Personalized learning, Analytics, Learning Delivery Tools, Collaborative Learning, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Gaming, Assesment Outcomes, Corporate Solutions… are areas where we want to innovate. To make a real difference, we need your disruptive ideas, your technological expertise, your passion and energy. Check out the programs we offer you!
IE ROCKETS COMPETITION
Accelerator? Pilot? Competition? All of the above! Three EdTech startups will be the winners of the IE ROCKETS competition and will have the opportunity to join the IE University Acceleration Program, which is filled with top level mentorship and a very exclusive network of experts and decision makers.
Who we looking for
EdTech startups in Higher Education that need to refine their product and pitch for investors or EdTech startups and Tech companies operating in other education segments that need necessary support to address the needs of Higher Education market
- Ideal Late Seed / Pre-Series A
- At least 3 people full-time involved
- Proven user adoption using the product in January 2024 (product ready to use!)
What does IE ROCKETS ACCELERATION offer you?
Product development and/or adapting it to the Higher Ed market
You'll receive the full support of the Learning Innovation team (pedagogy innovators and Tech Lab hackers), and any other relevant departments within IE, in order to make your products better and more likely to succeed in the higher education market.
Street cred in the academic world
Aligning your product with the needs of higher education is only the first step. To successfully serve educational clients, you'll need to understand how academia works: its culture and its way of doing things. IE ROCKETS ACCELERATION puts you right at the heart of a leading university. You'll gain insight on things that might not seem significant to tech founders, but can make a big difference to teachers and schools-and you'll learn to speak the language of academia.
Financing adapted to your needs
Unlike a typical accelerator, we won't ask you for a fixed percentage of your equity; instead we'll finance the project in exchange for a convertible note (or participation in the next financing series). And if our joint mission leaves both of us hungry for more, we can partner up and/or invest in your business after the program ends.
Full accelerator package
Space on IE's campus in the center of Madrid, support from highly experienced mentors, and access to all events hosted by Area 31 (IE's long-standing entrepreneurship center). That includes venture days, pitch nights, and startup-specific training sessions, as well as investor and company events-all of which IE has been successfully sponsoring for over a decade.
IE ROCKETS PILOTS
IE ROCKETS PILOTS will help your startup carry out pilots with real users at IE, during a designated time period. Startups that join this program usually have a clear business model and product strategy, in which higher education is a target market. This gives them the chance to run a relevant pilot at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, without spending months trying to find and access the right people (we know time is a valuable resource for founders!).
What does IE ROCKETS PILOTS offer?
Pilot at a leading institution
See your product in action with real users, obtain their feedback as well as feedback from other relevant departments (it’s not always users who pay for your product), and get bragging rights that will come in handy when you approach other potential educational clients.
Brand, brand, brand
As an IE ROCKET PILOTS participant, you'll already have a respectable client on your roster. But you'll also get to promote your brand and gain international exposure through Area 31's external communications. If you do a particularly good job, we'll actively and gladly serve as an enthusiastic reference for future clients.
Access to IE’s partner network
If the pilot is highly successful, we'll sing your praises and introduce you to our partner schools -a network of more than 100 universities in 30 countries- which will help you expand your business to markets all around the world.
Access to investors
We'll help you connect with people in the areas of education, technology, and investment, as well as potential partners and customers.
