Accelerator Seed List (Data)

McNair Project

Accelerator Seed List (Data)
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List of Accelerators

1. 10Xelerator

2. 1440

3. 1776

4. 33entrepreneurs

5. 3DS Princeton University Spring 2014

6. 500 Startups

7. 9Hive

8. 9Mile Labs

9. AIA Accelerator

10. ARK Challenge

11. AT&T Aspire Accelerator

12. ATDC Community

13. AZ TechCelerator

14. AccelFoods

15. Acceleprise

16. Accelerate Baltimore

17. Accelerate Genius

18. Accelerate Tectoria Accelerator

19. Accelerator Centre

20. Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)

21. Airbus BizLab

22. Alchemist Accelerator

23. AlphaLab

24. Amplify.LA

25. Angel Capital

26. Angelcube

27. Angelpad

28. Annual Business BootCamp

29. Arizona Center for Innovation

30. Arizona Furnace

31. Arrowhead Tech Incubator 2016

32. Aspire 3 Accelerator 2017

33. Atlanta Ventures Accelerator

34. AutoXLR8R

35. Awesome Inc.

36. Axel Springer Plug and Play

37. B 4 Change Impact Accelerator

38. B2B Acceleration Program

39. B4C Social Venture Accelerator

40. BBC Worldwide Labs

41. BMW Startup Garage

42. BRANDCELERATE

43. BUNKER Labs New York

44. Bank of Ireland Accelerator Programme

45. Bantunium Labs Accelerator

46. Barclays Accelerator

47. Barclays New York Summer 2015

48. Berkley Ventures

49. Bessemer Business Incubation System

50. Beta-i

51. Beta.MN

52. BetaFactory

53. BetaSpring

54. Betablox

55. Betaspring RevUp

56. Bethnal Green Ventures

57. BioAccel

58. BioInspire

59. Bir 2015

60. BitAngel Engagement Level

61. BitAngels Startup Summer Program of 2013

62. Bizdom

63. Black Forest Accelerator

64. Blue Startups

65. Blueprint Health

66. Bolt Boston

67. Bonnier Accelerator

68. BoomStartup

69. BoomStartup Winter 2017

70. Boomtown Accelerator

71. Boomtown Health Tech

72. Boost VC

73. BootupLabs

74. Brandery

75. Brooklyn Beta Summer Camp

76. Budweiser Dream Brewery

77. Buildit

78. BuiltinPGH Companies

79. Business Innovation Center

80. Business Opportunity Academy 2017

81. Business Technology Development Center (BizTech)

82. CLT Joules Energy Accelerator 2014

83. CWI Ventures

84. CWI Ventures Application

85. CableLabs Technology Tours 2016

86. Capital Factory

87. Capital Innovators

88. Capital Investment Network (Startups)

89. Caroline Plouff

90. Catalyst Partners

91. Cause Collective : Social Innovation Lab

92. Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation

93. Chain Reaction Innovations 2017

94. Chemical Angel Network

95. Chinaccelerator

96. Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence

97. Citi Accelerator

98. Citrix Startup Accelerator

99. Claremont/Upland Makerspace Fablab

100. Climate Ventures 2.0 Accelerator

101. Co.Lab accelerator

102. Code for America Accelerator

103. Cohab's Traxtion Point

104. Collision Conference Investors

105. Common Bond

106. Communitech Hyperdrive

107. Conquer Accelerator

108. Coolhouse Labs

109. CuriousMinds Incubator / Accelerator

110. CyberTECH San Diego

111. DBS Accelerator

112. DPD Last Mile labs

113. DV X Labs

114. Dat Ventures

115. Decatur-Morgan County Entrepreneurial Center

116. Deep Space Ventures

117. Demo Accelerator 2016- 2017

118. DeveloperTown

119. Difference Engine

120. Digital Malaysia Corporate Accelerator Program

121. Digital Media Zone Incubator/Accelerator

122. Disney Accelerator

123. DogFish Accelerator

124. Domi Station

125. Dotforge accelerator

126. Dream Funded

127. DreamIT Health

128. DreamStart - Free Mentoring Program

129. Dreamit Ventures

130. Ducky Diggy Lloyd

131. E-Capital Summit

132. EC Mentor Skills Inventory

133. EIGERlab

134. ETRAC

135. EY Startup Challenge

136. Eco Holding

137. Eleven Startup Accelerator

138. Emerge Xcelerate

139. EnterpriseWorks Incubation Program

140. Entrepreneur Development Center

141. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator

142. Environmental Business Cluster

143. Equity Legal

144. Excelerate Labs

145. Execution Labs

146. Exhilarator

147. Extreme Startups

148. Extreme University

149. FOOD-X

150. Factory45

151. Fargo Startup House 2014-2015

152. FastTrack Propero Healthcare

153. FbFund

154. Female Propeller for High Flyers

155. FinTech Innovation Lab

156. FinTech Studios 2015

157. Fintech Founders Club #2

158. First Growth Venture Network

159. Fishbowl Labs AOL

160. Flagship Enterprise Center

161. FlashStarts

162. Flashpoint

163. Flat6 Labs

164. Fledge9

165. Flextronics Lab IX

166. Food Future Scale-up Accelerator 2017

167. Food System 6 (FS6) Accelerator

168. FoodForwardX

169. Fortify Ventures

170. Founder Institute

171. FounderFuel

172. FoundersPad

173. Fownders Accelerator

174. French Accelerator 2016

175. Fund the Food

176. Fuse Corps Host

177. GAKKEN Accelerator Program

178. Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center

179. Game CoLab Incubator Program 2014

180. GameFounders

181. GammaRebels

182. Gazelle Lab

183. Gener8tor

184. German Accelerator Life Sciences

185. German Accelerator Tech

186. Global Accelerator Network 2015

187. Good Works Houston Lab

188. GoodCompany Ventures

189. Google Launchpad Accelerator

190. Grants4Apps Accelerator

191. GreenStart

192. Greenlite Labs

193. GrowLab

194. Growth Hacking Accelerator 2015

195. Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

196. H-Farm Ventures

197. HACKT Mission for International Founders

198. HAXLR8R

199. HCC Entrepreneurship Launchpad

200. HIGHLINE Academy

201. HUB

202. HUBB Accelerator

203. HUBB GTLA 2016

204. HackFWD

205. Hatch

206. Health Wildcatters

207. Health accelerator

208. Healthbox

209. Hero City Co-Working Space

210. High Street Startups Accelerator

211. Highway1

212. Honda Xcelerator

213. Houston Technology Center

214. Hub Ventures

215. HugeThing

216. I/O ventures

217. ICONYC labs

218. IDC Elevator

219. INcubes Funnel and Accelerator 2014/2015

220. INcubes Online Form

221. INcubes Startup Visa

222. Illumina Accelerator

223. Illuminator, New York Accelerator 2015

224. Imagine K12

225. Immokalee Business Development Center

226. Impact Engine

227. Impact USA - 2017

228. Incubate Miami

229. Infuse Accelerator

230. Ingenuity Partner Program

231. InnoSpring

232. Innov&Connect

233. Innov8 for Health

234. Innova Memhis Application

235. InnovateOC

236. Innovation Depot

237. Innovation Pavilion

238. Innovation Showcase Winter 2017

239. Insight Accelerator Labs

240. Intel Education Accelerator

241. Investment Preparedness Lab

242. Invoke Collective

243. Iowa Startup Accelerator

244. JFDI.Asia

245. JFE Accelerator SF

246. JLAB

247. Jaguar Land Rover Tech Incubator

248. Jolt

249. JumpSchool

250. JumpStart Foundry

251. Jumpstart! Boulder

252. JusticeXL

253. Kairos Boston Spring Program

254. Kaplan EdTech

255. Kick

256. Kick Boise

257. Kick LA

258. Kick Victoria

259. Kicklabs

260. Kinetiq Labs

261. L-SPARK Accelerator

262. LAUNCH incubator

263. LAUNCHub

264. LI TechCOMETS

265. LabFunding Project Accelerator 2014

266. Labs Venture Accelerator

267. Launch Chapel Hill

268. Launch Memphis

269. LaunchBox Digital

270. LaunchHouse

271. LaunchPad PEI

272. LaunchSpot

273. Launch_Academy

274. Launchpad Digital Health, LLC

275. Launchpad LA

276. Launchpad Long Island

277. Le Camping

278. Leading Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program

279. Lean Launch Ventures

280. LearnLaunchX

281. Lemnos Labs

282. Life Changing Labs

283. LiftOff Health Incubator

284. Lightbank Start

285. LightningLab

286. Lowe's Accelerator

287. MACH37

288. MACH37 Spring

289. MIT SA+P venture accelerator

290. MITA Institute Accelerator

291. MTGx MediaFactory

292. Mac6

293. Madworks Governance Accelerator

294. Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development - Top Gun Program

295. Matter

296. Maven Ventures Fund & Incubator

297. Media Camp

298. Melbourne Accelerator Program

299. Memphis BioWorks

300. Merck Accelerator

301. MergeLane 2017 Accelerator

302. Mergelane

303. Metavallon

304. Microsoft Accelerator

305. MindTheBridge

306. Momentum

307. MuckerLab

308. Muru-D

309. My5ive Accelerator 2016

310. N-Motion

311. NDRC (LaunchPad / VentureLab)

312. NEXT Dashboard

313. NMotion

314. NY Digital Health Accelerator

315. NY Fashion Tech Lab 2017

316. NYC ACRE

317. NYC SeedStart

318. Nalukai

319. Nashville Entrepreneur Center

320. Nebula Shift

321. Nephoscale IaaS

322. Nest New York

323. New Ventures Group

324. New York Digital Health Accelerator

325. NewME Accelerator PopUps

326. NewMe

327. Next media accelerator

328. NextHIT

329. NextStart

330. Nike+ Accelerator

331. Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NACET)

332. Northern England

333. Nxtp.labs

334. OCTANe Launch Pad

335. OMNIVERSIS, LLC

336. Oasis 500

337. Open Education Challenge

338. OpenFund

339. Orange Fab

340. Orange Works

341. Orion Startups

342. Oxygen Accelerator

343. PIE

344. Patriot Boot Camp

345. Pearson Catalyst for Education

346. Pipeline H2O

347. Pitney Bowes Inc

348. Plarium Labs

349. Plug In South LA

350. Plug and Play

351. Plum Alley Investments 2016

352. Points of Light

353. Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE)

354. Portland Seed Fund

355. PowerHaus

356. Preccelerator® Program 2016

357. ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator

358. Project Entrepreneur 2016/17

359. Project Healtchare

360. Project Lift

361. Project Music

362. Project Skyway

363. Propeller Venture Accelerator

364. Prosper Capital Accelerator

365. Proton Enterprises

366. Pushstart Accelerator

367. Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator

368. Queen Creek Business Incubator

369. R/GA Accelerator

370. R/GA Marketing Tech Venture Studio

371. RAIN Incubator/Accelerator

372. RJI Investment Group

373. Rackspace Startup $24k Program

374. Reach

375. RetailXelerator

376. Rock Health

377. Rocket Fuel Labs Application

378. Rockstart Accelerator

379. RunUp Labs

380. Runway

381. Runway IoT Accelerator 2015

382. SAP Startup Focus Program

383. SKTA Innopartners Innovation Accelerator

384. SPACELAB Tech Accelerator

385. SPARK

386. SPARK Holyoke

387. SPH Plug and Play

388. SURF Incubator

389. SaltMines Group Start-Up Studio

390. ScaleTown

391. Seamless IoT 2016

392. Searchcamp

393. Seed Hatchery

394. SeedSpot

395. SeedStartup

396. SeedSumo

397. Seedcamp

398. Seedrocket

399. Seeqnce

400. Sequoia Apps

401. Serval Ventures

402. Shenzhen Valley Ventures Incubator

403. Shoals Entrepreneurial Center

404. Shopper Futures Accelerator

405. Shotput Ventures

406. Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator

407. SigmaLabs Accelerator

408. Silicon Valley Incubator & Accelerator

409. SixThirty

410. SixThirty CYBER Spring 2017

411. SixThirty Spring 2017

412. Sixers Innovation Lab

413. Skywalker Accelerator

414. SmartHealth Activator

415. Smashd Labs

416. SoCo Nexus Accelerator Spring 2017

417. Social Enterprise Challenge

418. Socratic Labs

419. SparkLabs

420. Sparkgap

421. Sports Tank

422. Springboard

423. Sprint Accelerator

424. Sprint Accelerator 2017

425. Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator

426. SproutBox

427. SproutCamp

428. Starburst Aerospace Accelerator

429. Start Path Europe

430. Start'inPost

431. StartEngine

432. StartFast Venture Accelerator

433. Starta Accelerator Winter 2017

434. Startl

435. Startmate

436. Startup Accelerator

437. Startup Front

438. Startup Next & GAN

439. Startup Orange County Accelerator

440. Startup Quest: Virtual Startup Incubator

441. Startup Runway Atlanta Spring 2017

442. Startup Wise Guys

443. Startup Zone PEI

444. Startup52X Accelerator

445. StartupCity

446. StartupHighway

447. StartupHouse Foundry program

448. StartupMinds Accelerator

449. StartupMonthly

450. StartupNLA Catalyst Startup

451. StartupReykjavik

452. StartupYard

453. Startupbootcamp

454. Straight Shot

455. Summer@Highland

456. Surge

457. SynBio axlr8r

458. TEB Incubation & Acceleration Center

459. THRIVE Accelerator III

460. THRIVE Open Innovation

461. TIM#WCAP Accelerator

462. TLabs

463. TMCx Accelerator Digital Health 2017

464. Tallwave

465. Tampa Bay Innovation Center

466. Tampa Bay Wave

467. Tandem

468. Tandem Mobile Accelerator

469. Target India Accelerator

470. Tech Nexus

471. Tech Wildcatters

472. Tech Wildcatters Gauntlet

473. Tech2020

474. TechLaunch

475. TechRanch

476. TechSquareLabs

477. Techstars

478. Techstars Music

479. Techstars Music Accelerator 17

480. Telenet Idealabs

481. Telluride Venture Accelerator

482. Telluride Venture Accelerator 2017

483. TenX

484. The ARK Challenge

485. The Alchemist Accelerator

486. The Ark

487. The Bakery

488. The Batchery

489. The Brandery

490. The Bridge

491. The Center For Technology Enterprise & Development

492. The Chaser

493. The Company Lab (CO.LAB)

494. The Draper FinTech Connection

495. The Factory

496. The Greatest Pitch

497. The Harbor Accelerator

498. The Incubator

499. The Iron Yard

500. The Mediapreneur Incubator

501. The Morpheus

502. The New York Venture Summit

503. The Next Step: from idea to startup

504. The Pool Co Working Space

505. The Refiners Application

506. The Refinery

507. The Unilever Foundry, Pilot

508. The Venture Center's Pre-Accelerator I

509. The Vine OC

510. The Vogt Awards

511. The Yield Lab

512. The eFactory Accelerator

513. The eFactory Accelerator Spring 2017

514. Think Big Partners 2013 Application

515. Think Big Partners Accelerator

516. TiE Angels

517. Tigerlabs Digital Health Accelerator

518. Tigerlabs Health

519. Tolstoy Summer Camp

520. TopSeedsLab

521. Travel Startups Incubator

522. Travelport Labs Accelerator

523. Travelport Labs Incubator

524. Triangle Startup Factory

525. Tumml

526. Tune Labs

527. Twin Cities Accelerator 2016

528. UCIS B2B Matchmaking

529. US Startups 2017

530. UW-Whitewater Launch Pad Accelerator

531. Umbono

532. Unbank.ventures FinTech Incubator

533. University Technology Park

534. Unreasonable Institute

535. UpTech

536. Upstart Accelerator

537. Upstart Accelerator 2017

538. Upstart Labs

539. Upstart Memphis

540. Uptima Business Bootcamp

541. Upwest Labs

542. VANTEC

543. VC FinTech Accelerator

544. VSL FinTech Rolling Admission

545. Velocity Indiana Accelerator

546. Velocity Venture Catalyst

547. Venture Hive

548. Venture I

549. VentureOut's Enterprise Tech Expedition

550. VentureTech.net

551. Venturegeeks

552. Vet-Tech Accelerator

553. VetTechTrek

554. VictorySpark

555. Village Capital

556. Village Cultivators

557. Village Member Discounts

558. Village Verified

559. Village88 Techlab

560. Virtual Incubator & Crowdfunding Network

561. Volkswagen ERL Technology Accelerator

562. WHLabs

563. Wasabi Ventures Academy

564. Wayra

565. Wellness Accelerator

566. Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

567. Wireless IoT

568. Women Innovate Mobile

569. XLR8HI

570. XLerateHealth

571. XTRATOS

572. Xcelerate

573. Xlerate Health

574. Y Combinator

575. Y&R SparkPlug 2017

576. YEurope

577. YLE Media Startup Accelerator Program

578. Yahoo Ad Tech Program

579. Yangler (online accelerator)

580. Year of the Startup

581. Yetizen Accelerator

582. You Is Now

583. Z80 Labs

584. ZIP Launchpad Admission

585. ZeroTo510

586. Zone Startups Calgary

587. designX 2017

588. eMerging Ventures

589. ezone

590. gener8tor

591. i360accelerator

592. iAccelerator

593. iStart Jax

594. iStart Valley

595. iVentures10

596. ignite100

597. innovyz start

598. tekMountain Accelerator

Project Summary

This project will be used to determine which accelerators are the most effective at churning out successful startups, as well as what characteristics are exhibited by these accelerators. First, we need to gather as much data as we can about as many accelerators as we can in order to look at factors that differentiate successful vs. unsuccessful ventures. Next, we need to create a web crawling program which will gather information about accelerators across the world by accessing their websites and extracting information. I believe that our overall goal with this research project is to gain insight into the methods of successful accelerators, as well as to find out what exactly differentiates very successful accelerators from dead accelerators.

Helpful Links: http://seedrankings.com/

Sources

Summary: These are sources obtained from List of Accelerators and other Google searches. We will evaluate these sources by looking at the number of accelerators they supply (as most of them are lists) and then also taking a look at the type of information they provide about each accelerator. Key data points are cohort-related data, startup-related data, and logistics of the accelerator. Better sources supply more information that the URL alone.

(Obtained from List of Accelerators and various Google searches)

• http://seedrankings.com/
• http://www.acceleratorinfo.com/see-all.html
• http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators
• http://gust.com/usa-canada-accelerator-report-2015/?utm_content=35401577&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
• https://bostonstartupsguide.com/guide/every-boston-startup-accelerator-incubator/
• http://www.builtinnyc.com/2016/06/03/accelerators-incubators-nyc
• http://www.represent.la/
• http://www.launch.co/blog/complete-list-of-incubators-and-accelerators-like-y-combinat.html
• https://angel.co/accelerator-4

(Obtained from Google search: "Accelerator Database")

• seed-db is the first result that pops up
• https://www.corporate-accelerators.net/database/
• https://github.com/florianheinemann/www-corporate-accelerators-net/blob/master/_data/Accelerators.json
• By the 5th or 6th search result, the utility diminished greatly
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2015/03/17/the-best-startup-accelerators-of-2015-powering-a-tech-boom/#2f52fa7e34e4
• http://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/the-15-best-startup-accelerators-in-the-us.html
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/03/11/the-best-startup-accelerators-of-2016/#74086a7724f2
• https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/17/these-are-the-top-20-us-accelerators/
• https://www.nexpcb.com/blogs/news/the-hardware-incubators-accelerators-list

Other ways used to find Accelerators (listed below "List of Sources Obtained from Various Google Searches"):

• Type in generic location + "accelerators" (e.g. Houston Accelerators)

• Looked at roughly the first 20 results
• Used three locations as examples of accelerators that pop up

• Type in a specific state + "accelerator" + "list" (e.g. Texas accelerator list) to search for more relevant lists

• Once again, looked at roughly the first 20 results

Source Evaluations

Summary: These evaluations couple with each of the sources above. The evaluations provide instructions for obtaining the information listed, as well as a general review of how useful the data seems. The review serves to determine whether a crawler would be suitable for obtaining information from the source autonomously.

Source: http://www.acceleratorinfo.com/see-all.html

1. Opened source website
2. Copied Information under "All Accelerator Programs" to TextPad, already sorted. Returned 190 results
3. Each link on parent list leads to individual home page url of accelerator

• Used sample size of 20 links, determined 16 to be accelerators, 2 to be incubators, 2 to be inactive or broken links
• Many accelerators do not include founding date, most recent accelerators from around 2013-2014 (as determined from home page)

Review

• Reliable source for specific URLs to older accelerators, not very helpful for more specific information.
• Web crawling seems improbable because information is not readily available from source. Can potentially mine staff information or contact information from associated "about" page in the home url

Source: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all

1. Copied "Seed Accelerators" table to TextPad, data sorted itself into lines. Returned 235 results.
2. Clicking on the accelerator name itself links to a page with all of its associated startups, up until 6/2016 cohort

• Startup table includes:

1. "state"
2. "company name"
3. "website and CrunchBase links"
4. "cohort date"
5. "exit value"
6. "funding".

Many entries for "exit value" are missing, some values for "funding" are missing

On original seed-db webpage, each accelerator has a link to its associated home page url

• From the table, each listed entry was an accelerator, although 24 accelerators out of 235 were classified as "dead"
• Along with the home url, each accelerator table includes the following:

1. Status
2. Program (name)
3. Location
4. Country
5. Number of companies
6. Cumulative exit values
7. Cumulative funding
8. Average funding for startups
9. Median funding for startups

Many entries for "median funding" are left empty, as well as entries for all types of funding on the bottom half of the table

Review

• Reliable source for accelerators, includes list of accelerators both dead and active, as well as their associated start-ups
• Web crawling potential is promising; startup table is located within the source for each webpage. Can also mine any category from the accelerator table
• Overall very extensive data for accelerators that are included on the list, but after cross-referencing from other sources shows that seed-db is lacking many newer accelerators; list is not all-inclusive.
• Includes regional distributions for accelerator groups as well. For example, rather than just "Techstars", the group is broken into Austin, Berlin, Boston, Boulder, etc.

Source: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators

Very similar to "http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all", but contains large regional accelerators as groups, rather than individual accelerators. For example, Techstars appears only once.

1. Copied "Seed Accelerators" table to TextPad, data sorted itself into lines. Returned 239 results.
2. Clicking on the accelerator name itself links to a page with all of its associated startups, up until 6/2016 cohort

• Startup table includes same information as previous source, "http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all". However, accelerators spanning across multiple regions have their startups located under one category on this webpage.

On original seed-db webpage, each accelerator has a link to its associated home page url

• From the table, each listed entry was an accelerator, although 24 accelerators/groups out of 239 were classified as "dead"
• Along with the home url, each accelerator table includes the same information as the "http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all" source

Review

• Reliable source for accelerators, includes list of accelerators both dead and active, as well as their associated start-ups
• Web crawling potential is promising; startup table is located within the source for each webpage. Can also mine any category from the accelerator table
• Overall very extensive data for accelerators that are included on the list, includes large groups as well as individual accelerators. It seems that some accelerators missing from "http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all" are located here, since there are 239 returns rather than 235.

Source: https://www.f6s.com/programs?type

1. On the webpage, set "Type" to "Accelerator/Program", set "Location" to "North America", and set "Invest in Country" to "United States" to return results
2. Highlighted results and scrolled down until all results found; copied results to TextPad
3. In TextPad, sorted out lines with "by", as well as miscellaneous categories such as dates and dollar signs through Regular Expressions
4. Using the "More Info" line which held constant through the entire list, assigned a sequential number to the line (in order to determine the number of results)

• Obtained a grand total of 1467 results from the list
• Along with the name of the program/accelerator, the data included:

1. Dollar value per team
2. Equity
3. Application Site
4. Accelerator URL

• Many entries are not accelerators, from a quick glance through the results, there were various conferences, 3-5 days events, and written literature pertaining to accelerators as well
• From a sample size of the first 30 entries, determined 10 to be valid accelerators, 3 incubators, 6 conferences/weekends, and the rest to be miscellaneous entries such as startup events or "studios" (perhaps useful but not relevant to search)
• As we go down the list, the number of accelerators proportionately decreases. Can comfortably say that overall accelerator turnout from this website is much less than 33%, probably closer to 10-15%.

Review

• Potentially useful website if crawler could remove the clutter and target solely the accelerators; very useful for identifying new accelerators since data automatically sorted by date and location.
• Large list of sources includes many irrelevant results, such as conferences or weekends which are difficult to identify. The name of the sorting category itself, "Accelerator/Program" suggests that many of the results fall under the "Program" section rather than being valid accelerators.
• Potential site for identifying accelerators, but limited by in-site sorting; useful for URL and perhaps equity, but not very detailed information relating to the accelerator/program.

Source: http://gust.com/usa-canada-accelerator-report-2015/

1. Selected region of US and Canada
2. Scrolled down to the section labeled "Top 20 Active Accelerators" and selected "see the full list" near the bottom of the listed accelerators
3. Copied resulting entries into TextPad and sorted out the numbers to leave only the name of the accelerator

• Obtained 100 results for different accelerators
• Accelerator lists included:

1. Name and URL
2. Number of Start-ups funded (2015 only)

• Accelerator list limited to 2015

Review

• Website provides its own evaluation of an accelerator's success based on various factors and provides data for larger trends.
• Usefulness is questionable because website does not provide much except the URL, and all of the entries are based on success in 2015.
• Other interesting data within website such as "Hot Markets", investment breakdowns by state, etc. All of this data is also limited to 2015.

Source: https://bostonstartupsguide.com/guide/every-boston-startup-accelerator-incubator/

1. Scrolled down to the section labeled "Startup accelerators in Boston"
2. Copied text beginning from "MassChallenge" (the first paragraph was just a general definition of startups) and continued to copy until "Startup Incubators in Boston"
3. After pasting in TextPad, I sorted the data to delete any characters after the "-" and added a sequential number at the beginning of each line

• Returned a total of 17 results for startups in Boston
• Accelerator list included:

1. Name and URL
2. Capital requirements
3. Application periods and requirements
4. Paragraph describing accelerator and its goals

Review

• Although the guide is dated, useful for identifying strong accelerator programs in Boston
• Limitation: only focuses on Boston, but the description is helpful in identifying the role of the accelerator
• Limited information on accelerator, not very useful by itself without information from the accelerator URL

Source: https://www.corporate-accelerators.net/database/

1. Copied and pasted table into Microsoft Excel (Data was already sorted into categories so no need for TextPad)
2. Table returned 72 references (but there was a link to the bottom to a larger database)

• The table itself includes:

1. Major Company
2. Accelerator
3. Funding
4. Equity
5. Website
6. Details

• The "Details" link led to a variety of other information including:

1. Status (Active or Inactive)
2. Locations
3. Funding
4. Equity
5. Term
6. Cohort Based? (Regular or Irregular)
7. Pitch Day
8. Office Space
9. Powered by
10. Support Offered?
11. Launch year
12. Focus Areas
13. General Description

• Also Included a variety of data regarding the host company as well

Review

• Solid list for corporate accelerators and also includes a variety of information about the accelerator, the cohorts, etc. Some of the entries are international accelerators however so need to filter them out
• Only limited to 72 accelerators from major companies

Source: https://github.com/florianheinemann/www-corporate-accelerators-net/blob/master/_data/Accelerators.json

1. This source is a .json file from the previous database
2. After placing into TextPad, replaced each space with a ###, replaced each new line with a tab, and replaced each ### with a new line. Ultimately returned 80 results

• From the file, the .json includes:

1. NAICS and NAICS sector
2. Classification
3. Sector Description
4. Term
5. Goal
6. Partner

• Also includes most of the information from the previous source, since they are undoubtedly linked

Review

• Another solid list for corporate accelerators with some more information, but ultimately very similar to the previous source.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Where-can-I-find-a-comprehensive-list-of-startup-incubators-and-accelerators-in-the-US

1. Since we already looked at the first listed source (seed-db), I clicked on the second link "(by Robert Shedd) http://blog.shedd.us/321987608/" which took me to a page headed "Help for Startups! – A semi-complete list of startup accelerator programs" created by a blogger, Robert Shedd
2. List included 102 entries by the blogger, each of which do look like an accelerator

• Upon immediate overview, noticed many results from previous sources were missing. Immediately noticed lack of "OwlSpark", the accelerator from Rice.
• Shedd only offers us the accelerator name plus its URL

Review

• Nice list to cross-reference with other sources but does not offer much new insight compared to more powerful engines such as seed-db\

List of Sources Obtained from Various Google Searches

Summary: These accelerators are taken from a specific Google search rather than a list. The idea is to compile a list of Google searches that return relevant results of accelerators. This will aid in the creation of a future web crawler.

From "Location + Accelerator"(Only individual results, not lists)

Houston Accelerators

• Examples of single accelerators found

1. TMCx: http://www.tmc.edu/innovation/innovation-programs/tmcx/
2. RED labs: http://redlabs.uh.edu/8
3. SURGE accelerator: https://kirkcoburn.com/
4. OwlSpark: http://owlspark.com/
5. NextHIT: http://www.houstonhealthventures.com/nexthit-accelerator-program-application/

Los Angeles Accelerators

1. Amplify: http://amplify.la/
2. Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
3. Chicklabs: https://www.chicklabsllc.com/
4. Disney Accelerator: https://disneyaccelerator.com/
5. Launchpad: https://launchpad.la/

New York Accelerators

1. DreamIT Ventures: http://www.dreamit.com/#meaningful-experience
2. Women Innovate Mobile: http://www.wim.co/
3. Techstars NYC: http://www.techstars.com/programs/nyc-program/
4. Entrepreneurs Roundtable: http://eranyc.com/
5. FirstGrowthVC: http://venturecrush.com/fg/
6. New York Digital Health Accelerator: http://digitalhealthaccelerator.com/
7. Grand Central Tech: http://www.grandcentraltech.com/
8. Accelerator Corp: http://www.acceleratorcorp.com/
9. New York Startup Lab: http://nystartuplab.com/

Review

• Some locations return more viable results for a similar sample size. For example, New York returned 9 valid accelerators, whereas Los Angeles and Houston both returned 5 actual accelerators out of the first 20 results: an 80% difference. Some optimization may come from identifying which locations return more accelerators upon searching.

From "State+Accelerator+List"

New York Accelerator List

• http://www.ongridventures.com/resources/new-york-silicon-alley-resources/newyorkaccelerators/ (Ranks 14 accelerators)
• http://under30ceo.com/11-new-york-tech-incubators-and-accelerators-for-entrepreneurs/ (Ranks 11 accelerators)

California Accelerator List

• http://www.socaltech.com/the_complete_guide_to_southern_california_accelerators_and_incubators_part_i/s-0040924.html (Lists accelerators in Southern Cali)
• http://barberacorporatelaw.com/blog/2014/4/8/28-business-incubators-in-the-los-angeles-area (List of 24 accelerators near the LA area)

Texas Accelerator List

• http://www.austinstartuplist.com/incubators (List of accelerators in Austin, <5 results)
• http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2016/09/02/the-top-texas-healthcare-accelerators-and-incubators/ (Modest list of accelerators aiding in healthcare)
• http://realfoodmba.com/food-startup-accelerators/ (List of food-based accelerators, some of which are in Austin, others of which are international)

Colorado Accelerator List

• http://www.builtincolorado.com/2015/01/14/best-colorado-accelerators-your-startup (8 results)
• https://www.quora.com/What-accelerator-programs-are-located-in-Colorado (Quora inquiry yielding modest results)

Washington Accelerator List

• http://www.geekwire.com/2015/mapping-seattles-incubators-accelerators-and-co-working-spaces/ (Returns 14 results)

Oregon Accelerator List

• http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/subscriber-only/2016/01/15/incubators-and-accelerators.html (Returns list of 5 accelerators and details)
• http://www.oregon4biz.com/Innovate-&-Create/R&D-Business/Incubators/ (Returns list of 26 accelerators and incubators)

Notes:

• Seed-DB appears for almost all of the search results
• Acceleratorinfo appears for most of the search results
• There are multiple cumulative reports of incubators per location, but not for accelerators
• Most regionalized accelerator lists deal with either an article or a ranking of a particular amount of accelerators in the area
• Many results returned nationally ranked lists of accelerators, such as the Forbes list of "Top Accelerators" or something along the lines of "Best Accelerators in the US". The connection is that perhaps one accelerator mentioned on the list may be located within the searched state.
• There are also a few results for actual particle accelerators that must be sorted out (i.e. superconducting super collider)

Individual Accelerator Evaluations

Summary: The purpose of this section is to create instructions for each accelerator on how to find cohort information from their URLs. Along with specific instructions for obtaining the cohorts for each accelerator chosen, there should be a list of easy-to-obtain and relevant statistics regarding the accelerator, such as information about its team, location, etc. The variable statistics list is cumulative, whereas the cohort directions are unique per the accelerator.

Accelerators Chosen (Format = Name (source))

1. Blue Startups (http://www.acceleratorinfo.com/see-all.html)
2. Launchpad LA (http://www.acceleratorinfo.com/see-all.html)
3. Y Combinator (http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators)
4. FlashPoint (http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/all)
5. Prosper Accelerator (https://www.f6s.com/programs?type)
6. Axel Springer Plug and Play (http://www.axelspringerplugandplay.com/)
7. Techstars (http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators)
8. Startmate (http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators)
9. Capital Factory (http://blog.shedd.us/321987608/)
10. OwlSpark (Google search: "Houston + accelerators")

Accelerator: Blue Startups (http://bluestartups.com/)

Finding the cohort:

1. Navigated to "Track Record" page under the "Home" tab; found total number of graduated cohorts to be 7
2. Navigated to "Portfolio" tab. Tab includes list of all seven graduated cohorts along with companies emerging from each one. Each cohort is listed under a separate page (ex. "Cohort 1", "Cohort 2", etc) and at the bottom of each cohort page, there is a link to the other 6. Each company has a short description along with its URL.
3. An "Alumni News" page at the bottom of "Portfolio" includes articles pertinent to graduated startups.
4. Unfortunately does not include the date and year of each cohort class, but perhaps could cross-reference with other sources.

Accelerator: Launchpad LA (http://launchpad.la/)

Finding the cohort:

1. Navigated to "Companies" in the top of the homepage
2. "Companies" returns all companies backed by Launchpad LA based on their class year and number (cohort)

   • Also sorted by active startups vs. inactive startups

3. At the bottom of the "Companies" tab, there is a statistical layout returning values for the number of companies started by Launchpad during its time as an accelerator (2012-present), as well as the total funding funneled into the accelerator.

Accelerator: Y Combinator (http://www.ycombinator.com)

Finding the cohort:

1. Scrolled down on the home page and clicked on a link entitled "See all companies".
2. Navigated to a drop down menu named "All Batches", and clicked on it to expand the list.
3. List is made up of dates ranging from 2005-2016, and these dates return lists of launched companies including most but not all of their URL's, as well as their launch year.

Accelerator: Flashpoint (http://flashpoint.gatech.edu/)

Finding the cohort:

1. On upper right corner after animation, there is a tab sign which lets you navigate to a page labeled "Teams"
2. The "Team" page has each batch of companies emerging from Georgia Tech, although it does not include the dates or cohorts of these companies. For example, "Batch 1" at the top of the page just lists the companies in the batch without URLs or any additional information.
3. On the "Application" page on the tab near the top, there is information regarding Batch 7, which begins early 2017. Suggests that batch 6 either ended spring 2016 or fall 2016.

Accelerator: Prosper Women Entrepreneurs (http://www.prosperstl.com)

Finding the cohort:

1. Navigated to "Accelerator" tab and clicked "Companies" when prompted with the drop down menu.
2. This tab returned all of the launched company logos which then redirected to the company's home page when clicked.
3. No other relevant form of information such as date launched or cohort was included on this page.

Accelerator: Axel Springer Plug and Play(http://www.axelspringerplugandplay.com/)

Finding the cohort:

1. Clicked on the "Companies" tab on the home page and was directed to the middle of the page which included a short list of current companies.
2. Clicked on the "All Companies" link which returned a page filled with startup logos and brief descriptions of those startups. When clicked, each logo serves to redirect to that startup's home page.
3. Companies were not sorted by cohort or in any other relevant way.

Accelerator: Techstars (http://www.techstars.com)

Finding the cohorts:

1. Navigated to the Accelerators tabs and clicked "Companies" on the drop down menu.
2. Firstly, this returns a table comprised of a long list of different classes from different areas separated by years.
3. Upon scrolling down further, each of these classes is broken down by the startups that graduated from them. It also includes information such as how much was invested in each startup, as well as whether or not the startup was acquired, is active, or failed.

Accelerator: Startmate (http://www.startmate.com.au)

Finding the cohorts:

1. Navigated to the "Startups" tab, which returned a page of all startups that have graduated from Startmate.
2. Startups are separated by year of graduation, and each company is linked on this page.
3. It appears as if each year, 1 cohort is taken through the accelerator.

Accelerator: Capital Factory (https://capitalfactory.com/accelerate/)

Finding the cohorts:

1. Navigated to the startups tab, which returned a long list of companies that were accelerated by Capital Factory.
2. Each logo for the startups served as a link to their respective websites.
3. There was no evidence or mention of any cohorts.

Accelerator: OwlSpark (http://entrepreneurship.rice.edu/accelerator/)

Finding the cohorts:

1. Navigated to the "Startup Teams" tab, which returned a page that included links to 4 "Classes".
2. Each class link i.e. (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4) returned links to each startup that graduated from the program.
3. These classes signify cohorts.

List of Promising Variables

• Key People (founders, lead entrepreneurs, strategists, etc.)
• Total number of launched companies
• A FAQ for application details, accelerator vision, and
• Funds raised per company (average)
• Features offered by accelerator (perks, space, tools, etc)
• General events hosted by the accelerator
• (Success) stories for graduated start-ups

E-R Diagram (in list form) for Identifying Attributes to Pull from Accelerators

Summary: I will look at different entities within the accelerator page (e.g accelerators, cohorts, founders) and then find potential attributes that can be codified from those entities. Along with the attribute, we list a potential method for pulling that particular attribute.

Format:

Entity

• Attribute - Possible sources/ways to get

Ed: "Be creative with finding new attributes to pull!"

List

Accelerators

• Accelerator Name - Website, external database
• Contact Form - General contact section in each website
• Industry focus - can be pulled from description
• Description - pulled from website itself
• Takes equity? - Database or from "about" page
• Non-profit? - Database
• URL - Already have way of obtaining
• DNS Registration Date - Already have way of obtaining
• Address - Google Maps, maybe the website
• Founding Date - Google Maps, website, server registration

Accelerators (1) has (n) Features

Features

• Mentorship? - Description in website
• Space Offered - Google Maps, Website description
• Partnerships - Angel list, Same section as mentorship or events
• Hosted Events - Calender

Accelerators (1) has (n) Founders

Founders

• Name - Founders or Team Page
• Title - Directly underneath or next to name
• PhD? - Biography, webpage under name
• Serial - Biography
• Link back to "Accelerator Name" in Accelerators

Founders (n) has (n) Ventures

Ventures

• Other Companies - Biography, webpage
• Previous Companies - Biography
• Net Worth - Forbes, Biography
• Link back to "Name" in Founders

Accelerators (1) has (n) Cohorts

Cohorts

• Date + Accelerator = Cohort ID - Database or Website
• Number of Startups - Website, count from Startups
• Cohort Number - Categorization on website, external database
• Link back to "Accelerator Name"

Cohorts (1) has (n) Startups

Startups

• Names - Website, external database
• State of Inc - Angel List
• URL - Angel List, website
• Founding Date - Registration database, Angel List
• Industry - startup description
• Founding Location - Angel List
• Current Location - Angel List
• VC Raised to Date - SDC Platinum
• Angel Funds Raised to date - Angel List

Variables which Distinguish Accelerator Websites

• The word "Accelerator"
  • This word appears at least one time on the home page of the vast majority of accelerator websites. The word "Accelerator" appears either as a link to another page on the website or in a title on the homepage of the website. Not many other websites contain this word on their homepage, especially not if one Googles something generic such as "Accelerators in the US".

• Fixed Term
  • Accelerators normally work with their cohorts for 3 months. This is a major factor which differentiates between an accelerator and any other member of a startup ecosystem. If on their website they mention either "3 months" or "12 weeks", it is extremely likely that the website belongs to an accelerator.

• Cohorts, Portfolio, Class, or Companies
  • This is a potential variable that could link the websites of many different accelerators. The problem with the word "portfolio" is also used by numerous venture capital firms, which could potentially cause complications when attempting to pull only the sites of accelerators from a Google search. The word "cohort", however, would have an extremely high probability of identifying the website as belonging to an accelerator. The words "class" and "companies" are promising but do not offer certainty.

• Equity, Investment
  • Although by itself, equity does not mean much, when paired with any of these other terms, it could potentially point to an accelerator. Most accelerators take equity in the form of common stock (6-8%), or they will ask for some alternate form of stake in the company.

• Education and Mentorship
  • Accelerators differ from incubators and angel investors in that they emphasize the education of the potential startup. They offer advice and intense mentorship from more experienced entrepreneurs within their staff, as well as many networking opportunities with the outside world. This variable is more difficult to find on the website of the accelerator, but I believe that if the website includes numerous keywords such as "education", "mentorship", or "networking opportunities", it would be somewhat safe to assume that the website is owned by an accelerator.

• Demo Day
  • This variable does not have tremendous potential in terms of crawling websites, but I feel that it is worth mentioning. Most accelerators "graduate" their cohorts with a demo day, which is a day when the startups present their company to potential investors. If the website contains the words "demo day", which is fairly uncommon, it could be a good source of accelerator identification.

A combination of any of these variables would certainly identify the current website as belonging to an accelerator.

Comprehensive List of Accelerators

All text files saved in "Accelerators" project on the McNair RPD.

• Acc.Info: 190
• SeedDB: 240
• SARP: 59
• Corp: 79
• Total: 568 results

After removing duplicates and locations: 363 results

Doesn't count f6s, which returns 1170 results, roughly only 300 of which were accelerators. We created a crawler to sift through the webpages and parse HTML so we could identify the accelerators. Program and HTML saved on the Desktop.

Randomly Chosen Accelerators

• TLabs
• BetaSpring
• The Unilever Foundry
• AIA Accelerator
• R/GA Accelerator
• Zeroto510
• Hub:raum
• Orange Fab
• Furnace
• Launch Chapel Hill

Determining whether or not these are accelerators

Googled name of Accelerator and clicked on the first link

Looked for Variables which Distinguish Accelerator Websites

• TLabs: Homepage states: "Leading Indian Tech Accelerator"; TLabs is an accelerator, but it is located in India.
• Betaspring: Under the "About Betaspring" tab, it states that "Betaspring was among the first ten startup accelerators to launch worldwide".
• The Unilever Foundry: Does not claim to be an accelerator, nor does it have information on the website about cohorts. This name was pulled from the source Corporate Accelerators.
• AIA Accelerator: The word "accelerator" is included in the name. Under the "Overview" tab, it states that startups have received mentorship.
• R/GA Accelerator: Under the "Overview" tab it states that the "R/GA Accelerator is designed for startups and... it is a three month, immersive, mentorship driven program".
• Zeroto510: Website contains a "Portfolio Companies" tab which divides up the companies into cohorts. This identifies Zeroto510 as an accelerator.
• Hub:raum: Offers accelerator and incubator programs; however, none are located in North America.
• Orange Fab: States on the main page that "We're a 3-month accelerator program".
• Furnace: "About" tab states that Furnace is "an innovative startup accelerator designed to form, incubate, and launch new companies". Concludes with a Demo Day
• Launch Chapel Hill: Homepage states that they are "a startup accelerator". Also included on the homepage is a line that states "Applications for Cohort 7 are now open".

7/10 are accelerators located in the US.

2/10 are accelerators not located in the US.

1/10 is not an accelerator.

Steps for Extracting Cohort Information

• TLabs: Clicked on the "Startup" tab and located a drop down menu entitled "Showing Startups from:". This menu separates startups into Batches ranging from 1-9. These batches are cohorts.
• Betaspring: This website does not have a "Companies" or "Startups" tab. I clicked on their "Who" tab and noticed that within this section were two links called "Our portfolio" and "Our companies" which both linked to the same place. This place contained a list of the startups that Betaspring has funded, as well as links to each of the startup websites. The list was not separated into cohorts.
• The Unilever Foundry: Does not have a "Startups" or "Companies" link on the website.
• AIA Accelerator: Clicked on the "Startups" tab which returned a page with 5 companies and a bit of information on each of these companies. Also included the URL to each startup. However, the companies were not separated into cohorts, probably because there are so few of them.
• R/GA Accelerator: Clicked on the "Alumni" tab and navigated down the webpage. Startups are separated by class, which means cohort in this case. Startup info contains link to demo day presentation as well as the startup url.
• Zeroto510: Hovered over the "About Us" drop down menu and clicked on the "Portfolio Companies" link. Startups are separated by cohort, one for each year, starting from 2013.
• Hub:raum: Clicked on the "Portfolio" tab. Directed to a page with many names of startups, as well as a brief description of what their company is about. Also includes a link to each startup's website. Startups are not separated into cohorts, but rather by investment by location, current participants, and alumni.
• Orange Fab: Clicked on the "Startups" tab and was directed to a different page. Startups are not only separated into cohorts named "Seasons", but they are also separated by industry.
• Furnace: Clicked on "Portfolio" tab, but unfortunately the website is broken and it returned an error in code.
• Launch Chapel Hill: Clicked on the "Ventures" tab and was directed to a page in which all startups were separated into cohorts, and a brief description of the startup was provided underneath their logo.

Code

The directory for all data related to this project is located in:

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators

F6S Web Crawler

This is a python script using the selenium library that retrieves the html content of each page on F6S's North American Accelerator search results. The script is located in:

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators\F6S Accelerator HTMLs 

The script is titled f6s_crawler_gentle.py

When run, the script visits the F6S search page for North American Accelerator's and begins retrieving the HTML of each page in that search list. NOTE: Timing must be spaced out between all interactions with the browser. F6S has Captcha, and the program will fail if the site receives too many hit requests, or has any inkling that it is being probed by a bot.

The Accelerator HTML files are stored in:

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators\F6S Accelerator HTMLs\Accelerator_HTML_files

The Accelerator HTML files stored as text files are stored in:

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators\F6S Accelerator HTMLs\Accelerator_HTML_files_text

F6S Parser

The next step is to take the HTML files retrieved by the crawler and to parse them for necessary information. This parser should also determine whether or not the site is an accelerator site.

The code for the parser is located in

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators\F6S Accelerator HTMLs

It is titled f6s_parser.py

To run the code, open the file in Komodo and press play. If running from the command line, change to the correct directory and run the following comand:

python f6s_parser.py

The list of accelerators that passed through the parser is in the same directory:

E:\McNair\Projects\Accelerators\F6S Accelerator HTMLs

The tab delimited text file is named AcceleratorList. The file contains the names of the accelerators that had the keywords listed in the file. Also, the file contains the run dates and location of the accelerator if it was listed on the f6s page.

F6S API

F6S has an API, but we have had no success getting a key to the API. The link to get a key to the API is on this page.

I (Peter) have emailed F6S to ask for a key directly at support@f6s.com.

FUN FACT (MASS-RENAME FILES USING WINDOWS POWER SHELL):

The following command allowed me to append ".txt" to all files in a folder once in the proper directory:

Get-ChildItem * | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.name + '.txt'}

To change file formats, Microsoft suggests:

Get-ChildItem *.txt | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.name -Replace '\.txt', '.log'}