or specialists from one of those areas where educated advice does makes a huge difference, be it, product design, UX, marketing, funding or HR. During the first part of the program, you’ll meet with a lot of them to help you identify those mentors you both need and want to work with. The most important thing is that NUMA is consistently looking for experienced people in different fields with a selective approach. And the match is up to you ! What is a technical partner?
We have +50 offers and promotions from a variety of partnering startups and corporates. Ranging from cloud computing services offered by AWS Amazon, free access to recruitment platform… you name it ! All of our startups agree : those offer save them both valuable time and money. We’ve been accepted into an other indian incubator at the same time as NUMA’s program. Do we have to give up this opportunity or do you accept teams who work from another location?
If your project needs access to specific facilities (Fab Lab..), we completely understand that you’d need to work from other places. However, to make the most of the opportunities the program can provide you, we strongly recommend to work from NUMA’s offices. As a minimum, we require you to be available to attend a few key sessions during the week. Those include Monday morning’s scrum, weekly meetings with your EiR and mentors and speed datings with our corporate partners’ teams. What are the most famous startups that graduated from NUMA’s acceleration program?
We’ve accelerated many great businesses since our beginning so it’s hard to choose! Some of our most renowned startups include Mesagraph acquired by Twitter), Sketchfab, DocTrackr, Bankin’, Zéro-Gâchis, Qunb (acquired by Ve Interactive), Artips, Lima, Agriconomie, Trip’n’drive, Infinit, Augment, Julie Desk, Soundsgood, Tiller Systems, StreamRoot, and Deepomatic.



Your agreement with NUMA

How much does the acceleration program cost?
The acceleration program is free and provided to you in exchange for a 4% equity stake in your company. It includes mentoring, access for life to our workshops and tutorials, office space, access to our events and a financial support of 2500€. Please refer to apply.numa.co for a full list of the program’s benefits. Do you take a 4% equity to all startups regardless of their valuation?
Yes. The terms of NUMA’s investment and support are standard and apply to all participating startups. What are the terms of NUMA’s financial support?
NUMA’s financial support is provided by way of a shareholder loan.
This financial support is:
- Interest-free
- Bootstrapping cash How does NUMA take 4% in the startups accelerated?
NUMA acquires its equity stake from the founders at the shares’ nominal value.
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Do I have to accept NUMA’s financial support?
No, obviously you are free not to take NUMA’s financial support. This money is here to help you get things started. If you believe that your startups doesn’t need it, by all means don’t use it. Will I need advice from a lawyer to review the documentation with NUMA?
The contractual arrangements with NUMA have been drafted by lawyers and several batchs of startups have already entered them. Hence we would recommend that you don’t spend too much time or money with this. Naturally if your governance arrangements requires it or if you’d be more comfortable having them reviewed by a lawyer, any partnering law firms could provide you with independent advice. What if I’m not happy with the acceleration program?
It’s fine for both of us if you decide to quit the program within the first 3 weeks. Indeed, during that time



What happens after the program?

Can I attend NUMA’s workshops, tutorials and mentor sessions after the program?
Absolutely. startups accelerated at NUMA now have access for life to all educational resources or events designed for startups. What are my financing options after the program?
NUMA provides you with 2500€ bootstrapping cash to help you get things started. Most likely you’ll need additional funding after the program. On average 65% of our startups raise funds after the demo day. Will NUMA help me raise funds?
Naturally. This is part of our role. Specific workshops are planned during the program to help you understand how to raise funds. We also organized meetups with investors to make sure you get exposed to them.
Our Investment Team will also sit down with you to review your financing options and guide you on the best way forward. Apply now!



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