For the fifth year in a row, biz school professors Yael Hochberg of Rice University and Susan Cohen of the University of Richmond have ranked the many accelerator programs now up and running in the U.S. as a way of helping making sense of which are worth the time, effort, and, often, equity that founders give them.
It’s no small undertaking. According to their findings, there are currently 160 accelerators in operation, representing year-over-year growth of around 50 percent dating back to 2005, when pioneer Y Combinator first came on the scene.
Some have come and gone. In fact, many outfits don’t survive more than a couple of years. Yet there are often upstarts to replace them, a growing number of which are corporate programs. (Research from Hochberg and Cohen show that 26 such corporate accelerator programs sprung up last year, compared with one or two back in 2011.)
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Related:
Seed Accelerator Rankings Project (SARP)
Accellerators by ranking and location (2016) - Alphabetized within each tier
Platinim Tier
500 Startups - Mountain View, CA | Alchemist - San Francisco, CA | Amplify Los Angeles | Angelpad - New York City | Mucker Lab - Los Angeles | NVC University of Chicago New Venture Challenge | Techstars - New York City
Gold Tier
Brandery - Cincinnati, OH | Capital Innovators - St. Louis | Dreamit - Philadelphia, PA | Gener8tor - Milwaukee, WI | Healthbox - Chicago, IL | MassChallenge - Boston, MA | StartX - Palo Alto, CA | Surge - Houston, TX
Silver Tier
AlphaLab - Pittsburgh, PA | BetaSpring - Providence, RI | Health Wildcatters - Dallas, TX | The Iron Yard - Spartanburg, SC | Lighthouse Labs - Richmond, VA | Plug And Play - Sunnyvale, CA | ZeroTo510 - Memphis, TN