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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Seedcamp Sprouting


Saul referred to Seedcamp on Thursday last at the Library House Event, Essential Web.
The Seedcamp website went live on the same day and some of blogs have picked up on the story - as did the Guardian on-line.
There is quite a lot that isn't conventional about Seedcamp and perhaps this post will help to elucidate.

The theme of why we need to keep seeding European start-ups is a well covered one.

Like the Opencoffee Club, Seedcamp is essentially designed to promote entrepreneurship in the tech community in a down-to-earth, direct and practical way.
Like Opencoffee it is aims to be collaborative, inclusive and participative.

The idea is simple, Seedcamp will help to kick-start the best of European ventures through the provision of a small amount of money but more importantly by providing direct access to the best mentors in the ecosystem.

The website explains it in some detail.

Seedcamp will be owned by a wide range of VCs, Successful Entrepreneurs and Professionals.
Announcements will follow soon of those who are backing it.

In just a week and a bit - since Essential Web - rapid progress has been made on a few fronts.

1) 3 days ago, we had 12 fully submitted applications and 96 signed-up users. I am amazed at this given the application form only went up 4 days previously.

2) We have a number of backers on board. Our plan is to make a public announcement about our 1st group of investor/supporters in the coming week.

3) We started up a Facebook group around Seedcamp. There are 411 members today! Word-of-mouth and blogging is very active as we can tell by the links on our website and the emails we are getting

If you think you can add to Seedcamp as Investor/Sponsor/Mentor or you have a business plan which needs support please go to www.Seedcamp.com and contact us via the blog or the email.

If you can help spread the word, that too will benefit the community.