From access to high-tech equipment to logistical support for manufacturing at scale, startup accelerators and incubators can provide valuable support for hardware tech startups to develop their product and scale their businesses. These are the best hardware tech accelerators and incubators to help startups secure funding, build their network, and grow their business.
Best Accelerators for Hard Tech Startups
Accelerators and incubators offer startups access to resources from funding to lab space to help them prototype products and set the foundation for their businesses. The programs outlined below vary in funding amount, location, and duration, but they focus on helping hardware tech entrepreneurs develop and refine their products.
1. The Heritage Group Accelerator
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Funding Amount: $150,000 (convertible note)
The Heritage Group Accelerator is a program designed for early-stage hard tech startups. It focuses on areas where hard tech, Industry 4.0, climate, sustainability, and clean tech converge. Participants gain access to world-class corporate labs for product testing and R&D, as well as dedicated mentorship from industry experts. The program offers a comprehensive curriculum including workshops, panels, and potential for product piloting. Startups also benefit from The Heritage Group’s network of 30+ operating companies and Indiana’s strong manufacturing ecosystem.
2. Highway1
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Funding Amount: Up to $100,000
Highway1 is a program built specifically for hardware startups to turn their product into a business manufactured at scale. The program has helped launch startups building hardware for various sectors — from food tech and mobility to diagnostics. Since their inception in 2013, Highway1 has been driven to support entrepreneurs who are dedicated to crafting design-, brand-, and consumer experience-driven products, preparing them to go to market quickly and avoid inventory risks along the way.
3. PIE
- Location: Portland, Oregon
- Funding Amount: None
The Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) spawned from a conversation with powerhouse creative advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. Since its inception, PIE has offered a no-equity, no-tuition program built to help founders access mentorship, networks, and the community they need to build successful companies. Programs offered by PIE include Software as a Service (SaaS) & Mobile, Manufacturing, and Consumer Products. Many of the programs are offered to pre-funding and pre-revenue companies, but the Consumer Products program is geared toward growth-stage, traded-sector companies that are post-revenue.
4. Boomtown Accelerators
- Location: Boulder, Colorado
- Funding Amount: Undisclosed
Boulder-based Boomtown Accelerators offers several accelerator programs for sportstech, health innovation, and hardware startups. Since their launch, Boomtown has made more than 200 investments and boasts a $1.5 billion portfolio valuation. All startups involved in their accelerator programs, called Innovation Platforms, also gain access to The Innovation Center, which includes a hardware lab for the prototyping and development of products using expensive, specialized tools.
5. NextFab
- Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Funding Amount: None
NextFab’s product development program has helped more than 50 companies build, refine, and test products through their 25,000-square-foot South Philadelphia makerspace. The program helps startups with product research and strategy, industrial design, engineering, in-house prototyping, and the logistics of manufacturing at scale. Entrepreneurs working with NextFab gain access to a wealth of high-end equipment from 3D printers to a fully equipped electronics lab.
6. HAX
- Location: Newark, New Jersey
- Funding Amount: $250,000
HAX is a startup development program operated by multistage venture capital (VC) fund SOSV and built for hard tech startups. The program, which lasts between six and 18 months, works to help entrepreneurs de-risk the cost, performance, and manufacturing of their products to help prepare them for scale and future funding rounds. Startups that participate in the HAX program receive $250,000 in pre-seed funding with the opportunity for follow-on funding after completion of the program up to Series C.
7. mHUB
- Location: Chicago, Illinois
- Funding Amount: $100,000
mHub is a six-month accelerator program built for hard tech startups solving pain points in the sustainable manufacturing, industrial Internet of things (IoT), medtech, climate tech, and energy tech sectors. The program is built for early stage founders and their startups to leverage prototyping labs fitted with $6 million worth of equipment, more than 50 workshops, and networking services to build mission-driven hardware products. Participants receive $100,000 in cash and $75,000 in services, programming, and hardware in exchange for 6.5% equity as well as follow-on support post-program.
8. AlphaLab Gear
- Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Funding Amount: $100,000
AlphaLab Gear is a hardware startup accelerator that offers programs customized to each startup’s unique needs. The program is broken up into two three-month sections with the first half dedicated to prototyping for scale through their Manufacturing Bootcamp, refining value propositions, and defining sales and marketing strategies. The second half of the program focuses on customer acquisition, cash flow and fundraising, and a Portfolio Showcase to introduce the startup to potential investors. AlphaLab Gear invests $100,000 in participating startups with up to $800,000 available in follow-on seed funding.