What is ICUBE?

ICUBE is a startup acceleration program initiated by Entertech and Istanbul University. It is supported by ISTKA (Istanbul Development Agency). ICUBE, implemented by Hackquarters since 2019, is aiming to prepare promising startups for the global market by providing mentorship and training. We’ve already announced selected startups in our previous blog post. After a 4-month acceleration program in Istanbul, the selected startups receive a chance to launch their business in the UK in the framework of London business Bootcamp. The 11 startups selected earlier for this program participated. Startups pitched their business plans to investors and companies in Turkey at our Icube Demo day.

We have designed this program for these startups to meet the most relevant local tech people to develop their companies overseas. And the program started with Google’s visit to KingsCross. Startups pitched their ideas to Googlers to receive feedback on their technology and local market suitability. The program was followed by a lunch with Googlers Muge Yılmaz and Alper Gundogdu for further networking.

Our startups pitched at @Level39CW today at London and had a great networking chance with London tech ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/V72Y6yzHa8

— Hackquarters (@hackquarters) February 25, 2020

Icube Demo Day

During the Icube Demo Day organized at Level39 on 25 February, 2020 selected 11 startups had a chance to pitch for the UK startup ecosystem represented by leading corporate companies; investors and business development companies. After the pitches, all participants had time to network for international growth.

Our partner Startup Campus personally mentored all of the participating startups to give them a better perspective about the UK market and potential collaborations in Singapore and Hungary. Gergo Gulyas who is one of the most active mentors at Hackquarters for the last two years and Olivia Exton were with us. Startup Campus team is supporting startups all over Europe and Asia in scaling for the new markets.

Our partner Facebook also invited our startups to the Facebook office to give feedback and talk about possible partnerships around the Facebook universe. Our partners Ece Basay and Pinar Hosafcı were great hosts and mentors during the visit.Startups also had the chance to meet with WeWork Labs team in London. With Scott Trowbridge, startups got familiar with many WeWork Labs programs designed for different verticals.

Also, Startups joined the discussion with a British / Turkish founder Ali Arslan’s roundtable to learn more about UK business challenges. And this roundtable followed up with Happy Hour at Level39.

London and Partners hosted the last day at their office. Non-Profit company London & Partners helps companies to establish themselves and grow in London and The UK market. During this day, consultants answered the questions of the founders in accountancy, legal, migration, employee and tax issues. We are quite happy to Lisa Strafford to host this great session with RSM, Doyle Clayton and Invest Trade teams.