31 Best Startup Accelerators in NYC 2024

There are dozens of startup incubators and accelerators in New York. The following are some of the programs that we think you should check out. They range in size and support type, so you may need to keep looking until you find the right partner for your brand.

Forum Ventures is best known as an early-stage and startup venture capital firm and is headed by CEO Michael Cardamone. It also has a Forum Seed fund for Seed to Series A investments. Across all five funds, the group has raised $51.6 million. Some of the businesses in its portfolio include Fireflies.ai, Firstbase, Ascendo, and Allbound.

Big Idea Ventures is based in New York and works on other stages such as seed, venture, early-stage venture, and private equity. A capital venture firm, the program has three funds totaling $250 million. The newest fund is New Protein Fund II, which has raised a total of $75 million. It invests in companies working with plant-based or cell-based foods, technologies, and ingredients.

Genius NY is a venture capital firm founded in 2017 that has raised over $100 million. It refers to itself as a $3 million business accelerator that focuses on uncrewed aerial systems, big data startups, and robotics. It collaborates with Starburst — itself an aerospace and defense accelerator — to invest in early-stage startups. 

Members in the portfolios include brands such as Airial Robotics, Akrobotix, Civ Robotics, Mast Reforestation, and Dropcopter.

Luminate is a global foundation that funds existing organizations to collaborate and come up with new solutions and initiatives for advocacy work. It supports work that aims to improve the inclusivity of political and civic life while removing barriers. It also offers early-stage support and seeding solutions. 

What makes this program more exclusive is that Luminate does not accept unsolicited proposals. Instead, it reaches out to potential partners itself by identifying the strongest opportunities to scale.

XRC Ventures is a venture firm and startup accelerator located in New York City. The firm focuses on retail technology, the consumerization of healthcare, and consumer goods. It has made 126 investments with 54 diversity investments. 

It works with debt, early-stage venture, seed, and venture stages. Each year, it has two programs to bring together investors, retailers, and entrepreneurs. Startups receive capital as well as operational support, mentoring, and a workspace in Manhattan. XRC Ventures has five funds, totaling $34 million.

Echoing Green is a 501c3 charity. It has invested over $37 million in over 700 fellows located in over 86 countries around the world. Leaders (fellows) receive support valued at up to $200,000. While many programs only work with for-profit companies, this accelerator focuses on both for-profit and nonprofit startup funding. 

Some of the investments have resulted in the launch of SKS Microfinance, One Acre Fund, City Year, and Teach for America.

ICONYC Labs is an accelerator and value-add investor. It works with early-stage Israeli startups within the technology space, including digital health, drones, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Specific investment stages include seed and early-stage ventures. 

ICONYC Lab’s portfolio includes brands such as Connecteam, Mealco, Rupert, TrialJectory, and Rupert. To apply, entrepreneurs can reach out to one of the program’s co-founders directly to share information about their startups or apply on their website.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator has raised over $1.7 billion in funds and has over 300 alumni. It runs two four-month programs annually, with one starting in January and the other running in June. ERA has no stage requirements, but it does request that applicants have an initial product and a solid team. 

ERA works in the technology space, and it says it has a bias toward companies with two-to-four-person foundation teams. Past investments include Flyhound, Keye, and Pharmesol.

43North is a startup accelerator based in Buffalo, New York. It invests $5 million annually and has raised over $1 billion in venture capital. It works with startups that are ready to scale (usually seed-stage startups) and has a portfolio including brands such as AMPAworks, ASARASI, BetterMynd, Bounce Imaging, and BIG. 

Industries that 43North has worked with include manufacturing, software, life sciences, clean tech, and consumer products. Chosen applicants go through three rounds of selection, including an in-person, on-stage pitch.

Techstars New York City Accelerator makes investments at the accelerator stage and also has a follow-on fund, with the first investment being up to $120,000. Techstars will fund all kinds of startups and works in most verticles. Its total funding amount is $106.9 million through seven funding rounds. 

2022 T2 companies working with Techstars include Bucephalus, Torche, The Fetchery, Newt, pills2me, and Voyance. Applicants should submit a team video and product demo video along with their application for the best chance of being selected.

Lair East Labs is a startup accelerator based in New York City. It focuses on helping early-stage venture, seed, and venture startups in pre-seed or raising seed stages. It has 31 investments and nine diversity investments primarily focused on disruptive technology solutions. 

Through the company’s 10-week program, eight to 12 startups receive up to $150,000 to help them expand into Asian markets. Its portfolio includes enterprise, deeptech, hardware, consumer, entertainment, and health industries, with brands such as Modality.ai, Goop, and Sinc.

Branded Hospitality Ventures is an advisory and investment platform. It focuses on the hospitality tech and food services industries, supporting emerging brands. It considers itself an accelerator, venture capital group, and incubator. Branded Hospitality Ventures has 42 investments, including Ottonomy, Copia, and Bbot. 

URBAN-X states that it is a resource for startups working with urbantech solutions. Its goal is to make cities more resilient, livable, and sustainable. The accelerator program is for seed-stage founders with a prototype in the CleanTech industry (or branches of it). Some past companies include Seam Social Labs, Studio1Labs, and LimeLoop.

Blueprint Health is a community of entrepreneurs in the healthcare space that help healthcare IT companies grow. The mentors work with the companies for three months to help them grow or reach their individual business goals.

Some of the members of Junto Health, a collaborator with Blueprint Health, include Aetna, HP, Allied Physicians Group, and TriNet. Blueprint Health’s portfolio includes companies such as Bind and Blue Mesa. Revenue from Blueprint Health’s companies is $6.8 million.

Squared Circles is a group of entrepreneurs that works as a venture studio. It invests in brands aiming to improve the world and has raised $80 million in capital to date. Squared Circles works with companies such as Mud\Wtr, Mate.Bike, Tarform, and Pangaia. Notably, it also works in partnership with Nike Valiant Labs. 

ConsenSys Mesh is working to help with the global adoption of Web 3.0. Founded in 2015, it invests, incubates, and helps with research, development, and acceleration. It presently supports 5,000+ founders and builders such as Gnosis, Tribute Labs, and Starkware. Through its 12-week accelerator program Tachyon, it has helped over 80 startups with acceleration.

Waldencast has the goal of building a global beauty and wellness platform with multiple brands. It works as an accelerator, incubator, venture capital firm, and private equity firm investing in convertible notes, early-stage ventures, late-stage ventures, private equity, seed, and venture stages. 

Waldencast has nine investments with five diversity investments. It previously announced a $1.2 billion business combination.

The Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab is an in-house startup accelerator. Its goal is to promote financial inclusion and help companies with underrepresented founders get capital for their early-stage technology or tech-enabled companies. 

Sixty-nine companies have been a part of the lab so far, and $157 million in funding has been raised following participation. The fall 2022 cohort included brands such as Physician 360 and Gentreo.

FoodFutureCo is a scale-up accelerator. It works with small organizations that it believes have the potential to scale. It works in food-related industries such as local food, plant-based food, consumer products, food tech, food waste, and others. 

So far, it has a history of 304 investors, 512 mentors, and 48 rounds of financing. Its portfolio includes Fire Ox, Ozuke, Seal the Seasons, and Harvest Returns. It invests up to $10,000 per company.

Virtual Force is an innovative tech accelerator. It partners with growth agencies, startups, and enterprises that are working to improve lives around the globe. Some of the industries it works with include healthcare, the Metaverse, artificial intelligence, digital commerce, and finances. 

Its portfolio includes companies such as Memoria Sky, Lorry, and WhiteCoat. Its funds, over time, have accumulated to over $150 million.

Cornell’s eLab Accelerator is aimed at helping student entrepreneurs launch their businesses. The program welcomes student teams in the fall semester and filters them in the spring based on their business models and performance. 

The program is aimed at accelerating top Cornell University startups and has helped launch AI-Learners, StaffOnTap, Antithesis, and FloraPulse. Alumni have raised over $334 in capital.

Dreamit Healthtech is a vertical of Dreamit Venture. It works with over 70 sprint partners, including Johns Hopkins, Geisinger, Intermountain Healthcare, and Cone Health. Dreamit has made 56 investments and invests in the early-stage venture, seed, and venture stages. 

This company only invests in digital health, diagnostic startups, and medical devices. As a part of Dreamit Ventures, it shares a massive $54.8 million across seven funds.

FinTech Innovation Lab has raised $2.7 billion in capital and has 270 alumni companies. It works with those in New York, London, and Asia-Pacific, with over 140 global partners in the financial sector. 

This fund, called “The Partnership Fund for New York City,” is an investment worth $180 million. The goal is to spur new businesses, jobs, and opportunities for those living in New York. Alumni include Aimbrain, Albert, and Alloy.

Starta Accelerator is a technology-based accelerator that works with startups in the pre-seed to Round A stages. The accelerator program is six weeks long when online or three months (intensive) in New York City. So far, over $75 million has been raised by program alumni.

Businesses have an opportunity to raise up to $1 million with the program and get strategy guidance and networking support.

Almaworks is a grant and non-equity assistance program designed for student startups from Columbia University. It has made investments in companies including Grubify, Epsom-It, BOLD, and Forestry ML. 

While Almaworks’ funding is undisclosed, it does invest in student startups with an eight-week intensive program.

VentureOut is an accelerator working in finance, financial services, and nonprofit industries. It has operated since 2012 and invests in early-stage venture and seed companies. The goal of the company is to help startups launch and raise capital in New York City. 

VentureOut has over 1,000 alumni and has raised over $2 billion. There are 25 total programs per year.

INV FinTech is an accelerator that focuses on early-stage venture and seed startups. It offers an eight-week accelerator program and has made four investments into Vouchery.io, upSWOT, Enteruptors, and Lendsmart. 

Startups have an opportunity to apply and join, though there is a subscription service required to access the marketing resources and business networking options.

StartEd has over 5,000 active, venture-capitalist-backed EdTech companies and small businesses as its audience. Sponsors include Noodle, Harbinger Systems, AWS EdStart, and others. Per their website, the StartEd accelerator “accelerates your EdTech vision in 40 hours.”

The Tech Garden calls itself New York’s “premier technology incubator.” It was founded with the intent of bringing together and supporting the startup community in Central New York. Today, it offers two main accelerator programs, including EPID Buildings Accelerator and Syracuse Surge Accelerator. Membership is required for applicants.

The Tech Garden is also home to the Syracuse Student Sandbox and CleanTech Center. It hosts a pre-seed workshop, as well.

Rho Acceleration is an accelerator that works with software and tech-enabled businesses. Current brands include CloudPay, Snagajob, and Skyword. The fund has raised over $35 million. To apply, your company should have $15 to $100 million in revenue and be growing in excess of 10% annually.

As a one-of-a-kind platform, Prospect Mining Studio offers a place for innovation, investment, and venture creation in the metals and minerals mining space. The company is a joint venture between Vimson Group and Newlab. 

The venture capital group builds companies and commercializes technologies from seed. It is open to working with technologies at any growth stage, including those in adjacent industries. Important partners and startups within the portfolio include BHP, Vedanta, Muonvision, Talpa, and SafeAI.

• Angel Investor Groups
• Crowdfunding Sites
• Venture Capital Firms
• Startup Grants
• Venture Capital Books
• Books on Startup Funding