Seedcamp

OpenBusiness has followed for a while YCombinator’s approach to VC investment and wondererd why nobody in Europe is doing something similar. In a nutshell: Give a small amount of cash, provide lots of mentoring and networking opportunities, take some equity and hope for a big hit. This way YCombinator seeded Digg for example.

Now a group of smart tech VC’s in London has lauched ‘Seedcamp’. They have adapted the US approach to the European environment. 20 companies will be selected for a week long session in London, 5 will get 50k Euros and they take 10% equity. This could help innovative, young start ups quite a lot, in particular since the people behind ‘Seedcamp’ work for big VC’s like 3i, Index and Benchmark. They say on their site:

“From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe’s next generation of entrepreneurs.”

They will also present at next MiniBar.

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vincentvanwylick says:

July 3, 2007 at 5:37 pm

While I’m always happy about these types of initiatives, how is this different from an incubator, of which there are quite a few in Europe? I’m also reminded of Gorilla Park, which had a similar ambitions and went bankrupt a few years ago.
Eric Edelstein » Wake up South Africa! Seedcamp launches. says:

July 4, 2007 at 2:51 pm

[...] Open Business [...]
www.best-practice-business.de/blog » Wann gibt es das erste Seedcamp in Deutschland? says:

July 5, 2007 at 9:24 pm

[...] Hinter dem Unternehmen “Seedcamp” stehen erfahrene Business Angels und auch so bekannte VC Gesellschaften, wie z.B. 3i. Ziel der Seedcamps ist es, die Basis für erfolgreiche StartUps hier in Europa zu stärken und vielleicht dafür zu sorgen, dass das nächste Google aus Europa kommt. Im Gegensatz zu anderen VC-Börsen spezialisiert sich das Seedcamp auf Vermittlung von Kapital in der Seed-Capital-Phase. Zudem wird garantiert, dass 5 Teams 50.000 EUR erhalten. Weiterhin werden die auserwählten Teams in Form von Workshops, Seminaren und Mentorengesprächen fit für die unternehmerische Zukunft gemacht wird. In Zukunft soll das Seedcamp einmal im Jahr stattfinden. Vorbilder für das Seedcamp sind z.B. Ycombinator und Open Coffee Club. Gefunden im openbusiness-blog. [...]