One intense week. Meet world-class founders and immerse yourself in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Summer 2026 | Applications open April 2026
Join the WaitlistCambridge consistently produces exceptional technical talent and frontier research. But many founders here lack early exposure to the commercial intensity, network density, and execution culture required to scale globally. The gap isn't ambition. It's access, context, and speed of learning at the earliest stage.
Silicon Valley is the opposite: an ecosystem where the best founders, operators, and investors are concentrated in one place, moving at a pace that compresses years of learning into months.
BridgeFellows brings Cambridge's most promising AI founders directly into that ecosystem, so they can learn firsthand how high-performing teams validate ideas, ship quickly, raise money, and build companies that go the distance. Not to observe. To close the learning curve that costs early founders critical time.
Where you build after that is your call. But you won't look at your company the same way again.
The Problem: Cambridge PhD. Wanted to build an AI company in 2010. UK investors laughed – "AI" was a dirty word. Most wouldn't even take the meeting.
The Bridge: No UK funding, so he flew to Silicon Valley. One dinner pitch to a tech billionaire unlocked the first few million. The Valley believed in AI early.
The Outcome: Google acquired DeepMind for $650M in 2014. Demis won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold.
The Problem: Cambridge Natural Sciences BA and PhD. Built pattern-recognition software in a university lab. UK investors dismissed it as academic research.
The Bridge: Targeted the US market early. Flew to Silicon Valley to pitch enterprise buyers who understood unstructured data search. US revenue drove growth.
The Outcome: Autonomy became the UK's largest pure software company. Hewlett-Packard acquired it for $11.1B in 2011, the biggest UK tech exit of its era.
The Problem: 2013. Part-time accountant returning from maternity leave. Cambridge mathematicians and GCHQ experts had a radical AI cybersecurity idea, but no operator.
The Bridge: Built dual headquarters in Cambridge and San Francisco from day one. First customer: a UK power station. By 2015: Fortune 100 clients globally.
The Outcome: IPO'd in 2021 at £2.5B valuation. Acquired by Thoma Bravo for $5.3B in 2024. Poppy now serves as UK Minister of State for Investment.
Seven days of intense immersion in Silicon Valley — designed to compress years of learning into one transformative experience.
You don't need a company yet. You just need the drive to build one.
BridgeFellows is open to current Cambridge students and alumni at any stage — undergraduate, Masters, or PhD — across all departments and colleges. If you're building something and you have a Cambridge connection, we want to hear from you.
For our inaugural cohort, yes. We're looking for founders where AI is central to what they're building, not just a feature. The sector doesn't matter — we're deliberately cohort-agnostic across verticals. What matters is that AI is core to the product or service.
No. You can be working on a side project, a research spin-out, or an idea you're serious about. We care about what you're building and your drive, not whether you've incorporated.
No. We give you a taste of Silicon Valley so you can experience the ecosystem first-hand. Where you build your company after that is entirely your decision. Cambridge, San Francisco, London. Your call.
Yes. You can apply solo or with your co-founder(s). Just fill out one application and mention your team.
Our inaugural cohort takes place in July 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we'd encourage you to apply early. Exact dates will be confirmed with selected fellows ahead of time.
On a rolling basis. We read every application as it comes in. Early applicants may hear back sooner. We select up to 10 founders per cohort.
Show up as a peer, not a passenger. You'll be in rooms with world-class founders, operators, and investors — bring the same drive and rigour that got you into Cambridge, and be ready to contribute as much as you take.
Sessions with founders, operators, and investors. Workshops on pitching, GTM, fundraising, hiring, and scaling. Company visits. Small-group time with people who've actually built and exited in Silicon Valley. Every day is full-on.
We stay in touch. That means a short-term action plan, follow-up introductions, and check-ins to make sure the week translates into real progress. You also join the BridgeFellows alumni network: a growing community of Cambridge founders supporting each other as they build.
Be the first to know when applications open. Waitlist members receive priority review and early access to program details.
Join Waitlist