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Top Startup Accelerators 2024
Based on insights from conversations with my network, find out whether Y Combinator, Sequoia Arc, and other startup accelerators are worth it.
By
February 25, 2024
Hi, I'm Kieran. I put these rankings together based on references from founders who participated in these startup accelerators. You can watch my entire startup accelerator interview series here.
1. Y Combinator
Location: San Francisco
Number of Startups Funded: 4,000+
Combined Portfolio Valuation: $600 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1.5%
Notable Outcomes: Coinbase, Airbnb, DoorDash, Twitch, Dropbox, Instacart
Top Startups: Stripe, Faire, Brex, Deel, Gusto, Rippling (see full list)
Is YC worth it?
Yes. Every time you ask a YC founder what makes it special, they talk about two things: the quality of their peers and how YC got them to move faster. I will add two more things — the positive-sum nature of the community (you can email a YC founder in another batch, and it’s likely they’ll respond) and the distribution advantage (many YC founders get their first customers by selling to other YC startups).
In addition, part of joining an accelerator is that the best programs will help you raise your next round of funding. The investor ecosystem still views joining YC as a positive signal.
You can watch my interview with Jake Stein, a winter 2023 alumni, and apply here to YC’s next batch.
2. Sequoia Arc
Location: America (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) and Europe (London)
Number of Startups Funded: < 50 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Sequoia Arc started in 2022.
Top Startups: Squint, Flagship, Roon, Zeet, Summer Health (see full list)
Is Sequoia Arc worth it?
Yes. Sequoia Arc is my top-rated startup accelerator program out of the new ones (a16z Start, HF0, Neo, Greylock Edge) that have popped up in the last few years.
Sequoia Capital and other multi-stage funds launched accelerator offerings because they wanted to see if they could attract high-quality founders at accelerator terms, which are better than what they were seeing at Seed and Series A. It’s no secret that early YC had the best deal ever ($120K for 7%) concerning acquiring a significant stake in startups for a relatively small amount of money. Sequoia Capital and others are testing whether their brand equity can help them attract and get into winners at accelerator prices, too.
It’s early, but it's clear that Sequoia Arc is attracting top founders, and they have the platform to accelerate these startups. Look for Sequoia Arc to ramp up resources supporting this program and eventually scale in size as they build a track record for this offering.
You can watch my interview with Devin Bhushan, a spring 2023 alumni, and apply here to Sequoia Arc’s next cohort.
3. Embed by Conviction
*AI-native startups only
Location: San Francisco + remote
Number of Startups Funded: < 15 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Embed started in 2023.
Top Startups: Not disclosed yet.
Is Embed worth it?
Yes. This recommendation is largely based on the quality of Sarah Guo, who you will be working with during the program. She was formerly a General Partner at Greylock before she left to start Conviction. She is one of the most highly sought-after investors from startup founders building in the AI space — with investments including Harvey, Baseten, Mistral, Essential AI, and more.
The benefit of joining a vertical-focused accelerator like Embed is that the whole program is tailored to you — your batch mates, investors at demo day, partners, etc. will all be building in AI.
You can apply here to Embed’s next cohort.
4. Greylock Edge
Location: New York
Number of Startups Funded: < 15 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Greylock Edge started in 2023.
Top Startups: Not disclosed yet.
Is Greylock Edge worth it?
Yes. Like Embed by Conviction, much of this recommendation is based on who you will be working with. Greylock is a top venture firm and they have demonstrated an ability to work with founders at the earliest stages. They were first institutional investors in Palo Alto Networks, Workday, Sumo Logic, Abnormal Security, Snorkel, Tome, and more. Many of these companies were incubated at Greylock.
Greylock Edge calls itself a “bespoke company building program” and “not a startup accelerator or incubator.” But, based on the website, I would read this as they are trying to access the best talent as early as possible and will support them with finding an idea, raising a round, and finding product-market fit.
You can apply here to Greylock Edge. They take applications on a rolling basis.
5. South Park Commons
Location: San Francisco
Number of Startups Funded: ~130 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $10 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; SPC started in 2021.
Top Startups: Pulley, Column Tax, Durable, Comun, Orb, Ethos Wallet, Sesame Labs
Is South Park Commons worth it?
Yes. SPC is filled to the brim with ambitious and talented founders; the team understands how to help founders and has the relationships and experience building startups to do so; and investors see joining the community as a positive signal.
For founders considering the accelerator program, it’s important to note that many of the investments they list on their website did not participate in the accelerator program.
SPC attracts a slightly different crowd than something like a YC. Most founders accepted into SPC are credentialed executives who scaled the last wave of great startups (think VP of Product at Series C startup) and are now building something new. They index heavily on domain expertise.
You can watch my interview with Arman Jaffer, a spring 2023 alumni, and apply here to SPC’s next cohort.
6. PearX
Location: San Francisco + Menlo Park + remote
Number of Startups Funded: 88
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $5 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; PearX started in 2013.
Top Startups: Affinity, Viz.ai, Nova Credit, Kale Card, Sniffspot
Is PearX worth it?
It depends. PearX started in 2013 and the track record is ok. Out of the 88 startups that have participated in the program, they have twelve startups worth greater than $100 million and one startup worth greater than $1 billion.
While it doesn’t look like they have any true winners yet, I would still learn towards recommending them since Pear VC is still viewed as an excellent firm by founders.
Similar to SPC, many of Pear’s top investments shown on their website did not participate in PearX. For example, Pear invested in DoorDash, but DoorDash did not participate in PearX. Again, this is not a bad thing, but it is just something to be aware of as you look at PearX’s track record and consider whether to apply.
You can watch my interview with Gautam Ajjarapu, a summer 2021 alumni, and apply here to PearX’s next cohort.
7. Neo
Location: Oregon + remote
Number of Startups Funded: < 50 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Neo started in 2022.
Is Neo worth it?
It depends. I’ve heard great things from people who participated in Neo and from investors in my network. Also, the terms are excellent. But, a few months ago, YC publicly called out Ali Partovi, the person who runs Neo, for being a bad actor — the claims include bullying founders into signing NDAs to keep them silent and kicking them out of Neo for participating in YC. I think there must be some truth to this because there is no way YC would publicly share this unless they had an overwhelming amount of evidence from founders.
Neo skews young and technical. They have a strong foothold at top universities nationwide, which they actively recruit from. They also have a Neo Scholars program, filled with college students studying computer science who may join startups coming out of the accelerator program.
You can watch my interview with Olivia Li, a 2022 alumni, and apply here to Neo’s next cohort.
8. HF0
Location: San Francisco
Number of Startups Funded: < 50 startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 1%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; HF0 started in 2021.
Top Startups: Delv AI, OneSafe, Dispatch, Crossmint, Coframe, Proxy, Fileread AI, Smartroof, Listening.io
Is HF0 worth it?
It depends. I’ve heard mixed things about HF0. Some people love it, some people think they are a “hype factory”. They chased crypto pretty hard in early cohorts, but have now rebranded to an AI residency.
Similar to Neo, HF0 skews very young because the program is designed like a hacker house — everyone lives together in a mansion in SF.
You can watch my interview with Parker Edwards, a summer 2023 alumni, and apply here to HF0’s next cohort.
9. The Mint by BTV
*Fintech only
Location: San Francisco
Number of Startups Funded: 7
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $ 1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 2%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; The Mint started in 2023.
Top Startups: Easy Expense, InScope, Ponte
Is The Mint worth it?
Yes. This recommendation is largely based on Sheel Mohnot and the Better Tomorrow Ventures team. Sheel is an investor Chipper Cash, Unit, Ethic, Coast and a first call for many fintech founders.
They have only run one cohort as of Jan. 2024, but I expect them to attract some of the best early-stage fintech talent given their network and expertise.
You can watch my interview with Mary Antony, a 2023 alumni, and can apply here to The Mint.
10. Prod
*Harvard and MIT students only
Location: Harvard and MIT
Number of Startups Funded: 37
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $1 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 3%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Prod started in 2021.
Top Startups: Mach Industries, Etched, Neptune, Layer N
Is Prod worth it?
Yes. Prod is a non-profit that takes zero equity. Yet, they have demonstrated they can attract the best pre-idea founders at Harvard and MIT and accelerate them to the next stage. Out of the 37 teams they have worked with, 19 have received YC acceptances and teams have already raised $150 million in seed funding. It’ll be interesting to see how they evolve and whether they expand to other campuses.
You can apply here to Prod.
11. 500 Global
Location: United States and several international markets
Number of Startups Funded: 2700+ startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: $250 billion+
Acceptance Rate: < 3%
Notable Outcomes: The Real Real, Grove Collaborative, MakerBot, Wildfire, Viki
Top Startups: Canva, Talkdesk, Cars24, Algolia, Chipper Cash, Lucid
Is 500 Global worth it?
It depends. There is some adverse selection with 500 Global. Most the cohort is made up of first-time founders who didn’t get into YC or one of the other top startup accelerator programs listed above.
500 Global now runs accelerators in Israel, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and elsewhere. While this is great news for founders in those places since there is less access to capital and high-quality mentorship, it is somewhat telling that 500 Global went international rather than compete in the US, the best market for startup investing.
You can watch my interview with Henry LeGard, a Sept. 2022 alumni, and apply here to 500 Global’s next cohort.
12. Techstars
Location: United States and several international markets
Number of Startups Funded: 3,700+ startups
Combined Portfolio Valuation: $106 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 3%
Notable Outcomes: Sendgrid, Classpass, Owlet Care
Top Startups: Chainalysis, DataRobot, Degreed, Alloy, Newsela (see full list)
Is Techstars worth it?
It depends. Your experience at Techstars is largely dependent on the managing director. Alongside YC and 500 Global, Techstars has the a lot of brand recognition since it has been around since 2006. It also it probably the most diverse startup accelerator with an emphasis on taking people from less traditional backgrounds and funding more female founders.
You can watch my interview with Brooke Yoakam, a Techstars Boulder 2022 alumni, and apply here to Techstars’ next cohort.
13. Pioneer
Location: Remote
Number of Startups Funded: 276
Combined Portfolio Valuation: < $5 billion
Acceptance Rate: < 2%
Notable Outcomes: None yet; Pioneer started in 2018.
Top Startups: Roboflow, Iron Fish, Railway, Verihubs
Is Pioneer worth it?
It depends. Pioneer has been described to me as a place for “super passionate and weird Internet nerds.” The program leans technical because Pioneer indexes on how fast you can ship and iterate.
A founder may apply to Pioneer over another startup accelerator because the program is remote, so it’s more accessible to international founders, and it’s less dilutive than other accelerators ($20K for 1%, and it’s optional). In many ways, Pioneer is positioned as a pre-YC. It’s smaller, less dilutive, targets pre-incorporation founders, and the best Pioneer startups often apply to YC afterward. Daniel Gross, Pioneer’s founder, actually started a company funded by YC and was a Partner there.
You can watch my interview with Sacha, a Mar. 2021 alumni, and apply here to Pioneer’s next cohort.
Ranking Criteria
This is a subjective list because ranking accelerators based on one data point (such as number of exits) would lead to a terrible list. Instead, I asked myself, "Which accelerators will attract the best founders in 2024?"
Here are just some of the things that I considered:
- Notable Outcomes: Startup investments fall on a power curve. 2-3 companies may return more money for the accelerator than the next 1,000.
- Timeline: You need to consider the timeline when you look at things like the combined valuation of an accelerator's portfolio.
- Leadership: Sequoia Arc and Greylock Edge, both very new programs, are ranked high on this mainly because of their leadership. You get access to tier-one venture capital partners and their networks. These connections provide a more significant value add than others listed below them.
- Selectiveness: The medium founder quality of a cohort is very important with accelerators since most of the value you get from joining is from the relationships you build with your peers.
- Alumni Feedback: Not all feedback is created equal. I want to know what the best founders that went through the program are saying about the accelerator.
- Ecosystem Feedback: What signal do investors and others get when a founder tells them they went through a specific accelerator program? Which accelerators are they recommending to their friends?