Each year, Black Horse offers two cycles of support for entrepreneurs, including in-kind funding starting at SAR 100,000 and a series of workshops.
Our team carefully selects 2-3 teams with promising potentials per cycle to join the Black Horse program. Once selected, we help them progress towards becoming full-fledged, scalable startups. Our support includes initial in-kind funding of SAR 100,000 to SAR 300,000.
Interviews
The selection process at Black Horse involves a thorough review by our internal management team of the numerous applications submitted each cycle (within a defined framework), which allows us to identify the top candidates for further consideration. We then reach out to these candidates for a 30- to 60-minute interview, where we gain a deeper understanding of the founders, their ideas, their market knowledge, and the problems they aim to solve. This step helps us determine the best fit for our program.
Selection Bootcamp
Based on the preceding stages, we select 10 founding teams from a pool of over 25 to join us on a 5-day selection bootcamp, which is simply an intensive workshop in which each team works on developing and testing their ideas further and allowing us to better understand their business. The bootcamp serves as a crucial filter in determining the founders who have the potential to "make it in the real world."
Selection Committee
By the end of the 5-day bootcamp, each team presents in front of the selection committee, which consists of a diverse group of partners, industry experts, entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors, all from our close network. The selection committee then comes out with a final "go/no-go" decision based on a comprehensive evaluation to select the final teams to be accepted into the cycle.
CYCLE PROGRAM
The 4-month cycle marks the start of a critical period of growth and development for each team. Here, teams become fully dedicated to fine-tuning their core business model, building a prototype, and establishing a customer base. At this stage, Black Horse extends its full support to each team by offering unlimited access to our extensive network of mentors, investors, consultants, and experts, as well as the privilege of using our office space, business education workshops, training sessions, and perks program to help ensure their success.
Demo day
Here we reach the end of the selection process, which signals the start of the onboarding phase, which involves completing administrative tasks such as signing contracts, registering the company, finalizing legal agreements, and performing lightweight due diligence. Black Horse assists each selected team throughout this process to ensure that all documents are properly standardized and tailored to meet the needs of entrepreneurs. Once completed, the team is ready to start operating as a fully-fledged, incorporated business.
Demo Day
The Demo Day, held at the conclusion of each cycle, is a highly exclusive event that provides a platform for the newly-minted startups to showcase their growth and progress to an audience of highly accredited venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, partners, and the media. After 3 long months of sweat, tears, pivoting, and acceleration, the teams are eager to present their pitches and demonstrate their potential to this influential gathering of investors and stakeholders.
Grow
The end of Demo Day marks the beginning of the follow-on funding phase for the most remarkable businesses. The staff at Black Horse helps teams secure funding by providing them with further assistance with their financials and linking them to more investors. Although their time in the office is over after Demo Day, the startups remain an integral part of the Black Horse network, with ongoing access to our mentor network, support, perks, workshops, and other benefits.
