Directory of Incubators & Seed Funding Venture Programs
Pretty soon there'll be a startup incubator for every major city across the US. The growing trend of investing in young, first time entrepreneurs is in part due to the success of Y Combinator that's invested in over 80 startups since it's inception in 2005. The seed stage venture capital firm provides small rounds of financing (usually no more than $15,000), advice, connections, and a competitive atmosphere to prepare entrepreneurs for initial launches and further rounds of funding.
Many times, you don't need a million dollars to start a company. It's a common misconception by young entrepreneurs. I made that mistake myself and spent more time trying to raise venture capital funding than actually building a prototype, which is far more important. Mistakes like this come from inexperience and a lack of exposure to the right resources. These types of incubators aim to bridge this gap and help young entrepreneurs develop ideas with the right mentors and tools at hand with programs usually last between 2 and 4 months.
Here is a list of seed funds that are geared for early stage seed investments and focus on young entrepreneurs. If you know of one that I didn't include, please email me so I can add it. (Descriptions taken from their respective websites.)
Palo Alto, California
Y Combinator is a venture fund which focuses on seed investments to startup companies. It offers financing as well as business consulting along with other opportunities to 2-4 person companies looking to take an idea to a product. Y Combinator looks for companies with “good” ideas over companies with experience and a business model. The company made its first investments in Summer 2005.
Y Combinator selects companies to finance and consult with twice a year. They are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the Summer and in Mountain View, CA in the Winter. Companies that they decide to fund generally receive $5,000 plus an additional $5,000 per founder and are required to relocate to Y Combinator’s destination for the following three months. In return, Y Combinator asks for 2-10% ownership, generally considered fairly steep considering the small investment. However, Y Combinator argues that this seed money and mentorship is crucial to for the success of small startups.
Boulder, Colorado
Cambridge, Massachussetts
With the motto “the geeks shall inherit the earth”, TechStars is truly motivated to getting good ideas off the ground. TechStars is a seed fund similar to Y Combinator. It offers $6,000 per founder to companies that make its list for up to 3 founders. In return, TechStars takes 6% equity in the company in common/founders stock. Company founders spend their whole summer in Boulder, Colorado working in a common space and collaborating when appropriate. TechStars mentors everyone accepted into their program with business and other advice. Many times over the summer guest entrepreneurs will speak to TechStars’ newest investees, and at the end of the summer every company will be given an opportunity to pitch themselves to angel investors and venture funds.
Greenville, South Carolina
Do you have a creative and unique idea for a new product, new venture, new business model? Do you dream about getting to know people who want to help you, provide a little bit of money, and teach you what to do next? If so, we invite you to apply to the NEXTSTART program. If you are one of the start-up teams selected, NEXTSTART will provide you with a small $5,0000 initial investment per entrepreneur (maximum $10,000 per start-up), office space for the summer, access to workshops and programs, and a network of experienced mentors who will help you refine your ideas and launch your business. At the end of the summer, you will have an opportunity to present your business plan to potential investors.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The DreamIt Ventures Managing Partners have been investing in early stage companies since they sold the companies they started. In the last few years we have become enthusiastic about how quickly and inexpensively great companies can be launched. At the same time we have seen some very talented people with great ideas struggle to pull the pieces together and get over the startup hump. With the help and support of entrepreneurs, technologists, prominent law and accounting firms, angel investor groups and venture capital firms, DreamIt Ventures was born. Our goal at DreamIt is simple: Help great people with great ideas build great companies.
Austin, Texas
Capital Factory is a seed stage mentoring program for startups that provides a small amount of seed capital and weekly mentoring sessions by entrepreneurs who have founded successful companies. Startup companies apply to participate in our 10 week summer program intended to get a startup pointed in the right direction with a clear path to profitability and growth.
Gaps have formed in the traditional funding path for early stage companies. Many venture capitalists are moving towards bigger funds that invest larger amounts of money in lower risk companies that have already proven their model. Angel investors are banding together into syndicates that look more and more like venture capitalists. We think we can help to fill some of those gaps and then introduce companies to angel investor groups or venture capitalists at the right time.
Santa Monica, California
Slingshot Labs is a startup incubator funded and wholly owned by News Corporation with a focus on fostering applications for MySpace and other web ventures. The mission at Slingshot Labs is to be a fast-mover in the quickly evolving Web2.0 landscape. We form, launch, and provide the critical momentum for companies to successfully become leaders in their markets. Our primary focus is on building companies that have engaging, disruptive, and unique approaches.
Washington, D.C.
LaunchBox Digital is a place for cutting-edge ideas and cutting-edge talent. LaunchBox Digital helps entrepreneurs maximize their chance of success and get through the challenging early days of starting a new business.
There has never been a better time to start a technology company. Costs are decreasing, open development platforms are more robust (Linux, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, etc), revenue models are emerging and solidifying, and a whole new generation of digital platforms are emerging: Social Media (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo), OpenSocial, Open Mobile (iPhone, Google Android, Blackberry Development Platform), even digital set top boxes.
Lexington, Massachusetts
Menlo Park, California
In its second year, Summer@Highland is designed to provide selected student entrepreneurs with the environment and resources for advancing their business initiative.
Selected teams in the Summer@Highland program each receive a financial stipend and the opportunity to spend the summer with Highland, either at the firm’s Lexington, Massachusetts or Menlo Park, California office. The teams will have access to Highland investment professionals along with further resources for injecting real-world advice, insight and perspectives into the entrepreneurial and company-building process.
Atlanta, Georgia
Shotput Ventures is an accelerator micro-fund to mentor and invest in pre-formation, capital-light web companies. Capital-light web companies are companies that don't require a lot of money to start and don't take a lot of time and resources to reach profitability. The program is an intensive coordinated effort to help you launch your company and product. Participating teams will form new companies and build a new product over a 3 month period while being mentored by a group of experienced web entrepreneurs and successful business leaders.
Shotput Ventures provides $5,000 per team and $5,000 per founder. So, $15,000 - $25,000 per team in exchange for 5% - 10% of equity on entrepreneur friendly terms.
Boston, Massachusetts
Start@Spark provides seed financing to high potential entrepreneurs. In uncertain economic times, it is imperative to continue to support entrepreneurs and companies at their earliest stages. Although access to early stage capital may have become scarce in recent months, it is precisely at these times that entrepreneurs start attacking nascent opportunities and begin building the game changing companies of the future.
For this reason, Spark Capital is aggressively seeking to make seed investments in promising early stage companies in the New York and Boston areas. Through this program, entrepreneurs who are starting companies in the conflux of media, technology, and entertainment can be granted up to $250,000 to quickly accelerate their progress.
Boonton, New Jersey
Obsidian Launch is the nation's only business growth accelerator that partners exclusively with young, first-time entrepreneurs. Obsidian works with these entrepreneurs in deploying a differentiating strategy, implementing systemization tools and by providing hands-on experts to launch a rapidly growing and healthy business. But, Obsidian provides far more than a recipe for success; Obsidian installs a team of dedicated experts that work hand-in-hand, day-in and day-out to launch industry leaders.
From day one, Obsidian provides your new business with 1. a complete office staff; 2. a robust technology infrastructure; 3. a been-there, done-that entrepreneur that partners with you; 4. key introductions to our large network of contacts; 5. micro-funding, and 6. raw enthusiasm and relentless effort to launch your first startup into an industry leading niche business.
New York City, New YorK
NYC Seed funds seed-stage technology entrepreneurs in New York City. We help driven, small teams move from an idea to a product. Through the combined efforts of New York City’s most innovative organizations, NYC Seed provides funding, mentoring and support to create the next generation of companies in New York City.
NYC Seed will invest up to $200,000 (depending on the number of founders and the amount needed for certain milestones), with the goal of launching an initial product. NYC Seed will provide guidance along with connections to a network of experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and companies in New York City.
Betaworks is an Internet Media Company and Business Accelerator funding group. They've funded some of the following companies amongst others: Twitter, Outside.In, Covestar, TweetDeck, Lookery, and SnapTalent.
San Jose, California
BetterLabs is a new generation product incubation firm where we incubate products for early stage startup founders. We work closely with founders to turn their ideas into a working 1.0 version that can be tested and validated with real users.
BetterLabs' product incubation model is built on our hands-on experience in building our own products from concept to revenue. BetterLab's model is aimed to allow founders to get started on their product, user testing, iteration and market validations without having to raise a lot of seed money at such early stages. With the BetterLabs incubation program, founders are able to get to alpha and beta versions at drastically lower investments and are able to validate the product and have clear metrics to demand a good valuation during seed or Series A fund raising efforts. Our program also allows founders to continue to operate in a bootstrapped mode to build and grow on customer revenues.
Bay Area, California
TheFunded Founder Institute (FFI or the Institute) helps founders launch innovative companies by providing training, services, and company-building assignments, such as incorporating the business, filing provision patents, and setting up books and records. The Institute offers a four month program, called a Semester, hosted initially in the Bay Area and then expanding to locations around the world. The program participants, the Founders, receive extensive training in weekly sessions overseen by three Mentors – two seasoned CEOs and one domain expert for each topic.
Participating founders that incorporate a startup will contribute warrants in the new company to the Institute. The warrants will allow the Institute to purchase 3.5% of the company’s equity at fair market value, as determined by the first seed, angel, or professional round. In order to encourage a collaborative company building environment, the Institute will share the proceeds generated by the warrants from a given semester with both the mentors and founders who participated in that semester.
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Bootup Labs is a hybrid startup accelerator and seed fund in Vancouver, BC that helps founders and companies go "from concept to proof." Bootup Labs recruits promising entrepreneurs and provides support and financing to help define their business and secure venture financing.
SeedcampThe aim of this week is to collapse the time it takes start ups to make and develop these critical relationships from months to a week and establish an unrivaled foundation on which the business can be built. At the end of the week we will make the funding decision to invest up to €50K each in 5 teams for a small equity stake.
Kampala, Uganda
Appfrica Labs is a for-profit incubator and software development firm currently based out of Kampala, Uganda. The mission is to offer opportunities and work experience for East African software entrepreneurs so that they can then use their talents to bolster the growing local markets by creating their own products and companies. We pick up where local colleges like Makerere University leave off by offering hand-on experience in Java, C++, C#, Ruby on Rails, Django and Python, PHP, Perl, Kannel and various other programming languages that often can’t be taught in-depth in classes due to budget restraints. These skills are highly valued around the world and skilled professionals in this region will make East Africa a more attractive place to develop software, not only locally but also for international companies. Appfrica Labs will also provide oversight and guidance to the projects that are launched out of the incubator.
Nomadic Incubators
Startup Weekendrecruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.
Founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde, the weekend is a concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating. It is known for its quick decisions, ‘out of the box’ thinking (oh no, the buzzwords are attacking!), unique facilitation technique and letting the founders show what they can do. The program has already met with success in Boulder, Toronto, New York, Hamburg, Houston, West Lafayette, Boston, DC and more.
The participants that attend a Startup Weekend decide what they want to tackle over the weekend and come out at the end with several developed companies or projects. Attendees are responsible for bringing the same desire and passion to the project and walk out of the room with the task at hand, in a short 54 hours. Sound intense? It is.
- Alex.Lindahl's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
