In conjunction with the public sector, private investment managers are working to evaluate candidates for this round.

The Seed – Startups and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development team has the support of 16 investment funds for the Special Edition of the program. Managers of these institutions are working together with public managers, external judges and the Seed team in the selection of participants, which is the second stage of the public announcement.

According to the director of the Ecosystem of Innovation Fostering at the Minas Gerais Secretariat for Economic Development (SEDE/MG), Thales Dias, the evaluation of investors in this edition of the program enriches the selection process, since they contribute to the candidates’ knowledge of maturity . This connection is already taking effect. “The evaluators have already shown interest in investing in some of the candidates still in the selection, during the interviews. We are also receiving a lot of feedback from startups excited to be able to connect now with some of the largest investment funds in the country. ”Explains Thales.

During this round, these same evaluators will also act as mentors to the participants, in addition to participating in the final boards. The intention of the program management is to ensure that accelerated companies have the opportunity to have direct contact with investors.

The next steps of the program

Until the 2nd of April, the second phase of the program takes place, which is part of the selection process. The selection will be announced on the next 7th, when the appeal period will be open. Finally, on May 7, the final list of those approved will be released so that they can present the documents required by Seed to sign the contracts.

Methodology of acceleration on the Seed Special Edition 

The sixth edition of Seed underwent a reformulation in key points of its structure. One is the acceleration methodology that will allow even more interaction, networking and accessibility to content.

In this round, the acceleration process will be virtual and will count on the presence of connection agents focused exclusively on connecting startups with the main players in their respective areas of activity. For six months, startups will be immersed in a dynamic environment, focused on strategic connections.

Among the planned practices are personalized mentoring, lives with important agents of the ecosystem, meetups, dissemination and several other actions that will contribute to the strengthening of accelerated startups.

The first two months will be focused on the development of the business as a whole, the establishment of connections and the preparation for the cut that will take place at the end of this period, reducing from 60 to 40 startups to be accelerated.

In the next four months, the acceleration will continue with business development. In this phase, an even greater focus will be given to establishing connections and applying the solution developed by participating startups.