US accelerator program Techstars, recently ranked #2 startup accelerator worldwide by Forbes, is moving to the UK, merging with UK accelerator program Springboard. Up until now, TechStars had operated a franchise model in Europe in the form of StartupBootcamp, but this one is different, said David Cohen.
The official program will be called TechStars London, and will be led by Jon Bradford, a force of nature when it comes to running programs. check out the TechCrunch article and the official announcement for all the details.
Interesting quote:
The move signals of a couple of things. It’s another sign of how European startups — and cities like London — are gaining a bigger international profile. This feeds into the ongoing debate of how successful the tech community has been at creating hubs (intentionally or organically) for technology innovation and entrepreneurship outside of Silicon Valley, and where those hubs might be.
It’s also a sign of how early-stage funding for startups continues to get a lot of attention and investment — perhaps, some believe, to the detriment of many of those companies able to secure funding at later stages. (And whether Europe is feeling much of that heat itself.)
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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