The Visionaries AI Incubator was created by Female Foundry in partnership with Google Cloud to bring the latest AI tools and thinking to the most ambitious female-founded startups in Europe to accelerate their growth.
Unlike other accelerator programs that focus on fundraising, this incubator is tailored to companies seeking to accelerate their business growth through the use of AI and tailored go-to-market advice.
Value proposition
AI Visionaries is a program, not a venture capital fund. Startups join the program for learning, community, and ecosystem support — not for investment.
We don’t invest in startups that take part in the program.
After the program, when you are ready to fundraise, we might be able to connect you with relevant VC investors within our network. Our goal from the outset is to make your business successful!
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AI Visionaries operates as an independent, UK-based founder platform and is not affiliated with any investment fund. Any references to founders, startups, or outcomes relate to participation in learning, community, and ecosystem support, rather than investment activity.
The AI Visionaries program takes 8 weeks, during which, founders are invited to attend 60+ hours of workshops, talks, 1-1 mentorship sessions, and take part in founder chats.
It is therefore important that you enter the program prepared, with a clear plan of what you want to achieve, and are open to feedback and the vast possibilities that AI can offer!
AI Visionaries has been designed with founders in mind, but it’s up to you how you take advantage of the growth opportunities we create during the program.
The first week of AI Visionaries is all about you — we want to understand your business and how we can specifically help accelerate your growth with AI, while providing practical business-building advice.
The following seven weeks focus on Data, Product, Growth, and Operations through weekly thematic sessions. By the end of the programme, you’ll have progressed towards developing a piece of AI-native infrastructure that addresses a major opportunity or challenge in your business. This is complemented by virtual go-to-market and technical sessions, as well as drop-in virtual office hours.
At least one of the founders must be present in person in London at our weekly Core Learning Sessions.
We require all founding teams to attend both the Kickoff and Demo Days.
Your tech and core team members are invited to attend business-specific and technology-specific virtual mentorship sessions. We also provide them with access to our learning content, ensuring that key decision makers of your startup are all on board if need to!
AI Visionaries is equity-free and there is no upfront fee.
Our goal is to increase probability of your next fundraising round.
The programme fee is therefore only charged if and when you raise your next equity round. The fee is a £20k flat fee.
If you don’t raise an equity financing round within 24 months, the programme is free.
As an AI Visionaries alum, you’ll be invited to our social and industry-leading events at Female Foundry, where you will be able to connect with venture ecosystem players and meet other alumni.
When you’re ready to fundraise again, and if you choose to reach out for support, we can also help with introductions to relevant institutional investors within our network.
Yes. Companies in our cohorts are invited to work from our offices during the program and are welcome to drop in at any time throughout the week to foster connections and growth opportunities.
Yes. Each company joining AI Visionaries will receive Google Cloud credits starting at $25,000 USD and up to $250,000, based on funding and spending milestones.
However, credits are just one of the tech benefits we offer to AI Visionaries' companies.
In addition to credits, you will receive Google technical mentorship, including office hours and workshops, $500 USD in Google Cloud Skills Boost credits for video courses and hands-on labs.
Other
Yes. Visit our careers page to see current openings.
We love collaborating with innovative companies and exceptional people.
There are several ways you can support AI Visionaries: by offering specialised advice to companies in our cohort (please note that each application will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis), becoming a sponsor, or becoming a partner.
If you're interested, please email us at hello@femalefoundry.co with a brief description of your partnership idea.
AI Visionaries is invite-only. We are committed to maintaining high-quality of startups and fostering strong connections within our AI Visionaries' alumni community and so we are highly selective about founders we invite.
Please read through the questions about our selection process. We also regularly host AMA sessions regarding our selection process. Check the upcoming AMA session here.
Selection Process
There are three key aspects against which we evaluate companies that apply. These are:
Tech or science DNA
We are passionate about AI and want to back founders who are solving today's biggest challenges through proprietary tech or/and science.
AI potential
We are looking to partner with companies where AI can have the greatest impact on their trajectory.
This is perhaps because they capture vast amount of data that can be leveraged and monetised. Or perhaps it is because AI has the potential to unlock new business value, for example by bringing new levels of creativity, efficiency or personalisation.
There is no cookie-cutter approach here. We simply evaluate how AI can drive growth and success for your startup.
Focus on growth
We are looking to partner with companies after they have recently raised a Pre-Seed round, developed at least an MVP, gained early commercial traction, and are now looking to generate more commercial growth.
Our goal is to provide a tailored experience for every startup we partner with at AI Visionaries.
To achieve this, we only accept 6-8 companies per cohort, regardless of the number of applications we receive.
The aim of the AI Visionaries is to support science-driven or tech-driven female-founded companies as they look to scale.
While we are open to various sectors, our main focus is on five key areas where we believe AI will have the most transformative impact: the Future of Software, Finance, Health, Work, and Earth.
We want to keep our cohorts diverse in terms of the sectors of companies we invite to the program.
As the AI Visionaries requires companies to attend core sessions in person to maximise the value of the experience and the connections formed, we currently prioritise UK-based companies.
However, we will also occasionally invite promising European/US-based startups that can attend in person throughout the duration of the program.
We are looking to partner with companies that have recently raised funding and are now focused on accelerating their growth with AI. This means that all AI Visionaries companies will typically be between post-Pre-seed and Seed stages.
By now, you should have at least developed your MVP, gained early commercial traction, and be looking to accelerate your product development and generate commercial growth.
We may also accept bootstrapped companies.
Applications for subsequent AI Visionaries' cohorts are open and reviewed on a rolling basis. We are constantly on the lookout for exceptional female founders and female-founded companies!
Once you submit your application, you should hear back from us within three weeks.
If we see a potential match, we will first invite you to a 30-minute call to learn more about you, your business plans, and your ambitions.
Selected companies will then be invited to a second call where we will dive deeper into your tech, and plans. This will be followed by light-touch due diligence to ensure we understand your position in detail.
The final decision will be communicated about three weeks before your cohort starts.
Absolutely. You can be invited to AI Visionaries as a solo founder.
However, please note that we will need to closely evaluate your team. Having a strong and diverse skillset is important for early-stage companies. As a solo founder you will therefore need to clearly demonstrate how your team members provide complimentary value/skills to help to grow your business.
As AI Visionaries is focused on AI-driven startups, and a significant part of the program is dedicated to advancing your tech capabilities, we require at least one person on the team (whether a founder or another team member) to have strong technical skills, ideally with some experience using AI.
Yes, companies using cloud providers other than Google Cloud are welcome to join AI Visionaries. As part of the program, however, you will be developing a portion of your AI infrastructure to accelerate growth, which will require you to build on the Google Cloud platform.