While there are many great programs for startups, we specialize in the intersection of cities, climate, and urbantech. Our startups operate in specific sectors like mobility, govtech, real estate, construction, logistics, transportation, water and energy. These sectors build solutions to and help cities operate core city services more efficiently and, as a result, they’re regulated and tend to approach emerging technologies cautiously.
For this reason, we’ve organized a specialized program and network with sector leaders as well as founders who share experiences building some of the leading urbantech companies. Our experience over the last five years proves that sector- specific experience can increase urbantech startup success rates. While other automotive OEMs simply sponsor innovation programs, URBAN-X brings real resources in the form of resident designers and engineers from MINI and BMW to help startups develop solutions that have design value and market potential.
URBAN-X is a venture accelerator founded by MINI and run in partnership with global venture firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) that invests in, builds and scales emerging and fast-growth companies shaping the future of cities through technology and design.
Breaking from the typical accelerator program, URBAN-X is a platform that works with companies from pre-seed to series C to advance their industry-transforming climate and urban technology solutions. Companies are selected on a rolling basis and participate in a curated program for at least 5 months, and up to 12 months, depending on the needs of each team. URBAN-X combines unparallelled climate and urban technology expertise with invaluable connections to government, corporation and nonprofit leaders to turn compelling ideas into viable, scalable solutions for urban life.
MINI was built upon a foundation of innovating sustainable mobility for city dwellers. Originally born as a small, efficient and urban car in response to a fuel crisis in the 1950s, MINI has since evolved, taking bold steps in creating an electrified future and pushing new, innovative sustainability measures that help improve our cities. Looking beyond the car to do this, MINI founded URBAN-X in 2016.
Through URBAN-X, MINI has built a portfolio of global startups working in areas across transportation and mobility, energy, real estate, construction, infrastructure and food, waste and water to tackle some of our most pressing urban challenges to help city dwellers thrive.
Yes. We encourage startups to reapply and to update us on their progress.
Companies from past programs can be found here.
The amount varies depending on a number of factors including your stage of product development, whether or not you’ve built a startup before, the expertise of the team, etc. Some startups entering the program have prototypes and others are already selling products to customers. Some startups have already raised capital, while others have not. We consider all of these factors before proposing equity terms.
The program is structured around two core activities – weekly meetings with the core URBAN-X team and curriculum sessions with experts. The curriculum is customized depending on the needs of your company and team and the goal is to help with specific adjustments for each startup. Cohorts can expect to learn and participate in sessions about fundraising, legal, accounting, customer development, cash flow management, sales, communication, team building, culture building and scaling. We dive deep into specific urbantech topics such as working with local governments to funding hardware companies. The curriculum builds on work we’ve been doing with the National Science Foundation’s iCorps program and The University of Chicago Booth School.
We evaluate each applicant by the amount of impact the company can have, who is on the team, what experiences they have, the company’s approach to urban problems, the type and amount of competition the company will face and how much risk is associated with their proposed solutions. We look for founders who have a growth mindset and learn quickly, who are relentless, and who are deliberate about their culture.
We’ve built an extensive network of investors, founders and customers in core urbantech industries like transportation and mobility, construction and real estate, infrastructure and industry, food, water, waste, public health and safety, energy, and govtech. Our network has deep knowledge in B2G, B2B and B2C.
We pull program mentors from our network of an engaged group of ~2,000 people primarily located in the US and EU, with the largest groups in New York and the Bay Area.
Throughout and after the program, our goal is to connect you to these networks. Over the last four years, these introductions have led to investments, pilot projects, new customers and new hires. See below for more information on perks and partnerships.
Corporate partners and perks include HERE, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Hubspot, Intercom, IBM, and more. Local resources include NY City Government, academic institutions including NYU, CUNY and Columbia, Smart Cities New York’s network and potential pilot space in downtown Brooklyn through the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
We accept applications on a rolling basis. Each company participates in the program for at least 5 months, and up to 12 months, depending on the needs of each team.
No. URBAN-X is currently a virtual program and startups can participate from anywhere. More on how our virtual programming works can be found here.
Occasionally we meet startups that are too mature for the URBAN-X program. In these cases we may refer them to other funds such as BMW iVentures. If we are not investors in a startup, it is often a conflict for us to make introductions to our network and investors.
Yes. We’re currently working on a new way to engage with non-profits, public-benefit corporations and individuals improving city life.
We have had several program startups come from referrals. Referrals and applicants can apply here.