Tech Wildcatters

We broke the accelerator model -- Launched in 2009, Tech Wildcatters established itself as one of the first 15 accelerators in the world and fast became a leading, nationally-ranked accelerator by Forbes in 2012 and Inc. Magazine in 2015. By the end of 2015, we’d invested in 72 startups, helped create more than 450 jobs and saw four exits. The market had also become extremely saturated, with an estimated 7,500 accelerators around the world with varying expertise, interests and quality standards. As one of the longest running accelerators in the world, we’ve had the unique opportunity to obtain firsthand wisdom on what works (and what doesn’t) within an accelerator. We carry with us the knowledge on founders who make it, those who don’t, we have lessons learned, endless amounts of historical data and a peek inside the vision of those who mentor alongside us. With that information in hand, we saw the need to initiate change within our market and fix the areas we know are not beneficial for our investors and are especially not beneficial for our startups. And in 2016, we broke our own model and introduced The Gauntlet. We are now the first accelerator in the world to unveil what we believe the new accelerator should be — a genuinely smart decision for the startups who enter and the investors who buy in. We are now purely fueled by a 5-tier system infused with data, milestones and most importantly, ambition.