Apply to Camp

Betaworks has been a foundational part of the NYC tech ecosystem for the last 15 years – first, as an incubator of brands you know and love like Giphy, Tweetdeck, Bit.ly, and Dots, and more recently as a pre-seed and seed stage investor in companies like HuggingFace and Stability AI, among many others.

We believe in thesis-based investing, and have spent almost a decade honing and iterating on our thesis around artificial intelligence. A significant amount of learning in that space came from Camp. We started with BotCamp (HuggingFace) in 2016 and have done many camps since (including VoiceCamp, VisionCamp, AudioCamp, SyntheticCamp, and more), most of which focus on a single mode of applied machine learning.

Camp is like an accelerator, but not. Rather than writing a small check into dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of companies across a wide variety of categories, we look at the evolution of technology and bet on a cohort of companies that are creating and/or defining a brand new category. We bring these founders together to learn from one another as they embark into uncharted territory, and tap them into our network of portfolio founders, tech big brains and, of course, investors.

Camp takes place twice annually. The first Camp session runs February through May (applications open Dec - Jan). The second session runs August through November (applications open June - July).

Camp runs for 13 weeks, culminating in a Demo Day.

Each team has 7-10min on stage, in front of a room full of investors, to tell their story and share a live demo of the product. We help you prep your pitch deck, draft a compelling script, and hone your stage presence. It’s the capstone event of the Camp program, it’s a milestone in the life of your company and product development, and it builds team camaraderie as we all work together to put on a great show!

We typically select a cohort of 8-12 companies.

Camp takes place in-person at the Betaworks offices in NYC's Meatpacking District, where teams will have access to shared workspace, desks, and conference rooms. We require teams to participate IRL for the first and final two weeks and encourage them to stay in NYC for the entire session, but hybrid options are available. In the final week each team will present their product at Demo Day before a room of investors.

The Camp experience is intended to be in-person – and the IRL community is where founders typically find the most value – but you should still apply even if you have travel constraints. We will still consider your application and can discuss hybrid or remote participation options.

It's not required, but having something to show like a demo or beta or Figma is highly encouraged.

We don't charge anything to participate in Camp. Your only expense would be travel costs to/from NYC, and housing while here.

No, we accept applications from companies based anywhere in the world. We do require IRL participation for specific portions of the program, so you must be willing/able to spend time in NYC during the Camp session.