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New York City-based business accelerator operator Techstars has discontinued its Indianapolis-based sports tech program after a six-year run.
The Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy, a 13-week annual startup accelerator, graduated its last cohort of sports-tech startups in December.
A total of 67 companies have participated in the accelerator since 2019. Those companies have gone on to raise more than $150 million in combined venture funding, Techstars spokeswoman Amalia Lytle told IBJ via email.
Initially launched as a three-year initiative and renewed twice since then, the accelerator’s founding partners included the Next Level Fund/50 South Capital, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, NCAA and Indiana Sports Corp. Supporting partners were the Indianapolis Colts, NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“All great things come to an end, but I think after six years and 67 companies, we achieved the primary goals for Indy and our partners,” the accelerator’s former Managing Director, Jordan Fliegel, told IBJ via email.
The startups that took part in the Indianapolis accelerator came from around the U.S. and beyond, including Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Israel and Colombia. As of late last year, Fliegel said, dozens of those out-of-state companies had registered as Indiana companies and hired employees here.
Several of the accelerator’s 67 alumni companies have since been acquired. Those companies are Indianapolis-based The Fan’s Place, a 2022 Techstars alum which was acquired last year by Las Vegas-based BettorView and has since rebranded as EatWatchPlay. The two other exits were New York City-based ZoneIn, which was part of the Techstars Sports Accelerator’s 2020 cohort; and Ireland-based Kairos Sports Tech, a 2021 Techstars alum. Durham, North Carolina-based Teamworks acquired both ZoneIn and Kairos last year.
Lytle said via email that the Indianapolis program had been planned to conclude at the end of last year. “The contractual relationship with our partners established specific terms and timeframes and was not a perpetual agreement,” Lytle wrote.
But Techstars has dramatically trimmed its offerings over the past year.
TechStars has operated 397 accelerator programs around world since 2007, some of them focused on particular industries such as sports technology, financial services and e-commerce.
In August, Techstars CEO David Cohen posted on Techstars’ website that the company would reduce its global headcount by 17% and wind down the accelerator programs that had been funded by Advancing Cities, an $80 million fund from J.P. Morgan Private Wealth. (Those accelerators operated in nine U.S. cities and did not include the Indianapolis program.)
“It has become clear to me that we overbuilt and over hired to support our ambition to scale…” Cohen wrote in August. “We are going to stop focusing on scaling and shift all of our focus to being better for founders each and every day.”
A year ago, Techstars was operating 50 different accelerator programs. The company’s website now lists only 25, though Lytle said Techstars plans to launch some additional accelerators soon.
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