For more than a decade, Hexa has helped build startups from scratch: coming up with ideas, forming cofounding teams, and turning them into independent companies. But over the years, countless talented founders have come to us with brilliant ideas already underway. Until now, we couldn’t support them.
That changes today.
We’re proud to announce Hexa Sprint, a new acceleration program designed for early-stage founders preparing for their first fundraising round. Sprint completes Hexa’s platform alongside Hexa Start (building from scratch) and Hexa Scale (helping mature companies accelerate). Together, they form a full-spectrum ecosystem to support founders at every stage of their journey.
From 1 to 10
Hexa Sprint is our answer to one simple question: how can we give more founders 10x more chances to succeed?
Each Sprint cohort brings together around fifteen startups for six months, led by a Hexa Partner with deep entrepreneurial and sector expertise. Each company receives €500,000 in funding (convertible note for roughly 10% equity) and access to Hexa’s proven “10x Method”: a framework that’s helped build more than 50 companies, including three unicorns.
The program focuses on three levers we believe make all the difference: recalibrating vision, raising ambition, and accelerating execution through collective rhythm and structured routines.
“For fourteen years, outstanding teams have come to us with brilliant ideas, but our model didn’t allow us to support them. With Sprint, we’re filling that gap: if Start takes companies from 0 to 1 and Scale from 10 to 100, Sprint is what helps founders go from 1 to 10.”
— Thibaud Elzière, co-founder of Hexa
A first cohort dedicated to defence and sovereignty
The first Sprint cohort focuses on European defence and technological sovereignty — a sector where innovation and collaboration are more critical than ever.
It’s led by Guillaume Lerouge, Hexa’s newest Partner, who joins the studio after a career at Thales and several investments in the defence sector.
“I’ve been working with entrepreneurs for more than ten years, through accelerator programs and as an investor. Joining Hexa felt like the natural next step. My role is to help founders across every dimension of their business, from product strategy and hiring to sales and fundraising, while bringing in Hexa’s culture of performance.”
— Guillaume Lerouge, Partner at Hexa Sprint
Three startups have already joined the first cohort:
- Stronghold AI, revolutionizing anti-drone defense through distributed, multi-sensor detection;
- Rhizome Labs, developing continuous learning for AI algorithms to simplify deployment “at the edge”;
- And a German startup whose launch has not yet been publicly announced.
Building Europe’s largest accelerator
Sprint is the missing link in our model: a bridge between Start and Scale, and a way to extend Hexa’s reach to even more founders.
In the coming months, new cohorts will open in fields like AI, climate, SaaS, cybersecurity, consumer, and education, each guided by a dedicated Partner. Hexa’s ambition is to accelerate hundreds of startups per year and build the largest accelerator in Europe.
“With Hexa Sprint, we’ll be able to help dozens of startups scale every year. It’s the missing link in our platform, enabling us to offer world-class support to every entrepreneur, at any stage of their journey, from the first idea to the scale-up phase.”
— Matthieu Gombeaud, CEO of Hexa
Applications for upcoming cohorts are now open at hexa.com/sprint.
Investors interested in participating can register at hexa.com/investor.