EY Startup Academy

Aim high, accelerate fast and make your vision come true.

Grow with the EY Startup Academy!

Digitalisation is unstoppable and brings along new challenges as well as new opportunities. Parallel to these changes, digital transformation has forcefully started to impact all sectors. Technological innovation has become a major force of change by completely infiltrating private and entrepreneurial realities via online channels, smartphones and the internet of things. We need new solutions and products which have not been asked for or had so far not been imaginable.

EY is dedicated to supporting progress in line with our slogan Building a better working world. In this context, the EY Startup Academy is another step for the development of entrepreneurial innovation by startups.

The winners of the EY Startup Academy 2022!

On 24 November, it was time to award the winners of the EY Startup Academy 2022 after 35 workshops within 8 weeks and the final pitch contest. Cognate Language Learning left the biggest impression on the expert jury which consisted of representatives of the EY Startup Academy’s partner network. Alejandro Paschalides and his team convinced the jury with their business model of an AI-based language learning solution and their progress during the program, thus securing the win of the EY Startup Academy Award 2022. Austrian startup Relevaire and Health-Tech Data Lake were awarded second and third place. But the more than 50 spectators on site and online were also called upon to vote for their favorite startup: Rhoman Aerospace, a US startup specialized in drones, won the audience vote. Many thanks to all the other participants of the EY Startup Academy 2022, our partners and our speakers, who played a major role in enabling us to offer more than 30 workshops this year!

If you missed the closing event of the EY Startup Academy, you can find the recording of the event here.

What is the EY Startup Academy?

• The EY Startup Academy is a 6-week program in which selected startups are given the unique opportunity to improve their business models and its main components through structured help and advice from EY experts. The program runs from mid of September until mid of November 2022. It is free of charge.
• The program is aimed at Tech or FinTech startups that have completed the Alpha phase, already have a minimum viable product or a proof of concept and are seeking funding within the next 12 months.
• The EY Startup Academy consists of a series of workshops and training events offered by EY in Frankfurt. In addition, there are fireside chats with investors and selected corporates as well as founders’ chats with successful founders to exchange experiences. In total, the Academy consists of more than 30 events.
• EY organizes the Startup Academy together with Austrian Angels Investors Association, BERLIN-CHEMIE AG, BlackWood Capital Partners, Business Angels FrankfurtRheinMain, C3 Management, Campus Founders, Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, Deutsche Börse, Dieter von Holtzbrink Ventures (DvH Ventures), HIGHEST, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), IBM, neoteq ventures, seed + speed Ventures, SixThirty Ventures, Sparkassen Innovation Hub, SpeedInvest, TechQuartier, UPSTART and w&w brandpool.
• The EY Startup Academy is an expression of our commitment to support the startup ecosystem and founders in their journey “from idea to exit”. With the program, EY and its partners support startups in overcoming difficulties in questions related to tax, audit and financing / assessment. We question their business plan, scalability of organization and IT as well as legal and regulatory frameworks from an investors’ perspective so that they can achieve investor readiness as quickly as possible. We thus contribute to the sustainable growth of the eco-system for startups in Europe – our interpretation of Building a better working world.

What is the added value for you as a participant of the EY Startup Academy?

• Long-term, free support by EY in strategic and operational issues – also in later stages of corporate development
• Access to the EY ecosystem for startups: Academy Alumni Club, Entrepreneur of the Year, access to global and regional EY events
• Concentrated knowledge transfer in areas that are of central importance for startups
• Numerous opportunities for networking with investors, corporates, successful founders and other startups
• Free access to the TechQuartier with two workstations each for the duration of the program
• Prize money of 10,000 Euro in total and the EY Startup Academy Award which can be used for advertising
• Stage to raise your popularity
• Exclusive access to proprietary EY tools that cover your innovation process holistically and are constantly evolving based on our global ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs. EY Growth Navigator helps to evaluate and develop strategies and growth plans, EY VentureBuilder helps to develop and implement product roadmaps more holistically, EY Finance Navigator helps to develop financial plans and model business models.