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 Chief Executive, 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.

Find out more or apply for a Soda Inc. seed grant.

Timeline:

• Applications close 31 July
• Shortlist contacted for 30 min meeting by 3 August 2020
• Pitch event (online) 13 August 2020
• Funds distributed and 1:1 mentoring session set up by 20 August 2020.