Open call for participation in the Acceleration Program

In order to strengthen the startup community in Serbia, the Fund for Innovation Activities launched a new acceleration program "Katapult", which will provide companies with mentoring and financial support through intensive training and connecting with investors.

Katapult wants to help innovative, growth-oriented companies to position themselves in the global market, as well as to improve their business development capacities through which they will increase the possibility of attracting private investments.

The acceleration program is open to all innovative companies that are in the early stages of product development and market conquest, as well as companies with proven market traction that aim to accelerate their growth and collect additional financial resources. Applications of companies from all areas of science and technology, as well as the industrial sector, are submitted through the Katapult portal until December 6, 2021 at 3:00 p.m.

In the first phase of the acceleration, Katapult offers an intensive three-month mentoring program and provides financial support in the form of grants from 20,000 to 50,000 euros. After the first phase, companies that secure a qualified investment within nine months from the end of the acceleration, additional financial support is available through a co-investing grant in the amount of the qualified investment, with a maximum of 300,000 euros per company.

Funds for the implementation of the Catapult program in the total amount of seven million euros until 2024 are provided on the basis of the loan agreement of the Republic of Serbia (Ministry of Education, of Science and Technological Development) and the World Bank through the "Project for Accelerating Innovations and Encouraging the Growth of Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Serbia" which is dedicated to strengthening innovative entrepreneurship and scientific research in Serbia. Additional technical assistance in the implementation of the program is provided by the World Bank and financed by the European Union.

Detailed information about the public invitation.