10 Best Startup Accelerators
Y Combinator
Y Combinator is a pioneer in the startup accelerator space. Each year the accelerator funds a group of new startups with $120k. A number that was lowered to reduce friction between founders. So far, the companies it has been involved with have a combined valuation of over $100B. Some of the most notable include: Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, Twitch, Coinbase, and Weebly.
500 Startups
500 Startups is a seed and early stage venture capital fund, consisting of 4 major funds and 13 micro funds which have invested in startups in at least 60 countries. Funded startups include Udemy and Credit Karma. Exits have included sales to Google and Rakuten. 500 Startups recently took in equity from Abu Dhabi Financial Group, giving the firm one of its only two board seats.
TechStars Boulder
https://techstarts.org/boulder
Techstars funds, mentors and accelerates startups. Its accelerator program has produced over 1,000 companies valued at over $8B. Techstars is the name behind Startup Week and Startup Weekend, which spur entrepreneurs to kick procrastination to the curb and launch new ventures in a matter of hours.
Plug and Play
Plug and Play Ventures has put 51% of its investments into pre-seed ventures, achieved 8 exits in 2017, invested in 262 new startups last year and holds networking events every day. The accelerator’s in-house VC is reportedly willing to write checks from $25,000 to $500,000. It’s portfolio companies have raised a combined $7B.
Mass Challenge
Although based in Boston, MassChallenge has accelerator programs around the world, with locations in Israel, the UK, Mexico and Switzerland. In the past 8 years the accelerator says its startups have created 80,000 jobs. The program appears to be heavy in Biotech and Fintech.
SOSV
SOSV closed its own third round of funding for $150M in January 2017. The ‘accelerator VC’ started by Sean O’ Sullivan prides itself on creating real products, not just digital ones. With access to real labs and makerspaces it appears to be popular with food-tech and biotech startups.
Startup BootCamp
Startupbootcamp runs IOT, Fintech, Insurtech and Foodtech programs around the world from Singapore to London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam. To date Startupbootcamp has accelerated startups with an average funding amount of 1.168M Euros.
Internet Initiatives Development Fund
The accelerator specializes in startups in Cybersecurity, Retail, Adtech, Edutech, Big Data and IOT. Over 4,500 startups participate in the basic online program every year, with 20,000 attending events and hackathons.
Wayra
Wayra began in Latin America, then expanded to Spain before launching in the UK. The accelerator is financially backed by one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world, Telefonica. Wayra invests up to $50k in startups and boasts that 45% of its ventures have female founders.
Start-Up Chile
Startup-Chile appears to be one of the most active, unique and fastest growing accelerator programs in the world. It was launched by the Chilean government to spur investment and attract entrepreneurs. Accepted entrepreneurs can receive up to $80k in equity free funding and $100k in perks. Start-Up Chile also offers a pre-acceleration program just for startups led by female founders called The S Factory.
Excelerator Labs
exceleratelabs.com
LaunchBox Digital
launchboxdigital.com
TechStars Boston
techstarts.org/boston
Kicklabs
kicklabs.com
Techstars Seattle
techstars.org/seattle
Tech Wildcatter
techwildcatters.com
DreamIt Ventures
dreamitventures.com
The Brandery
brandery.org
Capital Factory
capitalfactory.com
NYC SeedStart
nycseed.com
Betasprint
betaspring.com
BoomStaratup
boomstartup.com
AlphaLab
alphalab.org
10 Best
based on the Number of Exits
1) Y Combinator
Number of investments: 1,834
Number of exits: 192
Location: Mountain View, California, USA
2) 500 Startups
Number of investments: 1,694
Number of exits: 162
Location: Mountain View, California, USA
3) Techstars
Number of investments: 1,557
Number of exits: 134
Location: Boulder, Colorado, USA
4) Plug and Play
Number of investments: 731
Number of exits: 60
Location: Sunnyvale, California, USA
5) MassChallenge
Number of investments: 1,387
Number of exits: 39
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
6) SOSV
Number of investments: 1,152
Number of exits: 23
Location: Princeton, New Jersey, USA
7) Startupbootcamp
Number of investments: 424
Number of exits: 21
Location: London, UK
8) Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF)
Number of investments: 335
Number of exits: 21
Location: Moscow, Russia
9) Wayra
Number of investments: 960
Number of exits: 18
Location: Slough, Buckinghamshire, UK
10) Start-Up Chile
Number of investments: 837
Number of exits: 16
Location: Santiago, Chile
Success Based on
Aggregate Amount of Dollars
- Y Combinator – $5B
- Techstars – $1B
- AngelPad – $493M
- DreamIT Ventures – $397M
- fbFund – $359M
- LaunchpadLA – $185M
- SeedCamp – $137M
- NYC SeedStart – $130M
- Amplify.LA – $57M
- Wayra – $44M
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrocremades/2018/08/07/top-10-startup-accelerators-based-on-successful-exits/#579b8bb44b3b
Top U.S. Startup Accelerators.
Here’s the list of the top startup accelerator programs in the United States.
TechStars Boulder narrowly edged out Y Combinator for the top spot. and these two programs are very different when it comes to their approaches.
TechStars takes a very hands-on approach giving founders a lot of guidance and mentorship, while according to some participants.
Y Combinator has a more loose structure offering startup founders access to their strong Silicon Valley mentorship network and full-time advisors.
Coming in very close in third and fourth place in the rankings respectively were Excelerate Labs in Chicago only in it’s second year of operation and LaunchBox Digital in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (formerly based in Washington, D.C.).
Taking a solid fifth place was another TechStars program, this time in Boston where there has been a resurgence of tech startup activity.
Taking the sixth, seventh and eighth spots in the rankings were KickLabs in San Francisco, TechStars Seattle and Tech Wildcatters based in Dallas, Texas.
Dreamit Ventures and The Brandery rounded out the top ten.
Ranked 11 through 15 were Capital Factory, NYC SeedStart, BetaSpring, BoomStartup and AlphaLab in that order.
Considered but not ranked: I/O Ventures, LaunchHouse, JumpStart Foundry, Momentum, Shotput Ventures, NextStart, Extreme Venture Partners University.
TechStars Boulder
https://techstarts.org/boulder
Y Combinator
https://ycombinator.com
Excelerator Labs
exceleratelabs.com
LaunchBox Digital
launchboxdigital.com
TechStars Boston
techstarts.org/boston
Kicklabs
kicklabs.com
Techstars Seattle
techstars.org/seattle
Tech Wildcatter
techwildcatters.com
DreamIt Ventures
dreamitventures.com
The Brandery
brandery.org
Capital Factory
capitalfactory.com
NYC SeedStart
nycseed.com
Betasprint
betaspring.com
BoomStaratup
boomstartup.com
AlphaLab
alphalab.org
