We have some very exciting news to share today!
The Founder Institute, the world’s premier pre-seed startup accelerator, and MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator, a US Department of Defense (DoD) program that creates communities of innovators that solve national security problems, are announcing the new MD5 Fellowship program.
Through this partnership, aspiring and early-stage tech entrepreneurs can access these organizations’ collective training, networks, and resources to launch, fund, and scale a security or defense-based startup.
Entrepreneurs working with MD5 or who have participated in other MD5 programs can apply to the program at any of the 20+ U.S. Founder Institute chapters (including the flagship Silicon Valley Chapter), and the best overall applicants will be invited to participate in the pre-seed accelerator for free, receive mentorship and funding assistance from Department of Defense, Silicon Valley experts, and more.
If you are building a defense or security-related startup, then apply for the MD5 Fellowship today at FI.co/join/MD5.
We’re very excited to be working with The Founder Institute. Many of the founders we work with at MD5 do not have previous entrepreneurial experience," says Colonel Gregory Coleman, MD5’s Acceleration Portfolio Manager. "The Founder Institute significantly shortens the learning curve of these entrepreneurs and makes it more likely that they will succeed and ultimately help DoD field solutions to many of the problems we face as a department.
The MD5 Fellowship program was designed to help aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs through the Launch, Funding, and Scaling lifecycle of an early-stage startup:
Launch Assistance
In the Founder Institute’s pre-seed accelerator program, aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs can build a company alongside a support network of startup experts invested in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped program alumni raise over $1.85BN. Through the new MD5 Fellowship, the best overall applicants will have the opportunity to participate in the program free of charge, and for zero equity.
Funding Assistance
After MD5 Fellowship companies complete the Founder Institute program, they have the opportunity to join the Founder Lab Defense Track, powered by Vet-Tech. Founder Lab is a virtual advisory program that helps early-stage startups raise seed funding. Over the course of this regimented 3-month program, participants will work closely with the Founder Institute and Vet-Tech teams in Silicon Valley to improve their pitch materials, build an investor pipeline, pitch to angels, negotiate terms, and generate strong investor interest.
Scaling Assistance
Startups that complete the MD5 Fellowship program will have the opportunity to access the combined global networks of the Founder Institute, Vet-Tech and MD5 to further scale their companies.
The program was conceived by Ryan Micheletti, Director of Global Operations at the Founder Institute and Co-Founder of Vet-Tech.
Having worked with hundreds of veteran-led and defense technology companies over the last decade, we believe there is a great opportunity to launch and scale national security companies in partnership with MD5 aimed at making the world a safer place”, says Ryan Micheletti
Learn more about the MD5 program at FI.co/join/MD5.
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About the Founder Institute
The Founder Institute (http://FI.co) is the world's premier pre-seed startup accelerator. In the Founder Institute, you can build a company alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that are invested in your success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped our alumni raise over $700M. Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200 cities and 60 countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs. The Founder Institute was founded in 2009 by Adeo Ressi and Jonathan Greechan. It is operated out of Palo Alto, California.
About MD5
MD5 (http://www.md5.net) is a U.S. Department of Defense program office within the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering that collaborates with partners from major research universities and the venture community to provide solutions to the real-world problems of warfighters. It operates three portfolios of programs and services: Education, Collaboration and Acceleration. The Education Portfolio delivers programs that bring innovation methods and the tools of entrepreneurship to the Department of Defense workforce in order to improve the problem-solving capacity of warfighters. The Collaboration Portfolio facilitates collision-events that connect warfighters with our network of academic and venture partners to prototype new concepts and novel solutions that the Department of Defense can use to address warfighter-driven innovation challenges. The Acceleration Portfolio provides programs and services that sustain these new solutions and novel applications, supporting prototyping and testing, and facilitating the launch and growth of of dual-use ventures responsive to warfighter needs. Together, these three independent portfolios of programs and services form an interconnected pipeline of activities and solutions that accelerate the pace of defense innovation for DoD.
