JUNI Team Up Challenge
Ideate, match with co-founders and form an investable founding team: The JUNI Team Up Challenge.
The program is 100% hybrid and part-time, with weekly peer sessions and optional co-working days at our Berlin campus. This gives you a clear path to up to 12 months of non-dilutive funding through EXIST.
Join the waitlist: Once applications open, we will accept submissions on a rolling basis. The next cohort starts in July 2026.
Six weeks from idea to investable founding team
The JUNI Team Up Challenge bridges the gap:
- The talent gap: We dissolve the “silo” between the lab and the market by matching PhDs and researchers with battle-hardened operators and ambitious builders.
- The validation gap: We move you past “lab perfection” toward radical MVP validation through expert feedback loops and direct customer discovery.
- The funding gap: We de-risk your venture from day one, aligning your milestones with the specific requirements of Germany’s EXIST startup grant and future VC expectations.
Program details
- Duration: 6 weeks (part-time)
- Time commitment: ~5–10 hours/week
- Format: Hybrid / remote-first (optional Berlin days)
- Cohort size: ~30 founders per cohort
- JUNI touchpoints: 3 individual sessions (matching, ideation, office hours)
- Peer sessions: Weekly peer group sessions
- Network moments: 2 curated events with experts, customers, and investors
Schedule
Week 1-2:
Talent matching, team formation & discovery
- Structured matchmaking and test team compositions
- Discovery of multiple opportunity spaces
- Initial co-founder pairing and team fit sessions
Week 3:
Research & framing of opportunity space
- Narrow problem and solution space
- Define ICP and core hypotheses
- Expert feedback loops
Week 4-5:
Customer, market & business research
- Expert and customer interviews
- Business model and IP feasibility check
- First validation of product-market fit
Week 6:
Synthesis & pitching
- Final startup idea and validation roadmap
- EXIST application prep
- Demo day with investors and partners
Post-Program:
EXIST application & beyond
Successful teams apply for EXIST via entrepreneurship centers. Best teams receive additional sponsoring. Even if your team decides not to continue, you walk away with new skills, clarity on your founder journey, and a vastly expanded deeptech network.
Eligibility — Who we’re looking for
Scientists:
- You are a PhD, postdoc, and researcher with breakthrough IP.
- You have discovered something groundbreaking. You need execution partners and an environment to build.
- You bring IP or strong research edge, early market insight and domain depth.
Experienced founders:
- You are a proven founder and senior operator all-in on big ideas.
- You have built before and you are eager to do it again. You need a highly-skilled technical co-founder and a frontier problem.
- You bring pattern recognition and speed, fundraising know-how and operator experience.
Young builders:
- You are an ambitious student or early professional.
- You have the skills and the hustle. Now you want to found.
- You bring execution speed and prototyping, product craft and eagerness to join a serious team.
Selection — Our application process
Step 1: Apply
Submit a short application. With or without an idea. We review on a rolling basis — earlier applicants may get interviews first.
Step 2: Interview
We’ll have a casual video conversation about your motivation, collaboration style, and founder spike. No pitch deck required.
Step 3: Builder task
We’ll give you a short case exercise to understand how you think and execute. Nothing to stress over.
Step 4: Decision
You’ll get a fast response and onboarding. Offers sent out in June 2026. Accepted founders get immediate access to the community platform.
Join waitlist for our July 2026 cohort