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Starburst Accelerator
Sector: Aerospace (aviation, space, defense)
Helping startups grow in aerospace. Helping aviation, space and defense industries embrace open innovation and product development with startups.
An innovation catalyst in the aerospace industry and the first global aerospace accelerator, Starburst matches corporates with startups while providing strategic-growth consulting for startups and corporations alike. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal, Paris, Munich, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, the team has built an international ecosystem of key players across the aerospace industry, including over four thousand related startups. Every year Starburst hosts numerous national and international events, bringing together aerospace innovators and putting innovation in the spotlight.
Its accelerator program was launched to help startups grow from pre-seed to Series A. Whereas many traditional tech incubators run programs to guide companies at pre-seed ideation, Starburst offers thirteen-week cohort programs as well as twelve months of commercialization with post-seed companies to help scale and connect with leading aerospace-industry champions. Participants, who typically already have capital, receive guidance on mass manufacturing, attaining certification standards for flight, and operating their product within the aerospace industry’s complex regulatory environment. The accelerator works with both aerospace technology companies pursuing other markets (such as drone tech in telecommunications) and enabling-technology companies looking to break into the aerospace supply chain (for example, in blockchain, sensors, robotics or artificial intelligence).
Though Starburst operates in multiple cities, LA is an essential location to its mission, as the city has historically been home to power players in the aerospace industry. Since the local startup community’s explosion over recent years, there have been two powerful scenes for innovation: heritage aerospace companies and startups developing new products. The accelerator bridges the gap between the two, forging collaboration for mutual innovation. This year, Starburst announced a new program: its first joint Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator. Backed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Maxar Technologies and IAI North America, it will nurture earlier-stage companies in Los Angeles in the space and frontier technology sphere.
Checklist
- Have a strong team.
We look for companies that have a strong team of leaders in place for fruitful and dynamic collaboration. - Demonstrate awareness of growth areas.
We seek companies with an awareness of growth areas in the market space. Are you innovating in an area of burgeoning interest and creation? Can you help take emerging technologies to their next phase of development? - Apply aerospace to another market.
We work with companies applying aerospace technology to other markets, such as drone technology for telecommunications or geospatial imagery as an agricultural tool. - Create enabling tech for the aerospace industry.
We also work with companies in fields like energy management, block chain, robotics and artificial intelligence that are creating enabling tech for the aerospace industry.