Halcyon is a Washington, DC impact accelerator founded in 2014 by Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Kate Goodall. It has backed nearly 600 founders from more than 50 countries, and its climate work is limited to adaptation and resilience rather than emissions reduction.
The Climate Innovation in Mexico Accelerator is Halcyon’s first Mexico edition, running from May to October 2026 for founders based anywhere in the country. All programming is delivered in Spanish, and a final cohort of 10 ventures is picked from across Mexico.
The format is hybrid: a virtual launch day, two week-long in-person residencies in Mexico City, and four virtual sessions in between. Each venture receives an equity-free stipend and cloud credits, and joins Halcyon’s global founder community.
Benefits & funding
- USD 6,000 equity-free stipend per venture.
- USD 10,000 in Amazon Web Services credits, with access to cloud and AI tooling.
- Two week-long in-person residencies in Mexico City: 29 May to 5 June 2026 and 23 to 30 October 2026.
- Workshops with experts on product-market fit, capital strategy and leadership, run in Spanish.
- Professional mentoring and investor networking.
- Access to Halcyon’s global community of more than 600 founders and its expert network.
Eligibility
- The venture must be located in Mexico.
- The applicant must be the venture’s CEO or primary decision-maker; one co-founder may apply alongside them.
- Fluent Spanish is required, because the whole program runs in Spanish.
- Applicants must be at least 21 years old when the program starts.
- For-profit venture with a working minimum viable product, ideally already tested with real users, plus early commercial validation such as pilots, letters of intent or first revenue.
- Impact must sit inside the business model and advance one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- The work must address climate adaptation and resilience: renewable generation with storage, adaptive infrastructure and sustainable construction, climate intelligence and early-warning systems, climate-smart agriculture and food systems, water security and management, the blue economy and coastal resilience, and parametric or climate insurance.
- Founders must commit to both residency weeks and all programming.
- No nationality requirement is stated; the gate is where the venture is based.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
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Residence required
Mexico
Age requirement
≥ 21 yrs
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Application process
- 1Submit Halcyon’s eligibility form, which is open year-round and reviewed on a rolling basis. One form covers every Halcyon program, and it is the only entry point.
- 2Wait to be pre-selected. For the 2026 Mexico cohort, invitations to complete the second part of the application went out in late February 2026.
- 3Complete the invited second-stage application.
- 4Pitch virtually — the 2026 cohort pitched on 14 and 15 April 2026.
- 5Selected founders were notified on 24 April 2026 and joined the virtual launch on 12 May 2026.
Program timeline
pre-selected founders invited to complete the second part of the application
Late February 2026
virtual pitches
Apr 14, 2026 to Apr 15, 2026
selected founders notified
Apr 24, 2026
virtual program launch
May 12, 2026
residency week 1, Mexico City
May 29, 2026 to Jun 5, 2026
virtual sessions 2 to 5
July to September 2026
residency week 2, Mexico City
Oct 23, 2026 to Oct 30, 2026
Halcyon publishes no application deadline for this cohort. The late-February pre-selection is the last point at which entering the 2026 round mattered; the eligibility form stays open year-round, and no further Mexico edition has been announced.