South Park Commons Founder Fellowship2027 deadline, funding, equity and how to apply

The SPC Founder Fellowship is the investment program of South Park Commons, a community and early-stage fund founded in San Francisco in 2016 by Ruchi Sanghvi and Aditya Agarwal, both former Dropbox executives. SPC built its reputation on what it calls the minus one stage, the period before a founder has settled on an idea. The Fellowship backs people at that point. SPC invests $1 million in total. Fellows receive $400,000 upfront for 7% on a standard SAFE, plus a guaranteed $600,000 in their next external round. They also get up to $1 million in credits and perks from companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI and AWS. Applicants do not need a fixed idea. SPC asks them to explain how they generate ideas, and it has a stated bias toward people who can build and prototype themselves. Solo founders can apply. The Fellowship runs out of SPC's offices in San Francisco, New York City and Bangalore, which makes it one of the few US programs of its kind with an India location. It starts with an eight-week in-person bootcamp and continues with a residency that lasts until the team is ready to raise a seed round. Companies from the SPC community include Baseten, Luma AI, Gamma, Render and Orb.

Fellows receive funding and full SPC membership as soon as they sign the investment terms. The Fellowship opens with a kickoff at a private retreat in Northern California and at the San Francisco office. An eight-week in-person bootcamp follows, in a small cohort, with Fellows working from SPC offices in San Francisco, New York City or Bangalore. The bootcamp focuses on idea exploration, customer discovery and building fast with peers and SPC partners. After the bootcamp, Fellows move into the Fellow Residency, which has no fixed end date and lasts until the team is ready to raise its seed round. There is no traditional demo day. Fellows keep access to the wider SPC community of technologists and founders, plus up to $1 million in partner credits.