Frequently Asked Questions
Application
GENIUS NY offers everything you need to take your startup to the next level:
💰 Funding: One winner receives $1 million, and four others receive $500,000 investments.
🏢 Workspace: Free access to our state-of-the-art tech incubator with a makerspace, hardware lab, rooftop UAS testing, and more.
🧠 Mentorship & Executive Advisors: Access to tailored guidance from industry experts, founders, and a team of executive advisors. Whether it’s marketing, sales, web development, recruiting, or manufacturing, we connect you with the right support for your business.
🌐 Extensive Network: Leverage our connections to customers, corporate partners, manufacturing resources, and service providers to grow your business.
🚀 Recruiting, Marketing & Fundraising: With in-house design and fundraising support, connections to recruitment partners, and access to Syracuse University resources like interns and talent pipelines, we provide the tools you need to scale in Central New York.
📅 Programs & Events: Business workshops, keynote speakers, pitch coaching, investor demo days, and fun outings like team bowling or Syracuse basketball games keep your team engaged and growing.
💼 Access to the UAS Job Fund: Apply for grants designed to incentivize job creation in New York, with funding targeted toward expanding your team and operations.
💡 $200K In-Kind Support: Receive value-added resources like venture capital diligence preparation, manufacturing support (BOM, DFM), and platforms like PitchBook, LivePlan, and GovSpend. Plus, take advantage of AWS credits and other perks.
🌟 Exclusive UAS Ecosystem Access: Join a growing uncrewed systems ecosystem with partners like NUAIR, the NY FAA Test Site, and our extensive network of GENIUS NY alumni.
GENIUS NY provides not just funding, but the infrastructure, expertise, and connections to make your vision a reality.
GENIUS NY uses a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) as their preferred financial instrument. We use either: (1) SAFE with valuation cap, no discount – or (2) SAFE with discount, no valuation cap – as appropriate for your company’s stage. See below:
The GENIUS NY terms and conditions can be found here – GENIUS NY Terms- 2024
GENIUS NY is focused on tech startups focused on uncrewed aerial systems, automation and advanced air mobility. Subsets may include precision and remote sensing, smart city applications, data collection and analytics, guidance or communication systems, and sensors, among other technological categories.
We invest in companies that have founders with domain expertise, a strong team, and traction with customers. We’ve invested earlier and later, but all companies are high tech, high growth.
Our mentorship and programming are catered specifically towards helping portfolio companies scale their sales, marketing and fundraising operations, so we’re looking for companies that have some serious skin in the game and proven traction.
Yes! The competition is open to applicants from previous years.
Eligibility for the GENIUS NY competition requires you to be (or become) a true startup or a spin-off from a larger corporation. Our definition for a start-up is a entity that usually leverages technology and is scalable and fundable (can grow quickly).
You do not have to be a U.S. citizen to apply. We welcome international applications. However, speaking English is a requirement. Meeting the requirements of US immigration policy will be the responsibility of the participants.
If you have questions, we’re here to answer them. Contact us.
As a requirement, our winners must establish their presence within our vibrant tech incubator. As part of the accelerator, we facilitate the setup of an office space where two members of their leadership team will be based in Syracuse for at least 12 months. To further support their integration into our ecosystem, we provide stipends for housing alongside a rich array of programs and activities designed to foster deep connections within our community.
Judging
Judges will score each applicant based on the following criteria:
- Viability of the product/service/technology – Does your products/services/technologies address a unique need in the market and superior to your competitors?
- Knowledge of the market – Do you have a large addressable market, have strong evidence of product/market fit and address a significant need in the market?
- Overall strength of the team – Are your founder(s) and team uniquely qualified to solve the problem your company is addressing?
- Revenue and financing plans – Does your business have revenue or a clear path to revenue in the next 12 months?
- An interest in Syracuse and Central NY – Can your business thrive in Syracuse and CNY and take advantage of local resources, partners, talent etc.?
The evaluation panel picks 15 to 20 applicants for the semi-final round. Those applicants are interviewed and then five (plus two alternates) are selected for the GENIUS NY accelerator.
Our Program
Over the past eight years, GENIUS NY has evolved into much more than just a $500K or $1M check. As a winner, you gain access to a full ecosystem of support designed to help your business thrive:
🏢 Workspace: Free office space in The Tech Garden, Central New York’s premier tech incubator, alongside past GENIUS NY teams and over 100 innovative tech companies.
🧠 Mentorship & Executive Advisors: Access to tailored guidance from industry experts, founders, and a team of executive advisors. Whether it’s marketing, sales, web development, recruiting, or manufacturing, we connect you with the right support for your business.
🌐 Extensive Network: Leverage our connections to customers, corporate partners, manufacturing resources, and service providers to grow your business.
🚀 Recruiting, Marketing & Fundraising: With in-house design and fundraising support, connections to recruitment partners, and access to Syracuse University resources like interns and talent pipelines, we provide the tools you need to scale in Central New York.
📅 Programs & Events: Business workshops, keynote speakers, pitch coaching, investor demo days, and fun outings like team bowling or Syracuse basketball games keep your team engaged and growing.
💼 Access to the UAS Job Fund: Apply for grants designed to incentivize job creation in New York, with funding targeted toward expanding your team and operations.
💡 $200K In-Kind Support: Receive value-added resources like venture capital diligence preparation, manufacturing support (BOM, DFM), and platforms like PitchBook, LivePlan, and GovSpend. Plus, take advantage of AWS credits and other perks.
🌟 Exclusive UAS Ecosystem Access: Join a growing uncrewed systems ecosystem with partners like NUAIR, the NY FAA Test Site, and our extensive network of GENIUS NY alumni.
GENIUS NY provides not just funding, but the infrastructure, expertise, and connections to make your vision a reality.
You become 1 of 5 finalists if accepted in the GENIUS NY program. Our staff works with your team to be sure you have what you need to successfully move to Syracuse for the start of the program. We work with teams on finding housing, getting familiar with the region etc.
The accelerator is broken up into two phases and includes a Pitch Finals:
- Phase I (August – October 2024)
- Phase I is approximately 12 weeks (about 3 months) and includes getting the cohort familiar with the local resources, partners, mentors etc. Staff work with teams on their business plans, strategize a one-year roadmap and provide 1:1 tailored coaching.
- Pitch Finals (October 27-28, 2024)
- Teams pitch on stage to a panel of judges and audience and are awarded $3M total ($1M grand prize winner and four $500K winners).
- Phase II (November – July 2025)
- It’s go time in Phase II! We work with teams through milestones to distribute the winning funds and help teams reach that next level of capital through fundraising support, VC introductions etc. We support teams at conferences like AUVSI XPO and Commercial UAV.
- January 9, 2025 – Applications Open for GENIUS NY Round 9
- April 30, 2025 – Applications Close for GENIUS NY
- Week of June 16, 2025 – Semi-Finalists Announced
- Week of July 7, 2025 – Finalists Announced
- Week of August 18, 2025 – Phase I of Accelerator Begins (Syracuse, NY)
- Week of November 3, 2025 – Pitch Finals (Grand Prize Winner Decided)
- November 2025 – July 2026 – Phase II of Accelerator Begins
Central New York is the heart of New York State. Syracuse is the fifth most populated city in New York State and is the economic and educational hub of Central New York.
Central New York is within comfortable reach of 50 percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations. In fact, we’re less than 300 miles from New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Toronto and Montreal.
- New York state has long championed development of UAS business and technology, investing more than $50 $100 million to date. These plentiful incentives fund everything from R&D to workforce growth. If you’ve been looking for Silicon Valley of unmanned aerial systems, you’ve found that place.
- We’re home to one of only seven FAA-designated unmanned aerial system test sites in the nation and have world-class instrumentation for real-world application and testing. We bring NASA, FAA and other industry partners together in this four-season region full of wide-open spaces.
- NUAIR is a strong partner in GENIUS NY and works with and mentors several teams. NUAIR is the destination of Next with infrastructure that defines, integrates, and enables the future of traditional and uncrewed aviation. With practical guidance from inception to launch, and launch to expansion, NUAIR navigates and defines complex regulations and drives concrete, repeatable results for success that scales. Connecting enterprises with incubators, and accelerators with agencies, the NUAIR Alliance in partnership with GENIUS NY expands and executes the new realities in UAS and AAM in upstate New York and beyond. At the center of this connected ecosystem in aviation technology, and with the architecture and infrastructure to transform AAM from theory to reality, NUAIR empowers the future of aviation. Learn more with our partners at NUAIR here.
- Home to the world-renowned Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) with $1 billion in annual R&D expenditures and C4I technology specialization, the New York UAS Test Site in Rome, New York, has world-class instrumentation that is highly conducive for real-world application and testing.
- With 81 colleges and universities within a 100-mile radius, we help recruit hard-to-find talent while also drawing on the minds of academic leadership in the unmanned aerial systems space. We also have experts drawing on the knowledge of hundreds of industry organizations to guide you.