Techstars is proud to announce the Spring 2026 cohort of the Techstars Founder Catalyst Global Spring 2026 Program, a 30-founder class drawn from six partner communities across three continents, each one a testament to where entrepreneurship is quietly thriving.

The Spring 2026 program is the most expansive iteration of the Founder Catalyst to date. It builds on the momentum of Fall 2025's inaugural two-community cohort and scales it into something far more ambitious: a single, integrated program spanning Istanbul, Sarajevo, Omaha, Uzbekistan, Belfast, and the NatWest startup network across the United Kingdom. Running from March 16 to May 22, 2026, with a virtual global showcase on June 3, the program connects 30 early-stage founders to Techstars' worldwide network of mentors, operators, and over 10,000 alumni, while investing in the health and momentum of the communities that produced them.

The founders who earned their place in this cohort represent what happens when the right people, in the right environments, decide to stop waiting. From AI governance infrastructure being built in Istanbul to aerospace decentralization emerging from Sarajevo; from fintech bridging an $11.8B credit gap in Uzbekistan to psychedelic-assisted mental health infrastructure advancing out of Belfast; from agricultural precision technology scaling from the American heartland to elite sports intelligence backed by Olympic champions,  the cohort is as geographically distinct as it is thematically coherent. 

Over the next 10 weeks, these 30 founders will move through a demanding curriculum of Techstars masterclasses and fireside chats led by Techstars thought leaders, including Managing Directors and unicorn founders. In addition to pitch coaching sessions, curated mentoring, and partner workshops are designed to sharpen execution and accelerate growth and get them ready for the next stage of their startup journey — funding, graduation into the Techstars equity accelerators, or scaling globally. The program is entirely virtual and designed to meet founders where they are, without requiring relocation, without asking them to leave the communities they are building for.

"Founder Catalyst has evolved into a global platform designed not only to support founders, but to strengthen the ecosystems they come from. We’ve built a model that scales access, from early-stage support through to the Techstars accelerators, where already 20% of our alumni progress, while also creating meaningful touchpoints for the wider startup community.

By opening up sessions like our unicorn-led fireside chats to entire ecosystems, we’re extending the value far beyond the cohort itself. This is about building a repeatable, global pathway that develops founders, connects communities, and expands access to world-class support at scale." - Zoe Evans, Techstars Founder Catalyst Global Program Lead 

The Spring 2026 cohort represents some of the most diverse and technically ambitious problem-solving in the program's history. Each founder was selected not only for the quality of their idea, but for their proximity to the problem, their capacity to execute under uncertainty, and their readiness to build at scale.

Returning Communities

Sarajevo Community

Sarajevo's presence in the Fall 2025 cohort was a statement. Its return in Spring 2026 is a confirmation. The city's startup ecosystem, anchored by the vision and infrastructure built by 38x Ventures, has produced two founders this cycle working at the frontier of cloud robotics and aerospace decentralization- technologies that do not emerge from communities content to stay small. Sarajevo's inclusion in consecutive Founder Catalyst cohorts reflects a community that has been building the conditions for exactly this kind of ambition for years, and is now watching those conditions produce results.

Omaha Community

Nebraska has never needed an invitation to build. Omaha's startup community, supported by Open Range, continues to produce founders who approach difficult, specific problems with a particular clarity of purpose. Five founders from the Omaha network join the Spring 2026 cohort, bringing work that spans agricultural precision technology, defense AI, pediatric sports medicine, early childhood development assessment, and expense management. The breadth is notable. The depth of domain knowledge and founder commitment is what earns them a place here.

New Communities

Istanbul Community

Istanbul has long been home to a startup ecosystem that operates at the intersection of deep market knowledge and global technical ambition. Now in its first cycle with the Founder Catalyst, the Istanbul community joins with six founders whose work spans AI governance, compliance automation, talent intelligence, adtech, risk intelligence, and language learning, each addressing a problem that exists well beyond Turkey's borders. These are builders with real founder experience: shipped products, hard-won customers, and the specific kind of urgency that comes from knowing exactly what it costs to move slowly.

Uzbekistan Community

Uzbekistan joins the Founder Catalyst for the first time with four founders whose work is deeply rooted in the structural realities of one of Central Asia's fastest-evolving economies. From AI-powered educational infrastructure for youth entering a digital workforce, to fintech solutions built to close an $11.8 billion MSME financing gap, to retail inventory intelligence and corporate fuel expense automation, the Uzbekistan cohort reflects a startup ecosystem generating its own ideas. The problems these founders are solving are not niche. They are nation-scale, and the founders addressing them carry the operating experience and urgency to match.

Belfast Community

Belfast enters the Founder Catalyst as a first-time partner community, bringing with it five founders whose work is defined by precision and stakes. Infrastructure risk intelligence to prevent asset strikes before excavation begins. Agentic AI automates competitive funding workflows for organizations that cannot afford to lose grants. Visual inspection agents for industries where human error is costly. Data infrastructure for psychedelic-assisted mental health therapies. Voice-first navigation is redesigning how patients access primary care. These are not incremental products. They are systematic responses to problems that existing infrastructure has failed to solve, and Belfast is producing the founders to solve them.

NatWest UK

The NatWest startup network in the United Kingdom contributes eight startups to the Spring 2026 cohort. Their industries span insurtech, cybersecurity, children's entertainment, digital health, fintech, HR technology, sports performance intelligence, and the future of work. What unites them is a quality of founder experience that is difficult to manufacture: domain depth earned through years of operating inside the very industries they are now disrupting. Between them, they count tenures at global investment banks, Amazon Prime Air, international law firms, the NHS, and major global entertainment brands.

The Spring 2026 Cohort

The 30 selected startups span artificial intelligence, fintech, edtech, healthtech, defense, aerospace, agtech, sports technology, cybersecurity, adtech, and infrastructure. They represent nine countries of founder origin across six partner communities.

Forg3t Protocol - Provable AI unlearning infrastructure that allows enterprises to verify and audit the removal of sensitive data from AI models for regulatory compliance.

ComplyLab - An AI platform that automatically checks enterprise content and communications for compliance with brand guidelines, internal policies, and regulations.

LingoFun - A language learning game purpose-built for children — real gameplay, not gamification, designed to make language acquisition feel like play.

Reperi AI - Talent intelligence for leaders who cannot afford the wrong hire, using multi-agent AI scoring to surface the right candidates before the competition does.

Patrol Sense - An AI-powered risk intelligence platform for commercial real estate that transforms any existing camera into a real-time sensor for threats, liabilities, and loss.

INGOSA - An AI-powered creative production, data collection, and insight generation platform turning brand communications into intelligent, conversational experiences.

Roboticks - Cloud infrastructure for robotics, enabling teams to build, deploy, and scale robotics operations globally without the hardware overhead.

Rimor - Decentralizing aerospace manufacturing through modular UAV design and advanced 3D-printed airframes, built for distributed local assembly and deployment.

KIPS (Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale) - A parenting assessment platform that proves outcomes and guides professional interventions across federally and state-funded early childhood development programs.

Elite Tackle - Merging augmented reality, biomechanics, and data to transform football tackling drills into precise, injury-reducing skills for athletes and coaches.

FuturHerd Solutions - A swine-centric AgTech company applying precision technology and computer vision to core caretaker challenges in livestock management.

Aulendur Labs - AI that fuses data across weather, energy, defense, and logistics domains to help organizations make faster, higher-confidence operational decisions.

Receivos - A convenient expense and contact management solution shifting professionals from administrative survival to strategic growth.

OSNOVA - An educational platform equipping young people in Uzbekistan with the digital and AI skills required to enter and succeed in the modern economy.

ETCITA - Fintech infrastructure enabling Uzbek banks to lend to asset-light SMEs by replacing hard collateral requirements with real-time, verified cash-flow data.

invent.sale - AI-powered sales forecasting and inventory optimization for retail chains, turning operational data into decisions that reduce stockouts and improve margins.

Redeem - A platform that automates and controls corporate expenses on fuel and related services, connecting fleets, fuel stations, and banks into a single digital payment system.

Synsophic - The operating system for competitive funding — agentic AI systems that automate funding discovery, eligibility logic, proposal orchestration, and compliance oversight.

Amnis - Visual agents for physical inspections, using multimodal AI to automate and standardize inspection workflows across property and asset-intensive industries.

CAST Planning - An AI risk-intelligence decision layer for infrastructure planning, helping teams prevent asset strikes and make safer operational decisions before work begins.

Iaso Health - A B2B, data-driven healthtech platform building precision mental health infrastructure for psychedelic-assisted therapies, combining technology, neuroscience, and clinical data.

Rafana Health - A voice-first AI platform transforming how patients navigate primary healthcare, reducing friction at the point of access for individuals and health systems alike.

RoamGuard - A risk management platform for high-value mobile assets in construction, integrating real-time data and risk analytics to reduce losses and downtime.

Dentilligence - A digital health platform that reads smiles as a signal to broader health and wellbeing, bridging dental data with population health insights.

CloudPeek - Agentic AI for cybersecurity, designed to multiply the effectiveness of security teams by automating detection, investigation, and response at scale.

Sound AiSleep - A screen-free entertainment platform for children built for bedtime, combining personalised audio storytelling with licensed IP for families.

Hirehoot - A privacy-first hiring platform for revenue-critical leadership roles, supporting employers seeking fractional talent and senior professionals adapting to portfolio careers.

Athletehub - Performance intelligence for elite sports teams — built by Olympians and World Champions, designed to give coaches the data clarity elite competition demands.

Moovable - Financial infrastructure unlocking the future rental value within the home, using AI-driven underwriting to convert untapped residential space into upfront capital.

Eliax Medical - A B2B platform delivering data, analytics, and advanced cardiac diagnostics from consumer wearables, translating everyday health signals into clinical-grade intelligence.

About Techstars

Techstars helps founders succeed. Through our global accelerators, we invest in early-stage startups led by founders building a better future for everyone. We leverage our vast network of alumni, mentors, partners, and investors to support entrepreneurs and build thriving startup communities. Since 2006, we have invested in industry-defining companies, including Chainalysis, Zipline, DataRobot, Alloy, and many more.

About the Techstars Founder Catalyst Global Spring 2026 Program

The Techstars Founder Catalyst Global Spring 2026 Program is a highly selective, part-time virtual pre-accelerator powered by Techstars, offered exclusively to founders from partner communities in Istanbul, Sarajevo, Omaha, Uzbekistan, Belfast, and the NatWest startup network in the United Kingdom. Running from March 16 to May 22, 2026, with a global showcase on June 3, the 10-week program gives early-stage founders access to world-class masterclasses, tailored workshops, strategic partner sessions, and unlimited mentorship from Techstars mentors, operators, and investors — all designed to help founders sharpen their story, validate product-market fit, and accelerate their path toward growth and funding.

About 38x Ventures — Sarajevo Community Partner

38x Ventures is on a mission to turn Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina into a launchpad for bold ideas, breakout startups, and a new wave of regional innovation by empowering the growth of the local startup ecosystem. By connecting Sarajevo with globally recognized organizations such as Slush, Techstars, and Google, 38x Ventures has helped lay the foundation for a thriving local startup community. Alongside ecosystem building, the organization supports founders directly — helping them scale their ventures by bringing years of hands-on experience in launching, investing in, and mentoring startups and adapting proven venture models from around the world.

About Open Range — Omaha Community Partner

Open Range's mission is to grow the Greater Omaha and Lincoln startup ecosystem and support the local founders and builders who are shaping what's next. The organization connects founders, creatives, funders, and institutions to reduce friction, close gaps, and turn shared ideas into action. Its work spans three focus areas: expanding access to capital, mentorship, and other key resources; activating momentum through programs, partnerships, and community-driven support; and amplifying the region's innovation stories to boost visibility and investment.

About Istanbul Community Partner

Having offices in the Bay Area and Istanbul, Igniters Tech has spent a decade serving as a vital conduit between Türkiye and Silicon Valley, championing the global ambitions of Turkish startups and paving their path to international markets, long before joining forces with Techstars. Now, through its partnership with Techstars, Igniters Tech is poised to amplify that mission further, giving Turkish founders privileged access to global capital, mentorship, and the connections needed to compete and win on the world stage.

About Uzbekistan Community Partner

Combining the institutional support of UzVC with Hackonnect’s seven-year track record of hosting 9+ Startup Weekends, Techstars Uzbekistan provides a global gateway for regional entrepreneurs. Our partnership unlocks the world’s most powerful startup network, offering unprecedented access to mentorship and international growth for local founders.

About Belfast Community Partner

The partnership between Techstars, Ormeau Labs, and Queen’s University Belfast reflects a shared commitment to helping shift Northern Ireland toward a knowledge-driven, innovation-led economy. Rooted in community and collaboration, the partnership is designed to support founders, accelerate innovation, and build globally ambitious companies. Together, we are focused on strengthening the pathways available to early-stage founders while connecting the local ecosystem to Techstars’ global network of mentors, investors, and programs.

About NatWest UK

NatWest Accelerator is a thriving community for UK-based entrepreneurs providing a range of support for you to grow your business. Underpinned by the NatWest Accelerator app, it’ll empower you to grow your business whenever you need it, virtually or at one of our 12 physical hubs across the UK. You can also sign up for one of our regular events and meet your local Accelerator team, understand what support we could offer, and engage with the entrepreneurs in the hub. Because every business is different, you’ll find the support you need for yours. Download the NatWest Accelerator app to get started, and build a path as unique as your business.

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