Accelerator Seed List (Data)

McNair Project

Accelerator Seed List (Data)
Project Information
Project Title
Start Date
Deadline
Primary Billing
Notes
Has project status
Copyright © 2016 edegan.com. All Rights Reserved.

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'}