Berlin-based accelerator EWOR, an “emerging founder fellowship”, said it has committed €60 million to supporting “the world’s most exceptional early-stage entrepreneurs.”
As part of an intensive fellowship, EWOR offers selected founders €500,000 in capital, one of the largest investments for a fellowship or accelerator globally.
“On average, EWOR alumni have gone on to raise €1-11M during the fellowship, including what was Europe’s largest-ever pre-seed round by a first-time founder …” said EWOR.
“Out of more than 35,000 applicants each year, EWOR accepts just 35 entrepreneurs (0.1%), who EWOR refers to as ‘fellows’.
“They look for visionaries, technical prodigies, deeply driven operators, and serial entrepreneurs who have the potential to found companies that solve significant challenges.
“The selection process is based on a combination of ML-driven pattern recognition, intensive partner interviews and evidence-based testing.”
EWOR said its fellows are supported through a virtual-first model built on 1:1 mentorship — including 1 to 5 hours per week with a unicorn founder — bespoke modules, and a curated network of over 2,000 mentors, VCs, and subject matter experts.
“Unlike the standard one-size-fits-all programme, EWOR’s fellowship embraces the founder’s non-linear journey,” said EWOR.
“It is virtual-first, decentralized and borderless – to reflect the current reality where a founder might build a product in Nairobi, hire in Europe and fundraise in Silicon Valley.
“For example, they supported the team behind Aspect Health, a startup that was built in Moldova, raised funding in Silicon Valley and New York, and scaled to a $50M valuation in less than one year after joining the fellowship.”
EWOR, founded in 2021, is run full-time by six entrepreneurs who have built companies worth over €12 billion, including SumUp, Adjust, ProGlove, united-domains, and Sigma Squared Society: Daniel Dippold, Alexander Grots, Florian Huber, Petter Made, Quinten Selhorst, and Paul Müller.
Together they have contributed and attracted €60 million in fresh capital, and each one has committed to working for EWOR on a full-time basis.
Daniel Dippold, co-founder and CEO of EWOR, said: “The main value of our fellowship is not money. Most of our fellows don’t even need the money. They join because they’re obsessed with building something great — and they know this is the only place they’ll be truly challenged. EWOR is not for everyone. It’s for the few who have the potential to build trillion-dollar companies.”
Petter Made, partner at EWOR, said: “EWOR’s approach is to provide as much value as an experienced full-time co-founder by blending scientific insight, real-world experience and deep empathy for the founder’s path. We reject standardization because standard doesn’t work for the exceptional. Our model is about curating conditions where the world’s rarest talent can thrive.”
EWOR fellow Jörgen Tveit, founder of Thaleron, said: “EWOR provides a network of people you can build the future with. No fluff, just real support and world-class peers. The founders of EWOR are deeply technical and understand the challenges of building a world-changing tech company.”
EWOR fellow Ariel Harmoko, founder of Artifact AI, said: “I chose EWOR because they come in incredibly early, opposed to many US models, and provide hours of hands-on support every single week – from code reviews to helping build our AI models. Working with EWOR feels like working with a co-founder, not with an investor.”