Team behind Chinaccelerator launches mobile-only accelerator in Taiwan aimed at ‘next four billion’

Image via Dangquocbuu

SOSV, the venture capital firm behind Chinaccelerator, today announced Mox, a new accelerator program based in Taipei and designed for startups aiming to develop a presence in South and Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

The accelerator is targeting the “next four billion” – that is, the current portion of the world’s population who are still largely offline. Startups accepted to the program are required to have mobile-only businesses.

“There are a lot of local players – say in Thailand, or India, or South America – and we’re giving them the opportunity to get out of their home market and go global,” William Bao Bean, investment partner at SOSV and managing director of Mox, tells Tech in Asia. “We’re also giving US and European companies that don’t have access to the next four billion a one-stop-shop.”

A local partnership

In launching Mox, SOSV has partnered with GMobi, the Taiwanese mobile advertising and internet services platform. Startups in the program will have access to GMobi’s mobile payments SDK, as well as its advertising infrastructure.

“These regions historically have been really hard to target because they’re fragmented, and it’s difficult to get payments set up,” says William. “Our payment SDK works in over 50 countries.”

Mox has lined up partners and investors, and has more than 300 mentors in its network. Those mentors include Gen Kanai, the former Asia engagement head for Mozilla, who is also a mentor at Chinaccelerator and 500 Startups.

All companies admitted to Mox will receive an initial US$500,000 in free advertising promotion, and will have access to monetization methods in target countries. In exchange, Mox’s standard requirement will be 6 percent of common stock in each startup.

The eight-week accelerator will begin its first batch on January 4, with its first planned demo day on March 3. The inaugural program will launch with eight companies.

“We’re pulling in companies from all over the world – the US, Europe, Israel,” says William. “But there are still one or two spots left.”

Correction: This post initially identified Gen Kanai as an investor, rather than a mentor, at MOX.