$200K investment commitment for your startup. Access to amazing partners that include Audible, Amazon, Prudential, Dun & Bradstreet, RWJBarnabas, and the NJ Devils. Lightening fast internet (10GB) in a state of the art office. Free gourmet lunches. NVP Labs applications open now.
In the last year, NVP Labs, the accelerator arm of Newark Venture Partners, a $50M fund investment fund, has backed 20 startups and they have no plans to slow down. The accelerator, based in the heart of Newark, has opened applications for its Fall 2017 cohort and plans to bring another 10 startups. These companies will receive mentorship from industry leading professionals, state of the art office space, and of course— capital to scale their ventures. The application deadline is September 8th.
Startups: $200K capital, Audible, Amazon, Prudential, NJ Devils… Apply to NVP Labs by 9/8
As a part of a startup’s acceptance into the program, NVP Labs will invest $100,000 into each company in return for a 6% equity stake. The Newark Venture Partners fund also provides guaranteed coinvestment (at least another $100K but usually higher) in subsequent funding rounds for the startups in the accelerator program. The fund itself invests in about 30 innovative, poised-for-growth startups per year, providing tailored mentorship in addition to capital. The NVP fund looks to lead follow on rounds and invest up to $1M in their portfolio companies.
The program starts October 2017 and runs through January 2018, culminating with a demo day at Prudential Center in front of NVP’s network of investors, corporate partners, and press.
Why Newark?
Let’s face it. The cost of running a startup in New York City is skyrocketing. The distinct advantages of Newark’s location provides startups with access to NVP’s brand new 25,000 square foot coworking space which can house your growing team, all while being in a low-cost area just a short train ride from New York City. “What we want to do is use Newark Venture Partners to be a driver of technology job creation here in Newark, New Jersey,” said Dan Borok, Managing Partner, NVP. The space has state-of-the-art amenities, including ultra-high bandwidth WiFi 200x faster than a standard business class connection. Some things are worth heading out of the city for.
Newark, as a city, acts a real-world lab for creating innovative technologies from transportation to education to smart city infrastructure. Startups that are perfect for the program are solving challenges for marketplaces, B2B, B2C, IoT, etc. and have a team of at least two founders with in-house tech development capabilities. Companies should also have an initial product as well as market validation in the form of users, pilots or clients. If that’s you, what are you waiting for?
Move to Newark, NJ??? YES! $200K NVP Labs Accelerator
The program is located in the same building as Audible’s global headquarters and Audible (an Amazon company) is an engaged corporate partner in the accelerator. “One of the defining moments of the program for me was being in a meeting with the Senior Vice President of Data Science for Audible,” said Umar Akbar, cofounder and CEO of Navinata Health, a past graduate of NVP Labs. “You can get all of this great input and great ideas in places where you least expect it.” Startups will have access to Audible’s system engineers and architects, data scientists, technologists and business experts. Audible CEO Don Katz is a big proponent of the fund and Accelerator program, also serving as Chairman of the fund. “Great Founders, great products, ” remarked Katz.
“Newark is a fostering environment for tech entrepreneurs and an accelerator program such as this will fine tune your objectives,” explained Raz Choudhury, NVP Labs Alum & CEO of Sam.ai, a sales and marketing platform powered by AI.
“NVP is venture capital with social purpose — we’ve got such momentum, we’ve made 27 investments in the last 18 months and will make 150 more in the next 3 to 4 years right here in Newark,” shares Tom Wisniewski, NVP Managing Partner.
The Program
The program is jam-packed with valuable mentorship sessions and partnerships from the Newark area that startups will have access to in order to help scale their companies , including Prudential Financial and Dun & Bradstreet. “We had great conversations with Dunn & Bradstreet, which would not have been possible without Newark Venture Partners”said Scott Simonelli, NVP Labs ‘17 Alum & CEO of Veritonic. Many of last year’s participants attribute their success to the invaluable relationships and introductions created through the program. Envested, another NVP graduate closed deals with NVP partner Audible and coworking industry titan WeWork. Envested CEO and Founder Isa Watson was also recognized on INC.’s #30under30list while in the program.
The Newark Venture Partners accelerator also provides startups with first-class support from graduate-level engineering and business associates from the greater Newark vicinity.
In addition to all of the above, startups will have the distinct advantage of post-accelerator support— something uncommon in the accelerator world. Startups will have continued access to the NVP investor network and a guaranteed coinvestment from the NVP $50M fund in the first round of venture financing.
Barkly, a NVP accelerator graduate company and on-demand discovery engine for dog walkers, relocated from Washington DC to Newark for the program. Dave Comiskey, Barkly cofounder and CEO, credits the NVP accelerator with the company’s New York launch. Comiskey’s advice to potential NVP accelerator companies: “Just do it. Find the right program and know exactly why NVP is a good fit for your company.” Barkly went on to raise $605K, led by NVP with participation from the New York Angels and other prominent NYC angels.
Whoa! Startups get $200K + free lunch! Apply Now
Other companies that have raised funds post Accelerator included DreamForward Financial and 1Huddle, which has earned notable market traction. They recently launched the proprietary 1Huddle training platform for the Hyundai Motors group in South Africa, including branches in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg.
“The most defining moment for me at NVP really has to be the lead up to our demo day,” said Sam Caucci, Founder and CEO, Sales Huddle and NVP graduate. “They provide a tremendous amount of resources to make sure that every founder, every team is 100 percent prepared.”
Join the Fall 2017 Newark Venture Partners Lab cohort by applying now.
