Applications are now open for Founder Institute Montreal‘s fourth semester. Anyone who enrolls by the Early Application deadline on June 18th is eligible for a variety of Founder Institute Fellowships – including the Female Founder Fellowship, which is offered to the best overall female applicant.

The Founder Institute (FI) is an early-stage accelerator and startup launch program that started in Silicon Valley. The Montreal chapter launched in early 2014. Since then, FI Montreal has helped launch over thirty companies in the region, with several graduates at premium later stage accelerators like Techstars, Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and Texas Medical Center Accelerator. Founder graduates have raised more than $7 million in funding from Rockies Venture Club, SOS Ventures, Real Ventures, Right Side Capital, and angel investors in both the US and Canada.

“Over the last 3 years, Founder Institute Montreal chapter has been accepting founders from the idea/concept stage (basic curriculum) as well as the MVP/Beta stage (advanced curriculum),” Sergio Escobar, Managing Director of the Founder Institute Montreal chapter told MTLinTECH. “Having a curriculum addressing the needs for both stages is quiet convenient, as startups tend to pivot during the program, specially for founders having a lifestyle business but want to make it big. So, some advanced founders might have to switch things using the basic curriculum.”

Six startups from FI Montreal were recently nominated for the Global 2016 Graduate Awards: Hykso, The Food Room, Unito, Bridgr, and Logrr. On May 22-24 at the FounderX event, a private gathering of the Founder Institute’s Global network, the winners of the 2016 Graduate Awards will be announced in celebration of the founders that made significant progress in the past year.

“As per topics in our wish list, we would like to see founders from frontier technologies: (1) Biotech/BioInformatics/Neuroscience/Healthcare, (2) Cleantech/ Emissions, (3) Food/ Water Tech, (4) Energy/ Transportation, and (5) Space Exploration.”

Montreal Founder Institute graduates are eligible for Futurpreneur Fast-Track Accelerator funding of $15,000 to $45,000 (equity free) upon completion of the program.

In order to celebrate the launch, the Montreal Founder Institute will host a series of free startup events for the general public, the first of which started this week.

“There is no shortage of big problems facing humanity, but there is a shortage of ambitious startups trying to solve them. Far too often talented entrepreneurs pursue ‘me-too’ ideas, but more than ever before, entrepreneurs building impact-focused companies can truly change the world. For example, WATSAN, a Graduate of the Bangalore Founder Institute, is creating electricity-free water filters using nano-clay particles with a mission to provide clean drinking water to residents of power-less areas all over the world.”

Be sure to apply by June 18th to be eligible for Founder Institute Fellowships, and check out the upcoming FI-hosted free startup events to get a sense of the program and meet members of the FI Montreal team.