The Congregate Accelerator brings tech companies together with potential partners in the Travel, Performing Arts, Hospitality, and Tourism (TPATH) industries to utilize the innovation speed and agility of the innovation economy to spur recovery and resilience. This cohort will focus on two central issues facing the TPATH sectors: (1) business travel and (2) overcoming workforce and labor challenges. Startup companies with unique skills and products that can demonstrate and pilot solutions to these challenges are encouraged to apply.
Over the course of the program, members of Congregate’s second cohort can expect to connect directly with industry partners on projects related to the workforce and business travel challenges. The program offers opportunities to partner with confirmed industry partners such as Argosy Cruises, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, the Seattle Seahawks, and others. Applicants can review the current industry partner challenge statements and apply to work directly with one of the current partners or apply generally to the program to be paired with a partner at a later time.
Congregate is seeking applications from northwest technology companies that are in the startup or “pre-scaleup” phase that have a proven product or service or have raised at least a seed round that is ready to scale.
Participating in the Congregate Accelerator has a multitude of benefits. Congregate does not require an exchange of equity from participant companies. Accepted applicants are also offered one-on-one mentorship from experts, access to thousands of dollars in credits from Amazon Web Services, market research, and the opportunity to access new customers in the travel and hospitality sectors. Once selected, the Accelerator will include 8-10 weeks of education marketing, pilot programs, and scaling, as well as curriculum tailored to startups at this phase.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis through early April, and programming will begin thereafter.
