Springboard – accelerating a new generation of entrepreneurs

• Become more investor ready with a stronger idea of target markets and product/market fit
• Potential for pre-seed/seed investment of £500k – £1m by Octopus Ventures
• Access to Octopus’ extensive network of portfolio companies, corporates and experts
• 1-2-1 engagement and relationship building with industry/corporates, providing access to customer discovery conversations, product validation, and possibility of follow-on projects and pilots
• Access to Octopus Ventures’ experienced team of deep tech investors and operators for support, advice and connections
• Access to experienced, sector relevant advisors. Founder – advisor relationships have the potential to develop into more formal opportunities post programme and investment, including Chair, NED and CEO (subject to agreement between founder, advisor and investor)
• In the case of those which secure investment from Octopus Ventures, ongoing support, including continued access to the deep tech team’s Network and organisational support

The programme will run for approximately three months from 26 September to 20 December 2023. Please see below for a detailed breakdown:

Application period: 20 July – 10 August
Meetings with shortlisted candidates & second round: Rolling basis, finishing by end of August
Finalists notified: W/c 4 September
Programme kick-off (in-person, London): 26-27 September 2023
Mid-programme check-in (in-person, London): 8 November 2023
Final presentations (in-person, London): 20 December 2023

– Deep tech (Based on significant tech/scientific advancement)
– Protectable IP (does not need to have been filed yet)
– ~TRL 4-6 (proof of concept/validated at lab stage)
– Founder intent for enabling sustainability through their technology
– At least 1 academic/technical founder
– UK or European based
– Raising pre-seed round in the next 12 months

Yes. We will be accepting applications until 10 August 2023.

Glad you asked! The first step is to submit your application and pitch deck at the link here. The application should take 10-15 minutes to complete. Following this we will aim to get back to you by the end of the month. If shortlisted for the final round, we will invite you for a 30-45 minute meeting with the pre-seed deep tech team in August, and may request some more information.

If you are selected as a finalist for the programme, you will be notified by w/c 4th September.

We are looking for people who are changing the world and purpose driven founders working on solving some of the biggest problems through deep technologies. At least one of the founding team members should be a technical founder, as an academic, researcher or inventor of the technology/IP.

You do not need to have a company incorporated in order to participate. However, to be considered for investment by Octopus Ventures you will need to be incorporated before the investment process commences.

We define deep tech as solutions based on significant engineering or scientific advancements. These often stem out of years of research and can be rich in IP. Broadly, deep tech can be categorised across, but is not limited to, six areas of underlying technology – advanced materials, artificial intelligence & machine learning, drones & robotics, electronics & photonics, biotech, quantum solutions – and is often a combination of these. We are sector agnostic.

The programme is focusing on pre-seed and seed stage start-ups with technologies at Technology Readiness Level of 4-6 (i.e. at least being validated at the lab scale).

We will be providing the frameworks, network and support to empower self-starting founders to engage with their target market (potential customers, partners and competitors) to identify problem-solution fit and test the need and market(s) for their technology/product via customer conversations with relevant organisations and rapid iterative testing.

The programme will commence on 26 September 2023 with an in-person 2-day kick off in London.

The programme will run for approximately three months from 26th September to 20th December. Please see below for a detailed breakdown:

Application period: 20 July – 10 August 2023
Meetings with shortlisted candidates & second round: Rolling basis, finishing by end of August
Finalists notified: W/c 4th September 2023
Programme kick-off (in-person, London): 26-27 September 2023
Mid-programme check-in (in-person, London): 8 November 2023
Final presentations (in-person, London): 20 December 2023

Delivery will be largely remote, with three face-to-face sessions in London at the start, middle and end of the programme and fortnightly virtual sessions.

The programme is designed to be founder led and aimed at driving your venture forward so this will be entirely up to you. However, we will expect founders to make 5 customer calls on a weekly basis. We suggest dedicating between 5-10 hours to the programme per week.

It is a hands-on experiential programme, designed for founders to progress their venture. The programme will cover topics such as how to determine whether there really is an exciting market for your technology through to understanding how investors think and operate and how to pitch for investment.

You, the founder will be in the driving seat. The programme operates a “flipped classroom approach” where you share your progress with your peers, advisor, and the Octopus Ventures investment team, who will support you and provide feedback. We surround this with a scaffolding of live training sessions and asynchronous content, such as videos, useful frameworks, readings and podcasts. The live sessions are all delivered remotely apart from the 2-day kick-off event, the mid-programme check in and the final presentations, which will be in person in London.

Each founder/team selected for the programme will be matched with an industry advisor to assist and guide them along the programme. The advisor will be custom matched to the start-up based on technology area and/or target markets and/or near-term needs.

Octopus Ventures will provide access to a large group of corporate partners from across several sectors, ranging from SMEs to multi-national companies. However, we expect founders to lead on finding and running customer discovery calls with support from the pre-seed deep tech team.

The programme is largely focused on the UK but we are accepting applications from all over Europe.

No, the programme is free of cost for you to attend.

The aim is to provide mentorship over the period of the programme with the option of extending the relationship formally/informally after the programme subject to agreement between founders and advisors. This will be in accordance with terms of engagement agreed at the beginning of the programme.

Zoe Reich, Rubina Singh, Richard Anson and Ruhitha Reddy

The pre-seed deep tech team is likely to consider making investments in the most compelling technologies and propositions following the culmination of the programme. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis, subject to Investment Committee approval and other standard processes. There will also be opportunities to stay in touch to be considered for future investments at later rounds.

We typically invest between £500k-£1m.

We are interested in technologies across the breadth and depth of deep tech that can enable a sustainable planet directly or indirectly. This includes AI/ML, quantum solutions, advanced materials, electronics/photonics, biotech, drones and robotics, 3d printing and new manufacturing/processes. We are industry agnostic and will invest across a range of sectors ranging from but not limited to energy; water; food, land and agriculture; industry; construction; biotech; transport, buildings, controls and communications, etc.

The Octopus Ventures Pre-Seed Deep Tech Fund doesn’t invest in:

Businesses without any technical founders
Pure business model innovation
Purely medtech, health or life sciences
Innovation with no direct or indirect impact on improving sustainability
Where no protectable IP identified
Companies without a base in the UK or European base