Today we’re launching our new AI Accelerator to meet the scaling needs of AI startups and shape the future of the AI industry.
Building on the success of our Fast Forward Accelerator, designed to be light-touch in terms of your time but high-impact in terms of value, the AI Accelerator offers everything that is OVHcloud (data sovereignty, energy efficiency, tech freedom, personal touch, price/performance) and more.
The 3-month program offers:
- €50k in free cloud credits to use on our Public Cloud and AI solutions. This is in addition to Startup Program credits but the maximum total credits that can be allocated remains €100k.
- AI technology deep-dives to solve technical challenges
- Workshops include AI, sales, investor readiness, and PR training to enhance business and communication skills.
- 1-on-1 mentoring from experts
- Engagement with corporates for possible POCs
- Engagement with Venture Capitalists (VCs) for possible funding
Only 10-15 startups will be selected for the first cohort of the AI Accelerator. Applications opened on 1 October for the first cohort of the AI accelerator that will run from 13 January 2025 to 3 April 2025. Entries close on 24 November 2024 (Apply NOW!) and selected participants will be announced on 16 December 2024.
The 3-month program is divided into 3 phases:
- Phase 1 (Build): The Build Phase will focus on refining your product-market fit and cloud integration. This will include deep dives with our AI Team to make sure you get the best out of our AI Solutions.
- Phase 2 (Sell): The Sell Phase will focus on business development, corporate partnerships, and sales readiness. In this phase you will engage with potential corporate partners to investigate collaboration.
- Phase 3 (Scale): The Scale Phase will focus on investor readiness, growth strategy, and funding opportunities. This phase will culminate with a Showcase event where participants will pitch their funding needs to VCs.
Based on feedback from our existing startup community, the program will have a particular focus on data sovereignty. This will include sessions with experts and other organizations to help the cohort understand and deal with sovereignty requirements better, particularly as we draw closer to the finalization of the European AI Act.
The accelerator program includes 1-on-1 mentoring from OVHcloud and external experts who will be matched with participants based on their needs. The program is designed to be agile, requiring only three hours a week or less, but can scale to support you as needed. It does also include a 1-year commitment to use OVHcloud’s products and solutions to ensure continuity after exit from the Accelerator.
Applications will need to meet the following criteria to be selected:
- You must be a Startup Program member that has been active in the program or as an OVHcloud customer for at least 3 months (not a member? Apply now)
- You must have a need for GPUs and OVHcloud’s AI Solutions
- Preference will be given to Scale level members of the Startup Program
Startups like CUX.io, Combigo, Super Protocol and ORPIVA have already enjoyed the benefits that the Fast Forward Accelerator offers.
“During the first weeks of data migration, it became clear that we needed additional training in terms of traffic modeling and routing. This ran outside the scope of our previous provider, but OVHcloud showed flexibility and willingness to help – following a quick technical consultation with an OVHcloud architect cleared any uncertainty. This was very important for us, because traffic control, next to the sheer amount of data held, are our biggest challenges. We have no doubt that OVHcloud is a great partner with whom we can always brainstorm with to come up with the best solution together.” says Kamil Walkowiak, VP of R&D at CUX.io.
“We have been using OVHcloud solutions to develop and deploy our AI-powered applications, including LLM training and automatic AI video generation. We are very satisfied with their performance, reliability, and support.” says Salman Valibeik, CEO and Co-Founder at ORPIVA.
Sign up to the Startup Program and AI Accelerator today to benefit from a wealth of support – and scale your business faster.
Philip has been working with startups for the last 20 years within the VC, technology transfer and business incubation industries. He has accreditation as a mentor and business coach with Mentors and Business Coaches International and currently leads the OVHcloud Startup Program globally. OVHcloud is a leading European hyperscaler and pure-play cloud provider.