RG Challenge21

Your start-up, investment ready in 10 days

London, UK

Reload Greece’s intense accelerator programme, RG Challenge, advances 10 start-ups to be ready to raise around £250k. Taking place in central London, participants gain an insight into the UK ecosystem and learn how to best position their pitch to attract investment.

Connect with investors such as Hambro Perks, Notion Capital, Speedinvest & Beacon Capital, hear speakers such as Jon Bradford, Investor & Co-Founder of F6S and Techstars and work with high profile mentors from companies such as Amazon Fresh, Vodafone and BT. At the final Dragons’ Den pitch event, teams pitch to a panel of investor judges to win awards and prizes.

Apply here!

Why join RG Challenge?

First Round Investment Ready

We know the first round can be the most difficult one. We are no strangers to hard work, together we will refine your business model and financials and we won’t stop until you are ready.

Personal Development

What is stopping you from succeeding? How do you overcome your fears? Our life coach experts will work with you, on you (the most important part) and help you build your confidence.

Pitch Perfect

Show the world what you’ve got. Our talented mentors will help you to create a compelling pitch deck and our expert coaches will teach you to deliver a perfect pitch.

Access Investors

During the programme, each start-up will meet and interact with potential investors specifically interested in their business. At the final Dragons Den pitch event, start-ups pitch to a panel of investors to win awards and prizes.

Awards

Judges Award

The Judges Award winner will win

6 months free co-working office space from Central Working
3 legal sessions from Joelson Law
1:1 with angel investor Xenofon Voudouroglou

Audience Award

The Audience Award winner will be awarded with

3-hour legal session with IgnitionLaw
Strategic consultation plus online training with Communication Strategist Anna Roberts
1:1 with angel investor Chrysoula Zervoudakis

What we are looking for:

Teams

People per Team

Days

Your Stage

A start-up team with an MVP and preferably some initial traction, ready to make your next big step and wanting to raise around £250k of initial investment.

Your Industry

High growth, potentially high tech and particularly interested in businesses in tourism, agriculture, shipping, finance, medicine, education and aerospace. An AI, Big Data, Virtual Reality edge would be a plus.

Connection to Greece

Defined broadly: a business model that can be connected in someway to Greece making a socioeconomic impact to the country (i.e. launching in Greece, prospect of shifting part of your manufacturing to Greece, hiring people in Greece).

Fees

Thanks to the invaluable support of the RG Challenge partners who subsidise the programme, the cost of participating is just £375 per team member (minimum 2 and maximum 3 participants per team).

Programme & Accommodation

Reload Greece provide all participants with an 10 day programme of intense mentoring, masterclasses, speaker sessions and pitch training. All participants receive free accommodation in London and daily lunch, snacks and refreshments.

Giving Back

Reload Greece is a UK registered educational charity. To maximise the foundation’s impact, start-ups are expected to give back to Reload Greece, through a donation of at least 3% of funds raised from investors they meet through Reload Greece’s activities and programmes. Full T&Cs will be shared with all successful applicants.

RG Challenge21 Timeline

Programme Schedule:

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7	Day 8	Day 9
Morning		Business Model Generation and Customer-Market Validation	Business Model Canvas (BMC) Revenue Streams & Cost Structures	Business Model Optimisation	Pitch Perfect Training	Deep Dives	Pitch Perfect Training	Free Time to Prepare Pitch	1:1 Investor Meetings
Afternoon	Teams Arrive	Business Model Generation and Customer-Market Validation	Financial Modelling & Investment deck slides	Blue Ocean Strategy	Pitch Perfect Training	Deep Dives	Pitch Perfect Training	Dragons Den Investor Pitch Event	1:1 Investor Meetings

	Welcome Reception			Activity & Team Dinner

Location	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London	Central London

Programme Director

Mike Sotirakos

Nem Software, Managing Director

Mike is a technology focused award-winning serial entrepreneur. He has extensive experience converting ideas to ventures and serves on the Boards of technology and consultancy companies. Mike is a mentor and investor in several start-ups and scale-ups. He advises, at Board level, blue-chip multinational corporates on technology and intrapreneurship. In his early career, Mike served in the corporate world as a software & systems engineer, project manager and business development manager in complex, high-tech projects on a global scale. He holds three degrees in Engineering & Computer Science. Mike has co-founded 7 companies. Among them he founded, grew and exit a high-tech niche consultancy with worldwide blue-chip clientele. He has supported 100+ entrepreneurs and start-ups in tech focused industries (IT, High Tech Engineering, FinTech, EdTech, MedTech, HR Tech Retail and many more). Mike mentors, invests and supports hi-growth, purpose-driven, tech, social enterprises. He is a Member of the Centre of Entrepreneurs and in 2015 was named to the Maserati100 list, the definitive list of Britain’s most successful business leaders actively supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. Mike is the proud dad of two amazing daughters. In his free time, he loves the adrenaline rush of windsurfing and Crossfit.

RG Challenge21 Lead Mentors:

Kristian Papadakis

Shared Applications, CEO & Founder

Thomas Papanikolaou

Neos Chronos, Founder & Director

INTERNATIONAL SALES

Aggelos Baxevanis

Smith & Nephew, VP Mktg Communication & Mktg Excellence

Christos Reveliotis

Energy Startups, Investment Advisor

Christos Makiyama

Silicon Planet Corp, President & Co-Founder

Vassilis Karavas

UPIQ Advisors, Managing Partner

Vangelis Sakelliou

EMEA, Sales Director

Lilly Saranti

Smart CV, Founder & Director

RG Challenge21 Lead Educators:

Steven Maddocks

MSB Executive, Presentation Trainer & Voice Consultant

PITCH TRAINING

Stuart Hillston

The Mindful Entrepreneur, Psychotherapist, Coach & Trainer

MINDFULNESS

RG Challenge Speakers:

Christina Garidi

Eudaimonia Coaching, Founder

Steve Vranakis

Google Creative Lab, Executive Creative Director

Maria Taylor Dramalioti

Beacon Capital, Tech Investor, Managing Partner Beacon Capital

Eliott Saba

Sillicon Valley Bank, Vice President

Xenofon Voudouroglou

Beotel Net ISP, Chairman of the Supervisory Board

RG Challenge Mentors:

George Shoterioo

Skylon Consulting, Strategy & Innovation Architecture

Eirini Koukaki

Amazon Fresh, Senior Program Manager

Kamil Mieczakowski

Notion Capital, Investor

Nuno Costa

Vodafone, One Net Cloud Products Leader

Maria Dolka

Oracle, Retail Principal Consultant

Sonia Chimona

BT Group, Senior Marketing Strategist

Aris Georgiou

Hambro Perks, Principal Investor

Savva Kerdemelidis

Legal EdgeLLP, Consultant Legal Adviser

Lyda Modiano

Wide Strategy ltd.,Founder & Director

Elise Korolev

Digital Works Group, Partner – Strategy & Leadership

Thomas Papanikolaou

Neos Chronos, Founder & Director

Vasiliki Chounta

ViiV Healthcare, Global Health Outcomes Manager

Georgia Linardaki

Vodafone Group, Senior Global IoT Product Manager

Nancy Dandolos

Signal Ocean, Customer Success Officer

Evi Giamouzi

Vodafone Gropu, Finance Manager

Artemis Tonikidou

Loughborough University, Marketing tutor and Research Assistant

Thomas Vazakas

RPS Europe, Technical Director

Nicolas Huber

Biotech, CEO

Sunil Oberoi

Founder, Investor, Mentor

Anthony Koustelos

Business Development & Sales

RG Challenge Leadership Coaches:

Susie Flashman Jarvis

Crossroads, Executive Coach

Tony Nelson

Crossroads, Business Consultant & Mentor

Rachel Woods

Crossroads, Facilitator & Education Consultant

Rita Edah

Crossroads, Life Coach

Alistair Cumming

Crossroads, HR Consultant

Chris Spray

Crossroads, NLP Trainer

RG Challenge Dragon’s Den Judges:

Peter Prince

Corum Group International, Senior Vice President

Global Leader in M&A of High Tech Companies

Chrysoula Zervoudakis

STRIBA Ltd, Co-Founder

Strategic Governance and Sustainability Consultant

Garry Pratt

Kinderly, Chairman

Serial Ed-tech Entrepreneur & Consultant

“

The RG Challenge programme has been inspiring... it has been mind blowing! We became better entrepreneurs and we had the opportunity to take our business further. We met some amazing teams. We really profited from exchanging ideas and having great mentors!
Katerina Santikou, Workathlon

“

The RG Challenge was an amazing workshop in pitching! It was an amazing opportunity for us to collect what we had so far, structure it in a very nice way and then have our final 5-slide deck that we give to investors.
George Kaligeros & Dan Keene, Pushme

“

Our experience from RG Challenge was unique! What the team has done in London is beyond imagination. A few days with 50 hours of Business Modelling. Great mentors, a lot of new friends and one basic motto: Dream Big!
Athina Polina Dova & Ilias Vartholomaios, Owiwi

“

We came to understand, not only what we were missing but also we were very much helped into overcoming our shortfalls. The most prevalent sentiment that we received from RG Challenge was empowerment!!
Dimitris Giannakis, Synaphea

RG Challenge Stories

RG Challenge18 Winner Entomics

RG Challenge17 Winner Workathlon

RG YEP & RG Challenge Startup Racecheck

RG Challenge Video

RG Challenge Image Gallery

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FAQs:

What does access to investors mean?

RG Challenge prepares you to confidently present in front of investors and 1:1 meetings with investors are set up during the programme. There is no guarantee that you will raise investment as a result of your participation in the programme.

What happens next?

After the application period ends, all applications will be assessed and 10 successful start-up teams will be notified. All successful applicants will receive full Terms and Conditions before participating in the programme.