The 20-week accelerator program provides free training, mentorship, resources, and support to participating startups, with the goal of equipping them with the skills and tools they need to accelerate their growth. Each cohort’s startups will have the option to engage in a pitching session at the end of the program, with top-performing ventures receiving up to US$20,000 in equity-free grant funding. The first batch of 2022 cohort applications are currently open, and startups can apply until January 16, 2022. Startups that wish to apply for the programme are to complete the following steps – create an F6S account, and apply using the official application form on F6S. MEST Express is one of three programs that MEST is currently running in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, along with Pre-MEST and MEST Scale. The programme has accelerated more than 40 early-stage ventures since its launch in September 2020.
