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P18 opens call for Gen. 11 with up to $60K in funding for innovative startups

Parallel18 has opened the call for applications for the 11th edition of its P18 international acceleration program, through which participants will receive $60,000 in funding.

The Gen. 11 cohort will consist of up to 25 innovative startups that want to scale globally. The deadline to submit the application online is April 26.

In this round, the $60,000 in funding awarded to the startups will be divided into two parts —a $40,000 equity free grant and a $20,000 investment through a Simple Agreement for Future Equity.

During the 20-week program the chosen companies will also receive mentoring and growth monitoring. They will also have access to the parallel18 community, which includes program alumni, a vast network of mentors, investors, corporate and business partners, and contacts who work closely with entrepreneurs to address all key aspects of their business needs.

“After working on a special edition of our last generation of entrepreneurs in which we accepted 10 companies and gave a much larger grant, this year we have decided to offer the opportunity once again to a broader number of innovative startups to be part of our program,” said Héctor Jirau, parallel18’s executive director.

“This is why we decided to increase by 50% the regular funding amount we offer and make it available to more startups,” he said. “The world economy continues to change and it’s our responsibility to adjust to these dynamic environments and provide a program that not only supports founders with high-quality business education, but also gives them an economic boost so that they can achieve their goals and be able to grow and scale in other markets.”

As an international acceleration program, P18 has certain requirements for companies to be eligible, including being innovative, having three years or less in operations, generating sales or having a validated product in the market, having traction and growth, and being a scalable business that can adapt to other markets. Additionally, at least two founders should be able to work full-time for the company during the program, and the founders should be physically located in Puerto Rico.

Lastly, entrepreneurs must present a plan on how they will take advantage of the entrepreneurial system in Puerto Rico to scale their business.

“The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, through its entrepreneurship pillar, continues to contribute to the global and local economy through international programs such as P18,” said the trust’s CEO, Lucy Crespo.

“It also fills us with pride that Puerto Rico serves as a facilitator to the startups so that they can establish their business on the island and scale to other markets with the education, mentoring and economic support they receive,” she said.

“We want to continue changing and promoting the much-needed economic development. We invite emerging innovative companies from Puerto Rico and around the world to apply,” Crespo added.

P18 will select up to 25 companies through a competitive process that includes an initial screening by the parallel18 team; an evaluation committee with external judges; and a selection committee composed of investors, entrepreneurs and other members of the parallel18 community.

The chosen companies will be announced at the end of May and the program is scheduled to start at the end of June. As part of the P18 initiatives, the organization will host a virtual information session March 30 at 12:30 p.m. Those interested in participating may register here.

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This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
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