Use of Funds

Funds will only be available once all your team members have gone through the first session.

 

To help you prepare a budget for your application, the guidelines for permitted use of funds are below. Note that all expenditures must be approved by your mentors AND the Explorer management before any spending.  These approvals are strictly subject to the policies of UM6P Ventures and are at the total discretion of the Explorer management.

 

Allowed Expenses

  • Software licenses that are essential to your business (if it cannot be obtained for free and must use educational discounts)

  • Computing resources (i.e. Cloud Computing).  Explorer will provide you Cloud Computing credits and access through a single resource.  We have arrangements with IBM Cloud  and UM6P datacenter.

  • Web hosting services (e.g. Godaddy, Networksolutions, Google, ..)

    • Costs must be reasonable and necessary

  • Hardware parts & materials (if not available through free means at UM6P or affiliates). These purchases will be procured by an Explorer entity and loaned out to teams for usage.

  • Equipment (not laptops, tablets or servers) (if not available through free means at UM6P or affiliates). These purchases will be procured by a UM6P entity and loaned out to teams for usage.

  • Travel costs to meet with potential customers and conduct customer/market research (within reason)

    • Domestic travel ONLY (no foreign travel of any kind)

    • Note that we must follow UM6P policies strictly including travel permission. For example, if UM6P has a ban on travel (e.g. for COVID-19) then the Explorer program must adhere to these restrictions.

    • Travel is ONLY allowed for Customer Discovery.

    • Market research and customer discovery expenses (e.g. to meet with prospective customers or subjects of market research). Explorer will ONLY cover your expenses, you will have to cover any customer expenses yourself.

  • Services (e.g. hiring Developers and Contractors)

    • Explorer funds are not meant to be used to pay for outside developers or contractors for your team. We encourage you, if you need these services, to find someone with that expertise to join your team. Alternatively, please use resources from within UM6P/YouCode/1337 (e.g. interns).

    • Explorer will provide in-kind services (Developers/manufacturing/researcher/ ….)

    • Only 25% of your total budget may be used for labor services (i.e. hiring people).  Exceptions can be made under very limited conditions.

  • Legal Fees are limited to 10.000 Dhs.  These legal fees are encouraged to be spent on intellectual property protection (e.g. patenting).  Again, exceptions in rare cases could be made.  Explorer and mentor approvals are a must just as with any of the other spending.

 

 Non-Allowed Expenses

  • Gifts, alcohol, and items not directly related to the team project

  • Team dinners, meals, outings

  • Tax, including VAT and franchise taxes

  • Personal computers, laptops, tablets smart phones or servers.

  • Education courses

  • Conference fees (unless it is very specific to customer discovery and will save multiple trips to multiple vendors). Explorer will not approve conference fees for scientific/research purposes.

  • Rent for housing.

  • Co-working space rental. As stated above, Explorer will be able to provide working space depending on your proposal and approval through our partners on the UM6P campus or 1337/YouCode campuses.  Work in your dorm room, house, an empty classroom, a common area. Your institutions are full of places to meet and work together.

*Technopark and PASET teams are only eligible for mentoring and are not eligible for funding, email explorer@um6pventures.com for any questions