Pi Labs Growth Programme ’24: Applications Now Open!

Calling all pioneers of the built world: We’re now welcoming applications for our 12-week Growth Programme, designed to rapidly propel new businesses forward. Apply by 27 October.

The Programme will run from January to April 2023. See more details and how to apply here.

Last year (Cohort 11) was our most ambitious programme to date. We worked closely with five visionary and diverse companies, raising $13M in the first months of the programme. Cohort 11 consisted of companies focusing on a diverse set of challenges, from privacy management, workplace health to greenhouse gas monitoring from space.

Watch our founders pitch at Demo Day here:

What’s next?

As with every year, we have been relentlessly refining the programme, to ensure our next Growth Programme builds upon, and surpasses, all of the success of previous iterations. Now, after a couple of months of refinement, we’re ready to do it again.

Applications are officially open and will close on 27 October 2023. While the programme itself will begin at the end of January, we are already assessing potential investments and will begin to approve and invest in the Cohort 12 in the next couple of months.

What (and who) are we looking for?

We are laser focused on anything and everything that impacts our relationship with the built world, and that means we are tackling some of the most crucial social issues of our time.

With that in mind, we’re looking to partner with companies and founders are playing a part in resolving challenges such as the climate crisis, the affordability and accessibility of our housing, the resilience of our businesses and economies, the longevity of our cities, and the health & wellbeing of our communities.

We believe that the built environment plays a key role in improving our impact in these areas, and more. Change is hard, but it is vital, urgent and possible. We are looking for the innovators who are making things better.

We have shortlisted the below themes for this year:

Don’t see yourself fitting into any of the above themes? We pride ourselves on looking at our sector with a broad lens, while still maintaining our vertical expertise. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t think you fit into any of the above, or the traditional ‘proptech’ definition.

What can you expect?

The programme will officially begin on 22 January 2024, and will run until 25 April 2024, culminating in our annual Demo Day.

DURATION

A key change that we’re making is we have shortened the programme from 16 to 12 weeks. The reason? We’ve grown, too, and we now conduct our due diligence (customer and investor exercises) much more efficiently.

We have proudly spent years running this programme; all the while, learning and refining. Simply put, we’ve become much better and quicker.

LOCATION & LOGISTICS

This will be a hybrid programme.

We will ask teams to join us in-person for the first and final week of the programme. This has proven to be the most effective: We maximise impact with important face-to-face introductions at key parts of the programme, while maintaining minimal disruption to ‘business as usual’ for the companies taking part.

Why Apply?

Choosing a programme can be confusing, and we always encourage founders to determine what would be most helpful to you at the stage of your company journey. In terms of what our programme can offer you, there are three key pillars.

• Strategic Support. This is an overarching goal of the programme. We start the strategic support by hand-picking the most relevant mentors for each of our teams, based on their industry, stage and needs. The idea is that you are matched with 5–10 very relevant mentors that can support you throughout the programme, but also once it’s finished. Furthermore, we have weekly workshops that are tailored to the needs of the cohort and made as relevant as possible. Most of these workshops have dedicated 1:1 sessions, so the topics can be further refined to match your needs.
• Access to Customers. This is one of the highlights of the programme, taking place half-way through the programme. Based on an initial target list from each company, we look within our own ecosystems and those of our partners, and start individually introducing each team to relevant customers, as well as building on that list.
• Access to Investors. Similar to the customer exercise, this is a completely individual engagement, where we match the best investors. Even if you wouldn’t be looking to fundraise on the back of the programme, we would still look to introduce you to the most relevant investors for you next round.

The growth programme is only the start for Cohort 12. Upon graduation from the programme, companies officially become part of the Pi Labs alumni network and will benefit from on-going support from us, our experts, and our wider community, which evolves alongside them. We now have over 80 alumni companies in our network.

How do I apply?

Please submit your application online by 18:00 BST on 27 October 2023.

We will review applications on a rolling basis and as part of the process, we will invite teams for 30-minute introductory calls. We will only welcome five of the most outstanding companies we meet, so please apply sooner rather than later in order to not miss your chance.

Interviews have already begun and the final investment decisions will be made by late November.

We can’t wait to meet the built world’s next groundbreakers — are you one of them?

Apply here.