Syracuse Surge Accelerator

The Syracuse Surge Accelerator, launched in April 2023, is a one-year in-person accelerator to provide direct resources and support for Black-Indigenous-Persons of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs who want to launch and accelerate tech-related and tech-adjacent startups. The program is operated by CenterState CEO through The Tech Garden in Syracuse, NY.

Today, fewer than 25% of tech startups in the U.S. have founders of color, a phenomenon fueled by structural and cultural barriers.The Syracuse Surge Accelerator seeks to mitigate these barriers by providing culturally competent programming and access to capital at various stages of teams’ development. This competitive program recruits BIPOC-founded teams to submit conceptual proposals to build scalable businesses around specific technologies or business needs. Teams are selected for an immersive 12-month experience within CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden, with access to extensive programming and resources. The accelerator is designed to help companies grow, prosper and contribute to Central New York’s smart systems business ecosystem, and is a core program of Syracuse Surge, the city’s strategy for inclusive growth in the New Economy, which seeks to position Syracuse as an emerging market for business, technology and innovation.