U.S. Start-Up Incubators Bubbliciously Doubled This Year
There are at least 64 start-up incubators in the U.S. this year, up from 34 in 2010, according to Xconomy. And it’s not just the number of total programs that’s growing — Y Combinator is rapidly increasing the number of companies it accepts, while TechStars has expanded into new cities.
“While the rest of the economy slowly fizzles, investors, foundations, regional economic development authorities, and other organizations have been setting up incubators, accelerators, and similar programs for startups at a blistering pace,” Xconomy’s Wade Roush writes this morning.
Roush proposes that 2011 is the high-water mark for incubators. For this “bubble” to burst so quickly seems drastic, given the amount of enthusiasm for tech company formation today. But it’s definitely possible that start-up incubation will be one of the areas where larger economic problems have an effect.
