Search Here

This week, DreamIt Ventures Austin launched a new microfund to help give additional financing to the startups in its second accelerator program, VentureBeat reported.

By forging an alliance with AngelList, the microfund will enable accredited backers to provide money to the young companies. The minimum investment that investors who will participate in the crowdfunding effort need to make is $2,500 but they can't choose which businesses to support. The amount invested will finance all the nine startups in DreamIt's Austin accelerator program, the report said.

In an interview with VentureBeat, DreamIt Ventures Managing Partner Kerry Rupp said, "This just gives companies in the Austin program some extra runway to get off the ground. Founders will hopefully be able to spend more time applying [what they've learned from DreamIt] before having to raise more funding, too."

The recipients for the financing that are slated to get anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 in added funding from the microfund effort are Cheggin, CollaborateCloud, eveQ, LiveWire, Notorious, Octane Lending, SecondMic, Swan and UserApp. DreamIt Ventures got their assent to participate in the AngelList microfund ahead of time when they applied for the program, the report said.

The funding that the startups will get from the microfund effort is already an added perk. According to Rupp, the startups in the accelerator program were already given various benefits, such as mentoring, office space and seed funding of as much as $25,000, the report said.

Since 2008, DreamIt, which also has incubator programs in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York and Tel Aviv has already helped 127 startups get their businesses off the ground. The new microfund is set to close early next month after a demo day event showcasing the DreamIt Austin startups. If the microfund succeeds, the company intends to bring it to other areas as well. Rupp said, "We're looking at this as a test case in Austin, but if it works well it may carry over to programs in other cities."