Top 10 Startup Accelerators in The World

There used to be a time when starting a business meant a lot of hard work. Owing to a lot of complications starting from ideas, funds, and investors among others, there were very few startups until the great economic recession in 2008.

We have certainly come a long way since then, as the world is highly startup-friendly today. There are a lot of official organizations that nurture a startup into becoming a business. That’s a giant leap in such a short span of time.

Accelerators are company nurturers that give developing startups support in all aspects of a business. This includes mentorship, funds through investors, office spaces, and other educational components. If you need to learn more about accelerators and how they function, here’s an article (relevant blog link) that tells you everything you need to know.

Without further ado, let’s look at the list of the top 10 startup accelerators in the world

Y Combinator Startup Accelerator in The World

Different accelerators help startups at different phases of their business. At Y Combinator, California, United States, their first goal is to get startups through their first phase of funding, seed funding. They also work with the startups on their ideas over 3 months, providing all sorts of professional advice to make it big as companies.

Once the business reaches a stage where enough money can be raised on a large scale, Y Combinator introduces the founders to potential investors. They also tutor the founders to pitch their ideas perfectly to land a huge investor.

What do they expect in return? Y Combinator makes investments in return for small stakes in the companies they fund. By investing a small amount of $125k twice every year in large startups, YC has made it big in the accelerators business in California.

Some of the companies they helped succeed include big names like Airbnb, Dropbox, Coinbase, and Weebly among a ton of others. With added benefits of weekly expert talks and introduction to lawyers among others and a combined valuation of $300B, YC is one of the bests in this niche.

500 Startups Startup Accelerator in The World

500 Global, San Francisco, is a venture capital firm that invests in early fast-growing tech startups. Starting from seed funding to on-ground business advice, 500 Startups helps companies every step of the way.

It has over $1.8B in assets under management. With around 30 branches worldwide, and accelerating 33 companies valued at $1B+ and 120 companies valued at more than $100M, 500 Startups has nurtured huge businesses. Some of them include Canva, Udemy, and Mayvenn among others.

Their mission is to uplift people and economies worldwide, through entrepreneurship, and they’re making it big.

Techstars Startup Accelerator in The World

Techstars, an American seed accelerator supports startups on their entrepreneurial journey right from idea generation to building a successful business. It’s by the entrepreneurial community, for the entrepreneurial community and thus, all complexities are handled carefully with compassion.

They provide capital, mentorship, and also help new startups in finding customers, hiring talent, and choosing the right infrastructure among so many other things. Adapting to the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also have virtual and hybrid programs for lockdown entrepreneurs.

With a combined market capitalisation of $18.2B that has made competition extremely high, only 1% of over 17,000 applicants are accepted. Some of the alumni companies include Digital Ocean, Mocavo, Simple Energy, and Zagster among others.

AngelPad Startup Accelerator in The World

Based in San Francisco and New York, AngelPad is a seed-stage accelerator program launched in 2010. They provide mentorship, seed funding, and networking at 2 ten-week courses per year.

Consistently ranking among the top startup accelerators in the United States according to “The Seed Accelerator Rankings” each year, AngelPad is often referred to as the “Anti Y Combinator”. During the program, they work on everything from finding the product-market fit, defining a target market, to getting the first validation for the companies.

They also help companies fund-raise and have smooth investor meetings. Almost 10% of all companies are valued at over $100M. Notable alumni companies include Buffer, MoPub, Astrid, and others.

Startupbootcamp Startup Accelerator in The World

Startupbootcamp is a network of startup accelerators founded in 2010 in Denmark. Their 20+ global programs help new startups have access to an international network of mentors and investors to help them succeed as businesses.

The main mission with which this accelerator was founded was to help businesses scale up and help entrepreneurs through all the stages of their business growth. Startupbootcamp has accelerated over 950 startups so far in various fields like FinTech, Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Smart Energy and more.

Plug And Play Startup Accelerator in The World

With over 60 industry-focused accelerator programs in over 35 cities worldwide, Plug and Play Tech Center, invests in over 250 companies every year with the help of the most renowned venture capital firms.

They focus more on connecting the startups to leading investors and capital firms, so a startup in the initial stages might not benefit a lot. Plug and Play excels in building high-quality portfolios and connecting them with corporate partners promoting economic growth through internationalization and entrepreneurship support.

Some alumni companies include PayPal, Rappi, Soundhound, and Hippo among others.

Wayra Startup Accelerator in The World

Wayra is a technological innovation hub started in Latin America and Spain in 2011 as an initiative of Telefonica in Europe with an immense focus on entrepreneurial collaboration. They connect Telefonica with technological startups around the world and help them scale up their businesses.

As a mediator, Wayra offers investment and an efficient interface between the startups and the investor network, adding value to both parties involved. With more than 400 startups in their portfolio and over 100 of them working closely with Telefonica, Wayra is one of the best accelerators on a global scale.

DreamIT Startup Accelerator in The World

Another top accelerator and venture capital firm is DreamIT Ventures founded in New York in 2007, which invests in healthcare, Internet of Things, and real estate technology domains.

Investing in early-stage ventures, seed funding, and debt financing are some of their offerings and some portfolio companies include LevelUp, Fatberry, and Pico among others whose market value exceed $10M. They focus mainly on customer acquisition and raising additional capital.

Unlike rigid cohort-based programs that accept very few applicants every year, DreamIT onboards one new startup every month in each vertical. DreamIT have also adapted to COVID-19 norms and now offer virtual and hybrid programs as well.

SeedCamp Startup Accelerator in The World

SeedCamp, launched in 2007 is a European seed-stage funding venture capital firm based in London. They currently have over 380 startups that change people’s lives and include 4 European unicorns - Hopin, Wise, Revolut, and UiPath among many other companies.

Founders have gone on to raise $5B in follow-on funding from leading global investors. They believe that exceptional talent can come from anywhere and consider themselves experts in a business journey - more like co-founders the startup founders have.

Whether it is assistance in finding product-market fit, improving sales and marketing capabilities, learning how to grow a team, or networking with global investors, they take care of it all.

LaunchPad LA Startup Accelerator in The World

Founded in 2009, Launchpad LA offers each accepted company $25k - $100k in seed funding, free office spaces in Santa Monica for 4 months, tons of perks and discounts along with mentorship, advisors, and investors.

Since 2012, Launchpad LA has invested in 48 firms, with over 90% of them raising outside money totaling over $85 million. PandoDaily calls Launchpad LA "the top accelerator in Southern California" and ranks it as the #4 accelerators in the United States.

Final Word

The trend of accelerators gaining momentum is not going to fade away anytime soon and new startups can make use of this wonderful tool that can take their business to great heights without having practical experience or knowledge.

People have been able to start early on in their business journeys only because of organizations like accelerators. To know more about accelerators and incubators, the difference between them (relevant blog links), etc., head on over to our blog (blog link).

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