Here are 12 US-based startup accelerators and founder programs worth knowing in 2026.
Y Combinator
- Deal: $500K total: $125K post-money SAFE for 7% equity, plus $375K on an uncapped MFN SAFE.
- Location: San Francisco, in-person.
- Duration: 3 months. Four batches per year: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.
- Stage: Idea through early revenue.
Y Combinator remains the most recognized accelerator brand globally. Its portfolio includes thousands of companies, and its Demo Day continues to attract one of the highest concentrations of seed and Series A investors in the startup ecosystem.
The program combines three months of in-person programming in San Francisco with weekly group sessions, partner office hours, peer support, and Demo Day. Founders are matched with YC partners and work alongside other companies in smaller groups, creating a dense operating environment for early product, hiring, and fundraising decisions.
YC's recent batches show a strong concentration of AI startups, reflecting where early-stage founder activity has moved. But the program remains sector-agnostic and continues to back companies across software, fintech, healthcare, developer tools, consumer, climate, and other categories.
The investment process starts immediately after acceptance, which matters for founders who are actively fundraising or need capital before the official batch begins. International founders can apply, but should plan company structure carefully. YC commonly invests through entities in the US, Canada, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands, and accepted founders can get connected with immigration support.
Best fit: Founders who want the strongest global accelerator brand, broad investor exposure, a high-density peer group, and a clear fundraising path after the program.
Apply: Y Combinator
Techstars
- Deal: $220K total: $20K for 5% common stock through a Convertible Equity Agreement, plus $200K on an uncapped MFN SAFE. No program fee.
- Location: US programs include New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, and others. Techstars Anywhere is remote-first.
- Duration: 3 months.
- Stage: Pre-seed to early revenue.
Techstars is one of the largest mentor-driven accelerator networks in the world. Its updated investment structure, introduced in 2025, increased the amount of capital available to founders while keeping the program centered around mentorship, network access, and local ecosystem support.
The biggest structural change is that the $20K equity component sits as common stock rather than preferred stock. The rest of the capital comes through an uncapped MFN SAFE, which converts later based on future financing terms.
Techstars programs are typically small, with around 10 to 12 startups per cohort. The first weeks are focused on mentor matching, founder diagnostics, and identifying the most important bottlenecks. The rest of the program is tailored around each company's path toward product-market fit, customer development, fundraising, and growth.
Unlike YC, which centralizes in San Francisco, Techstars operates through city-based and vertical-specific programs. That makes it especially useful for founders who want a strong local network or who are building in categories where a specific Techstars program has relevant corporate, mentor, or investor access.
Best fit: Pre-seed founders who want structured mentorship, a smaller cohort, and access to a broad global network without needing to join a very large batch.
Apply: Techstars
PearX
- Deal: $250K to $2M per company, depending on stage and needs. Equity terms are tailored per company. Includes access to $1M+ in cloud credits.
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, in-person. Companies relocate for the program.
- Duration: 12 weeks.
- Stage: Pre-seed, from idea stage to early traction.
PearX is the accelerator arm of Pear VC, the early-stage firm founded by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson. Pear has backed companies such as DoorDash, Vanta, Guardant Health, Gusto, Aurora Solar, and Dropbox at early stages.
PearX is designed as a small-batch, high-touch accelerator. Instead of running very large cohorts, the program typically works with a limited number of companies and gives each team direct partner engagement throughout the program.
The main differentiator is operational support. PearX helps founders with early hiring, go-to-market strategy, ICP definition, customer discovery, and first customer acquisition. Founders also get access to Pear Studio SF, a dedicated workspace in San Francisco, and to cloud and AI credits from major infrastructure providers.
Each cohort begins with Camp Pear, a short founder retreat, followed by 12 weeks of intensive company-building support. Demo Day includes an in-person component for investors as well as a broader virtual investor audience.
Because the program is in-person, international founders should plan relocation and visa logistics before applying. Solo founders are eligible, and Pear may support co-founder search when relevant.
Best fit: Pre-seed founders who want more hands-on partner time, recruiting help, GTM support, and an integrated early-stage operating platform.
Apply: PearX
a16z Speedrun
- Deal: $500K upfront for 10% via a SAFE, plus $500K follow-on investment if the company raises within 18 months. Includes $5M+ in cloud, AI, and software credits.
- Location: San Francisco, in-person required.
- Duration: 12 weeks. Two cohorts per year.
- Stage: Pre-seed to seed.
a16z Speedrun launched as the accelerator arm of a16z's GAMES Fund and has since expanded into a broader, AI-heavy program for early-stage startups.
The program is built around speed, density, and access to the a16z platform. Founders join 12 weeks of expert-led sessions, office hours, and tactical support across brand, go-to-market, customer acquisition, fundraising, and team scaling.
The equity cost is higher than many peer programs, but Speedrun offers unusually deep access to the a16z network. This includes operating support across marketing, finance, recruiting, and product, as well as relationships across AI infrastructure providers and the broader a16z portfolio ecosystem.
Speedrun is particularly relevant for founders building in AI, developer tools, infrastructure, gaming, consumer software, and B2B software. It also runs a Global Founders Program designed to help non-US founders with banking, relocation, and visa support.
Best fit: AI and software founders who want access to a16z's platform, investor network, infrastructure credits, and operator bench, and who are comfortable with a higher fixed equity cost.
Apply: a16z Speedrun
South Park Commons Founder Fellowship
- Deal: $1M total: $400K upfront for 7% equity through a SAFE, plus $600K guaranteed in the next outside-led round. Includes up to $1M in credits and perks.
- Location: San Francisco, New York City, or Bengaluru offices.
- Duration: 2-month in-person bootcamp, followed by an open-ended residency.
- Stage: Pre-idea to pre-product. SPC calls this the "-1 to 0" phase.
South Park Commons was founded in 2016 by former Dropbox executives Ruchi Sanghvi and Aditya Agarwal. It has often been described as an "anti-incubator" because it focuses less on accelerating an existing idea and more on helping exceptional people choose the right problem to build around.
The core thesis is that many early-stage companies fail not because founders cannot execute, but because they commit too early to the wrong market, problem, or customer. SPC is designed to create space before company formation, when founders are still developing conviction.
The Fellowship has two phases. The bootcamp brings the cohort together in one office to build, demo, and exchange feedback. The residency that follows is more flexible, with continued access to SPC offices, partners, and the broader community.
There is no traditional Demo Day. When founders are ready to raise, SPC makes direct introductions to seed and Series A investors. Rather than optimizing for a single fundraising moment, SPC optimizes for founder quality and long-term company formation.
Best fit: Technologists and early founders at the "before the company" stage who want time, capital, and a high-quality peer community to find the right problem before scaling.
Apply: South Park Commons Founder Fellowship
Neo Residency
- Deal: $750K through an uncapped SAFE. Neo receives participation rights of up to 5% in the next equity round. Includes compute credits and long-term community access.
- Location: San Francisco's Jackson Square, in-person. Includes a 2-week Oregon bootcamp.
- Duration: 3 months.
- Stage: Pre-seed.
Neo Residency is the successor to Neo's earlier accelerator model and is built around a more selective, founder-first structure. The program is run by Ali Partovi and focuses heavily on technical founders and high-agency builders.
The investment structure is one of the most differentiated parts of the program. Instead of taking a fixed 7% to 10% upfront like many traditional accelerators, Neo uses an uncapped SAFE and participates in the next equity round. That model can reduce dilution for companies that raise at stronger future valuations.
The program includes three months of workspace in San Francisco, a two-week Oregon bootcamp, one-on-one mentorship, compute credits, and access to Neo's long-term founder and talent community.
Selection tends to skew toward technical founders, repeat builders, and people Neo has already tracked through its broader Neo Scholar and Neo Talent networks. The program also includes a student track, offering grants to high-potential college builders.
Best fit: Technical founders who want strong economics, a selective peer group, and long-term access to Neo's talent and investor network.
Apply: Neo Residency
HF0 Residency
- Reported deal: $1M for 5% equity through an uncapped SAFE. Living expenses are covered during the residency.
- Location: San Francisco, live-in residency.
- Duration: 12 weeks. Rolling cohorts.
- Stage: Pre-seed. Repeat or technically deep founders strongly preferred.
HF0, also known as Hacker Fellowship Zero, is one of the most intense founder residencies in the US. The format is simple and demanding: a small number of teams live and work together in the same building for 12 weeks.
Housing, meals, and day-to-day operational overhead are covered so founders can focus on building. The program is intentionally light on formal curriculum and heavy on density, speed, and founder-to-founder pressure.
HF0 is not designed for every early-stage founder. Its selection filter is focused on founders with an exceptional record of technical execution. Repeat-founder experience, deep technical ability, and speed of shipping matter more than polished pitch materials.
The live-in model creates a level of intensity that most accelerators do not replicate. Founders are surrounded by peers, mentors, and visiting investors, with the expectation that they will move fast and make meaningful progress during the residency.
Best fit: Repeat technical founders or unusually strong builders who want a high-density live-in environment and are comfortable with an intense format.
Apply: HF0
Alchemist Accelerator
- Deal: Optional small cash investment. Alchemist says the average net proceeds to the company are around $30K after the tuition-fee offset. Most companies grant around 5% equity, but terms are flexible.
- Location: San Francisco, with programming optimized for California and Europe time zones. Founders can participate from anywhere, and co-working space is available in San Francisco.
- Duration: 6 months.
- Stage: Seed-stage.
- Focus: Enterprise, B2B, and deep-tech startups.
Alchemist is one of the clearest sector specialists on this list. It focuses on startups that sell to enterprises, not consumers.
That focus matters. B2B startups often face longer sales cycles, more complex procurement, pilot-to-contract conversion challenges, and pricing questions that generalist accelerators may not address deeply enough. Alchemist's curriculum is built around those realities.
The program supports founders across customer development, enterprise sales, pricing, pilot design, fundraising, and investor readiness. Demo Day is aimed at investors who understand enterprise software and technical B2B companies, rather than a broad generalist audience.
Alchemist has supported hundreds of enterprise-focused startups, and many alumni have gone on to raise institutional rounds. Its backing network includes enterprise-focused investors and corporate partners, making it especially relevant for technical teams building software for large organizations.
Best fit: B2B, enterprise software, infrastructure, and deep-tech founders who want category-specific mentorship and investor access.
Apply: Alchemist Accelerator
SOSV: HAX, SOSV NY, SOSV SF
- Deal: Up to $550K at HAX and up to $525K at SOSV NY and SOSV SF, depending on program and company fit.
- Location: Newark, New Jersey for HAX; New York City for SOSV NY; San Francisco for SOSV SF.
- Duration: 4 to 6 months. Rolling intake.
- Stage: Pre-seed.
- Focus: Deep tech, hardware, robotics, industrial decarbonization, biotech, chemistry, energy, AI for science, and engineering biology.
SOSV is one of the world's most active deep-tech pre-seed investors. Its platform is built around specialized infrastructure rather than a general accelerator model.
HAX focuses on hard tech, robotics, hardware, industrial decarbonization, and physical AI. Its Newark facility gives founders access to prototyping resources, machine tools, engineering benches, and hands-on technical expertise. For hardware founders, that can materially reduce the cost and time needed to build a working prototype.
SOSV NY and SOSV SF build on the legacy of IndieBio while reflecting a broader deep-tech focus. These programs support companies in biotech, chemistry, energy, AI for science, and related technical fields, with access to lab infrastructure and scientific expertise.
For deep-tech founders, this changes the economics of company formation. Instead of raising a large seed round just to assemble equipment, lab space, and technical support, founders can build inside existing SOSV infrastructure and raise on actual progress.
Best fit: Deep-tech, biotech, robotics, hard-tech, climate, and science-driven founders who need infrastructure, technical support, and investors who understand long R&D cycles.
Apply: SOSV
AI House
- Deal: Up to $600K SAFE, plus up to $1M in non-dilutive cloud compute credits.
- Location: Seattle.
- Duration: 4 to 18 months, depending on company needs. Rolling intake.
- Stage: Pre-idea to pre-seed.
- Focus: Applied AI, AI for science, AI for biology, foundation-model applications, and vertical AI.
AI House, formerly AI2 Incubator, was born inside the Allen Institute for AI and rebranded as part of a broader Seattle-anchored AI company-building platform.
The program operates differently from most accelerators. It often works more like a co-founder or venture studio partner, helping founders shape ideas, find co-founders, validate customers, build technical architecture, and move toward company formation.
This is especially valuable for technical founders commercializing AI research or building applied AI companies in complex domains. AI House's connection to the AI2 ecosystem gives founders access to research depth, technical mentorship, and a community of AI operators and scientists.
The engagement can last anywhere from a few months to more than a year, depending on the company. That flexibility makes it different from fixed 12-week accelerator models and better suited to companies that need more technical formation time before fundraising.
Best fit: AI researchers, technical founders, and domain experts building applied AI companies that need deep technical support before scaling.
Apply: AI House
Berkeley SkyDeck
- Deal: $200K to $210K for 7.5% equity through a SAFE. Follow-on rights may apply. $7.5K program fee.
- Location: Berkeley, California.
- Duration: 6 months. Two batches per year.
- Stage: Seed.
Berkeley SkyDeck is UC Berkeley's global startup accelerator and one of the strongest university-backed programs in the US. It operates as a public-private partnership, with part of fund profits returning to UC Berkeley.
The funded Cohort program selects a small group of startups per batch. A parallel Pad-13 track supports additional companies that receive many of the same resources without the guaranteed investment.
SkyDeck gives founders access to advisors, weekly roundtables, investor introductions, and UC Berkeley's large alumni network. The Berkeley connection is particularly useful for recruiting, customer introductions, research relationships, and technical hiring.
SkyDeck also runs a Global Founders Program for non-US founders relocating to Silicon Valley, with support around incorporation, visa pathways, and Bay Area landing logistics. Historically, a meaningful share of SkyDeck startups have come from outside the US.
Best fit: Seed-stage founders who want Bay Area access, university ecosystem support, investor introductions, and a structured landing path into Silicon Valley.
Apply: Berkeley SkyDeck
LAUNCH Accelerator
- Deal: $125K for 7% equity. No program fee.
- Location: Hybrid.
- Duration: 14 weeks.
- Stage: Pre-seed to pre-Series A. LAUNCH describes the ideal stage as the "Goldilocks Zone": product in market with some traction.
LAUNCH Accelerator, run by Jason Calacanis, is built for founders who already have a product in market and are preparing for their first institutional round.
Unlike accelerators that accept many companies at the idea stage, LAUNCH is optimized for startups with some traction, early revenue, or clear evidence of customer demand. The program focuses heavily on fundraising mechanics, pitch refinement, growth strategy, pricing, and investor readiness.
Cohorts are small, and founders get access to a large investor network through LAUNCH, This Week in Startups, and The Syndicate. The hybrid format also makes the program more accessible for founders who cannot fully relocate to San Francisco.
LAUNCH is particularly useful for founders who are close to raising but need help sharpening the story, building investor momentum, and getting in front of the right angels and seed funds.
Best fit: Founders with a product in market, early traction, and a near-term plan to raise institutional capital.
Apply: LAUNCH Accelerator
A quick note for international founders
For international founders, joining a US accelerator often involves both company-structure and immigration considerations.
Many US programs are built around investing into a US company structure, commonly a Delaware C-corp. Some accelerators also support selected non-US structures. For example, Y Combinator currently invests in companies incorporated in the US, Canada, Cayman Islands, and Singapore, while other international startups may need to restructure before receiving investment.
This is usually a legal and operational process rather than a simple formality. Incorporation, tax setup, cap table cleanup, IP assignment, and any cross-border restructuring can take time, especially when a company already has an entity outside the US.
Visa pathways also vary by founder, passport, program format, and length of stay. Some founders participate in short accelerator programs through visitor-based routes such as a B-1 visa or ESTA where eligible, while others later explore longer-term options such as the O-1A visa. Accelerator acceptance can sometimes support a broader immigration profile, but it is only one part of the overall case.
Several programs now make international-founder support more explicit. a16z Speedrun’s Global Founders Program provides guidance around banking, visas, and relocation. Berkeley SkyDeck has a Global Founders Program for founders entering the Bay Area ecosystem. Y Combinator also works with international founders and provides access to relevant legal and immigration resources once accepted. The level of support varies by program and cohort.