Venture capital investor Monica Wheat to lead Techstars Detroit accelerator

More than two years after a previous iteration halted operations, startup accelerator Techstars is returning to Detroit, and a familiar name in the region has been tapped to head the initiative.

Boulder, Colo.-based Techstars announced Monday that it has partnered with banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) to launch new three-month programs, beginning in five cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, and Washington D.C., according to a news release. Programs will also launch in other cities in coming months.

Monica Wheat, a veteran of the region’s startup and venture capital sector, has been tapped as the Detroit initiative’s managing director. Wheat had previously been running the Techstars “Equitech Accelerator” in Baltimore, as Crain’s has reported.

“I am not looking for any particular industry, but I am looking for founders who are ‘ready’ to put in the work and take their technology or high growth companies to the next level,” Wheat said of her new role in a Q&A posted on the Techstars website on Monday. “We want founders who are in possession of ideas, innovations, and technology solutions that are defensible.”

Wheat added: “Bold ideas and small nuances that a diverse set of founders identify and intend to grow. I can work with the building blocks and the Techstars Detroit Accelerator will polish and hone the rest.”

Applications for the Detroit accelerator opened Monday with a deadline of May 11, and the program will commence on Sept. 12 with a demo day on Dec. 8. 

Typically, between 10 and 12 companies are accepted into each class, and the Detroit cohort will have two classes per year for three years, coming to roughly 72 companies, according to a JPMorgan spokesperson. 

JPMorgan, the New York City-based financial services firm with assets of about $3.2 trillion, is investing over $80 million toward the Techstars initiative around the country, with a focus on diverse and minority founders, according to the release.

“The multi-year program will focus on entrepreneurs and founders that have been overlooked by traditional venture capital sources,” said Tiffany Lewis, head of diverse manager strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “This new commitment will advance the shift toward more equitable economic opportunities through access to financial services, mentorship, quality education and training, and promoting inclusive business practices.”

Citing data from industry publication Crunchbase, the Techstars release notes that in the first half of last year, Black entrepreneurs accounted for just 1.2 percent of U.S. venture funding, and Latino founders, meanwhile, raised only 2 percent of U.S. venture capital investments.

“The data and experience show founders from diverse communities and backgrounds represent an untapped market with tremendous financial upside for investors, the entrepreneurs, and the communities they operate in. With J.P. Morgan, our goal is to be more intentional in the way our programs attract, support and invest in Black, Latino and other underrepresented founders,” Mäelle Gavet, CEO of Techstars, said.

Approximately 27 percent of Techstars’ existing portfolio company CEOs identifying as Black, Hispanic and Latino, Indigenous American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Middle East/North African, according to the national accelerator program.

In early 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, a previous Techstars accelerator focused on the mobility space halted operations as investments from large automakers dried up.

The previous Techstars Detroit initiative, headed up by investor Ted Serbinski, funded 54 startups over five years.