Stage 03 · Build
Ventures Lab takes ventures that are already trading and, over 12 weeks, moves them from “we have customers” to “we can withstand institutional scrutiny.”
Ventures Lab does not teach founders how to start. It removes the reasons an investor would say no — the business is refined, the evidence is documented in an investor-grade data room, and the venture is screened, scored and, if it clears the bar, funded in milestone-based tranches.
Cohort
Length
Structure
Gates
Funding
Who it's for
What we promise
Ventures that do not complete a data room do not pitch — communicated in week one. Founders who are not investment-ready leave with a written readiness band, the gaps, and a route back. An unevidenced claim is treated as absent, not as optimism.
How it runs
Expert masterclasses front-load capability in two weeks; the remaining nine are pure application under mentorship. The data room is the curriculum — every learning area terminates in a specific artefact, and if a session does not move a folder forward it does not belong in the programme.
Six masterclass tracks delivered in person by entrepreneurs-in-residence. Founders leave with a written diagnosis of their own venture, not notes.
9-week work plan
One lead mentor per venture plus specialists on call. No new theory — founders apply all six areas to their live business, building the data room folder by folder.
Complete data room
An external evaluation partner reads every data room cold and issues a readiness band. Mentor execution scores are submitted in parallel and blended by formula.
Readiness band
Funding decision
Capability Lab · six tracks, one expert each
Every session runs to the same shape: 30% teaching, 50% applied work on the founder’s own venture, 20% presentation and challenge. Every track ends in a named artefact that goes straight into the data room.
You are in the market — are you serving the right one?
Validation gap list + revised segment
What has the market told you, and what must change?
Product diagnosis + roadmap with cut-list
How do you get from 200 customers to 1,000 — repeatably?
Growth plan + CAC baseline
Unit economics sheet + health diagnosis
Compliance gap map + cap table draft
Capital strategy one-pager + data room plan
Dates & deadlines
Capability Lab · Kigali
Mentored execution
Independent screening
Demo Day
Applications open roughly four weeks before Capability Lab and stay open 14 days. Travel and accommodation for the in-person phase are a budgeted programme cost.
Questions founders ask
No. Of a 30–50 venture cohort, around 25 complete a screenable data room and around 15 are funded. The verdict is made independently of the people who taught you.
Registration is expected but not disqualifying. If you meet the other five criteria you may be admitted with registration as a mandatory week-4 milestone — and a hard requirement for funding.
You will be referred back with a co-founder search recommendation. Nine weeks of execution needs two committed people with distinct roles.
Yes, for the two-week Capability Lab and for Demo Day. Founders based outside Kigali are hosted; travel and accommodation are covered.
$208,000 went to 15 ventures in the 2026 funding round. Applications for the next cohort open four weeks before Capability Lab.
