Our Accelerator program supports a select group of technology-driven, early-stage startups based in and around the Charlottesville area with long-term support, including:
dedicated staff and advising
free co-working space
experienced founders-in-residence
monthly programming
connections to a network of industry experts, investor groups, and grant-making organizations
student project/intern support
over $2,000,000 in discounts to hundreds of resources
Our particular focus is upon high potential companies already based in and around the Charlottesville area. Thus, core members of any team should already be living and working nearby.
Essentially, 434 is a “hometown” accelerator program, created to support local, organically-grown teams.
If you are not located in our region, please still feel free to reach out. We are happy to connect you with programs and resources in other regions across Virginia.
Our program has been funded and chartered to focus upon technology-driven companies in the domains of Software, Hardware, and Science across a range of industries.
Examples might include:
a new approach to managing data security on cloud services
a web-based platform to support data science education
a 3D printable and personalized knee brace
If your company is not in one of the sectors above, no sweat. We are happy to put you in touch with those organizations in our region who might be the better fit.
The 434 Accelerator is not well-suited for teams at the idea or prototype stage.
The most qualified Software teams will have an initial product ready to launch, or already in the market, and be able to provide evidence of meaningful, yet perhaps still early demand.
Hardware and Science team should be at or beyond the proof-of-concept stage. For example, certain high- or deep-tech projects face significant technical questions during development which limit their ability to go-to market quickly.
We select teams for the program on a rolling basis, twelve-months out of the year. Thus, we do not have any specific application deadlines.
Our application includes a series of questions focused on basic company information (e.g., founders, location, ownership, industry, etc.) alongside additional materials including a pitch deck, exec summary, bios and LinkedIn profiles of the founders, as well as a video demo of some kind.
Potential applicants are first screened according to required eligibility (e.g., based in the region, target sectors, product stage, etc.). Those teams fully qualified to apply are then scheduled for an interview with our selection committee.
Our selection committee is comprised of individuals from the capital communities across the commonwealth; a mix of investors, grant makers, as well as ecosystem and economic developers.
As a long-format Accelerator program, 434 is able to provide at least nine months of support to selected companies.
There are three core components to the program: community, coaching, and connections. We curate a community of high-quality founders, provide them with bespoke support through staff and advisors, and connect these teams to a broad network of resources, people, and capital.
Programming runs primarily from September until May, and involves check-ins, bespoke guidance, office hours with domain experts, monthly dinners, and more. Each team is also connected to one or more local founder(s) or expert(s), to help ground the team in our ecosystem.
Teams are invited to work out of our shared workspace on the downtown mall, and can use the location for meetings, office hours, mailing address, etc.
Participating teams are expected to be attend check-ins, dinners & other events, as well as any scheduled workshops. We do not require that founders be full-time on the startup, as many of our founders may still have "a day job."
Leadership
