www.spherikaccelerator.com
Concept Spherik Accelerator offers
We aim to create an ecosystem of value generation by pooling together major stakeholders, from universities to private companies and local administration.
entrepreneurial teams access
The Spherik Accelerator is born out of the belief in the creative capacity of
to the right tools, education and
the new generation of Central and Eastern Europe entrepreneurs.
mentoring in order for them
The Spherik approach maximizes the probability of a startup’s success by
to generate competitive
providing the resources needed for the product, the market and the capital
businesses for the global market.
to harmoniously blend. We boost the companies’ access to know-how
Ambassadors represent startups in Silicon Valley and other key areas, in order to facilitate their
by providing education, mentorship and ambassadorship. Our approach includes post-acceleration support in order to refine the business past the acceleration phase.
access to key resources and know-
The accelerator is located in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Often
how.
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.
Our Approach Developing an understanding of the market potential, competition, funding needs and path to profitability is our main
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.
focus for every startup joining
Product. We assist startups in developing their product concepts to
Spherik Accelerator.
customer validation and then to commercial readiness. We work with startups through the customer development process, providing muchneeded 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.
Startups 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.
The team at Spherik offers
Innovation comes from talented people with strong ideas who know how
resources, strategies, advice
to find the right partners and ask the right questions that can turn an
and knowledge in order to
innovative concept into reality.
expand the capabilities of
We are looking to accelerate Romanian innovative ideas that have a real
early stage start-ups.
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.
Universities As an important component of Spherik Accelerator, universities translate research outputs into defined product offerings in identified markets, transforming discovery to enterprise.
Spherik Accelerator bridges
We are an active, participatory collaborator for academic partners that
the gap between promising
complements their own expertise and increases prospects for success in the
research outputs and the
process of research commercialization.
marketplace.
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 labbased 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.
Private sector 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.
As part of the Spherik
The long term success of a business depends on its ability to continually
ecosystem, industry players
reinvent itself, to make the most of the resources it has, while also
have acces to a pool of highly
capitalizing on new opportunities in the marketplace.
dynamic and creative people
The Spherik Accelerator offers opportunity to both invest in innovative
and products, stimulating
projects and ease the effort needed to identify new lines of business, trends
innovation and excellence.
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.
Local community The fundamental value of the accelerator lies in its ability to drive economic growth and foster an entrepreneurial culture within the local community.
Spherik Accelerator is
Built on a collaborative model, the Spherik Accelerator encourages
essential to the growth of
cooperation between public and private initiatives, developing manageable
the local entrepreneurial
steps and components to deliver powerful and scalable results.
ecosystem.
Spherik Accelerator provides the environment for industry and higher
The Spherik acceleration program contributes to the increase of employment and improves competitiveness.
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.
Succesful entrepreneurs Mentorship inside accelerators is definitely one of the biggest challenges. We encourage founders to reach out and focus on building trust.
Trust, knowledge-sharing
Successful entrepreneurs know how hard it is to succeed. They also know
and follow-through are the
the societal value of entrepreneurship, and they tend to support the
essential requirements for
entrepreneurial mindset developing further.
successful mentorship.
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.
Contact
www.spherikaccelerator.com 21 Gﾄビii St., Cluj-Napoca 400267, Romania T + 40 264 435 362, F + 40 264 435 369 contact@spherikaccelerator.com
Andrei Roth / project manager andrei.roth@spherikaccelerator.com M + 40 742 030 557
Cﾄフﾄネina Amihﾄナesi / manager accelerator programs catalina.amihaiesi@spherikaccelerator.com M + 40 752 258 696