Soda is set to plant seeds for growth
Got an innovative idea that needs a little funding to make it bloom? Soda’s new seed grants might be your answer.
In a new initiative, Soda Inc. is trialling seed grants that come with a customised mentoring session to push amazing ideas forward.
Three cash grants are up for grabs: $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000.
Soda CE Erin Wansbrough said there were a lot of people out there with ideas for great startups, they just needed help to transform those ideas into reality.
“We’ve worked with a lot of startups over the past 10 years and we know how hard it is to come by seed funding to push an idea or business forward,” Erin said.
Soda is looking for those who have a unique or innovative startup idea, but just need a small cash injection to get it off the ground and test it with the market.
They are also looking for entrepreneurs who have been working on developing their startups for a while but are at a standstill due to lack of funds.
Along with anyone who has some form of market validation that customers want to pay for their product or service; whose business is potentially scalable and might have unique intellectual property; or could be a high-value brand opportunity for New Zealand; or any entrepreneur who needs investment to get their product or service to market, but has been told by investors they’re too early or they haven’t tried yet and want to get their ducks lined up.
Anyone who applies must be based in New Zealand.
For more information, and to apply: https://www.sodainc.com/seedgrants
Timeline:
Applications close 31 July
Shortlist contacted for 30 min meeting by 3 August
Pitch event (online) 13 August
Funds distributed and 1:1 mentoring session set up by 20 August
ENDS.
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.