Techstars & Western Union Accelerator is looking for passionate entrepreneurs solving challenging problems. Applications are open now.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be hitting the road to meet with founders in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Guadalajara, Mexico City, New York, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto.  If you’re in any of those cities you can sign up for in-person office hours or virtual office hours if you live elsewhere. Sign up HERE to request a meeting.

Who Should Apply?

We are looking for startups doing work in payments and remittances; financial inclusion technology and products that serve the under/unbanked; digital wallets and stored value; POS systems; regtech around KYC and AML; anti-fraud technology and digital identification tools, data analytics tools; technologies that improve settlement and transactions; borderless banks; crypto and blockchain; AI/ML, as well as personal financial products with an emphasis towards financial inclusion that can serve Western Union’s 100M+ customers.

We strive to create a diverse class that looks like the world around us. Forty percent of the companies in our 2019 class came from outside the U.S. and half of the CEOs came from underrepresented backgrounds.

We are stage agnostic and open to companies from pre-seed to Series A. We’ve accepted companies into the program from pre-product and no revenue to $20M in funding with millions in revenue and dozens of employees.

Why Apply?

01. You want to build a big company.

Techstars has a world-class track record, running accelerators around the globe since 2007. Techstars portfolio companies have a market cap of nearly $25B, with numerous billion dollar companies in the portfolio like Sendgrid, Pillpack, Digital Ocean and a total of 32 companies worth $100M+ or more.

02. You want to scale quickly.

Western Union has incredible scale and know-how that they want you to leverage. There are hundreds of thousands of Western Union agent locations across 200 countries and territories facilitating transactions in over 130 currencies. With direct access to WU decision makers and the opportunity for a potential commercial arrangement, those in the program will have a distinct advantage.

03. You want to be part of a network that is going to back you for life.

Techstars is for life. We maintain a network of 4,000 founders, 5,000 mentors, 10,000 investors and 100+ corporate partners who all #givefirst. Whenever you need help in the future – whether it’s a couch to sleep on, or an intro to a Fortune 100 CEO – the people you meet through Techstars will be the people you turn to first for the rest of your life.

As a founder, I went through a Techstars program myself. It was a life changing experience for me, so feel free to ask me about my experience and I will tell you why I’m such a fan.

Next Steps

Step 1: If you’re interested in joining the program, completing the application should be your next step. This will allow us to have a deeper conversation when we meet in person for office hours.

Step 2: Once you apply, please fill out the office hours request form and we’ll reach out to set up a time to meet.

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