Accel Starters
Scout
Program
Venture Capital
Discover how to join
Accel Starters
including requirements, application process, and compensation and explore other programs to join!
Venture Capital
Launched quietly in 2017 in the United States and expanded to Europe in 2021, Accel’s Starters Scout Program aims to widen the firm’s aperture on nascent ideas while empowering a new generation of angel investors. Scouts are hand‑picked high‑signal operators—often repeat founders or senior leaders at breakout scale‑ups—who sit close to emerging talent pools Accel might otherwise miss.
Each scout receives a dedicated cheque book of roughly $200 000 to deploy over two to three years, writing angel‑sized tickets into companies of their choosing, subject only to a short list of ethical exclusions. Investments are made via uncapped SAFEs or priced rounds; if the startup later raises from Accel or another lead, the scout rolls into that round and earns carried interest on realised returns.
The European cohort launched with 21 scouts across 12 cities and 10 countries and has since doubled to around 40 participants, reflecting the success of the model and the firm’s conviction in distributed sourcing. Collectively, Accel scouts in the US and Europe have backed more than 200 startups, adding a valuable “bottom‑up” pipeline that complements the partnership’s traditional thesis‑driven approach.
Beyond capital, scouts gain quarterly briefing calls with Accel partners, a private Slack workspace, and priority invitations to Accel’s founder events, giving them both insight into firm thinking and a platform to help their portfolio companies. Unlike many angel‑investor networks, Starters is not a training course; instead it trusts experienced operators to deploy instinctively while providing light‑touch mentoring and follow‑on firepower from Accel’s global funds.
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Accel is a major venture capital firm that invests in individuals and their businesses from the beginning to the end of their development. Among the startups the firm has funded over the last 35 years are Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, CrowdStrike, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, FreshWorks, Jet, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, UiPath, and Vox Media.
There is no open application portal. Accel partners and existing scouts nominate promising operators on a rolling basis, focusing on individuals with unique networks, demonstrated founder empathy and a track record of spotting talent early.
Short‑listed candidates have an informal 30‑minute conversation with the programme lead (currently partner Andrei Brasoveanu in Europe) to align on ethics, sourcing focus and expected cadence. Once onboarded, scouts sign a simple participation agreement and receive funds within 14 days.
Participation is cost‑free. Accel wires the $200 000 allocation up front, covers all SPV or SAFE legal documentation and does not charge scouts management fees. Any personal angel cheques a scout elects to add are optional and at their own discretion.
Scouts share the economics of every investment they originate. When an exit occurs, the scout receives carried‑interest participation, typically 10 % of Accel’s GP carry attributable to that cheque, mirroring the structure pioneered by Sequoia’s programme.
The scout also has the option (but no obligation) to co‑invest personal capital. No salary, finder’s fee or retainer is paid; upside comes purely from portfolio performance, fully aligning scouts with founders and the fund.
The relationship is evergreen rather than cohort‑based:
Business Insider broke the news of the European launch, calling Starters “Accel’s answer to Sequoia’s famed scout network.”
Sifted highlighted the $200 k cheque size and labelled the club “an exclusive circle for experienced operators across 10 countries”.
Silicon Canals and Startups Magazine later reported that the pool of scouts had doubled to 40 and was fuelling Accel’s new €602 million early‑stage fund.
The Recursive profiled regional participants, noting the programme “empowers up‑and‑coming operators to become angel investors and mentors.”
Accel, the US venture capital (VC) giant, has launched a startup scouting program in Europe, building on the legacy of its US project. Scouts in the “Starters” program are allocated $200К each to find, invest in, and nurture European startups with growth potential.
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