After compiling these resources for my personal reference, I realized that others may benefit from them as well. As a person of collaborative spirit, I decided to post them here! Although these are focused on early-stage biotech entrepreneurship, many of the resources should also have broader applicability. I should note that some of the items listed may exist transiently, so parts of this compilation might eventually end up out-of-date. I hope that you find this list helpful for your own adventures!
Accelerators/Incubators
- Part of the 1517 Fund. Offers up to $100K in funding for launching tech companies (including biotech).
- Emphasizes escape from issues with academia and emphasizes sci-fi-like technologies.
- “You want to hit ‘pause’ on the academic rat race and spend 3 months on first-principles exploration of either applied, practical problems that can be commercialized within a VC-funded startup in the near-medium term (5 years) or moonshot fundamental science.”
- Work full-time for 1 summer (presumably some of the $100K may go towards living expenses?)
- Appears to not require a specific location, though there is a weekend retreat at the beginning of the summer and a dinner at the end of the summer.
- “Fellows receive a yearly living stipend of $100K, plus travel allowance, health insurance, and relocation. This enables them to focus on their project full-time. Each project also receives $100K in R&D funds at zero cost and access to at least $75K in additional flexible capital.”
- 2-year program.
- Also offers intensive mentorship, entrepreneurial education, community support, and research facilities.
- Eligibility issue for repeat founders: “Must be leading the commercial development of a hardware-based technology innovation for the first time if awarded the fellowship i.e., not a repeat hard tech founder.”
- Eligibility issue for medical biotech: “Our Fellowship does not currently support innovators developing technologies that only have application in mammalian health. If the underlying technology has the potential to pivot to other, non-healthcare markets and the stage of development is early enough such that market exploration during the fellowship is a key activity, the Activate Fellowship is likely to provide transformative support and it is worth applying. Specifically, if a focus during the fellowship is pursuing FDA approval, Activate is not a good fit. We encourage you to think broadly about the applications and potential impact of your technology and look at other companies we have supported for examples.”
- Communities in Berkeley, Boston, New York, and Houston. But does not appear to require a specific location.
- “For the therapeutics track, because only $250K is upfront and the other $1.75 million is over time, we are looking for truly novel platforms and methodologies that need this time to prove their concept.”
- Requires a co-founder.
- New York or San Francisco location.
- “At the start of the program founders receive an equity free Talent Investment (grant)* to cover living costs.”
- “During FORM, the goal is to test cofounder partnerships and ideas at pace as you build a company from day one. You’ll be supported by a team of Talent Investors and our global network of advisors, who will challenge your ambitions and develop your vision of success. Throughout FORM, we will push you to obsess about customer development, validating your ideas with customer feedback and traction from the outset. Our goal is to help founders build their initial edge and develop their longer term vision. For those with the biggest ambitions, this will involve getting early traction with US customers and building their vision for that market, which we will support with our network of SF advisors and operators.”
- “Towards the end of the program teams pitch to our Investment Committee for up to $250,000 in funding per team. This is made up of a $125,000 investment from EF, and the opportunity to receive a further $125,000 investment from EF’s third party investment partner, Transpose Platform*.” If you do not form a company or we choose not to invest at IC, we don’t take any equity and you don’t have to repay the grant. Instead you gain access to a global community of alumni to leverage for future success.
- It should be noted that the first $125K is “a post-money SAFE* (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) for 8% of your company” and the other potential $125K is an “investment from our partner Transpose Platform via an uncapped MFN (Most Favoured Nation) SAFE.”
- “At EF, we build technology companies. The majority of individuals who join EF will have a technical background, from self-taught developer through to a Computer Science PhD.” Note that they have also backed biotechnology companies.
- Spring, Summer, and Winter programs are available.
- Begins with an 8-week program (FORM) located in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, or Bangalore. Concludes with a 4-week program where startups settle in San Francisco.
- Part of Soma Capital. Offers a $30K grant (non-dilutive) and an 8-week summer program in San Francisco or New York City where the goal is to “become an expert at something, solve a riddle, write a research paper, prove a math theorem, start a hedge fund, master chess or poker, develop a new drug, launch a space company, design a chip, build a new LLM, or search for aliens!”
- “We’ll give you a 30k grant, a beautiful office space in SF or NY, access to an elite community, catered dinners and events, and aspirational experiences”.
- A student-led organization which identifies, educates, connects, and empowers academic biotechnology entrepreneurs to create and run startups. George Church, Tom Kalil, and Pamela Silver are some of the advisors. “Nucleate is a student-led organization that represents the largest global community of bio-innovators”.
- Website provides the Nucleate Operationalizing Your Therapeutics Spinout Playbook as an educational resource.
- Offers a six-month activator program that equips academic biotechnology founders with the skills and connections for successful business development.
- “Activator is a six-month, equity-free cohort program designed for academic biotech founders. Its curriculum has served more than 100 life sciences ventures that have raised over $190 million in venture funding. Participating teams refine their scientific discoveries into biotech venture theses and train under Nucleate’s unparalleled network, rigorous curriculum, funded fellowships, legal support, and highly subsidized perks. Activator culminates in a final pitch showcase before world-renowned judges”.
- Activator program is free and they do not take equity.
- Activator program requires projects that have not received any equity funding, but which do have early proof-of-concept data.
- “Activator takes place in-person in several regions globally. If there is not a Nucleate Chapter in your region, we also offer a Global Virtual Activator. (Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Baltimore, Bay Area, Boston, Canada, Chicago, DC, Denmark, Florida, France UniCA, Germany, Global Virtual, Israel, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, RTP, San Diego, Seattle, Switzerland, Texas, Twin City, United Kingdom)”.
- A program by Boost VC. They emphasize that they are looking for extremely ambitious founders building sci-fi-like technologies. Scientist-founders should have a rebellious spirit and the ability to build businesses in addition to doing science.
- “The residency includes workshops, office hours, and guest speakers—seasoned Bio founders and top Bio VCs to share journeys and insights to help you move faster.”
- “The week wraps with a science fair-style showcase happy hour with Bio VCs and networking. Each startup will receive continued access to our housing and office space for 2 weeks after to continue building alongside fellow deep tech founders.”
- Offers “$500K for 10%” and “Free housing & office space in Silicon Valley” and “Access to a week of hands-on programming designed to help founders craft their business plan and prepare to raise a full pre-seed round”.
- Gathers the “most ambitious innovators in Bio” in Silicon Valley for an intensive learning and networking experience over the course of 2 weeks.
- An accelerator program aimed at startups and student teams. (But one can apply either as a student or as an incorporated startup). It does not require applicants to be students.
- For startups: “$750K uncapped (YC standard safe). Each founder gets $10K profit share of Neo fund carry. We get participation rights in your next equity round to buy up to 5% total ownership”.
- Residency provides “3 months at our beautiful SF space. Maximize your productivity and build lasting relationships with founders and mentors at our intensive 2-week Oregon bootcamp. Access to world-class mentors, tech leaders & VCs. Learn from fabled founders and seasoned operators. Meet industry leaders at intimate events and 1:1 sessions. End the program with a Demo Day and bespoke VC intros. OpenAI & Microsoft perks, community, & more.”
- Neo also offers additional investment opportunities “Pre-seed & seed funding: Contact one of our team members (we prefer warm intros). We lead priced equity rounds or safes with our standard side letter.”
- At least one member of the founding team must be technical.
- One can apply as a solo founder or as a team. The program strongly encourages people looking for a cofounder find one before applying.
- Occurs in person for ~3 months (SF location).
- 1-week program which says they make one into a “Silicon Valley insider”.
- “Get access to a community of experienced alumni and mentors, networking events, and learn first-hand insights from Silicon Valley-based Big Tech professionals, investors, and tech entrepreneurs. A program to get fast-tracked into Silicon Valley through workshops, private community and networking events held in and around the cities of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s a deep dive into the expertise of heads of Global tech corporations, professors of top world ranked universities, and founders of successful companies.”
- Offers industry-leader talks, visits to companies and universities, networking opportunities, and a Slack community.
- They also invest small $10K checks into companies through a separate application.
General Funding Opportunities
- Boost VC offers a $500K investment (unclear as to if this is a SAFE or something else) for early-stage startups, particularly for technical founders who are good at storytelling and possess exceptional determination.
- “Boost VC is looking for founders with the courage to stand up for what they believe, and the determination to build an enormous company. In order to do this, you must have a unique insight on the universe and have the self confidence to build things that seem impossible to your family/friends/everyone. Only apply if you DARE MIGHTY THINGS! On a GOOD QUEST! We invest $500k to be the first partner in important things!”
- Boost VC offers a $50K investment at a $1.5M valuation cap for early-stage startups, particularly for technical founders who are good at storytelling and possess exceptional determination.
- “Boost VC is proud to introduce the Boost VC Fellowship (an equity based Fellowship), where we will invest $50K at $1.5M Cap into a founder or founders looking to start a new Deep Tech company… If it’s a potential fit, we will schedule one call and give you a quick decision… Are you Technical? Do you have the courage to stand up for what you believe? Are you good at storytelling? Are you a little possessed to build something great?”
- Startup fellowship which offers $10K at a $1B valuation cap (or participation without the money), mentorship and guidance, connections, and a 1-week workshop at the end of the program.
- “Z Fellows are technical builders of all ages working on side projects and startups. We are your first believer. We’ve worked with high school dropouts, college students, and people with full-time jobs across a variety of industries, including consumer, social, enterprise, defense, healthcare, edtech, fintech, gaming, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, crypto, AI, ML, climate, biotech, and more. Z Fellows is a one-week startup program. But it really doesn’t end after one week. We continue to help you for the life of your company, and beyond — and so does the ZF alumni community”.
- Does not require fellows to relocate.
- “Impetus Grants is designed to fund ambitious longevity science that would not happen otherwise. We prioritize speed, conviction, and leverage, so researchers can move fast on ideas that could reshape the field. We provide up to $500k within 3 weeks for scientists to start working on the most important problems in aging biology. To date we have deployed $34M in the field.”
- “Impetus focuses on work that is too speculative for government funding and too early for company formation.”
- Offers open field grants (round 4 is targeting total funding of about $5M with up to $500K per awardee) as well as focused grants in areas like “AI-enabled datasets” and “infectious disease and aging”.
- Philanthropic funding opportunity offered to highly motivated entrepreneurs (and others) with scalable project ideas for meaningfully improving society. Most awardees receive around $10K-$20K, but there are rumors that larger awards have been issued as well. Has a simple online application process centering on a 1500-word proposal.
- “Launched in 2018, Emergent Ventures is a low-overhead fellowship and grant program that supports entrepreneurs and brilliant minds with highly scalable, ‘zero to one’ ideas for meaningfully improving society. Mercatus Center faculty director Tyler Cowen administers the program”.
- Part of Soma Capital, Soma Fellows is a program that provides funding, mentorship, and network connections for driven entrepreneurs starting disruptive new tech companies.
- Offers $100K to $1M in uncapped SAFE funding. Might follow on with over $10M for exceptional companies.
- “Teams have the opportunity to receive $100k to 1m in funding from Soma Capital at the most founder-friendly terms possible. Soma Cap has the firepower to keep supporting you across the full path to IPO and the early stages are just the beginning for us… The program spans several weeks, offering sessions that guide you through the early stages of your entrepreneurial journey and help you build a foundation for scaling lasting companies. The Soma team, leveraging years of experience with top companies of our generation, will become your closest allies in establishing your company’s core and creating a product that impacts billions. The program culminates in a demo day, where founders showcase their products to potential customers, investors, and the community”.
- No location requirement.
- Provides $100K to resourceful self-directed people trying to build the future. (No equity taken according to their website).
- Funds not only founders, but also other people working on exciting projects with high potential to make positive change.
- 10 fellowships of $100K (plus networking) are offered per year, along with up to 20 grants of $10K plus access to the O’Shaughnessy Ventures network.
- “The O’Shaughnessy Fellowships is a one year program for researchers, builders and creatives advancing civilization. Twelve Months of pure possibility. No equity. No corporate overlords. No thesis requirements. No committee approvals. Just you, your vision, and the resources to make it real.”
- “You don’t have to quit your job, but we prefer candidates who are willing to go all in for one year, dedicating a minimum of 40 hours a week to their work during the Fellowships period and ideally north of 60 hours a week.”
- Does not have a location requirement, though optional gatherings may be hosted.
- Highly competitive: thousands of people apply for the 10 spots (plus the 20 runner-up grants).
- “Every applicant is automatically considered for both the $100,000 Fellowship and the $10,000 Grants.”
- “The fellowships are aimed primarily at individuals. However, we do encourage you to start a company if you are able to.”
- “If you’ve already started a startup or plan to raise outside investment to build a venture-scale company, please apply to Infinite Adventures – our venture capital arm, using the contact form.” See the O’Shaughnessy Ventures entry in the investor firms section for more.
- “Our mission is to engage skilled researchers and support ambitious ideas in the longevity and neuroscience fields. In the past few years, we have donated and committed over $50M to research spanning neuroAI, brain aging, centenarian genetics, and next-gen neurotechnologies.”
- One can reach out to them to discuss applying for funding through an email on their page.
- Has a list of longevity priorities listed online referred to as Bottlenecks of Aging. One can submit proposals directly to Bottlenecks of Aging through a link on their page.
- Sister organization is Starbloom Capital, which invests in longevity biotech, neuroAI, and emerging industries.
Funding for Nonprofits
- Offers: “salary of $125,000-$250,000, commensurate with experience, to explore an important problem of their choosing, along with an additional budget for a team and other operational expenses, as necessary; a chance to pitch us and others in our network for longer-term, larger-scale support; medical benefits; and access to substantial compute and programmatic resources”.
- Focuses on non-proprietary science for public good, so emphasizes nonprofit research programs, generating large datasets, and open-source products.
- Location in Emeryville California but may offer remote options in the future.
- Does not permit journal publications on research they fund.
- Have not found a specific program that offers funding, but they are a philanthropic firm that is likely to offer funding of some kind for nonprofit research organizations.
Training Programs
- 1-week long series of “live virtual sessions covering the fundamentals of finding a co-founder, validating your idea, developing a business model, and raising capital.”
- Also includes “live virtual and recorded talks from experienced founders.”
- Positions participants in a community of future founders and helps them stay connected.
- One applies to join (likely has some level of competitiveness).
- Hosted by Pillar VC and sometimes others (e.g. MDplus).
- No geographic requirement.
- Fifty Years offers a free program called 5050, which provides education on how to transition from a scientific role into operating as a founder.
- “Over 16 weeks, you’ll work closely with the 50Y team to answer the following questions: Do I have an idea worth pursuing? How do I turn breakthrough research into a startup? Am I addressing a problem with a large enough market? How do I recruit a world-class team? Am I the right person to do it?”
- Sessions are held in Boston, San Francisco, and remotely. Entire cohort is flown to San Francisco for kickoff and camp weekends.
Investor Firms
- “We back strong technical leaders who work on world-changing technologies from pre-seed to series A.”
- “We also run SciFounder Fellowship which comes with up to $1MM to get started and hands-on mentorship from us.”
- “We love scientists, engineers, hackers… Fifty Years is a pre-seed and seed focused VC firm. We back founders using technology to solve the world’s biggest problems. We also help start companies. 50Y founders are building massive businesses while solving the world’s most important problems: the climate crisis, disease, connectivity, malnutrition, and more.”
- Fifty Years sometimes offers Manifest Grants of $25K-$100K for translational research in certain areas. Applications appear to be closed as of the time of this writing.
- Fifty Years sometimes offers a free program called 5050, which provides education on how to transition from a scientific role into operating as a founder.
- They have an academic Spinout Playbook resource on their website.
- “Petri develops pre-seed companies attacking the world’s largest problems at the frontier of biology and engineering.”
- “Every Petri company receives access to comprehensive resources and 1:1 coaching to help develop your idea into a company.”
- “Co-founded and funded by Pillar VC”.
- Petri emphasizes founder-led companies.
- Four key areas: “restorative cultivation, scaling intelligence, the net-zero transition and curative therapeutics”.
- Curative therapeutics area has four key themes: “effectively leveraging computational approaches to address complexity; developing therapeutics that can compute in-vivo and respond dynamically to the changing internal environment; creating better systems, models and analytics to support therapeutic discovery and development; and a focus on the root cause, including fixing and buffering molecular level damage, fixing broken or unhelpful messaging and signalling pathways, correcting errors at every level of gene expression and modifying the state of cells to drive regeneration.”
- “Founders joining us have up to 18 months to form a company, are funded for the full duration and get to work with a dedicated sector specialist team. They join to work on opportunities that have been pre-scoped by us and have the chance to form more than one company over the course of their time with us, de-risking the standard founder proposition.”
- They look for “Ambitious, resilient founders, with a real sense of urgency” and “Deep technical expertise with industry experience” and “Empathetic founders, with a strong ability to persuade through concise storytelling”.
- Has a focus on disruptive technologies and highly driven founders, aims to be more founder friendly than other VC firms.
- “Soma Capital invests in brilliant, fearless teams building Category Kings. We focus on software to automate the world, across any sector and geography that can touch billions of people and push humanity forward”.
- A venture capital group that provides very early-stage funding to highly motivated and rebellious outside-the-box entrepreneurs, particularly young dropouts and sci-fi scientists working at the cutting edge of technology.
- “1517 is a venture capital fund and community supporting college dropouts solving hard problems and deep tech scientists with investment at the earliest stages of their companies. Founded by the cofounders of the Thiel Fellowship, it supports founders across software, hardware, and deep tech verticals and also provides a community to hackers, makers, and scientists from across the world”.
- Boost VC says they are “the most active Deep Tech investor on the planet” since they “average one deal per week.”
- “We invest into emerging and frontier categories on the edges of the map… We lead Pre-Seed rounds with $500k checks, and we write $50k Founder Start checks as well.”
- Emphasizes sci-fi-seeming technologies.
- VC firm which funds early-stage companies.
- Located in Boston.
- An investment firm focusing on bold early stage founders: “We back tomorrow’s companies & creators before the world knows their names. Whether you’re coding, filming, writing or building, we’re here to provide the resources, support and connections you need. The Mission: Bet early on bold founders with radical ideas.”
- Also supports book publishing through Infinite Books as well as films and podcasts.
- Offers the O’Shaughnessy Fellowship of $100,000 (more details in the general funding opportunities section).
- Invests in deep tech: longevity biotech, neuroAI, and emerging industries.
- Sister organization to the Amaranth Foundation.
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