Top 50 Startup Accelerators Based on Data — Now Updated for 2024

The best startup accelerators are NOT Y Combinator and Techstars, according to data. These are the top 40 accelerators based on exit rate.

January 20, 2021

Looking for the best startup accelerators? Cool, we got you! And the rankings are sure to surprise you. (Hint: they are not Y Combinator or Techstars!)

Did you know there are over 3,000 accelerators worldwide and over 1,000 in the United States alone? No wonder it's confusing to figure out which ones are worth applying to.

Unlike other lists that are totally subjective, our list focuses on the thing that matters most to founders: the accelerators' ability to set your startup on the path to success.

To judge accelerators' ability to "accelerate," we took a look at how many of their portfolio startups actually had an exit, such as an acquisition or initial public offering (IPO) on a major stock exchange. We measure this as a simple ratio of total number of portfolio companies to exits, which we call "exit rate."

Those accelerators with the highest proportion of startups that had an exit, or exit rate, are ranked at the top. We also only included accelerators that had investments in either 2023 or 2024.

Alright, here we go. Below is our list for 2024:

The Best Startup Accelerator in the U.S. Is AngelPad

Top accelerators in the U.S. are AngelPad (34% exit rate), Plug and Play Insurtech (20%), gener8tor Insurance & Wealth Accelerator (20%), Stadia Ventures (19.05%), and DeltaClimeVT (18.18%).

Below is the full rankin

Y Combinator, Techstars or 500 Startups Are NOT the Best

If you're looking for popular accelerators like Y Combinator, Techstars or 500 Startups to top the list, we're sorry to disappoint you. According to exit rate, YC and Techstars are ranked 15th and 16th respectively. 500 Startups is ranked slightly higher in 9th place. (If you are a woman or underrepresented founder, check out our list of top accelerators for women and underrepresented founders.)

Y Combinator's exit rate, by contrast, was 11.08%, or roughly one-third of AngelPad's. That basically means that if you get into AngelPad, you have three times higher probability of getting your startup to an acquisition or IPO than if you went to YC.

If you care about getting to an exit, perhaps it's worth looking beyond the usual suspects such as YC, 500 Startups, and Techstars.

Rank	Accelerator	Portfolio Companies	Exits	Exit Rate
1	AngelPad	119	40	33.61%
2	Plug and Play Insurtech	98	20	20.41%
3	gener8tor Insurance & Wealth Accelerator	10	2	20.00%
4	Stadia Ventures	63	12	19.05%
5	DeltaClimeVT	11	2	18.18%
6	Disney Accelerator	55	9	16.36%
7	Elemental Excelerator	153	25	16.34%
8	MetaProp	119	19	15.97%
9	500 Global	2,404	380	15.81%
10	LAUNCH	342	52	15.20%
11	LearnLaunch Accelerator	80	11	13.75%
12	MIT delta v	126	16	12.70%
13	Plug and Play	1,550	176	11.35%
14	Alchemist Accelerator	514	58	11.28%
15	Y Combinator	5,188	575	11.08%
16	Techstars	4,577	489	11.15%
17	Joules Accelerator	28	3	10.71%
18	Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA)	344	35	10.17%
19	Cedars-Sinai Accelerator	88	8	9.09%
20	VentureWell	33	3	9.09%
21	OCEAN Accelerator	22	2	9.09%
22	One Mind Accelerator	11	1	9.09%
23	43North	67	6	8.96%
24	IDEA: Northeastern University's Venture Accelerator	108	9	8.33%
25	URBAN-X	76	6	7.89%
26	Fusion	70	5	7.14%
27	MassChallenge	3,064	213	6.95%
28	AlphaLab	105	7	6.67%
29	GENIUS NY	30	2	6.67%
30	Nex Cubed	77	5	6.49%
31	gener8tor	232	15	6.47%
32	Capital Innovators	124	8	6.45%
33	Village Capital	347	22	6.34%
34	HeartX	16	1	6.25%
35	Neo Accelerator	82	5	6.10%
36	Lighthouse Labs RVA	83	5	6.02%
37	Tyson Ventures	18	1	5.56%
38	NMotion	75	4	5.33%
39	MedTech Innovator	382	20	5.24%
40	SkyDeck Berkeley	472	23	4.87%
41	Google for Startups	1,530	73	4.77%
42	Blue Startups	105	5	4.76%
43	Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs	211	10	4.76%
44	Madworks Seed Accelerator	88	4	4.55%
45	HAX	322	14	4.35%
46	Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund	23	1	4.35%
47	AWS Healthcare Accelerator	23	1	4.35%
48	TinySeed	96	4	4.17%
49	Starburst Accelerator	74	3	4.05%
50	GSD Venture Studios	56	2	3.57%

Data via Crunchbase

Bigger Is Not Better

Another interesting point to note is that all top 10 accelerators, except for 500 Global, which moved up into the top 10 in 2024, have fewer than 350 investments. The four most active accelerators have an average exit rate of about 11%, or less than half that of the top ones like AngelPad.

Accelerators at the bottom of the list have exit rates of about four percent, or one-seventh that of the best-performing ones. That means that startups getting into the top ten accelerators on this list have a 7X higher chance of reaching an exit relative to participating in accelerators at the bottom of our list.

The Best Small Startup Accelerators with Fewer than 100 Portfolio Companies

Since it's clear that bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to startup accelerators, we wanted to see which micro-accelerators, or those with fewer than 100 portfolio companies (but more than 10), come out on top.

Not surprisingly, smaller startup accelerators seem to be much better at getting their portfolio companies to an exit than the big, popular ones!

Here are the top micro-accelerators based on the exit rate of their portfolio companies:

Rank	Accelerator	Portfolio Companies	Exits	Exit Rate
1	Plug and Play Insurtech	98	20	20.41%
2	gener8tor Insurance & Wealth Accelerator	102	20	20.00%
3	Stadia Ventures	63	12	19.05%
4	DeltaClimeVT	112	18	18.18%
5	Disney Accelerator	55	9	16.36%
6	LearnLaunch Accelerator	80	11	13.75%
7	Joules Accelerator	28	3	10.71%
8	Cedars-Sinai Accelerator	88	8	9.09%
8	VentureWell	33	3	9.09%
8	OCEAN Accelerator	22	2	9.09%
8	One Mind Accelerator	11	1	9.09%
12	43North	67	6	8.96%
13	URBAN‑X	76	6	7.89%
14	Fusion	70	5	7.14%
15	GENIUS NY	30	2	6.67%
16	Nex Cubed	77	5	6.49%
17	HeartX	16	1	6.25%
18	Neo Accelerator	82	5	6.10%
19	Lighthouse Labs RVA	83	5	6.02%
20	Tyson Ventures	18	1	5.56%
21	NMotion	75	4	5.33%
22	Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs	21	4	4.76%
23	Madworks Seed Accelerator	88	4	4.55%
24	Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund	23	4	4.35%
24	AWS Healthcare Accelerator	23	4	4.35%
26	TinySeed	96	4	4.17%
27	Starburst Accelerator	74	3	4.05%
28	GSD Venture Studios	56	2	3.57%
29	Health Wildcatters	87	3	3.45%
30	Inclusive Ventures Lab	59	2	3.39%
31	Target Takeoff	90	3	3.33%
32	PharmStars	65	2	3.08%
33	Sputnik ATX	75	2	2.67%
34	Greentown Labs	39	2	2.56%
35	BDev Ventures	40	2	2.50%
36	Leap Venture Studio	41	2	2.44%
37	Lair East Labs	43	2	2.33%
38	Aurelia Ventures	90	2	2.22%
39	Consortium For Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics	53	1	1.89%
40	Fuel	56	1	1.79%
40	Sanabil 500 MENA Seed Accelerator	56	1	1.79%
42	Global Insurance Accelerator	58	1	1.72%
43	Luminate	63	1	1.59%
44	Alliance DAO	73	1	1.37%
45	XLerateHealth	80	1	1.25%

Data via Crunchbase

The key takeaway is that it might be worth taking a closer look at smaller accelerators, which seem to be better able to help portfolio companies reach an exit. It's worth noting that not all things are created equal, as those at the bottom of the list for portfolios below 100 do not outperform those at the bottom of the overall top-50.

In Summary

I recognize that this analysis, although based on data, is imperfect. It would have been nice to also look at satisfaction rate, mark-ups in valuation, exit values, founder outcomes, and other factors not captured here. At the same time, it's interesting to see that smaller accelerator programs tend to perform better, perhaps casting into scrutiny the value of bigger, more established programs.

Hopefully, this article helps you, the founder, identify those accelerator programs that are likely to be the best fit for your startup.

An Important Caveat About this List

We pulled data on accelerators from Crunchbase. I'm sure there are some gaps in the data, but it's probably more than good enough to get a reliable ranking. However, there probably isn't much of a difference between, say, number fifteen and sixteen on the list.