Starta Accelerator, an early-stage investor and business incubator, announced it is holding a “crowdsale” to secure funding to help start-up tech companies expand into the US.

Starta Accelerator is based in New York City and is an offshoot of Starta VC based in Moscow. The forthcoming Starta Initial Coin Offering or ICO will allow individuals to make early stage investments into early stage Eastern European tech companies that are participating in the accelerator program. The idea is both to help undervalued companies grow rapidly by gaining a foothold in a lucrative new market, and to democratise VC investment using the blockchain.

According to Starta, retail investors will be presented with opportunities that would previously have been open only to experts and specialist venture funds.

Management explains;

‘The mission of Starta Accelerator is to empower Eastern European frontier technology companies through exposing them to the U.S. market. The program is customized for Eastern European founders aiming to adapt to the cultural and business environment in the US, complete and define global product/market fit, get traction and become part of local startup and investing ecosystem in the U.S.”

Starta says it takes a Select – Accelerate – Invest model to pick the most promising companies and nurture them through to success.

Acceleration includes hiring US professionals to help founders integrate with the US business environment over the course of the three-and-a-half month program in New York. Their Eastern European focus and acceleration strategy is for Starta to invest at the $2 million valuation range and exit in the $10-50 million range.

Starta plans to launch their “crowdsale” on the Waves Platform that allows anyone to launch, distribute and trade their own crypto token. Blockchain investment will be handled in partnership with a Singapore-based company, Cross Coin, which was said to be founded specifically for the purpose.

Starta says that Cross Coin has an option for 33% of Starta Accelerator 16/17, holding a portfolio of 21 post-product stage tech companies, and will share all revenues with investors. Profit is expected to be delivered to investors via a system of token buybacks.

Starta ICO’s crowdsale will begin on 15 June 2017 and will last for 30 days. Cross Coin company needs $1.5 million to close the deal with Starta Accelerator 16/17, but aims to raise up to $5 million to have an opportunity to invest in future Starta Accelerator portfolio startups.