ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Lake Nona, the award-winning, master-planned community in Orlando, Florida – one of America's fastest-growing regions – announced today a partnership with leAD Sports, the premier sports venture ecosystem inspired by Adi Dassler, to create a new, cutting-edge accelerator designed to bolster technology start-up companies in Central Florida. This partnership marks the first time the Berlin-based leAD Sports will host an accelerator in the United States.
Known as the leAD Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Accelerator, the accelerator will focus on "future of living" solutions covering three verticals: sports and health tech, smart cities, and the future of nutrition. The accelerator will allow a group of carefully-selected start-ups to take advantage of Lake Nona's exclusive Verizon 5G broadband capacity enabling participants to test innovative solutions and support their 5G-powered businesses.
"We're extremely excited to welcome leAD as a partner and create this one-of-kind environment that supports and enables innovators," said Juan Santos, Senior Vice President of Innovation at Tavistock, the Lake Nona developer. "Lake Nona has always been a place where ideas are imagined and tested. This new facility for tech start-ups featuring 5G technology within our existing wellbeing community creates a perfect ecosystem for the next great breakthrough that will transform how we live."
Designed to attract the most promising early-stage tech start-ups from around the world, the leAD Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Accelerator will drive growth for entrepreneurs through smart investment and expert mentorship in a complete environment that will allow participants to conceive, test, and implement their ideas during a six-month program.
Start-ups or entrepreneurs interested in joining the accelerator can click here for more information about the program. Applications are being accepted now by clicking here through April 30, 2020 and the program is scheduled to begin this summer. Each participant accepted to the program will receive a $75,000 pre-seed investment with 8% equity backed by the unique combination of leAD's vast experience in seed investing and start-up programs, Tavistock's investment legacy, and Lake Nona's smart city landscape.
"Pioneers in using technology to create and promote a healthy lifestyle – obviously with sports playing a crucial role – Lake Nona couldn't be a more perfect partner for our program expansion in the U.S.," said Christoph Sonnen, Co-Founder and CEO at leAD, Partner at ADvantage Sports Tech Fund. "For us, it's all about looking at the athlete – amateur, professional – on and off the court, with smart, forward-thinking solutions. We're extremely excited to work together to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs that will shape how we live in the future."
Entry to the accelerator will provide selected startups with accommodations, mentoring sessions, networking opportunities, and several investor pitch days. The accelerator will feature an onsite network of experts and mentors, exposure to strategic partners, counsel from venture capitalists and professional investors, and support in key areas including legal, intellectual property, and accounting to ensure entrepreneurs can successfully bring their ideas to market.
The leAD Lake Nona accelerator will be located within the new 16,000-square-foot Pixon MS2 innovation space that is currently under construction on the ground floor of the Pixon Apartment building. The Pixon MS2 space will provide a variety of different programs and resources to support tech start-ups in addition to being home of the leAD Lake Nona accelerator.
The new accelerator program is the latest example of Lake Nona's commitment to cultivate innovation. As a wellness community home to Medical City, the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus, and Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, Lake Nona's established health and sports background provides an ideal setting for the accelerator to help entrepreneurs test their ideas in a real-life environment. Following the six-month program, burgeoning companies can stay local to take advantage of Lake Nona's living lab and all of Central Florida's entrepreneurial resources designed to support their growing businesses.
For more information, visit http://www.leadsports.com/lake-nona-accelerator. For a link to the media kit with logos and images, click here.
About Lake Nona
Located in Orlando, Fla., Lake Nona is one of the fastest-growing master-planned communities in America developed by Tavistock Development Company. Known for thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, top-rated education facilities, business and research clusters, retail and entertainment centers, and diverse workspaces, Lake Nona encompasses the best Central Florida has to offer. Lake Nona sets the foundation for a collaborative relationship between the people who live, work, and visit there by prioritizing forward-thinking technology, strategic partnerships, education, and wellbeing. For more information, visit http://www.lakenona.com
About leAD
leAD, the premier sports venture ecosystem, is inspired by Adi Dassler, the founding father of the modern sports industry. leAD works with the most promising early-stage sports tech startups from around the world, aiming to propel their growth through smart investment, premier network access, and expert mentorship. leAD consists of leAD Sports accelerators, targeting pre-seed startups, the leAD Business Builder, focused on the gap between seed and growth, and the Series A ADvantage Sports Tech Fund.
The leAD Sports accelerator programs invest in visionary ventures around trendsetting sports technology, media, entertainment, management, and lifestyle. This next-generation accelerator model with tightly aligned support for entrepreneurs and a linked business builder and fund creates an unprecedented ecosystem for sports technology value-creation. For more information, visit http://www.leadsports.com.
SOURCE Lake Nona
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