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Lunar helps scale high-growth companies through two distinct experiences.
Lunar Startups Accelerator Program
Our 6-month, customized cohort program includes 1-on-1 coaching, on-demand workshops, expert mentorship from more than 90 local professionals, tech perks, and free legal services. During the program, founders meet 12 critical milestones on capital readiness, operational excellence, infrastructure, sales, intellectual property protection, and executive leadership.
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Lunar Everywhere
Free tools to help you succeed
More than a digital learning platform, Lunar Everywhere is a digital cohort & coaching experience bolstered with entrepreneurial resources focused on operational excellence & infrastructure scalability. Sign up today for events and free tools for CEOs.
Learn more about what it is like to be in the program
From the founders, experts, and teams who have been there, done that.
Lunar Startups Podcast | Season 1
Hear the real stories of women & people of color building high-growth startups in Minnesota. Listen to season 1 of the Lunar Startups Podcast featuring the inaugural Cohort of companies.
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Lunar summit 2021
Join as we inspire, connect, and equip the Minneapolis St. Paul Startup Ecosystem. Check out more about the agenda and awards celebration by clicking the link below.
Tech.mn Podcast | Episode 2
Lunar Everywhere Director Amanda Heyman sat down with the Tech.MN team to chat about her work, the program, the possibilities, and the outcomes for founders at Lunar Startups.
Invest in what matters. Invest in Lunar.
Last year, ConnectUP! Institute acquired the program from Lunar Startups to continue their legacy of supporting diverse startups across Minnesota. Now, Lunar participants and alumni will experience a more immediate path to funding opportunities, and the Accelerator will support more founders to be eligible and qualified to receive funding from our Integrated Capital Fund. Check out the acquisition FAQs here.
As a nonprofit dedicated to unlocking economic empowerment for all, your contribution to the Lunar and ConnectUP! family powers our programming and enables us to create real, substantive change for founders who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, women, and non-binary. The work and legacy of Lunar Startups is speeding up the rate of transformation for
Join us by making a donation today.
Our Impact
Lunar Startups offers a new, collaborative approach to increasing access to capital, curated per support, and activating the stewards of entrepreneurship in our community to serve Minnesota’s high-growth business better. How we do our work is rooted in the needs and preferences of local founders and guided by our mission and vision for a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Our startups are creating massive value for the community resulting in $294 million in impact. That means for every dollar invested into Lunar since 2018, more than $200 in impact has been returned to the community.
I support Lunar Startups because it has proven its ability to find and nurture promising entrepreneurs where extra support and community could get them to the next level. If we want the world to improve, we have to invest in the people and the organizations who make positive change happen.
Financial Accountability
Similar to the startups that we support, Lunar Startups is committed to sound financial planning and practices. We believe that keeping our services low cost to founders is critical to our mission. Lunar is leveraging a diversified approach to revenue to make our high-quality resources accessible to more entrepreneurs.
Meet our Partners
“Lunar Startups is the reason my company is scaling.” - Elizabeth Orme, Founder, CEO of Creatively Focused
“The startup world can be somewhat isolating. To be a part of a program where we can really develop strong relationships both locally and nationally has been so important to our growth.” - Margi Scott, Founder, CEO of Take 12
“As a gay, female business owner, being a part of Lunar has been the only place I've had to work through, with colleagues, all the ways that raising money and being taken seriously by banks and other institutions have been difficult, even though I'm at the top of my field and an expert in my craft.” - Trina Olson, Co-founder, CEO of Team Dynamics, LLC.
“Thank you for the step by step trademark application help… [Without you] I would not have filed this trademark application until I either had the time to learn how to correctly file or the money to pay someone to do it for me.” - Yasameen Sajady, Founder, CEO of Maazah
Cohort 1
Meet the founders, entrepreneurs, and startups that launched Lunar Startups. This talented group graduated September 2019.
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Cohort 2
In March 2019, a new group of talented entrepreneurs joined Lunar, ready to scale their companies. Meet the companies and follow along on their journey.
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Cohort 3
Lunar Startups is announcing the newest cohort of brilliant entrepreneurs starting March 2020. Meet the companies that are building new solutions to our community’s greatest challenges.
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