Crypto Startup School Applications Now Open for Spring 2024 in London
Crypto Startup School (CSS) is our twelve-week accelerator program for early-stage companies, providing expert guidance, capital, and resources tailored for crypto founders. The program is focused on speeding up their path to product-market fit and setting them up for long-term growth and success. As we previously announced, we are planning the next CSS program will take place in London in 2024, following the opening of a16z’s new London office this fall.
Today, we’re excited to announce that applications for CSS Spring 2024 are now open until October 20, 2023. You can apply here. CSS will be an in-person program, starting in March and culminating with a Demo Day in June.
We plan to host CSS Spring 2024 in London for many of the same reasons that we decided to open our first international office there: the UK has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, a strong entrepreneurial culture, and we believe that the UK is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation. While we hope to receive more applications from excellent founders based in the UK and Europe than in our previous CSS cohorts, we’ll be considering and accepting teams from around the world to participate.
We are searching for outliers; founders who are intent on taking big, bold swings in crypto and are hellbent on building something transformational. Applicants should be builders who are developing a crypto product, or interested in learning a web3 programming language like Solidity to develop them. a16z crypto invests in each participating company, with standard terms of $500,000 for 7% equity and other standard rights.
In addition to the funding and expert guidance from a16z crypto, CSS Spring 2024 participants will meet industry-leading founders and receive mentorship from some of the most effective operators in web3. Speakers at our CSS 2023 program in Los Angeles included founders and leaders from Coinbase, Optimism, Solana, Uniswap, and many more companies. Fifteen mentors also provided hands-on support to our 2023 cohort, including the founders of Aptos, Boys Club, and Sound.xyz.
CSS Spring 2024 participants will also draw inspiration and support from dozens of other founders in their cohort, and join a growing network of top-tier CSS alumni from around the world. The most recent CSS cohort in Los Angeles included founders originating from eleven countries, including the UK, U.S., India, Germany, France, Argentina, Ecuador, and Canada.
As with previous cohorts, all of the CSS Spring 2024 content will be publicly available for anyone to watch following the program. We are also expanding CSS to host two programs each year, and will be returning to Los Angeles for the CSS Fall 2024 cohort.
This will be my first cohort leading Crypto Startup School, and I can’t wait to meet and collaborate with our next wave of founders and builders.
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