Startup accelerators are mentors-based programs designed to provide guidance, mentorship, supportive community and funding to startups in exchange for equity.
A huge number of startups fail due to the lack of proper mentorship, access to resources and funding, this is where startup incubators and accelerators come in.
Accelerator programs are designed to rapidly help a startup scale. They often provide this startup with guidance and support; help with refining their ideas, developing their products/services, and scaling the business.
Y Combinator (YC) is the first independent and most popular accelerator program in the world. YC has incubated and backed African startups like Miden, Cleva, Chowdeck, Vendease Grey, HeyFood, Cowrywise, and billion-dollar companies such as Quora, Airbnb and Coinbase. More than 10,000 startups apply for the YC program in every batch.
With the tight competition getting into the Y Combinator accelerator program, more startups are starting to open up to the idea of getting into other lesser accelerator programs in order to fast track their growth. These other accelerator programs might not offer these startups the buzz and publicity that comes with being backed by YC, nonetheless they are a great head start for every founder who’s trying to avoid years of trials and errors.
Here are 25 accelerator programs every startup should consider
1. Techstars
Techstars is a global startup accelerator program for startups who seek affiliation to Silicon Valley. They provide a $120k startup funding, mentorship program and access to their community for life.
Techstars has backed African startups such as FarmCrowdy, Nyungu Africa, Fanbants, Klasha, CDCARE, RiseVest and a host of others.
Techstars operates a number of accelerator programs in different locations around the world, each focused on a specific industry. The TechStars ARM Labs Lagos Accelerator Program invests in early-stage fintech and proptech companies in Africa.
2. Seedstars
Seedstars was founded in 2012 by Pierre-Alain, Michael and Adrien, three entrepreneurs from Switzerland who connected their passion and interest for entrepreneurship and building companies from scratch.
Seedstars is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and they currently have offices in 15 spanning 90 countries across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central-Eastern Europe and Asia.
Seedstars acceleration program is aimed at helping startups achieve a functional prototype, establish their product market fit and acquire their first paying customers.
Benefits of the program include one-on-one mentorship and tailored support, as well as weekly workshops, bootcamps, KPI sessions, and social activities, $50,000 initial investment ($30,000 cash + $20,000 services), up to $100,000 in-kind Perks, up to $500,000 follow-on. Some African startups that have participated in their program include Lendigo and Chaka.
3. Google for Startups Accelerator
Google for Startups Accelerator is a global program that provides funding, mentorship and support to early-stage startups.
The Google for Startups Accelerator program is open to startups from all over the world, and is designed to bring the best of Google’s programs, products and people and technology to startups that leverage AI and machine learning in their current products or plans in the future. This is a fully digital accelerator program and it runs for a period of 3 months.
4. Pioneer
Pioneer is a two month remote accelerator program that provides support for innovative entrepreneurs who lack the resources to build a successful world class company. It was founded by Daniel Gross, the founder of Cue, a Y Combinator backed startup (it was later sold to Apple in 2013).
The Pioneer accelerator program supports startups that are developing cutting-edge technology in areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence.
Selected startups also receive a free trip to San Francisco, incorporation assistance (all Pioneers are required to be incorporated as a United States C Corporation), and perks in exchange for 1% equity. Pioneers are occasionally offered a chance to move higher to other bonus levels like; Gold level standard: $20,000 for 5% equity, Platinum level standard: $100,000 for 5% equity and $1m for 10% equity.
Some African startups that have received support from Pioneer are Bitsika, Flux, Bumpa and Funnelll.
5. Village Global
Village Global is an early-stage venture capital firm backed by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, Sara Blakely, Bill Gates and Mark Zukerberg.
The Village Global program targets and invests in startups using softwares and IT to transform global industries. Village is not a traditional VC, they’re a network. When you raise funding from Village, you’re not just getting money, you’re getting social connections-you’re joining a network of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Accepted Villagers are offered $125,000 funding in exchange for 7% equity shares, a group of dedicated advisors to help the company scale and a community.
Village Global has impacted over 1,100 entrepreneurs from 28 countries of the world. Company’s like Utiva, EdenLife, Mighty Finance and Bene Care have received support from Village Global. If you’re an early stage founder, Village Global you should consider Village Global.
6. Injini Africa’s EdTech Accelerator Think Tank
Ingini Africa was established in 2017 and is the first EdTech accelerator program in Sub-Saharan Africa aims to support, it’s owned by Cape Innovative & Technology Initiative (CiTi). They are a non-profit organization and their sole purpose of establishment is to improve the educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.
This accelerator program aims to support founders of African startups with a mission to impact educational outcomes in the continent. Since it’s inception, Injini has received over 1,200 applications from 35 African countries and they have incubated 24 EdTech startups across different African countries, including South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Injini holds a 5 month program which takes place in South Africa and participants outside South Africa are allowed to participate remotely. At the end of the 5 months program, participants are awarded a R100,000 (equity free funding). Injini will closely monitor these startups after the accelerator program and if they’re impressed by their performance and trajectory, they might offer them a R1,000,000 investment for an equity in the company.
7. Startup Wise Guys Accelerator
Startup Wise is based in Europe (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia), and they recently expanded their operations to Africa with a hub in Namibia, targeting eastern and Western Africa countries. The program is based in Portugal and focuses on early stage B2B SaaS (Software as a Service).
They offer a 3 months immersive virtual one-on-one mentorship program for African startups, this mentorship program focuses on the sales, fundraising and scaling. Some of the benefits they offer include up to €65k euro for an equity of up to 12%, connections to an alumni community of 145+ startups.
The Mastercard Start Path accelerator program is an engagement program for startups with multiple track records of raising capital. They provide startups with resources to scale quickly through access to Mastercards technology, expertise, and solutions partners around the world.
8. Mastercard Start Path Accelerator
The Mastercard Start Path accelerator program is an engagement program for startups with multiple track records of raising capital. They provide startups with resources to scale quickly through access to Mastercards technology, expertise, and solutions partners around the world.
Since 2014, over 250 startups have participated in the Start Path program. The tracks in this program include; Start path for blockchain and digital assets (for digital assets, blockchain and crypto companies), Start path for Emerging FinTech, Start Path for solidarity support for underrepresented founders on their journey to scale, Start path for open banking startups, and Start path for small businesses around the world.
9. MEST Africa
Founded in Ghana in the year 2018 by the Meltwater Foundation (the nonprofit arm of Meltwater). MEST is Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training program, seed fund and incubator program, with the primary goal of equipping promising tech entrepreneurs with the required skills to launch and scale a globally successful software company. Since its inception, MEST has invested over $20 million into training 400+ entrepreneurs, and invested in one 50 early stage startups.
The 12 months fully sponsored program offers a unique training program to help budding entrepreneurs transform their ideas into viable businesses. MEST participants will benefit from an extensive curriculum and mentorship by industry leaders and international experts. MEST has funded 80 startups across various industries from Fintech, Agritech, Healthtech, E-commerce and Digital Media amongst others.
10. Founders Factory Africa
Founders Factory Africa is the African arm of the UK’s Founders Factory. Launched in the UK in 2015, but established in South Africa in October 2018. This incubator program is open to innovators who want to build a new concept from scratch. Startups in the incubator program receive €30,000 funding support as well as 6 months dedicated support. FFA’s portfolio cuts across 55 ventures in 11 African countries.The program is for a duration of six months and is designed to effectively work in person or remotely.
12. She Leads Africa
She Leads Africa is a community that helps young African women achieve their professional goals. The SLA accelerator is a 4-month program designed to identify, support and fund the next generation Africa’s brightest female entrepreneurs. Previous SLA entrepreneurs have been featured in Forbes and CNN. The top entrepreneur will walk away with N2 million. The others receive 3 months of intensive support and access to a vast network of mentors and investors.
12. Norrsken
Norrsken is a non-profit impact based accelerator program established in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, connecting startups-who are focused on UN sustainable development goals-with the capital, knowledge and network they need to make saving the world their business. They empower social entrepreneurs who are solving earth’s greatest challenges such as, poverty, cancer, mental health, pandemic, green energy, pollution and food waste.
Norrsken invites startups to an 8 weeks long sprint at Norrsken House in Stockholm, Sweden. During this 8 week sprint, these startups will have access to 24/7 workspace designed with tech impact and entrepreneurs in mind. Upon selection, the startups are given an upfront $125,000 in pre-seeds. These startups will then undergo a one-on-one mentorship program with expert social entrepreneurs and learn how to and grow their social enterprises. The final stage of the program is the pitching phase, where these selected startups will get to pitch to hundreds of potential investors at the Norrsken demo day. African startups like Clafiya, Motito, HealthDart, Fixa, and Power Financial Wellness have benefited from this program.
13. Future Hub
Future Hub is an early stage incubator/investment platform supporting African startups with knowledge, capital, network and resources. They invest in various tech industries such as Fintech, EdTech, Healthtech, MediaTech, Social and content platforms, among many others. They invest upto $30,000 USD for 5% equity in pre-seed/seed. Some of the notable startups that have been funded by Future Hub include Carry1st, Techpoint Africa, Healthlane and Termii.
14. Adaverse
Adaverse is a venture fund that provides support for web3 companies in Africa, Europe, Asia and other regions. Their mission is to incubate and invest into DeFi, NFT, Metaverse and Gaming startups, in a bid to build a secure, scalable and open blockchain platform for the world.
Adaverse has a preferred ticket size of $100,000 to $300,000 on average, with funding ranging from $50,000 to $750,000. The company has global offices and teams located in Nigeria, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London.
15. L5labs
L5labs is a technology incubator that backs bold entrepreneurs who move fast, think big and are committed to building the next major franchise in Africa. It was established in 2009 by Chika Nwobi and headquartered in Nigeria. L5Lab provides entrepreneurs with exclusive access to expertise & insights that are available to entrepreneurs around the world. Forming various alliances with initiatives that are in alliances with their vision, L5Lab looks to make African businesses and economies at par with the world’s best. Decagon, and Jobberman are among the notable startups that L5lab has invested in.
Startups accelerators and incubators play a very important role in shaping the future of startups. They provide these startups with resources, mentorship and funding to help them grow and scale.
