Fundación Repsol launched its Entrepreneurs Fund in 2011, a business accelerator expert in energy startups. The objective is to ensure that the best innovative solutions reach the market in the shortest possible time, benefiting society as a whole and contributing to the development of a more sustainable energy model.
What is the Fundación Repsol Entrepreneurs Fund?
It is a business accelerator that offers non-refundable financial support, advice from a team of mentors, business training, and access to potential venture and seed capital investors. Currently the sixth call for this initiative is open, which provides a very interesting boost to startups that are working on projects on energy or mobility. Interested entrepreneurs can submit their proposals through the website fondoemprendedores.fundacionrepsol.com
Registration is done online, from the comfort of home or any other place, without additional procedures and above all at no cost.
Fundación Repsol supports startups at two levels of development. On the one hand, the “projects”, which have an innovative technology and / or business model that is already proven in a controlled environment or even in a real environment, and which have not yet reached the fully commercial phase. On the other, we work with “ideas”, which are startups with an earlier development.
For the former, in addition to advice and training, an economic amount of 144.000 euros is offered for a non-refundable fund for one year. For ideas, the financial support is 2.000 euros per month for 12 months. The acceleration process lasts one year, but in the case of projects, it is possible to extend it for another year, in which they will receive up to another 144.000 euros.
The call is aimed at SMEs, although individuals who have an innovative project in the energy and mobility sector but who have not yet established their company can also participate.
Another interesting point of this initiative is that it is a international campaign, in which startups from all over the world have the opportunity to participate, since it does not require moving to any workspace continuously. The Repsol Foundation Entrepreneurs Fund, offers its support to companies that are working in any of these three segments:
- Efficiency, digitization and new materials in the energy and chemical industry
- The mobility of both people and things, including management systems such as Big Data and Data Science
- Distributed generation, as well as the storage of electricity.
Entrepreneurs Fund over the years
After five calls, Fundación Repsol points out that they are currently 37 startups which have been accelerated by the Entrepreneurs Fund. These startups have achieved around 13 million euros in both investment and external financing, not to mention that they have registered more than 30 patents.
It is also important to mention that since its launch in 2011, the foundation has received more than 2.000 proposals from startups that want to participate and exploit their capabilities. For this new call, all the companies that have been selected will be announced during the third quarter of this 2017.
Tips for Participating
To have greater opportunities to access the support from the Fundación Repsol Entrepreneurs Fund, Interested startups should consider the following recommendations:
Make sure your proposal meets the participation requirements, in addition to meeting all the conditions regarding the scope of the proposal.
Register the project online through the Foundation's official website with accurate data.
El registration deadline It started from January 16, 2017 and will run until March 31 of this year, however there is the possibility that the records will be closed before this date.
It is advisable to fully complete all the project data and information, as well as provide the necessary documentation that is required in the form. Startups can attach additional documents to more precisely detail the characteristics of the project.
Each startup can present all the proposals it deems appropriate, always taking into account the requirements and bases of the call.
After submitting the project information along with the personal data, startups will be able to add more information through their user account.