Looking for the best startup accelerators in 2025? We analyzed hundreds of programs across the U.S., and the results may surprise you. (Spoiler alert: it’s not Y Combinator or Techstars!)

With more than 3,000 startup accelerators worldwide and over 1,000 in the U.S., choosing the right accelerator program can be overwhelming. That’s why our 2025 Startup Accelerator Rankings focus on what matters most to founders: the accelerator’s proven ability to help startups succeed.

Unlike other lists based on brand recognition or hype, our ranking uses real data, specifically each accelerator’s exit rate, or the percentage of portfolio startups that reached a successful exit, such as an acquisition or IPO.

The Top Startup Accelerator in the U.S. for 2025: Financial Health Network

According to our analysis, the number one accelerator in the U.S. for 2025 is Financial Health Network with an impressive 52.63% exit rate. Other high-performing accelerators include:

• Betaworks with a 37.06% exit rate
• AngelPad with a 35.83% exit rate
• GrowthX with a 35.71% exit rate
• Plug and Play Insurtech with a 25.77% exit rate

These accelerators are consistently turning early-stage startups into successful, high-growth companies.

Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Global Don’t Lead in 2025

While programs like Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Global (formerly 500 Startups) are some of the most recognizable accelerator names, they are not leading the pack this year.

In 2025, 500 Global ranks eighth, Techstars comes in twenty-sixth, and Y Combinator is twenty-eighth, with an exit rate of just 11.05%, which is roughly one-fifth that of Financial Health Network.

If your goal is to maximize your chances of a successful exit, it may be time to look beyond the usual suspects. Emerging accelerators like Financial Health Network, Betaworks, and AngelPad are delivering real results and higher exit rates for early-stage founders.

Bigger Is Not Better

The 2025 startup accelerator rankings show that small accelerators often deliver better results than the big names. Programs like Financial Health Network, Betaworks, and AngelPad top the list with exit rates above 35 percent, far ahead of large accelerators such as Y Combinator and Techstars, which both hover around 11 percent.

Smaller programs like GrowthX, Plug and Play Insurtech, and SixThirty also achieve strong exit rates, proving that hands-on support and selectivity can outperform scale.

Meanwhile, the biggest accelerators, including 500 Global and MassChallenge, show lower exit rates despite thousands of portfolio companies. At the bottom of the list, accelerators such as Blue Startups, HAX, and AcceliCITY have exit rates below 5 percent.

In short, startups that join smaller, focused accelerator programs have up to seven times higher chances of reaching a successful exit compared to those in large global accelerators.

The Best Small Startup Accelerators with Fewer than 100 Portfolio Companies

Since it's clear that bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to startup accelerators, we wanted to see which micro accelerators with fewer than 100 portfolio companies but more than 10 come out on top.

Not surprisingly, smaller startup accelerators tend to perform much better at helping their portfolio companies reach successful exits than the large, popular programs.

Here are the top micro accelerators ranked by the exit rate of their portfolio companies.

The key takeaway is that smaller startup accelerators often deliver stronger results, helping portfolio companies reach successful exits more effectively than many larger programs. However, not all small accelerators perform equally well. Those near the bottom of the list for portfolios under 100 still fall behind the lower-performing programs in the overall top 50.

In Summary

While this analysis is based on data, it is not without limitations. Metrics such as founder satisfaction, valuation growth, exit size, and long-term outcomes would provide a more complete picture. Still, the data suggests that smaller accelerator programs tend to outperform larger and more established ones, raising important questions about where true startup success is being cultivated.

Hopefully this research helps founders identify the startup accelerators that best fit their growth goals and long-term success.

An Important Caveat About this List

We pulled data on accelerators from Crunchbase. I'm sure there are some gaps in the data, but it's probably more than good enough to get a reliable ranking. However, there probably isn't much of a difference between, say, number fifteen and sixteen on the list.