Who can participate in Founder Labs?

Founders with an ambitious and transformative idea with a tech focus. It can be at the idea stage, or you may have already launched a product and have your first few customers.

If selected for the programme it is expected that you will have or set up a Northern Ireland limited company and a UK bank account. If you have a limited company that is not currently registered in Northern Ireland you can still apply and if successful, then you will be expected to form an NI Ltd company.

If selected you will also require an NI residential address for the duration of the programme.

Company Stage

You can apply if you have already raised some investment, but teams that have already raised a larger amount of investment such as a pre-seed over £500,000 may not get much benefit from the programme as it is designed for an earlier stage.

Ultimately, we want founders that are ambitious, and businesses which are scalable. What do we mean by that? Well after 3 years of trading, we'd want your business to have revenue or funding over £1M, and for the majority of your sales to be from outside Northern Ireland.

Do I need to be an InvestNI customer to apply?

No, you do not need to be an Invest NI customer to apply. If you are successfully accepted into Founder Labs, you will be onboarded as an Invest NI customer.

Can I be based outside Northern Ireland?

We expect at least one member of each cohort team to be in-person throughout the programme, preferably the CEO / Director but it can be interchangeable. Not all co-founders need to be based in Northern Ireland but at least one must have an NI residential address.

There will be opportunities to join some sessions remotely and additional team members are welcome to attend these if they are relevant. As per above, by the commencement of the programme you are expected to have an NI registered company and NI Residential Address.

Grant Funding

If successful you will be eligible to receive £25k in grant funding from InvestNI which will be paid in 4 tranches as you complete the programme. There is no expectation of equity or repayment if you successfully complete the programme.