Techstars × EIT Urban Mobility programme
The Challenge
Europe has a strong pipeline of mobility innovators, but many early-stage founders struggle to access the mentorship, networks, investment and real-world testing opportunities needed to transform promising ideas into scalable businesses.
The Techstars x EIT Urban Mobility Founder Catalyst addresses this gap by offering a structured founder development programme that combines expert mentorship, investor readiness support, access to Europe's leading mobility ecosystem, and opportunities to validate solutions with cities and industry partners. This enables startups to accelerate their growth and increase their chances of successfully bringing innovative mobility solutions to market.
The selected startups receive:
- An initial €10,000 cash investment upon joining the programme.
- A SAFE agreement worth €50,000, consisting of:
- €10,000 in cash, and
- €40,000 representing the value of the programme services (mentoring, training, network access, etc.). The SAFE converts under standard investment conditions.
Who can apply?
The programme is aimed at:
- Pre-seed founders and early-stage startups developing innovative urban mobility solutions.
- Companies working in areas such as:
- Sustainable urban logistics
- Transport electrification
- AI and mobility
- Shared mobility
- Public transport
- Health and mobility
- Founders looking to validate, grow and prepare their ventures for investment and market expansion.
Background
The Techstars x EIT Urban Mobility Founder Catalyst is a three-year strategic partnership between Techstars and EIT Urban Mobility designed to strengthen Europe's mobility innovation ecosystem. It combines Techstars' globally recognised founder development model - with experience supporting more than 5,000 startups that have collectively raised over $32 billion - with EIT Urban Mobility's extensive European network of cities, corporates, investors, researchers and public authorities. The programme creates a new founder support pathway that provides mentorship, investment, ecosystem connections and opportunities to pilot solutions in real urban environments, helping Europe's next generation of mobility startups accelerate their growth.
