Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in SME

Crowdz

Series A in 2020
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

1sm

Pre Seed Round in 2020
1sm, Inc. develops revenue operations and analytics platform for sales, marketing, and operations teams. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in New York, New York.

Crowdz

Seed Round in 2019
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.

Crowdz

Angel Round in 2015
Crowdz provides invoice-financing opportunities to companies in global supply chains—a $9 trillion market that SMEs traditionally have been excluded from. The need for such financing is greater than ever before. Some 93% of all supply-chain participants are SMEs, and half of these suffer cashflow shortages as they wait for 90 to 120 days or more to be paid. Crowdz’s global invoice auction solves this problem by directing competitive, low-cost financing to SMEs while offering high returns to funders seeking better investments.