Leading U.S. startup accelerators by investments as of July 2021

As of July 2021, the most active startup accelerator in the United States was Y Combinator, which is a Californian seed money startup accelerator. Y Combinator had made 3,777 investments as of mid-2021. Participating in an accelerator program tends to increase the amount of equity startups raise, though there are differences between male- and female-led startups.

Accelerators in the U.S. and Europe

In addition to leading the startup accelerator scene in terms of investments made, Y Combinator was also the U.S. accelerator program with the highest number of exits completed by their accelerated startups as of July 2021. At the same time, the European startup accelerator scene was led by UK-based Startupbootcamp in terms of number of investments made.

Female- vs male-led startups

Startups led by only women tend to receive less funding overall than startups led by men, globally. In 2020, male-led startups received higher amounts of both debt and equity financing than female-led startups. This is also true for the amount of venture capital funding that went to startups worldwide that year – female-led startups raised only about a quarter of what startups with a male co-founder raised.