Merck accelerator program for startups in Africa is now opened for innovative african based startups working towards the SDG’s Healthcare, Life Sciences, Performance Materials, and Merck’s innovation focus areas.
The Start-up accelerator Programme a collaboration between Merck Accelerator with Tech Entrepreneurship Initiative “Make-IT in Africa” will provide startup the opportunity to quickly explore and validate the potential for co-creating and working in in the health sector especially in partnership with Merck.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
Start-ups that fulfil the following criteria:
-Registered in an African country and operative for at least a year
-A business model with a focus on the SDG’s and a solution in the fields of Healthcare, Life Sciences, Performance Materials and other search fields such as Biosensing and Interfaces, and Liquid Biopsy
Technologies
– Start-ups with at least 2 co-founders
The team supports gender equality and diversity
Applicants must be fluent in English
Selected startups will get a chance to work on a collaboration project with existing Merck’s innovation projects.
Fully paid bootcamp in Nairobi for top 20 start-ups (5 per each region) to ideate and develop business cases for collaboration with Merck
Continuous business support, technical support and online mentoring and coaching
Scale-Up Diagnostics and Design for Scale Training
Spotlight and exhibition at the South Africa Innovation Summit in Cape Town for 4 finalists
Spotlight and Demo Day at Merck in South Africa for 4 finalists
Spotlight and exhibition at MEDICA conference in Dusseldorf for 4 finalists
Corporate Collaboration: A fully paid trip to Merck Innovation Center at the HQs to pitch for a collaboration project with Merck for 4 finalists
Three meetups in each focus region will be conducted to connect with a rich community of founders and innovators in your region going through the same challenges, as you exchange ideas and build lifetime connections.
Selected startups will be exposed to investors, Business opportunities and
Potential exposure measures