We accept and evaluate applications on a rolling basis with startups beginning the program every month. Our team will review an application within 2 weeks of submission and reach out to the teams invited to interview. Due to the large amount of applications, we cannot give feedback to startups that do not make it past the initial evaluation.
We work with a wide range of founders and technologies at all stages of development but there are a few critical items we look for in every application :
- actively building prototypes (not just sketches or ideas)
- committed founding team (emphasis on team and not sole founders)
- deep customer understanding (more than just market reports)
Startups apply via the central SOSV portal here. You are able to start and save an application at any time and return to it later to submit when you are ready.
We ask for an initial amount of information for us to best understand your team, technology and market. The assets that we value most :
- a concise pitch deck which walks us through your business
- video of your prototypes and what you'd like to do next with them (5 minutes max)
- information about your founding team
We review every application within 2 weeks of submission. Unfortunately, we can't give feedback on every submission due to the high number of applications.
After our initial review, we email a select number of startups to begin interviewing with the HAX team remotely. This will include deep dive interviews from various members of the HAX investment and engineering team into the details of a startup's business model, market and technology. We will also work with our network of experts across technology fields and industries to best understand startups.
This process can vary from several days to multiple weeks depending on the amount of diligence our team needs to go through to best understand a startup.
Our team works hard to maintain transparency and clarity throughout the interview and diligence process. If a startup begins interviews and diligence, but we don't choose to go forward, we will give clear feedback on why we didn't see the fit for HAX at that time.
At the end of the interview and diligence process, we will send an offer and investment terms sheet to those accepted into the program. HAX invests in around 35 new startups every year with an average of 3-4 every month.
Upon signature of investment paperwork, we get teams started in onboarding into the program and planning 180 days of collaboration with our team around the world. Dig into the program details further here.
Check out the FAQ for more information on applications and investments.
