A corporate accelerator is a specific form of seed accelerator which is sponsored by an established for-profit corporation. [1] Similar to seed accelerators they support early-stage startup companies through mentorship and often capital and office space. [2] In contrast to regular programs, though, corporate accelerators derive their objectives from the sponsoring organization. [3] These objectives can include the wish to stay close to emerging trends or to establish a funnel for corporate venture capital investments.
According to Corporate Accelerator DB there are 70+ such programs in existence as of December 2016. [4] Notable companies include Microsoft, Citrix, and Telefónica who were among the first companies to offer such programs in the early 2010s. More recently, corporate accelerators have faced criticism as they might be less effective as regular seed accelerators. For example, the startup could be too focused on solving the problems of the sponsoring firm rather than finding external customers. [5]
Corporate accelerators differ from Business incubators, which usually have a continuous intake, due to their fixed-term, cohort-based organization (similar to seed accelerators) and are distinct to corporate venture capital which is a direct, targeted investment.
Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term seed suggests that this is a very early investment, meant to support the business until it can generate cash of its own, or until it is ready for further investments. Seed money options include friends and family funding, seed venture capital funds, angel funding, and crowdfunding.
Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture capital financing. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes its members' incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and a combination of the above.
Social venture capital is a form of investment funding that is usually funded by a group of social venture capitalists or an impact investor to provide seed-funding investment, usually in a for-profit social enterprise, in return to achieve an outsized gain in financial return while delivering social impact to the world. There are various organizations, such as Venture Philanthropy (VP) companies and nonprofit organizations, that deploy a simple venture capital strategy model to fund nonprofit events, social enterprises, or activities that deliver a high social impact or a strong social causes for their existence. There are also regionally focused organizations that target a specific region of the world, to help build and support the local community in a social cause.
Techstars is a global investment business that provides access to capital, one-on-one mentorship, a worldwide network and customized programming for early-stage entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. As of May 2022, the company had accepted over 2,900 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization of $71bn USD.
Corporate venture capital (CVC) is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies. CVC is defined by the Business Dictionary as the "practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise; the objective is to gain a specific competitive advantage." Examples of CVCs include GV and Intel Capital.
500 Global is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California in February 2011. They expanded to a second class of 21 in June 2011 and a third class of 34 in October 2011.
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often government-funded, generally take no equity, and rarely provide funding, accelerators can be either privately or publicly funded and cover a wide range of industries. Unlike business incubators, the application process for seed accelerators is open to anyone but highly competitive. There are specific accelerators, such as corporate accelerators, which are often subsidiaries or programs of larger corporations that act like seed accelerators.
AngelPad is an American seed-stage startup incubator, launched in September 2010 by Thomas Korte and Carine Magescas with six other former Google employees as mentors. AngelPad provides mentorship, seed money, and networking at two 10-week courses per year.
AngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge.
Sandbox Industries is a venture capital firm located in Chicago. The firm focuses on connecting established corporations with disruptive startups via strategic corporate investment funds.
The Alchemist Accelerator is a venture-backed accelerator focused on accelerating the development of seed-stage ventures that monetize from enterprises. CB Insights rated Alchemist the top accelerator in 2016 based on median funding rates of its grads. The accelerator’s primary screening criteria are based on teams, with primacy placed on having distinctive technical co-founders. The organization provides seed investment into companies it admits, and provides founders a structured path to traction, fundraising, mentorship, and community over the course of a six month program. Alchemist's backers include many of the top corporate and VC funds in the Valley—including Khosla Ventures, DFJ, Cisco, Siemens, GE, and Salesforce, among others. The accelerator seeds around 75 enterprise-monetizing ventures per year.
Blue Startups is a Hawaii-based accelerator company co-founded by Henk Rogers, Maya Rogers and Chenoa Farnsworth in 2012. They created it to help startup companies, and help make Hawaii more identifiable as a technological business hub. The company has a network of over 120 mentors from the Hawaii, Silicon Valley, and Asia areas. The company's stated goal - according to former Program Manager Meli James - is to get companies started in Hawaii and make them want to keep working in the state.
Mobile App Business Launchpad Experiment, often stylized as Mable, is a business accelerator based in Portland, Oregon, U.S., that provides mentorship and resources to select startup companies. The program was informally launched in 2015 before converting to a formal structure in 2016. Mable participants are chosen by a selection committee following an application process. Participants will either then be sent to prepare for an investor pitch and receive limited coaching or be sent to enroll in the app academy accelerator where they spend three months developing their businesses with support from mentors and coaches. Companies that pass through the accelerator may also be provided a seed round of financial assistance.
M12, formerly Microsoft Ventures, is a corporate venture capital subsidiary of Microsoft. Founded in March 2016, its mission is to be an active, strategic partner during a startup's growth, typically investing between Series A and D. The fund is managed by Michelle Gonzalez, formerly of Google.
MACH37 is an American startup accelerator that was established in 2013 as a division of the Virginia-based Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) with funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2017 CIT partnered with VentureScope, a strategic innovation consultancy and venture firm, to revamp MACH37's operating model and curriculum. Following a successful partnership between CIT and VentureScope, MACH37 became fully owned and operated by VentureScope in 2020. MACH37 focuses primarily on honing and strengthening startups' product-market fit through extensive customer discovery and market research, expanding emerging companies' professional networks, fostering founder wellbeing, and providing emerging companies in the cybersecurity industry with access to investment capital and an immediate customer base. In an October 2020 article Forbes named MACH37 'the Granddaddy' of top cyber accelerators giving a nod to the fact that MACH37 was one of the first accelerators in the world dedicated to cyber and cyber adjacent technologies, and it has lasted far longer than many of its peer accelerators while strengthening over time. The name 'MACH37' is a reference to the escape velocity of Earth's atmosphere. VentureScope applies Lean Startup methodology at MACH37 as an efficient and successful approach to assist startups to rapidly adapt their search for a successful business model and test their hypotheses about customer needs and market demands.
mHUB is an innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing headquartered in Chicago. Located in West Town, Chicago, mHUB is a co-working community of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, a network of manufacturing mentors, industry experts and investors, and a source of intellectual and economic capital. Since 2017, mHUB has supported over 350 startups, developed 900 products and attracted over $320 million in investments. mHUB offers membership options for early-stage entrepreneurs and established enterprises. All members have access to mentorship, community events, affiliate discounts and classes.
Plug and Play Tech Center is a global innovation platform founded by Saeed Amidi, aiming to connect early stage investors, startups, and the world’s largest corporations together. The firm’s headquarters is based in Sunnyvale, California, the center of Silicon Valley, and expanded globally with more than 40+ offices across more than 20 countries.
The Ion District, Ion Innovation District, or Rice Innovation District is a technology park and innovation district in Midtown Houston which was established as a joint initiative between Rice University and the City of Houston. It has also been called the South Main Innovation District. The district's central hub and first building is the Ion, which opened in 2021 after owner Rice Management Company (RMC) converted it from a former Sears store. The building houses coworking and office spaces, business incubators and accelerators, classrooms, a prototyping lab, investor studio, and restaurants. Current tenants include Chevron Technology Ventures and Microsoft. The district also includes Greentown Labs Houston, a business incubator focused on climate technology and sustainable energy, and a large outdoor plaza.
CIIE.CO is an Indian startup accelerator and incubator that supports early-stage startups located at IIM Ahmedabad in Ahmedabad, India. It was founded in 2002 to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in India. It is a Center of excellence set up at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad with support from the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology and the Government of Gujarat.
