Understanding The Impact Of Business Accelerators On Start-up Performance

Accelerators support nascent start-ups through the early and fragile stages of growth. This support can in theory help them avoid the mistakes of others, save time and money and increase survival rates. In broad terms, accelerators and incubators (collectively, start-up support programs) are organisations that give early-stage businesses the boost they need to grow and prosper. They do so by providing various forms of support, including mentorship, routes to investment and access to future clients and customers. They are most commonly associated with the digital technology sector, but increasingly the models that benefit tech start-ups are being adopted by other industries, such as healthcare, food and fashion.

For early stage start-ups, accelerators and incubators are believed to offer great ways to grow their businesses. The UK accelerator and incubator ecosystem has experienced extraordinary growth over the past few years. This growth has been facilitated by public funding according to a recent study conducted by NESTA between £20-30 million of public funding (UK and EU) is being spent on UK incubators and accelerators per year. While a great deal has been written about the rise, few concerted efforts have been made to assess the impact of these start-up support programs on the performance of nascent start-ups especially in the UK.