These 13 accelerators invest in women-led businesses–some designed and founded to do so, some as a part of their regular business practice. We’ve noted location, what level of involvement in female entrepreneurs they have, a sample of their support for women-led businesses from their portfolios, whether or not (and how much) they themselves fund startups in their programs, and whether they trade equity for funding.
500
Accelerator in Mountain View, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Founding Partner, Christine Tsai; many women on management team. Includes many women mentors from diverse backgrounds. Supports female entrepreneurs like the co-founders of Bucket and Incluyeme.com.
Does some early-stage seed and venture, and later-stage venture in the moble, e-commerce, SaaS, and tribbles sectors. Begun by Google and Paypal alumni.
Alphalab
Pittsburgh-based. Supports female entrepreneurs like the founders of Covey and FutureDerm. Includes some women mentors. Does seed and early-venture investments in software, games, and mobile sectors. Investment: $10-25K/5% equity.
Avindé
Austin-based. Designed to support female founders. Co-founded by Terry Chase Hazell and Laura Bosworth-Bucher. Mentors and portfolio all-female.
Does no investment. Does provide connections to help with funding.
BIG from Digital Undivided
We need a space where we can unapologetically be ourselves, learn from one another, and share one another’s networks.. This fall Kathryn Finney will be hosting a 12-week world-class business accelerator program for tech-enabled startups led by Black and Latina women. BIG ATL Accelerator Program provides a structured curriculum focused on developing sustainable businesses, mentorship by top leaders, opportunities to pitch directly to investors, and direct access to funding.
The Brandery
Cincinnati-based. Some female mentors, and some support for female founders of companies, such as Roadtrippers and Off Track Planet.
Does seed, early-stage venture, and debt financing investments in curated web, mobile, and internet. Investment: $25-50K/6% equity.
Capital Innovators
St. Louis-based. Has a female founder and CEO, Judy Sindecuse. Supports female entrepreneurs like the founders of Dabble and HealthyMe. Includes some women mentors.
Does some seed investments in software, mobile, and social media sectors. Investment: $25-50K/5-10% equity.
Dreamit (Athena program)
Philadelphia-based, though program is run in Austin, NYC, and Baltimore as well. First top-tier accelerator to tackle the challenges female entrepreneurs in particular face. Includes female executives and management. Supports female entrepreneurs explicitly (such as the co-founders of Brideside and the founder of Planana).
Does seed, early-stage venture, and later-stage venture in mobile, curated web, software, e-commerce, healthcare, edtech, fintech, foodtech, and media. Investment: $25-50K/6-8% equity.
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
NYC-based. Many women mentors, good support for female-founded startups, including Dezignable and KitSplit.
Does seed investment in technology sector. Investment: $25-50K.
LaunchTN “Tenn”
LaunchTN is a public-private partnership focused on supporting the development of high-growth companies in Tennessee. An impressive 30% of graduates from its recent masterclass, which draws from nine accelerator programs across the state, are female founders.
Mergelane
Denver-based. Designed to accelerate female-led startups. Co-founded by Sue Heilbronner and Elizabeth Kraus. Many female mentors; portfolio wholly female-founders.
Does seed investments. Investment: $10-25K/6% equity.
Prosper Women Entrepreneurs
St. Louis-based. Designed to accelerate women-led businesses. Mostly female mentorship and executive level. All-female portfolio. Very small, select classes (12 companies/year).
Initial investment: $50,000. Chance for further investment from Prosper Startup Accelerator fund.
Women’s Startup Lab
Menlo Park-based. Designed to support women founders. Founded by Ari Horie. Many women in executive positions. Portfolio wholly female-led companies.
Does no investment. However, many of its mentors are angel investors.
Y Combinator
Mountain View-based. Holds an annual Female Founders Conference. Co-founded by Jessica Livingston. Has female mentors and executives and supports some female-run or –founded companies, such as HomeJoy.
Does seed, early-stage, and debt financing. Investment: $100-200K/7% equity.
