The Accelerators
Fifteen programs, six continents.
Accelerators are the only part of the funding world that takes applications from strangers, publishes its terms, and tells you when it will answer. For a founder without a network, this page matters more than the venture firm directory. Terms are drawn from each program's own pages where possible and marked as reported where not. Programs change terms often and are widely misreported, so verify on the program's own page before you act. Not an endorsement, just the field, laid out plainly.
Run this calculation before you apply
The headline equity number tells you less than the implied valuation behind it. Divide the investment by the equity percentage:
- 7 percent for $500,000 implies roughly $7.1M post-money.
- 5 percent for $220,000 implies roughly $4.4M post-money.
- 10 percent for $100,000 implies roughly $1M post-money.
If you expect to raise at $8M to $12M within a year, the third is very expensive capital and the first is close to market. A useful rule: if the gap between the accelerator's implied valuation and your expected next round is less than about three times, the dilution is unlikely to be repaid by the program alone.
Then ask the question programs dislike: what share of your last three cohorts raised a further round within twelve months? Reported industry patterns put the strongest programs at roughly 40 to 60 percent, mid-tier programs at 15 to 25 percent, and the weakest below 10 percent. A program that will not share the number is telling you something.
The global generalists
Terms: $500,000 in two parts: $125,000 for 7 percent on a post-money SAFE, plus $375,000 on an uncapped SAFE with a most favored nation clause, which takes the terms of the lowest-cap SAFE issued before your next equity round. Identical for every company and not negotiable.
The deal is not 7 percent. It is 7 percent plus whatever the $375,000 converts into at your next round, so a lower cap means more dilution. Model total ownership at your realistic next-round valuation before you decide.
Published by Y Combinator. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: $220,000 total: $20,000 for 5 percent common stock through a post-money convertible equity agreement, plus $200,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE which converts at a priced round of at least $1M and adopts the terms of the lowest-cap SAFE issued before it. Asia-Pacific programs offer a $100,000 SAFE instead, so $120,000 in total. Techstars invests in US corporations or approved foreign equivalents; a company incorporated elsewhere, India is their own example, must redomicile before Techstars can invest.
These terms are current and most third-party sites still quote the retired deal of $20,000 for 6 percent plus an optional $100,000 note. If a blog or database tells you 6 percent, it is out of date. The redomiciliation requirement is the detail that most often surprises founders outside the US, and it is worth resolving before you apply, not after.
Techstars investment termsChecked 16 August 2026
Terms: Reported at roughly 6 percent equity. Historically the most geographically distributed of the US-founded programs, which matters if you are building outside the major hubs.
Verify current terms at 500.co before applying; we have not confirmed these from the program's own pages.
Reported by third parties, not yet verified. Checked 16 August 2026
Pre-idea and co-founder programs
For founders with capability but no company, and sometimes no cofounder, yet.
Terms: Builds companies from individuals, before teams exist. Reported at up to $250,000 for recent cohorts, comprising $125,000 via a SAFE converting to an 8 percent fully diluted shareholding plus an optional $125,000 MFN SAFE from a partner platform. Their Fellowship is reported to pay a $10,000 equity-free grant with three months of San Francisco housing while you evaluate potential cofounders.
If you are technically strong and genuinely pre-idea, the Fellowship is one of very few programs that will pay you to look for a cofounder rather than requiring you to arrive with one.
Reported by third parties; verify at joinef.com. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms, United Kingdom, published by Antler: £125,000 for 8.5 percent equity, of which £40,000 is a service fee covering workspace, infrastructure, legal and residency support, plus £85,000 via a convertible note with an MFN clause. Antler also signs an Agreement for Rolling Capital: if you raise more than £50,000 from professional investors within nine months, Antler matches 50 percent of that round. Reported elsewhere: Singapore up to $400,000 from inception with a $150,000 first ticket structured as $100,000 for 10 percent plus $50,000 on an uncapped SAFE; United States $250,000 at a $2.75M post-money valuation, about 9.09 percent, though that figure is dated. Reported acceptance rate around 3 percent.
Read the eligibility line for your specific location. Antler Singapore's current guidance reportedly requires you to already have an idea you are working on, which makes it the wrong door for a genuinely pre-idea founder despite the brand's reputation. Note also that the UK service fee is deducted from the headline amount, so the cash you receive is less than the number advertised.
Antler UK termsUK terms published by Antler; other locations reported. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Reported at roughly 7 percent. The Founder Fellowship is reported to accept applicants with no idea at all, with no fixed timeline after its bootcamp.
The most unstructured of the pre-idea programs, which suits founders who want peer density rather than curriculum.
Reported by third parties, not yet verified. Checked 16 August 2026
The equity-free programs
The most underrated tier in the field, and the first place to look if you are already diluted or cautious about ownership.
Terms: Takes zero equity. Funding comes through prizes and awards rather than investment, reported at up to $100,000 and higher in some tracks. Emphasis on mentorship and corporate partner exposure across healthcare, fintech, climate, cybersecurity and food.
Check what your specific track actually guarantees, because prize-based funding varies and is not assured by acceptance. But the ownership you keep is real and permanent.
Zero-equity model confirmed across sources; prize figures reported. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Zero equity. An objectives-based programme with a science and deep technology focus, structured around sessions where mentors set targets and companies that miss them leave the programme.
The nine month length and the objectives structure make this closer to a proving ground than a demo-day sprint. Strong fit for science founders who need the discipline more than the money.
Reported by third parties; verify at creativedestructionlab.com. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Typically no equity, because the model earns through corporate partnerships and pilots rather than ownership. Runs across 25+ verticals.
Best when your bottleneck is a first enterprise customer rather than capital. The value is the corporate introductions, so judge the specific vertical's partner list before applying.
Reported by third parties. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Equity-free grants reported in the range of $15,000 to $80,000, open to founders from anywhere willing to base themselves in Chile for the programme.
Of particular interest to this Institute: Start-Up Chile is the programme studied in the research we cite in the Library, where a regression discontinuity design found that the schooling component significantly raised venture performance while cash and coworking space alone showed no effect. It is the rare case where a programme's value has been measured rather than asserted.
See Gonzalez-Uribe and Leatherbee in the LibraryGrant figures reported. Checked 16 August 2026
Deep technology and science
Where a generalist accelerator genuinely cannot help you, because the constraint is physical.
Terms: Reported figures conflict across sources. HAX has been cited at $250,000 initial, being $150,000 cash plus $100,000 in kind, and elsewhere at up to $550,000. IndieBio has been cited at $525,000 total for roughly 6 to 10 percent. SOSV uses an investment instrument designed for deep-technology timelines rather than a standard SAFE. Treat all of these as unverified and check sosv.com.
The real differentiator is not the money, it is the infrastructure: engineering and manufacturing resources for hardware, and certified wet labs for biology. No generalist programme offers this, and for a founder whose bottleneck is a prototype or an assay, it is worth more than a larger cheque elsewhere. Pair this with a grant strategy; the research in our Library found that an early stage R&D grant roughly doubles the probability of later raising venture capital.
Figures reported and conflicting; verify at sosv.com. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Not verified this pass. The programme is organised around enterprise sales, with a mentor network weighted toward corporate buyers.
The right specialist if your bottleneck is selling into large companies rather than building the product. A generalist programme will not give you buyer access of this kind.
Verify terms at alchemistaccelerator.com. Checked 16 August 2026
Europe
Terms: Reported at €100,000 to €200,000 for 7 to 7.5 percent, with follow-on capacity from a larger fund. Europe's longest-running seed fund; portfolio reported to include Wise, Revolut and UiPath.
For European founders, the regional network is deeper than any US programme can offer on this side of the Atlantic, and their alumni have produced several of Europe's largest outcomes.
Reported by third parties; verify at seedcamp.com. Checked 16 August 2026
Terms: Station F is the largest startup campus in the world and hosts many independent programmes, so terms depend entirely on which one you join. Startupbootcamp is reported at roughly 8 percent for €15,000 to €40,000 cash plus partner services, across many vertical and regional cohorts. APX, backed by Axel Springer and Porsche, is reported at typically €50,000 for 5 percent with follow-on up to €500,000. Founders Factory and Wayra are corporate-backed venture builders.
With multi-programme platforms, judge the specific cohort and its partner list rather than the parent brand. The variance between cohorts within one of these organisations is larger than the variance between organisations.
All figures reported by third parties, not verified. Checked 16 August 2026
The rest of the world
Reach: Antler operates the widest genuinely global footprint of any early-stage programme, with locations reported to include Nairobi, Jakarta, Seoul, Sydney, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bangalore and Toronto. 500 Global reports activity across 80+ countries. SOSV runs programmes reaching Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Founder Institute operates in a reported 200+ cities at idea stage. Techstars Anywhere and other remote tracks remove the relocation requirement entirely.
The assumption that you must move to Silicon Valley is false and expensive. Several of these programmes will fund you where you are. But note the asymmetry that catches founders out: some programmes, Techstars among them, require your company to be incorporated in an approved jurisdiction and will ask you to redomicile first. Establish that before you spend a month on the application.
Locations and counts as reported by the programmes and third parties. Checked 16 August 2026
There are several thousand accelerator programmes worldwide and this page covers fifteen of the most established. Terms change frequently, and accelerator terms in particular are the single most misreported figures in startup finance: Techstars changed its deal and most published comparisons are still wrong about it. Where we could read a programme's own page we did, and said so. Where we could not, we marked the figure as reported rather than presenting it as fact. Verify before you sign anything. Corrections welcome.