Accelerator and Small Business Training programs can help launch your tech company providing in depth training, mentoring and a modest investment. Hawaiʻi is home to nationally recognized accelerator programs, each with different entry requirements and focus.
Released on 10/22/24: RFP-25-002-HTDC Accelerator and Small Business Training (BUSINESS PROGRAMS). Due date for proposal submission: December 12, 2024. This is a funding opportunity for Hawai’i Accelerator and Small Business Training programs. Visit the the State’s Hawai’i Awards & Notices Data System (HANDS) for the official notice of funding opportunity: https://hands.ehawaii.gov/hands/opportunities/opportunity-details/24913
11/15/24: An Info Session was held on November 6, 2024. Q&A’s along with the info session deck is now available through Addendum 1 posted to the HANDS website. https://hands.ehawaii.gov/hands/opportunities/opportunity-details/24913
Hear the Stories
Check out our video series on Hawaiʻi News Now with one on one conversations with local businesses and their experience with the accelerator program.
HTDC Supported Accelerators
The following is a list of accelerators and business support programs available to small businesses that HTDC has supported with funding:
Blue Startups
Blue Startups is a Top 20 Accelerator in the US (Techcrunch) focused on helping scalable-technology companies compete globally. Blue Startups aims to stimulate economic growth in Hawaiʻi and create new business opportunities by providing promising entrepreneurs with mentorship, access to business expertise, product testing, peer review, pitch development, introductions to investors, and seed funding.
ManaUp
Mana Up’s accelerator is a six-month intensive program designed to uncover high-impact sales opportunities, tackle operational challenges, and develop executive leadership. The program includes weekly workshops, connections to a network of industry experts, guidance in crafting an engaging narrative for expansion, and access to distribution and sales channels.
XLR8HI
XLR8HI has helped Hawai’i residents gain the skills and connections they need to achieve business success in a fun and inclusive environment. Their interactive workshops and programs are designed to accelerate your entrepreneurial mindset, while community events connect you with fellow entrepreneurs and thought-provoking insights from a lineup of innovation and business experts.
Quest Accelerator
Quest supports founders on a mission, helping early-stage ventures with transformative technologies tackle government and local challenges.
Ka Maka ʻĪnana
Design is the foundation that everything we see is built upon, from public service programs, to policy, to architecture, to emerging technologies. Ka Maka ʻĪnana seeks to inform the way we think about and practice design to embed equity and cultural grounding in all of the things that we create.
Hawaiʻi FoundHer
FoundHer was created by women for women and provides research-tested resources critical to the success of an early-stage wāhine-led business.
Hawai’i Center for AI
The Hawai’i Center for AI promotes the beneficial use of AI to empower individuals, communities, and industries throughout Hawai’i. The brand new Hawai‘i Center for AI Incubator, will support ideas and business projects to help build a brighter future for Hawai‘i’s economy.
PACE
The Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), established in 2000 at the Shidler College of Business, is the central unit that coordinates and offers educational opportunities for entrepreneurship, innovation, and commercialization to students at all 10 campuses of the University of Hawai‘i System (UH). The Center’s comprehensive portfolio of programs offer mentorship, training and resources, and are designed to encourage entrepreneurial thinking across disciplines and inspire entrepreneurs to move their ideas from conceptualization to commercialization.
Elemental
Elemental provides funding and in-depth support to promising climate technology startups with social impact potential. Over the past 14 years, Elemental has invested in more than 150 portfolio companies and built a vibrant community of entrepreneurs with world-changing solutions.