Sirius Programme now accepting applicants
Sirius is a UKTI programme that helps young people from around the world make their business ideas a reality in the UK.
Do you want to set up headquarters in the UK as a long term plan to grow your start-up? Would you like financial support, mentoring, visa endorsement and a place at one of the UK’s best accelerators to help you along your way? What if you were offered all of this, and the ability to keep all of the equity in your business?
If you’re a serious team of graduates with an innovative idea or business plan, ready to build a global business in a major city in the UK, the Sirius Programme wants to hear from you. The Sirius Programme gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to leverage cities across the country that are already integrating technology into the growth of small business, with smart cities such as Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, and London among the top contenders.
Entrepreneurs are in great hands in the UK. The UK is one of the best places to reach a highly active ‘e-commerce population’, with access to tens of millions of tech savvy consumers and smart phone users,
If you graduated in 2012 or 2013 and have a global-bound business idea, the Sirius Programme wants to hear from you. We have received over 1,500 applications from over 90 countries in year one - all are welcome, just make sure that you’re serious about growth, serious about business, and hungry for hands-on experience with some of the top entrepreneurial cities in the UK.
Some background information on Sirius:
- Sirius is a two year UK Trade and Investment programme and it supports global graduate talent by helping young people from around the world develop and make their business ideas a reality in the UK.
- The programme is for recent graduates or final year university students that have followed BA/BSc level, Master or Research degree programmes.
- The successful graduates will get a £12000 financial contribution, a place in one of the best business accelerator programmes, mentoring as well as support to gain clients and funding. Winners will also gain expertise through working in a great ecosystem and interacting with other entrepreneurs as well as investors and mentors.
- The first phase of the programme was launched in 2013 and received over 1500 individual applicants from across 93 countries. Independent entrepreneurship experts selected winners as part of a rigorous judging process.
- Phase 2 launched on 8 May 2014 and has the continued support from high profile figures such as Roberta Lucca- co-founder of Bossa studios and Kelly Hoppen- founder of Kelly Hoppen.
- The second round of the programme will close at the end of June 2014.
- You can find more information on Sirius on the website
Eligibility
- Applicants must be a Team of either 2 or 3 Members. No Team Members must be left in the country of origin, the full Team must re-locate to the UK.
- Only 1 Team Member can be a UK Citizen.
- Only 1 Team Member can have graduated before 2012.
If successful, teams must:
- Transfer the Intellectual Property to the UK through an Intellectual Property Agreement
- Set up their business Head Quarters (HQ) in the UK
- Stay at the Accelerators premises for the duration of the 12 months