Y combinator

“We think hackers are most productive when they can spend most of their time hacking. Our goal is to create an environment where you can focus exclusively on getting an initial version built.”

With a community over 1600 founders and an added value of over $30 billion, Y combinator has become one of the biggest and the most commercially successful startup seed accelerator. Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell and Robert Morris initially founded it in 2005 and since then it has funded over 800 startups.

Based in Silicon Valley, Y combinator is said to be one of the most selective seed accelerator with the acceptance rate of just 2%. It has funded startups such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, 9gag and many more.

By investing of $120k, on each startup, Y combinator receives 7% equity stake. Their program lasts for 3 months during which they work intensively with the startups, refining them and aiming to get their company in best possible shape to attract investors.

Brandery

“Our philosophy is that if your start-up is consumer focused, you must be brand focused. That belief is at the core of The Brandery and why we launched our program in Cincinnati, Ohio”

Brandery is another renowned start-up seed accelerator, which focuses mainly on branding, marketing and design. They have a group of inspirational and elite mentors, which include industry experts, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, legal support, and technologists who help uncover meaningful consumer insights, which will help create your own start-up as a true brand. In addition, it provides each start-up with $50k, a year of free office space, and over $200k in additional benefits in exchange for 6% of the company’s equity stake.

Brandery accelerator is a 4-month program, which is run for a year for 10-12 companies.  The startups here have access to some of the biggest companies in the world, including Procter & Gamble, dunnhumby, and Kroger and they are also paired with world-class creative agencies around the world.

Techstars

“Techstars is much more than a 3 month mentorship-driven accelerator program. Techstar is for life-our global ecosystem of founders, mentors, investors, and cooperate partners work together to create a network of support that lasts throughout your entrepreneurial journey”

Founded in Corolado, United States in 2006 by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and Jared Polis. Currently with the help of over 2000 mentors, Techstars is one of the leading accelerator programs. It is a competing accelerator of Y combinator and is often compared to it.

Less than 1% of the companies that apply to Techstars are accepted, making it highly selective. The start-ups that get accepted in Techstars cooperate accelerator programs get an opportunity, which is rather difficult to access as they get to work closely with Fortune 500 executives and employees.

In exchange for 6% common stock, the companies that get accepted into Techstars receive $18,000, access to the TechStars network, and a three-month program. According to the Handshakin Video Series^, mentorship is one of the highest values of joining Techstars.

Muru-D

“Muru-D gives start-ups access to a valuable mentor network of serial entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and savvy angel investors. Our mentors support our start-ups by providing introductions, strategic and technical advice as well as advisory support and investment to help their businesses grow.”

With its programs located in Sydney, Singapore and Brisbane, Muru-D is a starter accelerator and has successfully helped companies develop stronger entrepreneurs.  Their program has accelerated 34 companies and impacted for than 100 entrepreneurs.

Muru-D offeres start-ups with a full time team of diverse network of passionate and highly skilled mentors who help you become ‘investor ready’.

Muru-D offers Up to $200,000 cash depending on their program but they belive that ffincancial investment without great suppert will not be as impactful, thus they offer range of services including legal advice and assitance during the program, expert consulting from highly sort after pricing experts and regular office hours from a range of other business services.

In addition, Muru-D also offers 4 overseas trips to USA, China and UK. Their trips, which are about 7-14 days in length, have been prepared to deliver an extraordinary amount of value to your business as well as significant personal professional development.

Startmate

 “Startmate will help you focus by offering the support of a mentor network that has built online businesses before. We will help you attract and win your first customers and create as many early stage financing options as we can.”

Based in both Sydney and San Francisco, what makes Startmate different from other start-up accelerator is that unlike other accelerators, Startmate’s 30 mentors invest their own money into the start-ups: $50,000 initially in each of the eight companies for 7.5% stake and then it offers a further $100,000 after working with the teams.

Startmate, alongside Ycombinator and Techstars was ranked as one of the top five accelerators in the world by Naval Ravikant, co-founder of AngelList.

A total of 37 companies have graduated from Startmate, including Nexus notes which is an online marketplace for student notes, Bug heard; World’s simplest bug tracker for the web and many more.

Startmate is a 5 month program that will not only help you focus by offering the support of a mentor network that has built online businesses before but it will also help you attract and win your first customers.

Moreover, Startmate also offers to increase your network with a trip to Silicon Valley that introduces you to as many useful people through the networks of Startmate mentors and fans.