Startup incubator · Training & education for founders
Founders, rising.
Rising Education trains and educates early-stage startups, from first prototype to first customers. Our founders build photonic chips, smart materials, sensors and applied AI — and they learn to run companies alongside each other.
- Photonics
- MEMS & sensing
- Computer vision
- Advanced materials
- Wireless
- Applied AI
What founders get
Training, not just a desk.
Most of our founders come out of a lab. We teach the parts of building a company that a PhD doesn't cover, and we put them in a room with people who have done it before.
Founder training
A working curriculum, taught in small cohorts, on the decisions every early team faces.
- Customer discovery
- IP and patent strategy
- Pricing and first sales
- Fundraising and term sheets
Mentors who've built it
Operators, engineers and founders from the portfolio, matched to your technology and stage.
- Technical reviews
- Weekly founder check-ins
- Hiring your first engineers
- Board and governance basics
Access to the room
Introductions to the investors, corporate partners and early customers your company needs next.
- Investor introductions
- Corporate pilot programs
- Demo days
- Offline founder events
How the program runs
From research to company.
Form the team
We pair a promising technology with founders who can carry it, and settle roles, equity and IP early.
Prove the technology
Build the prototype that answers the question investors will ask first: does it actually work?
Find the market
Talk to a hundred potential customers, then pick the one problem worth solving first.
Raise and launch
Pitch at demo day, close a first round, and keep the founder community for the long run.
Portfolio · 39 companies
Started here.
Acquisitions
- Algolux
- Torc Robotics
- IRYStec
- Forvia
- Mirametrix
- Lattice Semiconductor
- wrnch
- Hinge Health
Offline events
Meet the founders in person.
For companies, universities and communities
Host your own event with our startup founders
Bring founders to your campus, office or meetup for a talk, workshop, panel or demo day. Tell us your audience and we'll match the founders.
Plan an event