One the interesting differences for startups on the east coast compared to the west coast is how much more compact the east coast is. For Silicon Valley, the nearest major metro cities are 400 to 800 miles away, which makes the San Francisco area much more secluded. Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and Baltimore are all within a short drive of each other, which makes the sharing of resources, talent pools and events much easier that on the west coast. Philadelphia, conveniently located between Washington D.C. and New York, is home to DreamIt Ventures, which is now accepting applications for its 2010 summer accelerator class.
Until March 22, entrepreneurs with an idea and a team can apply to receive up to $30,000 in capital as well as office space, mentoring from successful entrepreneurs and exposure to investors. The accepted groups will benefit from both the guidance of DreamIt’s newest partner, Kerry Rupp, formerly of Classmates.com, Jobster, and LexisNexis, as well as the firm’s partnership with StartL, a startup accelerator focused on education services.
“Our first two classes of DreamIt companies were exceptional,” said DreamIt founding partner Mike Levinson. “We expect this year to be our best class yet. We will have more applicants than ever before, impressive new mentors and a more vibrant community of investors keeping an eye on our companies.”
DreamIt’s accelerator has produced a handful of success stories in the past, including NoteHall which was featured on ABC’s prime-time television show Shark Tank where they were awarded funding. Additionally, SeatGeek, an online ticket pricing service, went on to secure over $500,000 in funding, and location-based gaming company SCVNGR has received $4 million in funding from Google Ventures and currently serves over 400 clients. According to SCVNGR CEO Seth Priebatsch, the company “would be nowhere near where it is now without DreamIt’s help.”
The three month program seems like an excellent incubator option for any east coast startup looking to secure some early funding while collaborating with fellow entrepreneurs. DreamIt also accepts applications from individual programmers and strategists looking to be paired up with a team, so the program can also help startups fill their ranks.
Photo by Flickr user enfi.
