An accelerator aiming to help transformative, post-launch emerging technology startups effectively scale to Series A and beyond through bespoke strategic advice, connection-rich mentorship, and hands-on expertise.
NextUp Scale is the first and only Generation Z-led-and-focused accelerator in the world, helping transformative startups that aim to advance industries and technologies in AI, Future of Work (FoW), Consumer, Sustainability, and Emerging Technology Infrastructure sustainably scale in their earliest days and investing in the most promising ones after they launch. We help upcelerate and invest in game-changing emerging technology startups through an individualized, strategic, and hands-on approach centered around providing strategic advice and expertise across growth strategy, product development, startup strategy, marketing, and raising capital. We have a focus on Gen Z and a sub-focus on non-Gen Z founders who we aim to assist in developing an effective market adoption strategy. NextUp's team is Gen Z-led and multi-generational, bringing together serial Gen Z entrepreneurs and investors as well as institutional operators and venture-backers.
Our Gen Z-led team of operators, investors, and advisors across every age bracket have over a century of combined experience in scaling startups in a variety of leadership and advisory roles, helping raise/invest hundreds of millions of dollars with a 10x+ return on investment and successfully growing or exiting over 20 companies as founders or VC’s.
Our team will help bring your startup to the next level and get ready to raise capital through individualized strategic advice and hands-on services over a flexible time period, plug you into our large community of LvlUp NextUp startups and Portfolio Companies, and offer you up to $500,000 of perks.
Every company is different. We believe that the traditional startup accelerator model doesn’t work nearly as well as it can, because of the non-customized, funnel-like approach that it employs. We’re transforming the way that startups grow by providing an individualized, strategic, hands-on, and cohortless (the opportunity to grow is now open 24/7/365) approach to scaling your startup to Series A and raising capital.
We consider investing in the most promising ventures which take part in NextUp, writing checks of up to $250,000 and aiming to bring value throughout the entire startup journey through our mentorship and connections. Following the scale, startups can pitch to LvlUp in a community day consisting of our fund team, PortCo’s, entrepreneurs, and others in the startup ecosystem with the goal of getting a pre-seed or seed investment.
We believe in all founders, particularly those that belong to Gen Z, with a vision and high-potential solutions that utilize emerging technology to change the way people live and work for the better, or provide the infrastructure for ventures to do so. We work with growing, early-stage companies that have launched and have $10,000 or less in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). We act as an extension of your team by providing strategic advice and expertise to help you go-to-market and be well positioned to scale.
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The NextUp Mentor Circle connects Portfolio Companies (PortCo’s) with in-network and out-of-network mentors, aiming to achieve an excellent match between the startups which we help upcelerate and our mentors in terms of culture, experience, expertise, and connection value-add.
When a startup becomes a part of NextUp, we conduct a double-pronged search through our refined mentor community and leaders of highly similar, successful companies who we can virtually always recruit through our extensive networks. NextUp’s mentor community members are leaders in their industries with thousands of years of combined experience and dozens of exits/IPO’s. If we don’t find an exceptional fit for a startup within our mentor community, we will initiate and execute discovery for a mentor outside of our program who does.
All NextUp Mentor Circle Members are carefully chosen by LvlUp Ventures’ leadership team and incentivized to provide their expertise as a result of NextUp sharing a piece of its equity stake in the maximum of two PortCo’s which they support with them. Each NextUp PortCo receives NextUp-core-team-complementary strategic advice and hands-on support from one or two mentors in the NextUp Mentor Circle who will also assist in achieving KPIs and voluntarily make connections to potential partners and clients in their network.
We work with a few dozen companies per year. They love the results.
When we select a post-launch startup for NextUp, we aim to help them scale and we share in their success with a 0.5-1% equity grant.
NextUp is flexible in length, depending on a startup’s needs. It can be 12-Weeks, 8 months, or anything in between, all based on a customized, adjustable plan. We’re goal-oriented, not prediction-oriented.
LvlUp doesn’t take a weekly schedule approach to helping startups scale. Rather, it provides Strategy, Growth Strategy, Product Development, Product Management, Marketing, and fundraising expertise and strategic advice in an intentional, sequential order, providing one service at a time until the startup is ready for the next stage of development. We will work with you to help you develop a growth strategy and raise capital starting at any point at which your startup is ready during your time in NextUp or after.
Receive weekly, bi-weekly, or more personalized guidance on just about everything you need to accelerate growth from our Team of founders and investors with 20+ Exits/IPO's
Craft or refine a growth strategy meant to increase the success of your venture and size of your next round
Be introduced to NextUp's network of thousands of connections
Navigate fundraising strategy and execution with strategic advice and support including our game-changing fundraising tool partnerships and implementation assistance
Refine your Pitch Deck with our team that has raised over $150M
Craft Investor, Customer, And Partner Pitches
Get Our VC Group's Data Room Audit
Plug into our portfolio of high-growth startups and find synergies to grow faster
Receive mentorship from members of NextUp's exclusive Mentor Circle of industry leaders
And more...
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