Global Software as a Service platform Gust released its Global Accelerator Report for 2016, evaluating accelerator programs worldwide. The report which is a follow up to the 2015 Accelerator Report provides an overview of the accelerator industry that includes progress by regions, how accelerators support their activities, and their impact on local and regional tech startup ecosystems.
The report covered five major regions across the globe, including 1,458 institutions, 579 accelerators, and 68 countries, with the United States and Canada consistently ranking in the top two across most examined categories. For 2016 global accelerator investment totaled $206,740,005 in 11,305 startups via 579 accelerator programs.
The US and Canada combined led with the most money invested in startups with $107,264,392, followed by Europe with $50,124,145. Europe however had a greater number of startups accelerated in 2016 at 3,701 when compared to the 3,269 startups accelerated in the US and Canada. However when separated out by country and not region, the US led in both the most money invested and the most startups accelerated.
Across all regions the report found four key trends, with corporations seeking more engagement with accelerators, accelerators further increasing verticalization that places focus on particular industries or service niches, accelerator expansions rising both externally and internally, and existing accelerators continuing to implement different operating models that is blurring the line between early-stage funds, incubators, and accelerators.
Other noteworthy trends for accelerators globally include:
- a decrease in the “cash-for-equity” model as a result of the decreasing number of exits
- 4% plan to use alternate monetization sources
- 1% have at least partial funding from a corporation
- 2% plan to sell services to corporations to generate revenue
- Fintech, Internet of Things, Big data analytics, and Software as a Service are the top four markets accelerators are now seeking to investing
