These are the top 10 startup accelerators for women entrepreneurs from across the world:
1. Mergelane
It is Denver-based and was co-founded by Sue Heilbronner and Elizabeth Kraus. This startup accelerator focus on companies with at least one woman in leadership.
Investment: Up to $100,000
Founded in 2000 in Washington, DC , Springboard supports women-led growth companies seeking investment of financial and human capital for product development and expansion. To be eligible for Springboard’s accelerator, there must be a woman in a senior management position with a significant equity stake in the company.
599 women-led companies have participated in Springboard’s accelerator programs and has raised around $7 billion.
3. Prosper Women Entrepreneurs
Based in St. Louis, Prosper invest in women-led technology, health care, and consumer product early-stage companies.
Investment: $50,000.
Present in Cincinnati and Cleveland, this non-profit accelerator offers business education classes, mentorship and access to debt capital. Founded in 2010 with a vision to help educate female entrepreneurs and provide them with the tools to be successful in order for them to have a significant, positive economic impact on the local community, it has grown to serve over 600 women throughout Ohio and has helped secure nearly $500,000 in loans from the year of its inception.
5. Avion
Located in San Francisco, this pre-accelerator has an eight-week program which is specially designed for Latina entrepreneurs in the tech sector.
6. Equita
Also located in San Francisco, it offers seed capital investments to qualified accelerator graduates. It fosters a collaborative and creative workspace utilizing methodology from Stanford University’s Institute of Design.
Based in Silicon Valley, this accelerator offers 2 week and 2 month programs for female founders. It was founded by Ari Horie, it does not invest directly in ventures but support founders in finding investment with one-on-one introductions to investors and through an investor Pitch Day.
8. Hera Labs
It’s a unique accelerator that offers a program for female startups to test ideas and grow their business. Based in San Diego, Hera Labs provides access to experts with industry know-how, labs, tools, and investment capital to efficiently launch and achieve sustainability.
9. The Refinery
It offers a 12-week, non-residential mentor driven program in New York City to help early stage companies with at least one woman in a leadership role, scale and grow. The mentors work with each company on their fundraising needs and strategies as well as developing the right connections.
Based in Memphis, this accelerator focus on the unique needs of women-led tech startups and invest in teams that have at least one female founder in the executive team.
Investment: $25,000.
