Your Work Should Matter

There is no shortage of big problems facing humanity, but there is a shortage of ambitious startups trying to solve them

Create Impact

Our Goal is to reach 80% of our global alumni building businesses that address the UN SDGs by 2030

Progress Planner

Not every entrepreneur can (or wants to) “change the world”, but every entrepreneur can do their part to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Our new "Progress Planner" makes it easy to find achievable impact goals for your business.

Plan your Progress

Our Initiatives

The Founder Institute's mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build technology businesses that positively impact the world, no matter their location, background, race, age, or sexual orientation.

Female Founder Initiative

The Female Founder Initiative was created in 2016 to support the women in the Founder Institute network. Today, we are supporting women founders from all over the world.

Learn More Impact Report

50%

increase from 2016 to 2017 of women-founded portfolio companies from the Founder Institute

38%

of the companies the Founder Institute produced in the U.S. were women-founded in 2018

Black American Founder Fellowship

Through this program, any Black American Founder in the United States who is building a startup (or who has an idea for a startup) can apply to any Founder Institute chapter in the United States for free, and the top applicants in each program will receive free access to our pre-seed accelerator program.

Learn More

<1%

of VC-backed tech companies have Black Founders (via CB Insights)

<2%

of Partners at VC Firms are Black (via BLCK VC)

Veteran Founder Initiative

Our mission is to unite the veteran entrepreneur ecosystem to help build 100 veteran led technology companies each year.

Learn More

100+

Veteran Startups Accelerated

Our Impact

4500+

Startups

90+

Countries

25,000+

Jobs Created

Our Impactful Companies

Charlotte Aschim - CEO & Co-Founder

TotalCtrl

Founder Institute Oslo

TotalCtrl is a cloud-based food waste prevention system that simplifies inventory and expiry date management by providing real-time data on products.

Responsible Consumption and Production
Sustainable Development Goal 12
Pooja Viswanathan - CEO & Founder

Braze Mobility

Founder Institute Toronto

Braze Mobility has developed the first blind spot sensor system that can be added to any wheelchair, offering the driver feedback regarding location and proximity of obstacles through lights, sounds and vibrations.

Reduced Inequalities
Sustainable Development Goal 10
Viola Llewellyn - President & Co-Founder

Ovamba

Founder Institute Johannesburg

Ovamba is an award winning ‘TradeTech’ company that supports financial institutions who want to serve growing businesses in emerging and frontier markets.

Decent Work and Economic Growth
Sustainable Development Goal 8

Build Impact with Us

Let's make this special moment count

For curious

Startuppers

We have moved all in-person events to an online format for the foreseeable future, while also running several new online events every week.

See all online startup events

For aspiring

Entrepreneurs

Now is the time to build your dream company and create the post pandemic world. Apply to our pre-seed accelerator programs to build something that matters.

Apply to our program

For curious

Ecosystem Leaders

Rally your community to launch startups that will have a positive impact on the world. Apply to lead a world-class pre-seed accelerator in your city.

Apply to lead

For aspiring

Investors

Organize resources locally to launch an impactful venture firm and fund businesses that will build a bright future. Apply to join our VC builder program.

Apply to join VC Lab

The Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, we have helped over 4,300 entrepreneurs get the focus and support needed to build a business that matters.