Betaspring

Betaspring is a mentorship-driven, Providence-based startup accelerator program for technology and design entrepreneurs who are ready to build a product and launch a company. The Betaspring program runs twice a year for 12 weeks during both the Spring and Fall. During the first ten weeks, the teams involved will work hard on developing working prototypes from concepts, or on scaling the business if there is already a working model. Each week, teams will meet with advisers that will offer feedback on the concepts, ideas and prototypes, as well as provide valuable insight into how to scale a company, deal with obstacles along the way, and how to manage large scale adoption when it comes. The final two weeks of the program will be spent honing team pitches as participants present to and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. During the Demo Day event, Betaspring teams present their company to investors. Betaspring will also provide teams with a small amount of seed capital (up to $20,000) free legal counsel, incorporation filing, and other legal work necessary to make startups investable at a scale. Additionally, teams have access to Betaspring HQ, a fully-equipped workspace for participants and the other teams to get together to meet, share ideas and work on their companies. Teams that choose to remain in Providence for 12 months after completing the program are eligible for a $50,000 equity investment from the city of Providence. Since 2009, Betaspring has accelerated 57 companies and alumni have raised $20M in follow-on funding.