Build your mission-driven venture with Zinc

Get up to £250k investment.


Image of Zinc Venture Builder cohort

Is the Zinc Venture Builder for me?

We're looking for talented individuals who meet the following criteria:

mission-ed

You are mission-led

Each of our Venture Builders has a single Mission that tackles a big societal problem. 

pre-team

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.

pre-idea

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:

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)


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.



Screenshot 2023-03-15 at 11.13.22

Zinc Venture Builder in numbers:

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Avg. age of 38

Avg. age of 38

2-Apr-27-2023-03-48-49-3652-PM

 50% women 

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 15% Black

4-3

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.



Download the info pack to find out more, discover the successful companies Zinc has supported and learn how to apply.