The NUST Global Accelerator Program (GAP) is a US Department of State-sponsored accelerating program that aims to give global exposure to Pakistani startups in post-revenue stages.
Tech startups have a tough time in Pakistan primarily due to the fact that Pakistan is a developing country and there are not a lot of potential customers. Secondly, Pakistan does not have the infrastructure of investors to support such startups.
GAP solves this problem by giving access to the US market while also providing networking opportunities, investor access and domain-specific mentoring in Silicon Valley.
GAP’s first cohort was recently completed. Under the program, three Pakistani tech startups were incubated in the Silicon Valley ecosystem for a period of three months. This allowed startups to gain international exposure and learn from new experiences.
The selected startups also made significant progress during the period. One startup is about to close a funding deal with a well reputed VC, whereas another startup increased its MRR by 30% due to a restructured sales which were possible due to the training they received in the program.
The next Silicon Valley cohort is planned for late Feb 2019. The deadline for the application is January 6th, 2019. However, there are few criteria that must be met by the applicant:
- have a product-focused tech startup
- be solving a large problem translating into a large, global business opportunity, especially focused on the US market
- have proven initial traction in the form of revenue from the product
- be ready to enter the US market and pitch to US investors
For more details visit this link or head over to their Facebook page to clear your doubts. Visit this link to be considered for the 2nd cohort.
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