BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the eponymous UK government-owned media company, has announced the launch of BBC Worldwide Labs, a programme it describes as “somewhere between an accelerator programme and a mentor scheme”.
Between now and September, five UK-registered companies will be selected to take part in the scheme, based in the BBC Media Centre in White City, London. Mentors from within the BBC and beyond, including investors, will talk to the entrepreneurs once a week.
Speaking at the launch at the Google Campus in London, Jennifer Fielding (pictured), venture adviser at BBC Worldwide, said: “We are looking for digital companies at the intersection of technology and media and which are strategically aligned with BBC Worldwide to help us enable and promote our brands. Those companies could be in various sectors including gaming, video, connected TV, mobile, analytics, virtual worlds or social media to name a few.”
The programme does not include cash investment and it is not anticipated that BBC Worldwide will take equity stakes in any of the companies. However, the non-commercial arm of the BBC runs the separate Connected Studio, a seed programme and a £1m ($1.6m) fund for earlier stage companies, and within six months BBC Worldwide hopes to have commercial partnership agreements with the companies in its Labs.
The programme is aimed at young but established companies with big ambitions. “We will be able to help them leverage the BBC’s resources, including sales, technology, advertising, legal, HR [human resources], distribution and marketing, to help them grow quickly, globally,” said Fielding, whose colleague Daniel Heaf will be writing in Global Corporate Venturing’s September issue.