Akro in final call for startups to apply to Cape Town accelerator

Cape Town based venture builder Akro has made a final call for startups to apply to join the second cohort of its 20-week acceleration programme which is funded by the SA SME Fund.

Applications close this Friday (30 August) and the programme kicks off on 9 September.

The accelerator is open to all kinds of businesses and not just tech startups, but preference will be given to entrepreneurs with products or services that have a high degree of scalability.

In line with the SA SME Fund’s objectives to support and fund more black African entrepreneurs, the accelerator will seek to have just over half of the places in each cohort filled by black Africans.

Startups have until 30 August to apply to Cape Town based Akro’s acceleration programme

The programme is split into two phases, a core phase and an extended phase.

The core phase is an eight-week, intensive programme that includes a rigorous workshopping, events and mentorship schedule, and the extended phase is a 12-week period of weekly mentoring and accountability management to ensure the benefits of the core programme are extended into the future.

Through the SA SME Fund Akro Accelerate startups will have access to a funding pool of R1-million, to cover costs such as accounting and tax compliance, product development costs and legal fees, provided that these services get startups closer to investment readiness.

Akro’s mentors and advisors include among others SnapScan’s head of business Rupert Sully, Excel @ Uni founder Lungelo Gumede and EduOne co-founder Jason Basel.

Startups don’t have to sell any of their equity when they join the accelerator programme and any investment discussions will commence after the completion of the eight-week core programme.

To qualify for selection for the accelerator startups can be post or pre-revenue, provided that they have a prototype or minimum viable product that can be developed into a production-ready version within two to five months.

It’s preferable that startups have more than one founder, as well as at least one technical co-founder, however this is not a hard requirement.

Read more: Cape Town’s Akro announces names of eight startups selected for its first cohort
Read more: SA SME Fund backed Akro opens call in new Cape based accelerator