For the first time in its history, the Techstars Boulder accelerator program will welcome two classes to its ranks each year.
The flagship program in Techstars’ network announced Thursday that it was one of a handful of markets that was chosen to test a twice-per-year accelerator. Since launching in 2007, Techstars Boulder had only graduated one class of 10 startups per year.
“Techstars Boulder being the first program, the one with the most history and legacy of startups and unicorns, that also has a very seasoned mentor network, is poised to be one of those early pioneers in running twice a year,” Managing Director Andres Barreto told Colorado Inno.
Barreto added that the global Techstars is aiming to graduate 5,000 companies per year in the next five years.
In addition to the twice-per-year format, Techstars Boulder will now operate cohorts of 12 companies, up from the standard 10. And, with two programs, Barreto said companies won’t have to wait a year to reapply if Techstars deems them not quite ready for the accelerator.
The new layout will result in accelerator programs starting in January and July.
“These companies before would’ve had to wait almost another year,” he said. “Now, we can tell them you’ve made a lot of progress and you can make it right now.”
For the previous two years, Techstars has taken its accelerator program almost entirely virtual in response to Covid-19 conditions. Now, the company is introducing a new hybrid model that brings the cohort to Boulder twice a year, first for an introductory week and then again for the final demo day at the Boulder Theater.
With that model in place, Barreto said Techstars Boulder can attract diverse-led startups from all over, introducing them to the local startup scene.
“The silver lining is we have the ability to give access to opportunities to entrepreneurs that come from geographies that before wouldn’t have been able to come,” he said.
Despite the remote nature of the program, Barreto said some recent cohort members still relocated to Colorado after their connection with local mentors. He’s optimistic that will continue at a larger scale with the additional Techstars Boulder program.
Of the 11 companies that took part in Techstars Boulder’s accelerator in 2021, Barreto said seven have already raised outside capital. For him, that’s a key marker of success.
There has been a total of 161 alumni companies to come out of Techstars Boulder and they have collectively raised over $2 billion in capital.
In tandem with this announcement, Techstars Boulder has announced its first class of 2022, bringing together 12 global companies to the accelerator.
Companies in the 2022 class cover industries including financial technology, software, sustainability, web 3, e-commerce and more, and come from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Additionally, Techstars reports that over 70% of the companies are led by diverse founders.
Check out the new class below (descriptions are provided by Techstars):
Altscore: Helps lenders lend to more small businesses and consumers with APIs for data, risk and scoring.
Aimo: Helps small shops sell more and ship faster via Whatsapp in Latin America.
AnswerBite: Capture, edit & share social proof videos like testimonials in minutes.
Budget Better: Helps millennials and Gen-Z take control of their money and save more through the use of community.
Chainstarters: A rapid-development platform that bridges the gap between Web2 and Web3.
Farm: A climate investment platform that makes it easy to invest in land restoration.
Freeflow: A vetted talent marketplace to hire freelance blockchain developers quickly into Web3 projects.
Hometuls: The one-stop shop for construction materials in Latin America.
Orda: Helps restaurants in Africa manage their online and offline orders, payments and customers in one place.
Rooted: Lends to employees of publicly traded companies so they can participate in their employer's stock purchase plans.
Strikes: Helps retail options traders save time and money.
Zealous: Lets creators and Web3 builders create live community spaces.
