We held a great gathering of startup founders and accelerators last week at Suffolk University. At “Panel, Networking and Tabling, Oh My!: The Greater Boston Accelerator Scene”, co-hosted by the City of Boston and Startup Boston, 16 accelerators came together to network with the startup community. The event kicked off with a panel presentation with advice from Guivens Andre, Aakash Shah, and Rachel O’Neil, and led into an energetic hour of networking.
Startup Boston spoke to some of the accelerators in attendance about their missions and what they bring to the startup ecosystem. We had so many fantastic accelerators participate that we had to recap them in 2 parts! The first 8 accelerator profiles are below, and 8 more will be posted next week.
Looking to partner with an accelerator for your startup? Here are some great options to connect with below.
Meet 8 of Boston’s Startup Accelerators
BOOST by Suffolk Technologies
BOOST is a flagship accelerator program for Suffolk Tech, which is the venture capital affiliate of Suffolk Construction, a top 25 general contractor in the US. The accelerator provides access to construction job sites or to manage buildings where they can actually put their technology to the test, get real-time feedback from the end users of the products, and be able to iterate them throughout.
BOOST works with startups that touch architecture, engineering, and construction; additionally, property management and home ownership for single-family residential. Their sweet spot is working with early-stage startups, typically pre-seed to early Series B, and specifically those who are looking to pressure test their technology within the construction industry. For example, Rugged Robotics is a startup BOOST has worked with to automate the layout process that can help make the process more efficient and accurate.
Visit BOOST’s website to learn more.
C10 Labs
C10 Labs is a AI-focused startup accelerator. Their venture studio fund, located in Cambridge, is on a mission to provide technological support, operational expertise, and access to a dedicated team of advisors.
AiolosX is an AI claims and denial cycle management company. Fortuna Insights is an AI technology platform that changes the way lawyers research, analyze and predict outcomes. Vocadian uses voice detection that helps spot worker fatigue to improve safety and reduce burnout.
Visit C10 Lab’s website to learn more.
MassBioEd
MassBio Ed is a nonprofit that is aiming to train and develop and the life sciences workforce. Their apprenticeship program trains individuals for 15 weeks and then matches them with an employer partner who wants the skills taught in the program. Startups with under 100 employees have access to professional training courses that teach courses, among other topics, like understanding the business of biotech, how to give a persuasive presentation, and project management.
Visit MassBioEd’s website to learn more.
MassBioDrive
The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) is the state trade association for Massachusetts based in Technology Square in Cambridge. MassBio offers numerous forms of programming and has an accelerator program called MassBioDrive that supports advancing breakthrough science while providing opportunities to innovators from all parts of the life sciences ecosystem. Held twice a year, MassBioDrive supports a small group of groundbreaking scientists through an eight-week hybrid curriculum. Through the program, MassBioDrive further serves to connect these founders with mentorship, industry connections, and equity-free prizes – without taking anything in return.
Visit MassBioDrive’s website to learn more.
Mass Robotics’ Accelerator Program
Mass Robotics Accelerator is a non-dilutive accelerator program that does not take any equity from the startups that they collaborate with. Their focus is all about robotics; companies who are building different robotic technologies, like the hardware side or early stage that had raised less than $3,000,000. Their ultimate goal is to help technical founders with their business skills, so founders can learn about value proposition, customer delivery, raising funding, and much more.
A promising startup in the Mass Robotics program is Hamon Index. Hamon Index have created a prosthetic device that helps people who do not have function in their hands, and they already have 250 customers.
Visit the website of Mass Robotics to learn more.
Remarkable Accelerator
Remarkable Accelerator is a 16-week program that helps startups focused on disability by giving them seed funding, guidance from startup coaches, mentors, feedback from users, and the know-how to grow into successful, positive-impact businesses. Their philosophy is for-profit as they understand that the innovations for disabled can be beneficial to non-disabled populations.
Startups that Remarkable are working with are disability-focused that aim to benefit disabled people. Graduates from 2024 include Cephable, an assistive technology platform helping people with disabilities to connect with people and companies on their PCs, and Springrose, a designer of women’s bras and intimate apparel to improve quality of life and mobility.
Visit Remarkable's website to learn more.
Techstars Boston Accelerator
Techstars Boston Accelerator runs a 13-week accelerator program twice per year where they select 12 early-stage startups. Techstars helps startups with everything from building the foundation of their business, product-market fit, and more.
Startups that have graduated from Techstars have spanned multiple industries: health, tech, climate, construction, and AI. Those companies that tend to gravitate towards their program because they can leverage the Boston ecosystem, the experts, and mentors to really help them supercharge their ventures.
Visit Techstars’s website to learn more.
TIE Scale Up
TIE Scale Up is a major community of entrepreneurs here who are mostly made up of Indian immigrants. TIE have around 250 chartered members of the organization. High Scale Up is TIE’s zero equity program for seed companies looking to develop their scaling strategies. They achieve this goal through a combination of coaching, curriculum, and a community of mentors that are involved into these companies. Every company works with two mentors, attend weekly workshops, and have access to a community of entrepreneurs, alumni, and portfolio companies.
Their past cohort had 13 companies graduate, including three very exciting sustainability companies working in aquaculture, solar and recycling. Additionally, they had four biotech life science companies working in diagnostics, cancer testing, dark genome work, and AI.
Visit TIE Scale Up’s website to learn more.
Stay tuned for more! We'll be posting part 2 of our accelerator list next week.
The Panel Discussion: How and When to Engage with an Accelerator
In addition to accelerator networking, Startup Boston was also thrilled to have Guivens Andre, Aakash Shah, and Rachel O’Neil speak on a panel about which accelerator programs are right for startups and why Boston is a great city to start and grow their startups and support founders. Below is a quote from Startup Boston’s CEO and Founder, Stephanie Roulic, about the event and panel:
“There are so many fantastic options for startups available right here in the Greater Boston Ecosystem. I was excited to provide a space, with the City of Boston and Startup Boston, for founders to mingle with 14 accelerator programs during this event - and for accelerator leaders to learn more about what other programs are working on and what types of founders they are supporting.
I was blown away by the insights Guivens Andre, Aakash Shah, and Rachel O'Neil provided founders and startup-curious folk who were considering an accelerator program. All accelerator programs provide something unique to each founder, based on company stage, industry, and the type of expertise a founder is looking for. This panel provided a wonderful objective point-of-view on what a founder should consider before applying.”
Want to get involved in the startup community and meet some of these accelerators in person? We encourage all founders, startups, and partners to register for Startup Boston Week this September! You’ll meet accelerators, founders and startup curious folks from all across New England.
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