Global accelerator Techstars has raised an investment of €38 million led by SVB Financial Group, the holding company of Silicon Valley Bank, with additional participation from existing investors including Foundry Group.
Techstars has 49 accelerator programmes in 35 cities across 16 countries, including in Paris, Berlin, London, and Lisbon. It invests €72 million into nearly 500 startups annually.
Techstars’ portfolio includes 1,900 companies, and attracts an annual €1.8 billion in downstream investment from the venture capital industry. Techstars also invests in global emerging startup communities by operating approximately 1,000 annual Techstars Startup Weekend events in 600 cities across 120 countries to help surface and support future high growth companies.
This funding will accelerate Techstars’ growth to help more entrepreneurs succeed through seed-stage accelerators, global startup ecosystem activations, corporate innovation, and entrepreneur-focused events. Techstars consists of both an investment management business with €450 million in assets under management as well as an operating business that is rapidly approaching €90 million in annual revenue.
“Being the largest and most active global seed investor requires a mindset and approach that is completely distinct from traditional venture capital,” said Techstars co-CEO David Cohen. “Techstars has created and is scaling an entirely new type of early-stage private equity asset.”
Techstars partners with nearly 100 corporations, and is an active partner with several cities, including Turin, Italy, to further develop their startup communities. In addition to the financing, John China, President of SVB Capital, has joined Techstars’ Board of Directors.
“The Techstars team is well-positioned to keep developing its platform and enable and support founders, investors and startup ecosystems around the globe,” said China. “SVB has a long history working with Techstars and its portfolio companies and we’re enthusiastic about the opportunity to further our relationship and make a bigger positive impact on the innovation economy.”
