Do accelerators matter for innovative firms' financial performance? Empirical evidence from Korea

Accelerators, which serve distinct roles from incubators, play a pivotal role in the success of startups. Although numerous studies have explored the relationship between incubators and firm performance, only a few have examined the effectiveness of accelerators, with inconsistent findings. Moreover, due to data availability constraints, studies focusing on the impact of accelerators on startups' financial performance are lacking. We empirically examine how startups' financial performance is influenced by the accelerator programme provided by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. Our findings show that startups participating in the accelerator programme experienced increased asset turnover through sales growth; however, this did not translate into an improved return on assets. Our study contributes to the literature on accelerators by utilising a dataset that provides financial variables of startups and incorporates financial performance as an additional dimension of empirical evidence.