Techstars Seattle is shutting down.
In a Wednesday post to the Techstars website, CEO Maëlle Gavet said while the accelerator is doubling down on programs in its largest tech hubs, it will be "phasing out some accelerator programs in a few smaller venture markets where we have run accelerators in the past."
She added that the accelerator will focus on its hybrid Techstars Anywhere program to help founders who don't live in one of its hubs.
Chris DeVore, former managing director of Techstars Seattle, lamented the end of Techstars Seattle in a blog post. According to DeVore, Techstars over the years became too beholden to corporate partners rather than startup founders, and the organization as a whole lost sight of its mission.
"For every sponsor who agreed to write a check, there were a dozen other vendors who were equally or more qualified to support the teams in the program," DeVore wrote. "What did we owe our sponsors, and did that put us in conflict with our commitments to give founders the best possible advice, and to never waste their time?"
A spokesperson for Techstars Seattle disputed DeVore's take but didn't add further comment on the Seattle closure.
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Techstars launched in Seattle in 2010 and has graduated more than 140 companies. According to its website, Techstars Seattle companies have landed over $2.8 billion in funding. Graduates of the program include big names like Seattle-based remittance company Remitly and Seattle-based sales technology company Outreach.
DeVore, now founding managing partner at the Founders' Co-op, was managing director of Techstars Seattle from 2014 to 2019, after which Isaac Kato took over. Kato stepped down in September 2022.
Marius Ciocirlan, co-founder of the filmmaker and photographer marketplace ShareGrid, has been Techstars Seattle's managing director since October 2022.
The larger Techstars accelerator has graduated 20 "unicorns," or companies worth at least $1 billion. The cumulative market capitalization of all its portfolio companies, according to the Techstars website, is $108.7 billion.
The accelerator also announced it will move its corporate headquarters from Boulder, Colorado, to New York City.
