Today I (David Cohen) announced that Maëlle Gavet, Techstars CEO, will be leaving the company at the end of the month for health reasons and that I have returned as CEO.

Over the past three and a half years, we have accomplished a great deal under Maëlle’s leadership. The company has made 2,000+ startup investments. In 2023, 469 Techstars portfolio companies raised a total of over $2.4B, with 322 of them raising rounds of $1M or more. Applications to our programs doubled between 2022 and 2023 while our quality filter has remained as high as ever — an average of just 3% of those applicants were accepted into our programs. We continue to rate highly with entrepreneurs in our programs, who in 2023 scored Techstars a nine out of 10 for providing business value. All of that while the diversity of our founders rose to 25% female founders and 36% black and brown founders (in 2023).  

I want to thank Maëlle for pouring her passion, blood, sweat and tears into Techstars. I feel fortunate to have worked so closely with her. She built a great team, made many tough decisions, and bravely enacted complex changes that were sorely needed. But now Maëlle must focus on her health. I know I speak for everyone at Techstars when I say that we wish her strength and courage as she addresses what’s ahead. 

While I am excited to be back as CEO of Techstars, I was never far away. I was the first employee and have been an employee here continuously since then. I was the first Managing Director of our first and at the time, only, accelerator (Boulder) in the early years. In total, I have served as CEO or co-CEO for thirteen of the seventeen years that Techstars has existed and have been on the Board since the company’s inception. 

Reach out if you have any questions, but in the meantime, I will continue to focus on making Techstars even better for founders!

David Cohen

Founder & CEO

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