The Founders Fund
and Accel Partners have created a $10 million fund for Facebook
applications called FBFund, Mark Zuckerberg just announced at the
TechCrunch40 conference in San Francisco. The funding will be given out
in grants of $25,000 to $250,000.
Rather than equity, the two firms will have a right of first refusal
if the companies end up surviving long enough to raise a venture round.
Facebook is not putting up any of the cash, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg and
Vice President of Product Marketing and Operations Chamath Palihapitiya
will be evaluating applicants, along with Peter Thiel of the Founders
Fund and Jim Breyer of Accel, and investors Rajeev Motwani, Josh
Kopelman, and Reid Hoffman.
This new fund is going to be put a crimp in the plans of other funds that have similar ambitions, as they will be competing with a Facebook-approved investment vehicle.
Any application developer can apply by emailing
platform@facebook.com, with anything from an idea or an
already-launched application.
The idea, said Zuckerberg, is for developers to be able to see if
their ideas pass muster with the members of the “great distribution
vehicle” of Facebook. That is, instead of passing muster with the
inhabitants of the conference rooms on Sand Hill Road.
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