They say imitation the most sincere form of flattery. If that’s true, then Paul Graham must be about to drown from all the praise. His Y Combinator project, which has funded nearly 60 startups since 2005 and has arguably inspired a new emphasis on smaller scale investments at traditional venture capital firms, has collected a cadre of imitators. Lots of them, from all over the world. While Graham may not like it, there are a large number of start up incubators following the model he created with Y Combinator and handing out microinvestments in web startups in return for a small stake.
If you’re a startup founder looking for a bit of seed funding to let you quit your day job and finish your web app or service, our guide to seed fund incubators will help you figure out where to apply. (Be sure to also read this great account of what it’s actually like at one of these programs.)
Name:Y Combinator
Location: Cambridge, MA and Bay Area, CA
Investment: $5,000 + $5,000 per founder (i.e., $15,000 for two founders, $20,000 for three)
Stake Taken: 2-10% (usually about 6%)
Companies funded: Too many to list (about 58), but many you’ve heard of, like Reddit, Scribd, and Xobni (Wikipedia has a full list)
Next application deadline: April 2
Name:TechStars
Location: Boulder, CO
Investment: $5,000 per founder, up to $15,000 (3 founders)
Stake Taken: 5%
Companies funded: 9 so far, including Villij, and Intense Debate
Next application deadline: March 31
Name:SeedCamp
Location: London, UK
Investment: 50,000 (about US$74,000)
Stake Taken: 10%
Companies funded: 6 so far, including Tablefinder
Next application deadline: August 12
Name:YEurope
Location: Vienna, Austria
Investment: 5,000 per founder, up to 15,000 (3 founders)
Stake Taken: 2-10%
Companies funded:Soup.io
Next application deadline: None
Name:Summer@Highland
Location: Lexington, MA
Investment: $7,500 for individuals or $15,000 for teams (split evenly)
Stake Taken: ?
Companies funded: 8
Next application deadline: Not yet announced
Name:LaunchBox
Location: Washington, DC
Investment: Between $15,000 and $30,000
Stake Taken: 4-8%
Companies funded: None yet
Next application deadline: March 14
Name:DreamIt Ventures
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Investment: Between $10,000 and $30,000
Stake Taken: 4-8%
Companies funded: None yet
Next application deadline: March 12
Name:Bootup Labs
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Investment: ?
Stake Taken: ?
Companies funded: None yet
Next application deadline: None / not yet launched
Name:Bootphase
Location: Atlanta, GA
Investment: ?
Stake Taken: ?
Companies funded: None
Next application deadline: None / Not yet launched
See also: Charles River Ventures’ QuickStart loan program, in which seed round startups receive a loan of up to $250,000 against a future Series A venture round (which CRV has the option to participate in). And see the annual Google Summer of Code program, in which stipends are awarded to students working on open source projects.
