Techstars is launching a new accelerator program aimed at helping the best social impact startups around the world bring their solutions to market and solve social and environmental problems.
The new program, called Techstars Impact Accelerator, will be housed in Austin. And the addition makes Austin's Techstars office, which opened in 2013, one of the largest and most active in the world outside of its hometown of Boulder, Colo., according to Zoe Schlag, managing director of the new program and founder of UnLtd USA, which is partnering with Techstars on the accelerator.
“We’re really excited about this for Austin," Schlag told me. "Austin is positioned to be a leader bridging technology and social innovation. Austin has become one of the world's top hubs for social innovations."
The program will start accepting applications in December, and it will select 10 startups per class, which starts in June 2018. The program also has its own fund, which is backed by Morgan Stanley's AIP Private Markets Team, Impact America Fun and Cotter Cunningham, CEO of Austin-based RetailMeNot, Inc.
Schlag declined to disclose how much money the fund has. But, she said, like other Techstars accelerators, it will invest $120,000 into each company for a 6 percent stake.
The new program brings together Techstars, which has a long history of investing in social impact startups, and UnLtd USA, which Schlag founded after working with UnLtd India.
For example, Techstars has backed Zipline, a Seattle-based startup using drones to bring medical supplies to unaccessible areas in Africa, and Austin-based Aunt Bertha, which helps connect people with social services. Shlag said she suspects most applications will come from the U.S., but that Techstars Impact Accelerator is a global entity and will likely have several international startups enter the program.
“This is really Techstars doubling down in Austin,” Schlag said.
