After talking to people from the industry and attending conferences and listening to inspiring talks, I sort of want to continue pursuing my pet projects but I also need to feed myself.
Anyway long story short, I want to give myself a few months to try to see if I can either secure funding or find some creative ways of feeding myself, hence, I have started this list.
This is a work-in-progress list, so if you have any to add or remove, corrections, questions or suggestions, please contact me here or via social media (@purplelilgirl).
For each of the programs, I will try to answer the following questions:
- How much investment is provided (if applicable)?
- What else do they provide (if applicable)?
- How much equity is taken (if applicable)?
- How long is the program (if applicable)?
- Where is it based (if applicable)?
- How much does it cost (if applicable)?
So without further ado…
BIG List of Incubators, Accelerators and Funding Opportunities
1. Game Founders
- How much investment is provided? $25k per founding team (minimum of 3 people)
- What else do they provide? Mentoring for your team to improve their business and game quality skills by over 60 top industry mentors, weekly pitch practice, playtesting, field trips to successful game studios and at the end of the program, demo days where you will get the chance to pitch to our global network of investors and publishers.
- How much equity is taken? 9% stake of your company
- How long is the program? 3 months
- Where is it based? Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. Carbon Incubator
- How much investment is provided? They provide 3 tiers: Tier 1- Incubation, Tier 2- Publishing and Tier 3- Funding, which may be eligible for up to $50k.
- What else do they provide?The package can include: mentorship from industry veterans, development services, legal & accounting services, PR & marketing, sponsorships, publishing.
- How much equity is taken? They do not ask for equity in your company. In exchange they’ll ask for 10-30% of the game’s net revenue, depending on the selected service tier, with funding/marketing investments being recouped first.
- How long is the program? Throughout the entire project up to the game’s launch.
- Where is it based? Bucharest
3. Core Labs Game Accelerator
- What else do they provide? Weekly workshops, deliverables, mentorship, valuable publisher/partner connections, demo opportunities and more to prepare you for the challenging world of game development startups.
- How much equity is taken? 5% revenue share of your game and optional 2% equity in company.
- How long is the program? 6 months
- Where is it based? online
4. Indie Fund
- How much investment is provided? Flexible budget
- How much equity is taken? Repayment – Once the game is released, you first pay back the investment and then share 25% of the revenue, until we double the initial investment, or until 2 years after the initial launch date, whichever comes first.
5. Pixelles Game Incubator
- What else do they provide? Workshop series designed to help ten women (cis/trans) make their first game.
- How long is the program? 6 weeks
- Where is it based? Ubisoft Montreal’s Fun House, Canada
6. Dutch Game Garden
- What else do they provide? A series of trainings that focus on business aspects of game development.
- Where is it based? Utrecht, Breda and Twente in The Netherlands.
7. The Family
- How much investment is provided? Over €500K in exclusive deals. This includes the largest deal with Amazon Web Services in Europe (€100K) as well as deals with IBM, Facebook, Paypal and Github.
- What else do they provide? Educate entrepreneurs, build an infrastructure to empower them and build a privileged access to smart investors.
- Where is it based? Paris, London and Berlin.
8. Disney Accelerator
- What else do they provide? Investment capital, access to co-working space at Disney’s creative campus and mentor support and guidance from top Disney executives, entrepreneurs, investors and other notable business leaders from the entertainment and technology communities.
- How long is the program? 3 months
- Where is it based? LA, US
9. Startup Sauna
- How much investment is provided? Teams can select from a grant of 1000€ or free accommodation during the program.
- What else do they provide? Accelerator program with themes including finding focus, understanding your customers, finding the right product-market fit and go-to-market strategy, HR/team, legal and fundraising, to name a few.
- How long is the program? 7 weeks
- Where is it based? Helsinki, Finland
10. Eurostars
- How much investment is provided? Eurostars adopts a decentralised funding procedure. (for more details, please check their website)
- How long is the program? 36 months or less
11. Transfuzer
- How much investment is provided? £5k
- How long is the program? Summer
- Where is it based? UK
12. UK Games Fund
- How much investment is provided? £25k
- Where is it based? UK
13. Creative England – Greenshoots
- How much investment is provided? Investments of between £50,000 and £200,000. £1 for £1 of private match funding to any investment received.
- What else do they provide? Enrolment to the ID@Xbox Programme for Xbox One Development Kits. Access to Windows 10 devices for testing purposes (Subject to availability and at the sole discretion of Microsoft). Bespoke technical guidance and support directly from Microsoft. Though the Bizspark Microsoft programme all companies selected for the Greenshoots programme will receive select Microsoft tools and services for free. Dedicated marketing support from the team at Xbox.
- How long is the program? 18 months
- Where is it based? UK
14. Creative England – Gameslab Leeds
- How much investment is provided? £1000-£5000
- What else do they provide? A series of group masterclasses.
- Where is it based? Leeds, UK
15. Designer Fund
- How much investment is provided? $100k-$1mm
- What else do they provide? Build and educate design teams through Bridge. Bridge is a professional development program that connects experienced designers with top startups and their community in SF.
- Where is it based? San Francisco, US
16. Avanto Accelerator
- What else do they provide? Workshops, mentoring and work space.
- How long is the program? 8 weeks
- Where is it based? Oulu, Finland
17. Yangler
- How much investment is provided? $50k–$200k
- What else do they provide? This interactive and hands-on program for ambitious entrepreneurs is designed to help you discover $1B insights and build businesses around them.
- How much equity is taken? 7–10%
- How long is the program? 16 weeks
- Where is it based? online
- How much does it cost? $99/month
18. London Venture Partners
- How much investment is provided? Initial investments in pre-seed and seed rounds only.
19. TechStars
- How much investment is provided? $100,000 convertible note
- What else do they provide? Techstars resources for life, mentorship, connections to the Techstars Network of over 5,000 founders, alumni and mentors globally, 400 perks worth over $1M, office space for 3 months, etc.
- How much equity is taken? $20,000 in exchange for 6% common stock.
- How long is the program? 90 days
- Where is it based? Multiple locations all over the world (for more details, please check their website)
20. Y Combinator
- How much investment is provided? $120k
- What else do they provide? Work intensively to get the company into the best shape possible.
- How much equity is taken? 7%
- How long is the program? 3 months
- Where is it based? Bay Area, US
21. 2Tons
- What else do they provide? Full access to the gram team’s expertise, knowledge, and resources – from solving technical problems, to the incorporation process, to game marketing, to promotion and advertisement support.
22. NYU Game Center Incubator
- How much investment is provided? Each core team member will be provided a living wage over the course of the program, subject to their full-time work at the Incubator and continued satisfaction of Incubator milestones.
- What else do they provide? Developers are provided a structure to address the marketing, legal, financial, and other business challenges of launching a successful commercial game.
- How long is the program? 3 months
- Where is it based? New York, US
23. Minc Game
- What else do they provide? Mentoring from world experts in game development and other relevant fields, office space, access to our global network of mentors and investors, and matchmaking when necessary, etc.
- How long is the program? 12 months
- Where is it based? Malmo, Sweden
24. Incuvation Games
- How much investment is provided? Investment of up to $5,000 cash, although not always and could be higher.
- What else do they provide? Access to experienced management from AAA game producers, a custom website, forums, and social media presence, Free pre-release, and launch marketing services, plus press releases, etc.
- How much equity is taken? A negotiated revenue share and profit split if game generates positive revenue commercially. (for more details, please check their website)
- Where is it based? LA, US
25. Roblox
- What else do they provide? Helpful advice and mentorship as they embark on their professional video game development careers.
- How long is the program? 5 months for the Incubator and 3 months for the Accelerator
- Where is it based? San Mateo, California, US
26. Creative Europe Game Development Fund
- How much investment is provided? The total grant awarded to each project can range from €10,000 to €150,000 and must be 50% match funded for the
concept and project development narrative-led video games. (for more details, please check their website)
- How long is the program? The production phase of the submitted project must not be scheduled to occur within 8 months from the date of application.
- Where is it based? Europe
27. Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fund
- How much investment is provided (if applicable)? £5,000 up to £3 million
- How long is the program? Up to 5 years
- Where is it based? UK, Republic of Ireland, some low- and middle-income countries
28. Global Top Round
- How much investment is provided? Up to $100k
- What else do they provide? Development, Publishing and Launch Support
- How much equity is taken? 5-10% Equity and 10% Net Revenue Share
- How long is the program (if applicable)? 9 Months Game Development and Launch Support
29. Mass Challenge
- How much investment is provided? Startups do not receive any upfront funding. 10-20 startups at the end of the program share $1 million in cash awards at the MassChallenge Awards Ceremony.
- What else do they provide? World-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more.
- How long is the program (if applicable)? 4 Months
- Where is it based? The Boston, Lausanne, and Jerusalem Accelerator programs run from June to October, while the London and Mexico City programs will run from August to December.
30. UNICEF Innovation Fund
- How much investment is provided? $50-90,000
- What else do they provide? Access to the UNICEF Innovation Ventures team, which provides technical assistance in emerging technology areas. The UNICEF Venture Fund taps into a network of mentors and advisers who can help you develop your business model and strategy.
- Where is it based? UNICEF’s programme countries
31. Sirius Programme
- How much investment is provided? A total package of approximately £55,000 of investment and support. Approximately £35,000 in seed funding to develop your business, from business angels and professional investors.
- What else do they provide? Support in obtaining a UK visa for members of the founding team that require one. Services with a market value of approximately £20,0000 including incubation in one of 12 regional centres relevant to your business provided by E-Spark, Europe’s largest incubation provider.
- How much equity is taken? 10% equity
- How long is the program? 1 year with approximately 30 days of dedicated training for each Sirius cohort delivered in London by the Accelerator Network, the leading private sector supplier of accelerator training in the UK.
- Where is it based (if applicable)? 12 regional centers
32. Ignite Accelerator
- How much investment is provided (if applicable)? £25,000
- What else do they provide? Mentorship, accountability, peer-to-peer learning, investment and preparedness for follow-on investment.
- How much equity is taken (if applicable)? 5% of ordinary share equity in your company and a further 1% ordinary share equity to a shared pool, The Founders Cooperative.
- How long is the program? Minimum of 6 months.
- Where is it based? UK
33. Digital Business Academy
- What else do they provide? Rewards for completing courses with Digital Business Academy.
- Where is it based? Online
34. Infinite Deviation
- What else do they provide? Funding to support your game, project management guidance and regular check-ins from a dedicated Game Producer, and promotional support from Google Play.
- How long is the program? October 2017-May 2018
- Where is it based? US
Also check out F6S for more Accelerators, Funds and Investors.
Soomla also wrote a post about Accelerators for Indie Game Developers back in 2015. Some mentioned may not be active anymore, but do check that out too.
Gov.uk also has a List of Approved Seed Competitions which supports applications for a Tier 1 visa for entry to the UK (which is more applicable to me than the rest of you).
Bonus: Co-working Spaces
1. Playhubs
- What else do they provide? Mentorship, masterclasses, introductions to investors and by building a community of forward-thinking industry professionals.
- Where is it based? Somerset House in London, UK
- How much does it cost? £400 / month (for more details, please check their website)
2. Arch Creatives
- Where is it based? Leamington Spa, UK
- How much does it cost? £200 / month but also has flexible pricing (for more details, please check their website)
3. Indies Workshop Seattle
- Where is it based? Seattle, US
- How much does it cost? $350 / month (for more details, please check their website)
4. Stugan
- Where is it based? Stockholm, Sweden
- How long is the program? 2 months
To be continued…
Michelle Chen 