Ready to transfer your healthcare skills to entrepreneurship? Build your mission-driven venture with Zinc.
Get up to £250k investment.
Is the Zinc Venture Builder for me?
We're looking for talented individuals with experience in healthcare (from clinical to research) who meet the following criteria:
You are mission-led
Each of our Venture Builders has a single Mission that tackles a big societal problem.
You are pre-team
You will join the Venture Builder as an individual, form bonds with the other global talent in our supportive cohort and through this, create teams during the first phase of the Venture Builder.
You are pre-idea
We expect you to come with a passion for the mission but you don’t need to have a strong solidified idea for a solution or business.
What does Zinc offer?
The 12-month, full-time Zinc Venture Builder that exists to build brand-new, commercial, mission-driven companies that tackle the biggest social challenges:
.png "Successful Founders are laser focused on their end users with the ability to think creatively about how to solve a problem that crucially – users want to be solved. They have the experience (personal andor profession (3)")
Alex Hall | Visiting Fellow
"To be part of such an energising environment has been an inspiration as part of my return to the UK. It’s a testament to the compelling Zinc leadership team, their culture, the program itself, and the quality of the founders working on each mission. I’m grateful I’ve been able to help even a bit and am a huge believer in the founder first, pre-team, pre-idea philosophy.”"
Our next Mission: Healthy Environments
Environmental health threats pose a grave danger to human health and well-being, causing suffering to individuals and communities worldwide.
These threats which include chemical pollution, climate change, and biological hazards, cause acute and chronic diseases and exacerbate existing health conditions.
To protect those we care about, we must tackle the causes of environmental degradation, shield people from the consequences of environmental harm, and, where protection fails, we must mitigate the health impacts they suffer.
Entrepreneurship and technology are powerful means to tackle these challenges. That’s why we are backing 70 founders to build innovative companies addressing
this mission. The health of the planet and the people who live on it are at stake. The time is now to tackle it.
Does this opportunity excite you? Find out more by downloading our info pack.
Zinc Venture Builder in numbers:
Avg. age of 38
50% women
15% Black
30% international
What makes a successful Zinc Founder?
Ambition
Successful Founders can demonstrate their ambition, drive and resilience to continue to scale this business for the next 5-10 years of their life. They are able to motivate themselves and others around them to keep going when things get tough.
Clear Spike
The most successful Founders have a strong set of skills, relevant to the mission, that would appeal to other talented people in the cohort. They can sell themselves as an individual, as well as sell the strength and ability of their skills as a potential co-founder.
Mission obsessed
Successful founders at Zinc are fully committed to tackling the mission for the Venture Builder. They are frustrated by problems in the current mission and are keen to help solve them. They can demonstrate passion and motivation to be the person who leads large-scale change in this space.
User focused
Successful Founders are laser focused on their end users with the ability to think creatively about how to solve a problem that crucially – users want to be solved. They have the experience (personal and/or professional) to create effective change in this area.
What does Zinc offer?
We help you find your co-founder. Get access to expert support. Build a scalable business. Invest in you and support you to raise follow-on capital. All with Zinc.
At Zinc, more than 50% of the founders we back are women, and 85% of our portfolio companies are founded by all-women teams or co-founded by a woman. Beyond capital, our support includes mentorship, coaching, knowledge-sharing and access to a solid network of VCs, domain experts and ex-founders who share the same values as us.
Sascha Evans | Cohort 4 Founder
"Being part of the Zinc Venture Builder continues to be an incredible journey. It's exhilarating, challenging and inspiring. Without Zinc, I wouldn't have met Kirsten Jack, we wouldn't have founded Uncommon and we wouldn't be about to transform the lives of thousands of neurodivergent young people. Even if you don't think you fit the criteria, (I wasn't sure if I did), apply anyway. Zinc is all about challenging the status quo."