- Worldwide startup accelerator network Techstars recently announced that it raised $42 million in funding led by SVB Financial Group
Techstars — a worldwide startup accelerator network — recently announced that it raised $42 million in funding led by SVB Financial Group (holding company of Silicon Valley Bank) with additional participation from existing investors including Foundry Group. This round of funding will accelerate Techstars’ growth to help more entrepreneurs succeed through seed-stage accelerators, global startup ecosystem activations, corporate innovation, and entrepreneur-focused events.
Techstars consists of an investment management business with $500 million in assets under management along with an operating business that is rapidly approaching $100 million in annual revenue. Techstars’ investment activity now includes 49 accelerator programs in 35 cities across 16 countries deploying $80 million into nearly 500 startups on an annual basis. Techstars’ of 1,900 companies currently attract an annual $2 billion in downstream investment from the venture capital industry. Plus Techstars also invests in emerging startup communities by operating approximately 1,000 annual Techstars Startup Weekend events in 600 cities across 120 countries.
“Being the largest and most active global seed investor requires a mindset and approach that is completely distinct from traditional venture capital,” said Techstars Co-CEO David Cohen in a statement. “Techstars has created and is scaling an entirely new type of early-stage private equity asset.”
Through its operating cities, Techstars partners with nearly 100 corporations to provide corporate innovation solutions. And Techstars is also an active partner with cities like Buffalo, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; and Turin, Italy to further develop startup communities.
In conjunction with the funding SVB Capital president John China is joining the Techstars board of directors.
“The Techstars team is well-positioned to keep developing its platform and enable and support founders, investors and startup ecosystems around the globe,” added China. “SVB has a long history working with Techstars and its portfolio companies and we’re enthusiastic about the opportunity to further our relationship and make a bigger positive impact on the innovation economy.”
Techstars’ accelerator alumni — including companies like Classpass, DataRobot, DigitalOcean, Outreach, Pillpack, Remitly, SalesLoft, SendGrid, and Zipline — have a current market cap of over $22 billion or more. Cohen founded Techstars with David Brown (tech entrepreneur) and Brad Feld (venture capitalist) and Jared Polis (current governor of Colorado) in 2006.
