500 Global and Alchemist price their seats differently

The record

500 Global's own flagship-accelerator page, archived 16 June 2024, states that companies receive an investment of $150,000 for around 6 percent of their company, structured as a convertible security subject to dilution at conversion, with a follow-on right to invest an additional $500,000 or 20 percent of the next priced round of $1,000,000 or more, whichever is lower. The same page discloses a $37,500 program fee deducted from that investment, so a company nets $112,500 in cash after the fee.

What the sources establish

Alchemist Accelerator's own flagship-program page, as retrieved on 16 September 2026, describes a different structure: an optional cash investment, often a SAFE, with average investment proceeds to the company of $30,000 net of a tuition-fee offset, alongside a separate, optional right for Alchemist to co-invest in follow-on rounds for 'most' companies at around 5.00 percent equity. Alchemist's homepage adds a self-reported program figure — more than $450,000 in partner credits and discounts — and a self-reported alumni total of over $5 billion collectively raised across more than 270 companies that raised at least $500,000 institutionally.

Scope and revision

The two programs price a seat differently enough that neither can stand in for accelerator economics broadly. 500 Global states an equity percentage directly against a defined check; Alchemist states a net cash figure after a tuition offset and treats its equity right as a separate, optional follow-on rather than a fixed price for the initial seat. Both are living pages a reader should re-check before relying on them for a specific cohort: 500 Global's terms are read here from a dated snapshot rather than today's live wording, and Alchemist's alumni totals are the company's own unaudited count, not a third-party audit.

The decision in front of you

A founder comparing these two programs should ask each for its current written terms rather than relying on either summary here past its stated date, and should separate a program's cash investment from any optional follow-on equity right when comparing cost. This is editorial comparison guidance, not a recommendation of either program.

• Is the accelerator's stated percentage tied to the initial check, or to a separate follow-on right?
• What fee, if any, is netted out of the stated investment before cash reaches the company?
• Has the specific program's page changed since the date this record cites?

Two accelerators outside the Y Combinator and Techstars pair show that standard terms is a phrase that only means something once a specific program's own document is named.