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Future of Sex (FOS), an organization that seeks to put sextech developments at the forefront of business and personal agendas, has launched its (and possibly the world’s) first official sextech accelerator program, which runs in addition to global sextech hackathons and other events.
The 12-week accelerator isn’t aimed at small businesses looking to grow, and instead seeks to give the next generation of sextech entrepreneurs some support and guidance while taking the very first steps with a fledgling business idea.
“We are seeing amazing teams and solid products emerging from our global hackathon program, but there is little support for teams that want to grow beyond a demo. The Future of Sex Accelerator will help convert ideas into viable businesses,” the organization says on its site.
For successful applicants, the course is made up of a mix of in-person and virtual meetings, mentoring and other online training materials – for this cohort, there’s no cash investment in the company directly from Future of Sex. One spot in the current trial cohort was awarded to the winners of the Sparkfest Asia sextech hackathon in May, which, incidentally, did also come with a small cash award.
As there’s no investment from FOS, founders aren’t currently required to give up any equity in exchange, though this is planned for future versions of the program, FOS co-founder Gavin Heaton told SEXTECHGUIDE.
Hopeful applicants will need to successfully navigate in-person and Skype interviews, Heaton added. “Like most accelerators, we seek robust and engaged founders with the drive, resilience and focus to bring their solution to global markets as quickly as possible.”
While it shares an overarching organization, the Future of Sex Venture Lab (FSLV) – which has the stated aim of undertaking 4-6 new high-potential ventures each year – is entirely separate to the accelerator program and lab, and works with established brands instead.
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