A ranked list of 45 startup accelerators to apply to in 2026, scored on network quality and equity cost
Ranked on two things: the network you actually get, and what the money costs you in equity.
Boost VC takes 15% for $500k.
a16z Speedrun takes 10% for $500k, then guarantees another $500k.
Same cheque. Five points apart.
That gap is the entire ranking — and it matters more if you’re raising cross-border, where every point of dilution gets scrutinized twice: once by the accelerator, once by your next investor back home.
- Y Combinator — $500k ($125k for 7% + $375k uncapped)
- a16z Speedrun — $500k for 10% + $500k follow-on
- South Park Commons — $400k for 7% + $600k follow-on
- Sequoia Arc — $1M for ~10%
- HF0 Residency — $1M uncapped SAFE for 5%
- NEO Residency — $750k uncapped SAFE
- Conviction Embed — $150k uncapped MFN SAFE
- PearX — $250k–$2M SAFE
- Greylock Edge — custom SAFE + $500k in credits
- Afore Capital — $500k–$2M SAFE
- AI2 Incubator — up to $600k for ~7%
- Seedcamp — $350k–$1M, flexible terms
- Entrepreneurs First — up to $250k for ~9%
- Founders, Inc. — $100k–$250k for 4–7%
- Betaworks AI Camp — up to $500k for 5%
- Soma Capital — $100k
- 500 Global — $150k for 6%
- SOSV / HAX — $250k for ~7%
- SOSV NY & SF (formerly IndieBio) — up to $525k
- Techstars — $220k for 5%+
- Z Fellows — $10k for one week, $1B cap
- Berkeley SkyDeck — $200k
- LAUNCH — $125k for 6%
- Alchemist — ~$30k SAFE for ~5%
- Forum Ventures — $100k for 7.5%
- ERA — $150k for 6% + $320k in credits
- The Mint — $500k for 10%
- Antler US — $200k–$250k for 8–9%
- Antler Europe — €100k for 10% + stipend
- EWOR — up to €500k
- Heartfelt VC — up to €500k
- gener8tor — $100k for 7.5%
- Founders Fellowship — $150k for 5–10%
- Startup Wise Guys — €65k + up to €300k follow-on
- HSG START — CHF 200k for 4–10%
- Bethnal Green Ventures — £60k for 7%
- Boost VC — $500k for 15%
- Thiel Fellowship — $250k over 2 years, no equity, 22 & under
- Google for Startups — equity-free, up to $100k + $350k credits
- NVIDIA Inception — equity-free, GPU + cloud credits
- Microsoft for Startups — equity-free, up to $150k in credits
- Mozilla Builders — up to $100k, non-dilutive
- MassChallenge — equity-free, up to $100k in prizes
- Creative Destruction Lab — equity-free, no investment
- Plug and Play — equity-free, optional $100k–$150k SAFE
Two deadlines worth knowing about right now:
→ South Park Commons closes 11:59pm PT this Sunday, August 2.
→ YC‘s on-time deadline for the Fall batch passed on the 27th, but late applications are still being read.
If you’re weighing a US/EU accelerator against staying close to your home market’s investor base, happy to talk through the tradeoffs in the comments.
