The Changing Face of Accelerators, the Travel Industry and Startup Opportunities
Photo Credit: Skift talked to several accelerators for updates on their programs. Pictured is one of Blue Startups' cohorts getting ready for a paddle board stand-up meeting in Honolulu. Blue Startups
Skift Take
Artificial intelligence and messaging are the trends of the day that many startup accelerator programs are interested in but there is also plenty of opportunity for aviation-oriented startups, in particular, to swoop in and command the attention they deserve -- and airlines desperately need their help.
Startup accelerators have shelled out billions of dollars in funding and provided mentorship to some of the most successful Internet companies to date, including several travel startups such as Airbnb. Some accelerators, though, say the term "accelerator" carries the stigma of funding first and guidance and mentoring second, and have moved away from it.
Accelerators aren't for every startup and many founding teams emerge from them no better than when they entered. There are more than 200 accelerator programs worldwide that have worked with more than 6,200 startups, according to accelerator data site Seed-DB. They've given more than $18 billion in funding and received more than $5 billion from more than 800 exits. Some 30 of the 235 accelerators on Seed-DB's list have "accelerator" as part of their names.
Those figures may seem impressive in terms of the amount of funding delivered but there can be a substantial number of failures -- as the number of exits indicates. For Techstars
