The Impact Ventures Accelerator Program Hits Southeast Asia, You Can Apply Now

The Impact Ventures Accelerator Program (IVAP) is launching across Southeast Asia today, bringing funding and support to early-stage startups in the region. The initiative is run by LGT Venture Philanthropy around the world – and now Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines get to join in as well.

To make IVAP happen, Lichtenstein-based LGT is partnering with four different partners in those countries: with GEPI in Indonesia, ChangeFusion in Thailand, CSIP in Vietnam, and Xchange in the Philippines. The program is essentially an 8- to 24-month course for early-stage entrepreneurs, providing consulting and financial support during the first stages of tentative scaling.

The program prefers to back young teams that “strive to have a direct social or environmental impact that can be scaled.”

In a press release for the Indonesian IVAP, GEPI’s Chris Kanter added:

GEPI and LGT Venture Philanthropy together will be able to further catalyse Indonesia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and link aspiring social entrepreneurs to global investments, expertise, and support networks.

Access to financing and investment, particularly at the early stage, has been one of the key challenges for entrepreneurs in Indonesia; hence with LGT Venture Philanthropy we will provide investment up to US$50,000 and up to one year of consulting support to visionary entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the access to a global network will benefit the entrepreneurs for long term growth.

Eligible entrepreneurs in the four nations better move quickly, as the deadline for submissions to the program is March 5th. You might like to read the entry criteria first, before starting your application process on the IVAP minisite.

For an idea of what kind of idea might be a strong candidate, read about the Indonesian startup Go-Jek which has enjoyed separate backing from GEPI.