We have officially announced our new partners for the first edition of our AI acceleration program set to kick off in early October 2017. Applications for the program will stay open until July 30, after which the selection process will begin. And while the ten startups chosen for the accelerator will get initial funding, office space in Den Bosch, access to a network of mentors and investors, they can now anticipate support from industry professionals like our new partners NVIDIA, Atlassian, Volksbank, among others.
We have envisioned the program as purposely broad and cross-industrial, emphasizing the impact that artificial intelligence is making across all aspects of human lives. In order to support startups working in different fields, we are carefully assembling an all-round lineup of mentors and partners from all walks of AI life for this accelerator program.
“We are extremely pleased and humbled to work in close partnership with large international corporations, academic institutes, investors, seasoned entrepreneurs and world-class technical experts. Our mission is to make The Netherlands the most attractive place in Europe to build AI startups,”
Marjel Quekel, Artificial Intelligence Program Director, Rockstart
NVIDIA, the leader in GPU-powered deep learning, has offered our startups professional guidance at every step of the journey. The assistance ranges from designing and deploying neural network-powered applications to marketing and communications support. In addition, Rockstart AI startups will get discounted purpose-built machine learning hardware and put themselves on the radar of GPU Ventures, NVIDIA’s venture arm, with checks from €400,000 to €4 million.
“This collaboration with Rockstart will bring the benefits of NVIDIA’s Inception Program to AI startups chosen for the accelerator. AI is the greatest technology force in human history—it’s already impacting every industry and application.”
Serge Lemonde, Deep Learning Startups Business Director EMEAI, NVIDIA
Atlassian, our old friend and a new collaborator for the AI program, is a household name in the world of software development. With a product suite that includes the JIRA family, Bitbucket, Confluence, HipChat, and Trello, it caters to the needs of every team, from two to thousands of engineers. The company has committed to sharing its knowledge around engineering best practices and providing startups with any guidance that they require.
“The implications of artificial intelligence are profound, not just for established businesses like Atlassian, but for emerging players across all industries. Atlassian is pleased to team up with Rockstart as they look to generate fresh ideas and foster new talent in the emerging AI space.”
Sri Viswanath, CTO, Atlassian
The program’s new partners join the ones announced earlier this year, including the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS). Together with a stellar lineup of mentors, they will support and guide the ten startups chosen for this year’s program through the challenges faced on the technology front as well as the business development front.
We couldn’t be more thrilled about these partnerships and are eager to see the program take shape. With the application period coming to a close, we wish everyone the best of luck throughout the selection process, and we look forward to meeting the ten AI startups who will soon start their Rockstart journey!
