Accelerators share a set of program characteristics that distinguish them from other forms of capacity development services. Specifically, they are time-limited programs that work with cohorts or “classes” of ventures to provide mentorship and training, with a special emphasis on connecting early stage ventures with investment.
The global accelerator landscape is growing and changing at a rapid pace. We conducted this research to identify accelerators around the world and to provide insight into what acceleration looks like in various geographies and contexts.
Access the directory below to identify accelerators based in various regions and sectors, or review our visualizations to learn more about their structure and focus.
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Between June 2020 and March 2021, the GALI team identified accelerators around the world using online sources and gathered publicly available information about their location, structure, and focus. The visualizations below display this information, which corresponds with the list of accelerators in the “Directory” tab.
The GALI team has identified more than 300 accelerators globally, with the greatest representation in the United States and Europe. We acknowledge this is not an exhaustive list of accelerators, largely due to inconsistencies in publicly available information as well as language barriers.
Most accelerators identified for this study ran their first program after 2010, most commonly launching between 2012 – 2016.
Roughly half of accelerators in this study are sector agnostic, meaning they accept entrepreneurs working in any sector, while the remaining half focus on a particular sector or set of sectors, most commonly ICT , Health, and Financial Services.
Most accelerators in this study work with startup, early-stage, or growth stage ventures, while a smaller proportion work with idea-stage ventures. These categorizations were determined by the language used on accelerator application pages, with some interpretation from the GALI research team using the below definitions:
More than half of accelerators in this study provide some sort of funding, either directly or through a related funding arm. Some provide funding to all participants and some to just a select number of ventures. Equity and grants are the most common funding instruments, with very few offering quasi-equity and none offering loans.
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