Nine months out from a signed contract, you are not short of runway, you are short of proof. Every accelerator will take equity off you for "access," but access to a logo on a slide is not access to a buyer. Business Chain tracks 57 programmes open to B2B companies. Fewer than half of them touch the enterprise sales cycle at all. The rest just buy you time, which is fine, but you should know which is which before you sign a SAFE.
Programmes built around corporate intros, not just cohorts
Alchemist Accelerator takes a $25,000 stipend for roughly 5% equity, and that number is negotiable, which matters because Alchemist's whole premise is enterprise B2B founders in front of corporate buyers at demo day, not consumer apps padding a portfolio. If your pipeline is enterprise software, this is the one where the equity buys a room full of the people who actually sign.
Conector Startup Accelerator prices itself at 4-7% equity for program plus services, and the services line is the point: Conector's model is built around matching startups with corporate partners for pilots, so you are paying for an introduction, not just office hours.
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator offers $150K on a 6% Post-Money SAFE, with W'27 and S'27 cohorts currently open. ERA's network is corporate and institutional New York, which is the right room if your first contract is likely to come from a financial services or enterprise software buyer in that city.
gener8tor takes 7.5% for $100,000, with rolling applications and no fixed deadline, which means you can apply the month your pilot conversation stalls rather than waiting for a cohort window. Its intros are sector-specific, so the fit depends entirely on whether your nine-month-out buyer is in a sector gener8tor actually covers.
GSF Accelerator offers seed investment plus mentorship, and its relevance is geographic: if your first contract is with a buyer in the Indian market, GSF's network does work most generalist accelerators cannot. Katapult Accelerator writes the largest checks on this list, €150,000 to €500,000, aimed at impact-oriented B2B companies, though the organiser publishes no confirmed application dates, so you apply and wait rather than planning around a deadline.
What counts as evidence of demand before anyone has signed
A logo on your website that a founder got through a warm intro at one of these programmes is not evidence. What accelerator selection committees and, later, enterprise procurement teams actually respond to is proof that someone with budget authority moved your deal forward without being asked twice.
- A signed letter of intent with a named buyer, not a verbal "we'd be interested"
- A paid pilot, even a small one, because unpaid pilots convert to contracts at a much lower rate and every corporate partner programme knows it
- A procurement or security review that has actually started, because that is the stage where enterprise deals die quietest
- A second meeting scheduled by the buyer's side, not chased by yours
- A budget line the buyer has named out loud, even informally
If you have none of these nine months out, the equity-light programmes on this list are the better bet right now. Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First Latin America is equity-free, giving eligible startups Google product credits and the option to apply for further credit support, which extends runway without touching your cap table while you go get that first signed LOI. Entrepreneur First works the same way before you've even formed a company: the ideation grant is equity-free, and the up to $250K investment only arrives once a company exists, so you are not pricing equity against a hypothetical buyer at all.
Pricing equity against an introduction that may not convert
Here is the actual math founders skip. Alchemist's 5% for $25,000 implies the programme is pricing your company at roughly $500,000. Dreamit Ventures, which takes 6% equity for $50,000 to $100,000, implies somewhere between $830,000 and $1.6 million. gener8tor's 7.5% for $100,000 implies $1.3 million. ERA's 6% for $150,000 implies $2.5 million. None of these numbers are a verdict on your company, they are a verdict on what that specific programme's network is worth to them. The question you should be asking is not "is this a fair valuation" but "is the introduction this programme can make worth more than the equity at my own, separately negotiated valuation." If Dreamit can get you in front of the enterprise buyer you've been chasing for four months and Alchemist cannot, the cheaper equity price is irrelevant.
Startup Wise Guys takes roughly EUR 50,000 for 3-6% equity, with no fixed deadline, which makes it one of the cheaper equity costs on this list per euro raised, but its network leans European B2B SaaS rather than enterprise procurement specifically, so price it against who you'll actually meet, not against the percentage alone.
Startmate offers an A$120,000 investment, with applications closing Sunday 8 November 2026 at 11:59pm AEDT. If you're reading this after that date, check the programme page before you plan around it, because a missed deadline here means waiting for the next cohort entirely. Kickstart Fund writes pre-seed and seed checks but does not disclose the amount publicly, and my position is you should not price equity against a number you cannot see. Apply, by all means, but do not let an undisclosed check anchor your valuation conversation with anyone else.
The rule that actually holds nine months out: pay equity for a programme only when you can name the specific corporate relationship it will open, not for the brand on the application page. Alchemist, Conector, ERA, gener8tor, GSF and Katapult each earn their equity price through a named kind of access. The rest of the 57 in the catalogue are runway tools, and runway tools should never cost you a percentage point you'd rather have spent closing the deal nine months from now.