Wednesday, May 4, 2011

TechStars, BoomStartup Rank In Top Accelerators List

Boulder-based startup incubation and mentoring effort TechStars took the top spot in a list released this week of the top "venture accelerators", with Salt Lake City incubation effort BoomStartup also making the list. According to a ranking of venture acceleration programs by Kauffman Fellows Program member Aziz Gilani, a venture capitalist at DFJ Mercury, TechStars took the number one spot in venture accelerators in the country. TechStars beat out YCombinator for the top position. The group also had two other of its chapters--its effort in Boston, at number 5, and TechStars Seattle at number 7--in the list. BoomStartup was ranked at number 14. Venture accelerators look to help companies get funding and succeed in the market, through mentoring and intense help. The study used the number of financing events from companies attending the programs, the success of companies coming out of the accelerators, as well as the structure of those accelerator programs.