Hardware & Manufacturing accelerators

Hardware and manufacturing accelerators are few, and the six we track differ sharply in structure. HAX, SOSV's Newark residency, writes a $550,000 initial investment with hands-on engineering support, though its equity percentage is unpublished. mHUB in Chicago currently markets a $200,000 package for 6.5% equity across its energy, medtech, and sustainable manufacturing tracks, but its own pages describe the cash and in-kind breakdown inconsistently, and we disclose that rather than pick a number. AlphaLab Gear, the hardware track of Innovation Works' unified AlphaLab in Pittsburgh, invests up to $100,000 for a low-equity stake over six months. Two programs are non-dilutive: FORGE helps physical-product startups reach manufacturing with periodic product development grants and takes no equity, and the Centrepolis Accelerator in Southfield administers Michigan mobility prototyping grants of up to $100,000. The MassRobotics Accelerator paid robotics startups $100,000 with no equity taken, but it ran as a funded initiative through 2025 and no new cohort is announced, so its page carries an honest dormancy note.

What counts as a hardware accelerator here: any US program that helps startups building physical products move from prototype toward manufacturing, whether it invests for equity, writes non-dilutive grants, or provides engineering space and support. Every figure is the program's own published number; where a program does not publish a figure, we say so instead of guessing.