Highway1 Calls for Applications for its Accelerator Programme in San Francisco

Highway1, the PCH accelerator programme for hardware startups, has begun accepting applications to its autumn 2015 hardware accelerator programme.

Set to start in August of this year, Highway1 is searching for up to 15 of the best hardware startups from around the world to join the programme. Forty-five hardware startups have participated in the programme to date.

The curriculum is a four-month immersion into how to scale a hardware business, which includes product design and engineering support, supply chain management, manufacturing and logistics, marketing and retail.

Selected startups also embark on a 10-day trip to Shenzhen, China, to learn first-hand about building a global manufacturing and supply chain network.

Programme participants work out of Highway1’s new 10,000-square-foot home. Located at the PCH Innovation Hub in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, the new facility features state-of-the-art prototyping and electrical engineering labs available 24/7, including a CNC mill, 3D printers and a spectrum analyser, among other specialised equipment.

Highway1 invests $50,000 of seed money into each company in exchange for a 4–7 percent equity stake. At the end of the four-month programme, graduates pitch their concepts and show their working prototype to investors, industry leaders, and media at an invitation only Demo Day event. Highway1 alumni are granted long-term access to the accelerator’s prototyping facilities after finishing the programme.

Since its inception in 2013, Highway1 has accepted 45 hardware companies spanning the Internet of Things (IoT) product spectrum, ranging from connected home, to health care, to wearable fashion, to robotics.

In total, graduating companies have raised more than $50 million, including companies such as Irish startup Drop, Ringly, Podo and Navdy.

Highway1 recruits top hardware startups from around the world, with companies relocating from countries such as Australia, India, the Netherlands and Ireland to participate in the immersive, four-month programme.

Highway1 will be the subject of an upcoming US docu-series TV show, The Bazillion Dollar Club. Set to air on the Syfy Channel in the fall of 2015, the show follows three Highway1 startup companies from the Spring 2015 Highway1 class, as well as three companies currently enrolled in the 500 Startups accelerator programme.

Interested companies can visit http://highway1.io/apply/ to apply to the fall 2015 Highway1 programme. The application period ends May 29, 2015.