The Top 30 Accelerators in San Francisco
Discover the best accelerators in San Francisco to supercharge your startup's growth.
Overview
San Francisco has a growing base of early-stage founders, and a handful of accelerators have emerged to fund and scale them — offering capital, mentorship, and the networks teams need to build in the region. Here are 30 worth knowing, drawn from the startersss directory of 3,133 programs.
Age 1
Age 1 is an accelerator program launched by the investment firm Primary Venture Partners that focuses on supporting early-stage startups across a variety of industries.
Alchemist Accelerator
Exclusively for Founders Whose Revenue Comes from Enterprises
BRIIA - Healthcare AI Advanced Accelerator
Accelerator focused on healthcare AI startups, providing mentorship, funding, and access to resources.
Alliance
The leading crypto-native accelerator (formerly DeFi Alliance), backing web3 and AI-crypto teams globally with an intensive remote program and one of the strongest founder networks in the industry. Typical cheque is a $500K SAFE.
Fast Forward
Fast Forward is a nonprofit organization that supports and invests in nonprofit tech entrepreneurs who are using technology to address social issues.
HAX
HAX is a startup accelerator program and venture capital firm that specializes in investing in hardware startups and providing them with resources, mentorship, and funding to bring their products to
MBC BioLabs
MBC BioLabs is a biotech incubator that provides laboratory space, equipment, and resources to early-stage life science startups.
SMARTIFICIAL RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY, INC
Smartificial Research & Technology, Inc is a company that focuses on developing and implementing AI-powered solutions to enhance business operations and customer experiences.
Soft-Landing Silicon Valley
Soft-Landing Silicon Valley is a program that helps international startups and scaleups expand their business and network in Silicon Valley.
Starttech Ventures
Starttech Ventures is a Greek-based venture builder that invests in and supports early-stage startups with innovative ideas and potential for growth.
The Pitch
The Pitch is a reality TV show where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors, hoping to secure funding and turn their dreams into reality.
Third Derivative
Third Derivative is a global innovation platform that accelerates the development and commercialization of climate tech solutions to address the urgent challenge of climate change.
Underdog Labs
A boutique startup studio located in the SF Bay Area and New England.
Y Combinator
The original and most influential startup accelerator. YC runs multiple batches a year from San Francisco, admitting roughly 250 companies per batch from ~25,000 applications (about a 1% acceptance rate), with a network that includes Airbn…
a16z speedrun
Andreessen Horowitz's 12-week accelerator for startups at the intersection of tech and entertainment — games, AI, and consumer. Invests up to $1M per company ($500K upfront plus $500K in the next round), with $5M+ in vendor credits and an…
HF0 Residency
A live-in, 12-week 'hacker monastery' in San Francisco for repeat and technical founders. Around 10 teams per cohort build in a distraction-free, high-intensity environment, with funding of up to $1M uncapped for 5% (or $500K for 3%).
Neo Accelerator
Neo's selective 3-month program for technical founders: an all-expenses-paid bootcamp in Oregon, optional San Francisco co-working, and mentorship from founders of Replit, Notion, and Linear. Invests $600K on an uncapped SAFE with a $10M f…
AI Grant
Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross's accelerator for seed-stage AI-native product companies. Batch-based, globally open, no credentials required. Invests $250K on an uncapped SAFE with roughly $600K in Azure and partner credits on top.
Sequoia Arc
Sequoia Capital's company-building immersion for outlier pre-seed and seed startups, run in small cohorts of about ten companies in San Francisco and London. Every company receives a $1M investment on acceptance, with equity terms set comp…
SPC Founder Fellowship
South Park Commons' pre-idea, pre-seed fellowship: a bootcamp for founders exploring what to build next, run from SPC offices in San Francisco, New York, and Bangalore. Invests $400K for 7% upfront plus $600K in your next outside-led round…
Conviction Embed
Conviction's invitation-only program for exceptional early AI-native teams, built around Sarah Guo's network and an AI-first founder community. Standard terms are a $150K uncapped, no-discount MFN SAFE plus $500K+ in cloud and compute cred…
Z Fellows
Cory Levy's one-week sprint that fast-tracks very early technical builders into Silicon Valley: a $10,000 cheque at a $1 billion valuation cap (effectively a grant), mentorship from top founders, and a lasting alumni network. Runs several…
Founders, Inc.
Founders, Inc. (F.Inc) is a San Francisco startup studio and accelerator on the Fort Mason waterfront, backing frontier consumer, hardware, and crypto teams. It writes $100K–$250K checks for 4–7% and gives founders lab space, engineering s…
Afore Capital
Afore Capital is a San Francisco pre-seed fund whose Afore Alpha program backs founders at the earliest stage — often pre-product. Investments run $500K–$2M on flexible SAFE terms, with hands-on support to get to a strong seed round.
Soma Capital
Soma Capital is a San Francisco seed fund and founder community, known for an unusually strong network of alumni founders who source and support one another. It typically writes $100K checks into early-stage software startups.
500 Global
Seed fund and accelerator (formerly 500 Startups) backing early-stage teams globally, with flagship accelerator batches in Palo Alto and regional programs worldwide.
AngelHack
A global hackathon organization that also provides startup accelerator programs to early-stage startups.
AngelPad
Ranked the Top U.S Accelerator by MIT's Seed Accelerator Benchmark
Braitman & Company
An accelerator that helps entrepreneurs with business strategy, fundraising, and other aspects of building a successful company.
Calega
An accelerator for startups in the healthcare sector.
No longer operating
32 programs from earlier versions of this list have since shut down or gone offline (checked Jul 2026): alliance.sv · APPlife Digital Solutions · AWS Builder Space Program · CalCharge · Cognity Labs · Desafía · FORMA Brands · Girl Effect Accelerator · i/o ventures · Illumina Accelerator · Impact USA · Matter · Momentum Accelerator · MouseBelt · NewMe Accelerator · Ocean Solutions Accelerator · Pioneer - A fully remote accelerator · Plinth · R/GA Connected Commerce Accelerator · Rainmakers · San Francisco Accelerator (aka Society3) · SAP.iO · SAP.iO Foundries · SAP.iO Foundry San Francisco · ShangPharma Innovation · StartLabs · The Production Board (TPB) · The Refiners · VenturePad Impact Accelerator · Wearable World Labs · Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator · Zero to One.