The Visionaries AI Incubator was created by Female Foundry in partnership with Google Cloud to bring the latest AI tools and thinking to the most ambitious female-founded startups in Europe to accelerate their growth.
Unlike other accelerator programs that focus on fundraising, this incubator is tailored to companies that have already secured funding (we recommend a total raise of at least €500k, ideally much more) and now seek to accelerate their business growth through the use of AI and tailored specialised advice.
Value proposition
The Visionaries program takes 8 weeks, during which, founders are invited to attend 60+ hours of tailored workshops, talks, 1-1 mentorship sessions, and take part in exclusive founder chats.
It is therefore important that you enter the program prepared, with a clear plan of what you want to achieve, and are open to feedback and the vast possibilities that AI can offer!
The Visionaries is designed to be flexible and tailored to the needs of every company we partner with. It’s up to you to take advantage of the growth opportunities we create for you!
The first week of Visionaries is all about you—we want to learn how we can specifically help accelerate your growth with AI and provide you with business building advice.
The following seven weeks focus on Data, Product, Growth, and Operations and include weekly in-person thematic sessions. By the end of the program, we also want you to build a piece of AI-native infrastructure that addresses a major opportunity or a challenge for your business. This is complemented by virtual specialist and technical sessions, and drop-in virtual office hours.
At least one of the founders must be present in person in London at weekly Core Learning Sessions.
We require all founding teams to attend both the Kickoff and Demo Days.
Your tech and core team members are invited to attend business-specific and technology-specific virtual mentorship sessions. We also provide them with access to our learning content, ensuring that key decision makers of your startup are all on board if need to!
Visionaries is equity-free and there is no upfront fee.
We ultimately want you to succeed at the next fundraising round by increasing your company's value.
And so, our program fee is only charged at the point of your next fundraise. Our program fee consists of a £20k base fee and 2% of the total amount you raise at this next round. For example, if you raise £1 million at the next fundraising found, you will pay us £40,000.
The total program fee is capped at £50,000.
If you don't raise any equity financing rounds over the next 24 months, the program is free!
Our support for your business extends beyond the eight weeks of Visionaries. After the program ends, you’ll gain access to our Visionaries' alumni community.
As a member, you’ll be invited to our social and industry-leading events, where you will be able to connect with key players in the ecosystem, as well as meet alumni from ongoing cohorts.
You’ll also continue to receive exclusive service discounts, access to mentorship drop-ins, cohort catch-ups, and opportunities to speak at regular Female Foundry and Google events.
Once you are ready to fundraise again, we will help you with introductions to your target institutional investors that are in our network.
We don’t currently invest directly in our cohort companies.
Our goal is to support companies that have recently raised funding.
After the program, when you are ready to fundraise, we will connect you with VC investors within our network. Our goal from the outset is to make your business successful!
Yes. Companies in our cohorts are invited to work from our offices during the program and are welcome to drop in at any time throughout the week to foster connections and growth opportunities.
Yes. Each company joining Visionaries will receive Google Cloud credits starting at $25,000 USD and up to $250,000, based on funding and spending milestones.
However, credits are just one of the tech benefits we offer to Visionaries' companies.
In addition to credits, you will receive Google technical mentorship, including office hours and workshops, $500 USD in Google Cloud Skills Boost credits for video courses, hands-on labs, and much more!
Other
Yes. Visit our careers page to see current openings.
We love collaborating with innovative companies and exceptional people.
There are several ways you can support the Visionaries: by offering specialised advice to companies in our cohort (please note that each application will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis), becoming a sponsor, or becoming a partner.
If you're interested, please email us at sayhello@femalefoundry.co with a brief description of your partnership idea.
Visionaries is invite-only. We are committed to maintaining high-quality of startups and fostering strong connections within our Visionaries' alumni community and so we are highly selective about founders we invite.
Please read through the questions about our selection process. We also regularly host AMA sessions regarding our selection process. Check the upcoming AMA session here.
Selection Process
There are three key aspects against which we evaluate companies that apply. These are:
Tech or science DNA
We are passionate about AI and want to back founders who are solving today's biggest challenges through proprietary tech or/and science.
AI potential
We are looking to partner with companies where AI can have the greatest impact on their trajectory.
This is perhaps because they capture vast amount of data that can be leveraged and monetised. Or perhaps it is because AI has the potential to unlock new business value, for example by bringing new levels of creativity, efficiency or personalisation.
There is no cookie-cutter approach here. We simply evaluate how AI can drive growth and success for your startup.
Focus on growth
We are looking to partner with companies after they have recently raised a Pre-Seed, Seed, or Series A round, developed at least an MVP, gained early commercial traction, and are now looking to generate more commercial growth.
Our goal is to provide a tailored experience for every startup we partner with at Visionaries.
To achieve this, we only accept 6-8 companies per cohort, regardless of the number of applications we receive.
The aim of the Visionaries is to support science-driven or tech-driven female-founded companies as they look to scale.
While we are open to various sectors, our main focus is on five key areas where we believe AI will have the most transformative impact: the Future of Software, Finance, Health, Work, and Earth.
We want to keep our cohorts diverse in terms of the sectors of companies we invite to the program.
As the Visionaries requires companies to attend core sessions in person to maximise the value of the experience and the connections formed, we currently prioritise UK-based companies.
However, we will also occasionally invite promising European/US-based startups that can attend in person throughout the duration of the program.
We are looking to partner with companies that have recently raised funding and are now focused on accelerating their growth with AI. This means that all Visionaries companies will typically be between post-Pre-seed and Series A stages.
By now, you should have at least developed your product (at minimum an MVP), gained early commercial traction, and be looking to accelerate your product development and generate commercial growth.
Occasionally, we may accept bootstrapped companies, but those companies should demonstrate clear product-market fit and commercial growth.
Applications for subsequent Visionaries' cohorts are open and reviewed on a rolling basis. We are constantly on the lookout for exceptional female founders and female-founded companies!
Once you submit your application, you should hear back from us within three weeks.
If we see a potential match, we will first invite you to a 30-minute call to learn more about you, your plans, and your ambitions.
Selected companies will then be invited to a second call where we will dive deeper into your tech, and plans. This will be followed by light-touch due diligence to ensure we understand your position in detail.
The final decision will be communicated about three weeks before your cohort starts.
Absolutely. You can be invited to Visionaries as a solo founder.
However, please note that we will need to closely evaluate your team. Having a strong and diverse skillset is important for early-stage companies. As a solo founder you will therefore need to clearly demonstrate how your team members provide complimentary value/skills to help to grow your business.
As Visionaries is an AI-centres, and a significant part of the program is dedicated to advancing your tech capabilities, we require at least one person on the team (whether a founder or another team member) to have strong technical skills, ideally with some experience using AI.
Yes, companies using cloud providers other than Google Cloud are welcome to join the Visionaries. As part of the program, however, you will be developing a portion of your AI infrastructure to accelerate growth, which will require you to build on the Google Cloud platform.