Our observations led us to the conclusion that accelerators need at least four years after a graduating class to determine their quality of results.
21 percent exited and 25 percent out of business
$162 million funding with $831 million in exits with an 5.1x return multiple
Unrealized gains/losses
11 percent expected exits and 43 percent expected out of business
$1.1 billion in funding with $13.4 billion in expected value with a 12.5x expected return multiple
Based on these historical results, we found that companies in accelerator graduating classes from before December 2009 returned 11.3x on capital invested. These are fantastic returns for entrepreneurs, VCs, and accelerators.
Obviously this 11.3x figure factors in outsize returns from a few rock stars. What happens we compare against accelerators that have more typical returns?
Of the 61 companies in this group, 20 percent exited or are expected to exit with a total return of 1.2x.