Differential Ventures is announcing a grant program to support early-stage start-ups in the fields of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning who are able to use their technology to aid in the global search for a resolution to COVID-19. Companies will be awarded grants in the amount of $10,000-$25,000 to support activities that apply or adapt their existing product to help manage the social impacts of the crisis and/or to help bring this crisis to an end.

Early-stage start-ups are defined as companies who have already received institutional or angel funding, raised a minimum of $500,000, have at least an MVP and existing customers for their core product. Submissions are due April 30, 2020, and grants will be awarded on a rolling basis.

All proposals must be submitted through the linked form. Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

- Maturity and stability of the existing product

- Length of time it will take to realize the benefits of this new initiative

- Urgency/priority of the problem you are trying to solve

- Potential impact on the battle against COVID-19

Nick Adams is a co-founder and managing partner of Differential Ventures and an investor on ZeeTV's startup fundraising show 'Break Through the Crowd.'Previously, Nick was a Venture Partner at Supernode.vc, f.k.a. Flatiron Investors, in New York City where he evaluated seed- stage SaaS companies and led the due diligence for multiple investments. Before moving into Venture Capital, Nick held senior sales, marketing and product management roles for software companies that have realized over $1.3 billion in exit value, including: Opower (IPO), RAGE Frameworks (acquired by Genpact), Basware (Publicly-traded on OMX), and Comverge (acquired by Itron).

He actively mentors startups out of Cornell Tech, NYU, Northeastern University and the German Tech Accelerator. Nick has a MSc in Global Finance from NYU and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a MBA in Corporate Finance from Northeastern University and a BA in History from Brandeis University where he played four years of varsity baseball.