Silicon Valley Catalyst

$100,000 seed funding

Jumpstart your global success!

Garage Technology Ventures and Norway’s StartupLab have partnered along with MAD-Partners in Silicon Valley to offer Nordic startup companies a pathway to global success via Silicon Valley. The Garage Silicon Valley Catalyst is open to any emerging technology company in Northern Europe that has the potential to launch and succeed in Silicon Valley.

  • Interested entrepreneurs should send their application materials (see below) to:  catalyst@garage.com

The Silicon Valley Catalyst is designed to accelerate the growth of companies that start in the Nordic region with plans to expand by setting up in Silicon Valley.  The initial partners are looking to add additional partners, especially venture firms and entrepreneurship programs in Northern Europe, as the program expands.

Unique Catalyst Design

The big idea behind the Silicon Valley Catalyst program is to provide high potential emerging technology companies from the Nordic region with intensive support tailored to meet their specific needs. The primary elements of support include customer acquisition, team building, operational improvement, and financing.

The Catalyst is not another accelerator or incubator program.  It goes beyond standard programs by providing a degree of customized training, coaching, and support that standard programs do not offer.  During the course of the Catalyst program, each company develops a set of management tools and processes known as the Garage Startup Toolkit.  The result is a company with solid operational capability with a foundation that can scale to a large successful company.  The details of the Startup Toolkit and the development program underlying the Catalyst are laid out in Catalyst Program Details [link].

Qualifying Companies

Companies will be accepted from a broad range of sectors, but the program will focus primarily on information technology, communications and software. Qualifying companies will be offered $100,000 in funding and will be provided with a customized program of support based on their strengths and weaknesses designed to address their specific needs around business development, team development, and operational execution.

Areas of Focus

During the three months of intensive support, each company receives coaching and development around specific areas, including:

  • Business model validation
  • Customer acquisition and business development
  • Organizational development and team building
  • Operational execution and legal compliance
  • Financing

Once each company reaches its initial objectives, the Catalyst then provides ongoing support, according to the needs of each company. Underlying the model is an alignment of interests between the entrepreneurs and the program partners – through their equity interests, the SVCatalyst program partners win only if the entrepreneurs win.

Not Your Typical Accelerator Program

Unlike a typical accelerator program, companies are not run through the Catalyst in batch mode. Companies are accepted into the program as they qualify. There is no typical batch-specific deadline. A customized program and timeline is developed for each company. Some companies may be ready to launch in Silicon Valley within weeks. Other companies may need several months of development before they are ready for Silicon Valley. The Catalyst works with each company to ensure that the company is ready to launch in Silicon Valley before the company has to make that commitment.

Once each company is ready to launch in Silicon Valley, the Catalyst will help the company with the logistics and legal support required. But the main effort in Silicon Valley will be on business development and sales, plus organization development and financing. While each company receives funding from the Catalyst partnership, each company also pays a much smaller modest monthly fee to the Catalyst, based on the level of support required.

Focus on Execution Excellence

The objective of the Catalyst is to help the team implement the strategies and processes required for successful growth and scale. Each company will develop operational excellence by putting in place proven tools and techniques that are required to shift from scrappy startup and business model validation to high growth company. The key is execution.

Application Process

During the first year of the Silicon Valley Catalyst, we will be focusing on companies coming from the Nordic region.  Companies will be accepted from a broad range of sectors, but the program will focus primarily on information technology, communications and software.  Each team should submit the following:

  • Executive Summary
  • Investor Pitch Deck

Before submitting their materials, however, each team should review the guides available on the Garage website, including:

  • Criteria for Raising Venture Capital
  • Crafting a Compelling Executive Summary
  • Perfecting Your Pitch

The email address for all submissions and inquiries is:  catalyst@garage.com