Entrepreneurs and startups act as the wheels of the economic growth of the country. Innovative startups bring in new products and services that stimulates new employment and result in the acceleration of economic development. Ambition of GP Accelerator is to support the growth of such innovative young startups. GP Accelerator (GPA) is one of the earliest startup incubators in the country launched in 2015. By structure it is a cohort-based, mentor-led, curriculum-driven open innovation platform that enables and empowers tech startups with the resources they need to build, grow, and exceed possibilities. The program supports 360-degree development by providing equity free grants, expert mentors, top-notch curricula, in-house development resources, investor access and many more. The goal is to help start-ups go to market quickly, raise growth capital and be able to offer value back to communities.
Core components of the program include nationwide outreach and regional design thinking bootcamps for startup pipeline building. A growth-focused accelerator program runs for 6 months to help boost and grow the business in the real sense. Postgraduation, there is a strong follow-on business building and investment readiness support. In addition, an online curriculum Accelerate Entrepreneurship support is also available for all early-stage entrepreneurs to enable their innovation practices completely free of costs.
6 batches have been completed with 44 startups. Three of the alumni companies have crossed the USD 5 Mn valuation mark namely, Sheba xyz, CMED Health & Parkingkoi. Job creation is one the biggest impacts in the economy that the innovative business models of these startups bring.
In the era of innovation and focus on sustainability in Bangladesh, such enablement to startup ecosystem is increasingly desirable and thus GP Accelerator has been highly recognized by the government of Bangladesh. The program has won the Digital Bangladesh National Award in 2021 for consistently supporting innovation and digitalization of Bangladesh through the startup ecosystem.
GP Accelerator is working in partnership with ecosystem experts BetterStories Ltd, Light Castle Partners, Upskill and investment partners such as Anchorless, IDLC, Bangladesh Angel Network. Amazon Web Services is also a partner to GP Accelerator to provide hosting services.
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