Join the GameFounders Startup Accelerator Program
GameFounders is Europe’s first gaming startup accelerator and is seeking startups for an intensive 3 month development program in Tallinn, Estonia starting in September. Applications are open to both gaming and gamification startups until June 20th. You can apply here: gamefounders.com/#/apply.
GameFounders is the only gaming accelerator in the world that invests up to 15,000 EUR seed capital for a 9% share in the accelerated companies. They are also the first gaming accelerator in Europe. They have had two selection cycles featuring 14 top contenders from Argentina, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Macedonia, Hungary, India, Holland and Estonia. In total they have received applications from 47 countries globally.
“The most successful have been Bad Seed and Glowforth. Bad Seed found publisher and investor in USA (Pocket Gems) and Glowforth found a publisher in Estonia (Creative Mobile) and will be launching later this year,” told Kadri Ugand, co-founder and manager of Gamefounders.
Why Estonia?
Estonia, a tiny Northern Europe country with a population of just 1.3 million, is well known for its high adaptability of technology. Elections, schools, medical records and ID services have been widely adopted in digital formats.
“Wifi is available almost everywhere, setting up a business is really easy. Registering a new company takes 15 minutes, opening bank account another 15-30 minutes,” adds Mari Vavulski from Enterprise Estonia, an organization which provides businesses in Estonia with financial support and international contacts. “The local startup landscape is very active, you can easily finds someone to brainstorm your idea at meetups, and the startup culture is generally very open. Entrepreneurs are happy to share their experiences and knowledge with the community,” added Kadri Ugand.
More Perks
“Teams are very supportive of each other. When some of the teams have a problem, they can turn to 25 other game developers working in the same room, some of whom have definitely been in the same situation. Thus, helping each other is very much ongoing. It has also happened that teams have turned into other teams evangelists and networking for other on their business meetings,” added Ugand.
Thanks to Gamefounders, startups have access to over 80 gaming experts, CEOs, CFOs and developers coming from 17 countries. Furthermore GameFounders has a constant network of angels and VCs interested specifically in startup game companies.
Gamification Startups are welcome
Although the majority of the startups at Gamefounders are developing games, there are some gamification startups in the program. Currently there is the location-based game SpyDay and the children’s language learning game Colto. “So far most of the companies have been focused gaming, so gamification startups are very welcome”, added Ugand. All the videos from the current accerlator cycle can be found here: gamefounders.com/#/blog/gamefounders-batch-2-videos/
“Demo Days have been held in Tallinn and London. Last week, teams where presenting at Nordic Game Conference in Malmö, Sweden and this week May 31st, they will be rocking in San Francisco,” added Kadri Ugand. For a free tickets click on the link here.
Applications are open until June 20 and early submissions are given preference. You can find the application on GameFounders website at gamefounders.com
