News

The the DFF, in cooperation with Rockstart, one of Europe’s first multi-vertical startup accelerators, invites startups to participate in DFF & Rockstart Artificial Intelligence Pitch Competition. Are you prepared for international scaling through mentoring, workspace and access to capital? Rockstart is ready to accelerate your Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup and prepare it for the global playing field. It’s your chance to get ‘Rockstart’ed’ to the final selection round of Europe’s first AI accelerator by Rockstart!

Why join:

• Present your startup to local and international investors, business angels, and domain experts. The pre-evaluation will be done by Rockstart; for the competition itself, participating experts, mentors and investors can apply
• Seize the chance to get fast-tracked to the final selection round to Europe’s first Artificial Intelligence accelerator by Rockstart
• If selected, you will get a chance to:
  • spend six months in ’s-Hertogenbosch, working alongside mentors and partners, including the locally-based Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS), NVIDIA, Atlassian, and many others
  • receive €20,000 cash and €80,000 of in-kind funding, office space in Den Bosch for the duration of the program, and support from mentors from relevant industries, as well as more than 50 perks and deals worth some €600,000

• Get invaluable advice and coaching from experienced entrepreneurs

The selected startup will:

• Present themselves and pitch investors at the Digital Freedom Festival on November 28, 2017
• Network with local and foreign investors during the two-days conference
• Receive attention from local and international media
• Win a prize: the winner will be invited to the final selection round for a spot in Europe’s first AI accelerator by Rockstart in 2018

How to apply:

• Application has closed. Finalists will be announced at the beginning of November

• If your team will be among the TOP selected startups to pitch, then at least one team member must be a DFF Startup Pass holder. If selected, organisers will provide the opportunity  to purchase ticket to DFF for an Early Bird price

How experts, mentors and investors can get involved?

• Experts, mentors and investors participating in the DFF will be invited to join for the final pitch evaluation on  November 28 (detailed instructions will be sent to DFF Investor ticket holders)

Experts, mentors and investors will have a chance to:

• Connect with promising projects that can possibly change our daily lives
• Meet new entrepreneurs
• Expand their network

About Rockstart

Rockstart, one of Europe’s first multi-vertical startup accelerators, was founded in Amsterdam in 2011 with a goal to provide startups with access to the market, capital, knowledge, and community. Since then Rockstart has become the specialist in building entire ecosystems around specific domains—such as Digital Health, Smart Energy, and Artificial Intelligence. Rockstart is actively building up entrepreneurial infrastructures around the world with its acceleration verticals, as well as early-stage startup programs, Rockstart Impact and Rockstart Launchtrack. Since the inception, Rockstart has invested in more than 120 startups and supported them in their journey to raise more than €53 million and hire more than 600 people. Rockstart is an international team of 40+ professionals dedicated to support and empower startups to become scalable and change their world for the better.