the most accessible impact accelerator for young founders.
15–24-year-olds, in 160+ countries, building solutions to real problems, at zero cost to participants since 2019.
they didn't arrive with ventures. they left with them.
Faura
Valkyrie Holmes, founderRaised $3.5M in seed funding to help insurers and homeowners reduce wildfire risk. She didn't arrive at Moonshot Pirates with a venture — she arrived with curiosity. The wildfire problem found her there, working on drones that use sound vortex to suppress fires. She's still on the same problem, just at a different scale.
"Moonshot Pirates kicked off all of our biggest feats: I decided to move to New York and venture into wildfire mitigation."
Meshara
Adrian Davies, founderBuilding mesh networking infrastructure to bring digital access to 2.6 billion people without internet. He launched his first startup inside our program, now being implemented by EU.
"Without Moonshot Pirates, I wouldn't be who I am today. It's where I launched my first startup, built my network, and discovered my path into impact entrepreneurship."
Trovador
Sebastião Mendonça, founderDeveloping the world's first satellite-controlled, all-terrain reforestation robot. A Portuguese alumnus now restoring biodiversity at scale.
"Grateful for the connections to mentors, experts, and the Moonshot mindset! I'm so glad I joined this community."
BioCompute
Anagha Rajesh, founderCreating biomolecule-powered microfluidics chips for sustainable DNA-based data storage and processing.
"My first pitch was at Moonshot Pirates. That's where I found out I was an impact entrepreneur."
designed for the way you actually fund.
Reach without cost barriers.
Every program is free to participants, funded entirely by foundations, corporate partners, and grants. A founder in Abuja accesses the same mentorship as one in Boston.
Local Chapters in 26 cities, run by alumni, extend that reach into communities traditional accelerators don't touch.
Seven years of impact.
750+ ventures built. Named outcomes across climate, education, health, oceans, energy, and infrastructure.
Alumni at top universities, winning prizes, raising capital.
Built for restricted funding.
Registered Austrian non-profit (ZVR: 1020512239). Ring-fenced program funding, annual audit, Erasmus+ KA210/KA220 compatible.
Safeguarding policy in place for all programs involving minors.
from programs to ecosystem.
Seven years of running programs taught us where programs hit their limit. What we're building next is the layer underneath: milestone-based funding that releases on verified progress, and a contribution model that lets the community keep itself running.
Shape the Future Challenges
Four-to-six-week sprints where thousands of young founders tackle urgent global themes — climate, food, oceans, energy, and health. Mentor-led, cohort-based, outcome-tracked.
Launchpad Accelerator
Ten-week intensive turning validated ideas into ventures with traction. Where our most-funded alumni came from.
Moonshot Mindset
Five months of resilience and leadership development. The mindset layer underneath every venture in the programs above.
Local Chapters
Alumni-run hubs in 26 cities across 5 continents.
BUILD
Milestone-based backing for the ventures that come through our programs. Founders build in public. Funding is released only when progress is verified.
choose your depth.
Our programs run at different depths, from global challenges that reach thousands to intensive accelerators that take 25 ventures from prototype to launch.
per cohort, we track:
accountable by design.
Moonshot Pirates is a registered Austrian non-profit foundation (ZVR: 1020512239). Audited annually. All funding directed to programs for youth impact founders. Founder oversight, advisory board, and child safeguarding policy in place.
backed by people with decades in this work.
we can reach 5,000 more founders in 2026. we're funded for 40% of that.
Every gift closes part of it.