Søren Rood
Jeff Burke
Today, we are excited to announce Replit Ventures 2022 (aka RV1), and this year, we have huge news for our community: we are 10x’ing the program!
Last year, we piloted the first Replit Ventures, and the results were enormous:
- 400+ applications in one week
- 6 teams selected
- $2,000 in Bitcoin or USD per selected team
- $1M+ in external capital from demo day
We are bringing the program back in the only way we know how: bigger & better.
What is Replit Ventures?
Replit Ventures is a 10-week incubator program designed to give you the mentorship and tools needed to bring your startup to market.
Our mission is to bring the next billion software creators online. Up until now, software creation has been limited to professional software engineers, primarily in major tech hubs. In building Replit, we hope to empower driven individuals from all around the world to build and ship products.
As part of our mission, we want to give anyone, anywhere, and on any device, the opportunity to build a business and generate value. Replit Ventures is one way for us to support our already-thriving community on their entrepreneurial endeavors.
What's new this year?
We are showing our commitment to our community & 10x'ing the program:
- 12 teams (vs. 6 last year)
- $10,000 per team (vs. $2,000 last year)
- $120,000 in total funding (vs. $12,000 last year)
Each selected team will be given $10,000 (in USD or BTC) to spend the summer focusing on building their idea. Along the way, each team will be paired with mentors & will participate in workshops with the Replit team on all aspects of building a company.
The program will even feature guest speakers, including a batch talk from Y Combinator and optional office hours with a YC Group Partner. For teams interested in applying to Y Combinator for funding after the program, Replit will help them with their applications and recommend them to YC.
Sadly, we can only accept 12 teams to RV1, but we will make our best effort to open source most (if not all) Replit Ventures content to the entire community, and we still encourage you to tune into Startup School and stay tuned for future Replit coding jams.
What makes Replit Ventures different?
- We are remote & global
- Our funding pool is 100% Bitcoin (can payout in cash if needed)
- We provide a full service from tools to infrastructure to mentoring to distribution
- Open to people from all backgrounds (including teenagers)
What to expect
Replit Ventures is a 10-week program. Throughout the program, teams will be assigned mentors, participate in workshops, and present to your cohort the final progress.
Selected teams do not have to be full-time, but they are expected to devote consistent weekly hours towards building their idea.
How do I participate?
Replit Ventures is open to anyone that wants to build. This includes teenagers, people switching from another career, employees at other tech companies, college students, dropouts, ex-founders, etc.
If you are young, please do not be discouraged to apply. In our last cohort, multiple of our high school teams raised more than $1M and are still working on their startups today.
If you do not have an actual product yet, that's okay! We'd still love to hear about your ideas in the application. We've accepted teams in the past with no product that ended up doing very well in the program.
FAQs
Q: Do I have to give equity to Replit to participate in the incubator?
For this program, we will not be taking equity.
Q: Do I have to build my entire startup on Replit?
While it's strongly encouraged that your team does at least some of your work on Replit, this is not required.
Q: How many teams will be accepted for the first cohort?
For this cohort, we'll accept 12 teams. 10 startups and 2 non-profits.
Q: When is the application deadline?
The application deadline is 11:59pm PST on May 31st.
Q: What do I need in order to apply?
Just complete the application form here. Questions include:
- Personal info: Full name, Replit Username, email
- Startup information: Name of startup, website (if any), demo (if any), # of team members, revenue (if any), description, more information on team, location, Replit usage, and a few others
Q: How long is the program?
The program is ~10 weeks, starting at the beginning of June and ending in mid-August
Q: What can I expect from the program?
The final program details are still in progress, but at a high-level, the program will consist of mentorship, guest speakers, & support from Replit's team.
Q: Who should I reach out to if I have questions?
Please reach out to Jeff Burke on Twitter - he's running this program! You can also leave a comment on this Repl if that's easier.
Q: How many people can be on a team? Do they each get paid the full amount?
Teams can have a minimum of two people and a maximum of four people. Teams will receive $10,000 per team, regardless of number of team members. Rules of payment can be found in the program rules.
Q: Who can be on my team? Can you help me find a team?
Anyone ages 13+ can be on your team. We will not facilitate pairing applicants with teams.
Q: Are there official entry rules?
Yes. See here.
