Zynga and NewSchools Venture Fund create accelerator for educational gaming startups
Zynga is partnering with NewSchools Venture Fund to launch an accelerator program for educational gaming startups. Read more »
Q&A: How Kaplan’s TechStars ed tech accelerator plans to get to the head of the class
As Kaplan’s new TechStars-powered ed tech accelerator recruits its first class, Don Burton, the program’s new managing director, talks about the developing industry and opportunities ahead. Read more »
Meet the 10 digital fitness startups in the new Nike, TechStars accelerator
Nike and TechStars have announced the 10 startups that will be in its new accelerator program for digital fitness startups. Read more »
Alchemist Accelerator shows off as enterprise investment picks up
Nine enterprise-focused companies — including two focusing on cloud infrastructure — pitched investors at Alchemist Accelerator’s demo day. Alchemist Accelerator is a new incubator created by Stanford’s Ravi Belani and focused on enterprise technology. Read more »
Nike-backed accelerator to support a new wave of digital fitness startups
On Monday, Nike announced the launch of a new Nike+ Accelerator, powered by TechStars. Through the program, ten startups that use Nike+ technology will received mentorship, coaching, office space and other benefits. Read more »
NYC shapes up with new health tech incubator
Backed by the New York Economic Development Corporation, the Bio & Health Tech Entrepreneurship Lab will next month announce its first class of startups. Although it doesn’t provide funding or space, it is the latest program to provide health tech funders with mentorship and coaching. Read more »
Three things Europe must do before it disappears into the sunset
Jobs in traditional industries have been streaming away from Europe for years — and startups now offer the best chance of future employment. But the situation still needs improvement, says the man in charge of Northern Europe’s most high profile accelerator. Read more »
Rock Health’s new class of startups: apps, APIs, artificial intelligence
Rock Health, a San Francisco-based accelerator for health tech startups, Thursday announced its fourth class of companies. In addition to introducing the class, the accelerator announced that Kaiser Permanente is joining its roster of partners. Read more »
What accelerators do best — and where they fall down
After leaving the accelerator world, Mikko Järvenpää decided to ask entrepreneurs what they really thought about their experiences inside the startup factories. After talking to more than 150 graduates he discovered that acceleration can work well, but programs don’t always provide the help startups really need. Read more »
4 startups to watch from Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator’s demo day
photo: ERA
At the Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator Demo Day in New York, 10 startups debuted, pitching services ranging from marketplaces for custom goods, catering and yoga gear to companies looking to optimize online video. Here are a few that stood out. Read more »
Why it’s the right time for the Lean Startup Accelerator
All over the world, startup accelerator programs have exploded over the last few years – but that growth has been accompanied by diminishing returns for those taking part. How can this improve? Mikko Järvenpää, former staffer at Europe’s HackFwd program, has a few ideas. Read more »
GameFounders pushes deadline back after ‘big uptake’
Game-focused startup accelerator GameFounders has decided to knock back its deadline for applications by three days, in what the founders say is an attempt to accommodate a surge in submissions. Applicants will now have until Friday to apply for the Estonian-based program. Read more »
TechNexus co-founder: Incubators should make friends with corporate America
In an interview, Terry Howerton, co-founder of Chicago-area incubator TechNexus, argues that rather than view big companies as innovation killers or community destroyers, it’s time for some segments of the startup and coworking communities to grow up and leverage corporate America. Read more »
Deutsche Telekom and General Assembly set out Berlin plans
Hot on the heels of Telefonica’s Wayra accelerator, Deutsche Telekom has opened up a rival incubator in the German capital Read more »
This London accelerator plans to do good and make profit
Bethnal Green Ventures thinks it can have an impact on the big issues with an accelerator program for support technology companies working on social and environmental problems. Can it work? Read more »
Rocket lieutenant jumps to clone-free rival incubator
Florian Heinemann, long-time marketing chief for the infamous Samwer brothers, has joined other ex-Rocketeers at Project A Ventures — an incubator that has been explicitly set up as a move away from Rocket’s copycat model. Read more »
Would you give 20% equity for three days at an incubator?
Germany’s IdeaCamp, a short mentoring program for budding entrepreneurs, is causing concern among Berlin’s startup community. Why? Because it asks attendees to give up a fifth of any business developed as a result of its three-day workshops. Read more »
Startup Factories: a guide to Europe’s accelerators
The rising number of startup accelerators across Europe can leave budding entrepreneurs bamboozled. Step forward UK investment group NESTA, which is compiling a detailed list of the continent’s programs. Read more »
Can Seedcamp join the Ivy League of startup schools?
London-based Seedcamp is already a significant force in early stage investment: but now it’s come out all guns blazing with a series of partnerships across Europe and America that it hopes can secure its reputation as one of the world’s leading incubators. Read more »
Europe’s accelerator bubble is ‘a double-edged sword’
GigaOM readers agree that encouraging European entrepreneurs is vitally important to the long-term health of local startups. But they have differing opinions about the sharp growth of accelerator programs and bootcamps across the continent: will startups end up being fed to the sharks? Read more »
Are Europe’s startup accelerators speeding out of control?
In the last year Europe has witnessed an explosion of accelerator programs, with more and more launching all the time. But while it looks like good news for entrepreneurs, some worry whether the continent can really support such a glut of activity around startups. Read more »
Rebranded Ignite100 wants to set Euro startups on fire
To take on more established accelerator programs, British startup bootcamp The Difference Engine has changed its identity and stumped up a tantalizing reward: more than $150,000 in funding for the 10 startups who make the cut. Can it spur on a new generation of European innovation? Read more »
