Techstars will be embarking on a new venture for 2017 after leading the charge at Sprint Accelerator for the past three years. According to Startland News, the startup accelerator recently announced in a blog post that it will be launching a new program in Kansas City.
The Kansas City program will accept up-and-coming tech startups in a variety of fields which will be similar to its accelerators found in Boulder, Boston, Seattle, Austin, London and Berlin. According to the Kansas City Business Journal, the new accelerator will select 10 startups from around the world to provide mentorship and guidance over a three-month period.
Each startup will receive $120,000 in venture capital funding and Techstars will receive 6 percent equity in exchange. The new program will also feature a demo day to showcase the participating startups at the conclusion of the program.
Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars, has a successful history of working in the Kansas City area. In addition to running the Sprint Accelerator for three years, beginning in 2014, Feld is an advisor for the Kauffman Fellows program and also purchased the Feld Fiber House for entrepreneurs in the Kansas City Startup Village.
Techstars has yet to determine where its facility will be located in Kansas City. The program has already named Lesa Mitchell, former vice president of innovation and networks of the Kauffman Foundation, as the program’s managing director. To that end, the organization is still looking to fill several more positions.
The program will officially kick off in July 2017, and applications for the program will open in Jan. 2017. Despite losing the partnership with Sprint, the accelerator group is still looking for a corporate partner in the Kansas City area, but plans to maintain the program regardless of securing a sponsorship.
