Top 20 Accelerators and Incubators in Palo Alto (2026)
Palo Alto is home to some of the world's most recognized startup programs. Programs like StartX have made over 300 investments, while UpWest has backed more than 120 companies.
The city offers a range of programs for different types of founders and industries. Finding the right fit is a key decision for any early-stage company.
Below is our list of the best 20 accelerators and incubators in Palo Alto.
Failory's Top 10 Picks
Tapping into the Stanford University ecosystem, StartX supports the university's most promising entrepreneurs through a founder-focused, educational non-profit model. The community offers custom-tailored education and a powerful network of experts, all without taking any equity from the startups it helps launch.
| Year Founded | 2011 |
| Founders | Matt Man, Richard Rabbat, Anuj Khandelwal, Christopher Morace, Arthur Meng, Dan McEleney, Danny Yu, Katie Fo, Steve Petersen, Lily Sarafan, Dan Ha, Jonathan Golden, Juan Vera, Haamid Ali, Charles Blanluet, Karen Katz, Cameron Teitelman |
| Nº of Investments | 339 |
| Nº of Exits | 81 |
2. UpWest
UpWest acts as a crucial bridge for Israeli tech entrepreneurs, providing seed funding to help them enter and scale within the US market. Their hands-on program equips founders with the capital, network, and resources essential for navigating the complexities of a new ecosystem.
| Year Founded | 2012 |
| Founders | Gil Ben-Artzy, Shuly Galili |
| Equity Taken | Up to 8% |
| Nº of Investments | 121 |
| Nº of Exits | 33 |
| Program Type | On-Site |
| Duration (Weeks) | 16 |
3. Nextlaw Labs
Nextlaw Labs champions the development of early-stage legal tech startups by investing in and co-developing new technologies for the legal profession. Backed by the world's largest law firm, the platform offers its portfolio companies unique access to global legal expertise and resources.
| Year Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | Dan Jansen |
| Nº of Investments | 10 |
| Nº of Exits | 5 |
Operating as a venture studio, Archimedes Labs partners with early-stage founders in fields like AI and mobile to co-build their companies. They specialize in helping startups perfect their story to achieve ideal funding outcomes, a method that has supported successful companies like Branch.
| Year Founded | 2005 |
| Founders | Keith Teare, Kambiz Hooshmand, Kevin Doerr |
| Nº of Investments | 19 |
| Nº of Exits | 4 |
5. AI Fund
Working as a venture studio, AI Fund partners with entrepreneurs to build AI-first companies from the ground up. They provide the initial capital and dedicated operational teams to help founders transform ambitious ideas into fully-realized businesses.
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | — |
| Nº of Investments | 61 |
| Nº of Exits | 3 |
As an operator-led venture capital firm, Aurelia Ventures provides investment and strategic guidance for outlier B2B SaaS founders at their earliest stages. Their primary focus is helping these companies navigate the critical growth phase from a proof-of-concept to a successful Series A round.
| Year Founded | 2019 |
| Founders | Felix Kues, Alessio Zazzarini |
| Nº of Investments | 91 |
| Nº of Exits | 3 |
| Duration (Weeks) | 54 |
As a Big Data incubator, Start Smart Labs helps launch startups developing data-intensive applications on Hadoop and Spark. The program's focus on providing specialized resources proved successful, culminating in its acquisition by data company Cloudera.
| Year Founded | 2012 |
| Founders | Ellen Salisbury |
| Nº of Investments | 5 |
| Nº of Exits | 2 |
8. PearX
PearX operates an intensive bootcamp that guides pre-seed founders through the challenging zero-to-one phase of company building. Participants receive close mentorship and a direct path to potential venture capital from the program's parent firm, Pear VC.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | — |
| Nº of Investments | 11 |
| Nº of Exits | 2 |
Outliers Fund backs scientist-led ventures in deep tech fields like information technology and blockchain. They apply a research-driven approach, using collective intelligence to support these early-stage companies.
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Matt Huang, Poseidon Ho, Yen T. Yeh |
| Nº of Investments | 24 |
| Nº of Exits | 1 |
| Program Type | Online |
| Duration (Weeks) | 24 |
10. SparkLabs Group
As a network of accelerators and venture capital funds, SparkLabs Group invests in early-stage companies around the world. They provide entrepreneurs with the mentorship, resources, and capital needed to scale their businesses on a global stage.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Eugene Kim, Bernard Moon, John HanJoo Lee, Frank Meehan, Jimmy Kim |
| Nº of Investments | 7 |
| Nº of Exits | 1 |
| Program Type | On-Site |
10 Additional Palo Alto Accelerators and Incubators Worth Applying To
Beyond our main selections, there are many other programs supporting founders. Together, the programs below have backed over 200 startups.
Each one offers a different path for early-stage companies. Here’s a look at more startup accelerators helping founders in Palo Alto.
| Accelerator/Incubator | Year Founded | Nº Investments | Nº Exits |
|---|---|---|---|
 Avanta Ventures | 2017 | 29 | 1 |
 Platinum Capital | 2015 | 27 | 1 |
 Woodside Incubator | 2014 | 5 | 1 |
 Convergent Research | 2021 | 1 | — |
 Founder Institute | 2009 | 139 | — |
 Go Global World | — | 1 | — |
 Natural Capital | 2019 | 9 | — |
 Beta University | 2021 | 1 | — |
 SCALEit | 2011 | — | — |
 UpScale X | — | 3 | — |
