Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive company—and tech ecosystem—is both incredibly hard and important. While we know we have to do so much more, Techstars is committed to being an action-driven leader in this work.
Building an Inclusive Ecosystem
"Closing the opportunity gap for founders from underrepresented groups isn’t just about doing the right thing, although that’s certainly an important goal unto itself. Removing barriers to entry to provide access to a more diverse pool of talent will result in an influx of fresh ideas and innovation with the potential to shake up sector after sector, create new markets, and solve some of our societies’ most pressing problems. If we can actively find ways to provide access to the tens of thousands of emerging entrepreneurs whose access to opportunities, networks, and resources is otherwise restricted as a result of their identities, and make space for people to show up as their authentic selves, we can provide them a shot at sharing their ideas and raising early stage capital, and create the lasting change we know is possible."
- Maëlle Gavet, CEO, Techstars
Focused Efforts
Founder Catalyst is a pre-accelerator program providing early-stage entrepreneurs with the invaluable startup education and mentorship that Techstars provides to all founders, but with a focus on women, LQBTQ, and founders from other underrepresented groups.
Rising Stars is a pre-seed fund filling a crucial funding gap by investing in underrepresented founders of color in the U.S.
Powered by JP Morgan is a multi-city accelerator partnership focused on equitable access to funding and support for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds.
Techstars Foundation is our primary social impact program providing grant funding to nonprofits to create more opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Founder Diversity Stats
2020
2022
57% White
11% Black or African American
6% Hispanic or Latinx
14% Asian*
2% Prefer Not to Disclose
10% Other
35% White
24% Black or African American
9% Hispanic or Latinx
7% South Asian
16% Prefer Not to Disclose
9% Other
*In 2022 Techstars began offering South Asian, East Asian, and South East Asian to reflect individual identifications beyond Asian
**Race, and ethnicity data is collected for US founders only and includes less than 60% fill rate.
**Data in 2020 and 2022 were collected through different methodologies which may result in minor inconsistencies between data sets, however we wanted to follow through on our commitment to provide an update on the 2020 numbers.
Committed to Better
In 2020, Techstars made seven commitments to improve our DEI policies and practices. You can find annual updates on these commitments here.
