With piles of beautifully wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, we can’t help but feel grateful for everything we have. This desire to give back translates into an army of willing volunteers at food banks and homeless shelters, which usually dissipates by New Year’s Day.

How do we keep up the spirit of giving all year round? Here are three ideas from the tech community to turn you into a change-making habitual philanthropist.

Change.org

Why not start a grassroots campaign?

Company: Change.org
What is it? An online petitioning site.
Membership: 25 million users; the company is growing at a rate of 2 million new members a month.
Who’s it for? Ordinary people who want to start hyper-local movements against corporations or interest groups. “If you want to win battles, you do it locally,” Change.org CEO Ben Rattray (pictured, above) told VentureBeat.
How does it work? Petitions are nothing new, but marrying them with social media and focusing them in a hyper-local way — that’s where things start to get interesting. Simply launch a petition on Change.org, share it with your social networks, and watch it take off. The startup has a support team that will help you mobilize and put pressure on your target.
Greatest success story: Don’t believe you can take on the big banks? Twenty-two-year-old nanny Molly Katchpole launched an online petition on Change.org to put pressure on Bank of America to drop its new $5 monthly debit card fee. It was signed by 300,000 people. Victory was affirmed in November 2011.
What is the secret sauce? The company has a charismatic CEO in the form of Rattray (pictured, above), who believes that technology can arm ordinary people to start revolutions. In a recent interview at his San Francisco headquarters, Rattray said that people are apathetic because they learn over time that their opinion or vote doesn’t matter. Inspired by examples of successful campaigns launched on blogs, Facebook and Twitter or sites like Change.org, they are recognizing that they can make a difference. “As the platform gets bigger, people in power know who we are,” said Rattray. “They recognize the potential power of viral campaigns.”

Why not raise money for a charitable cause?

Company: Rally.org 
What is it? A platform that helps people to rally around and raise money for causes they believe in.
Who’s it for? A rebel with a cause.
How does it work? Create a fundraising page on Rally.org in a matter of minutes, and start accepting donations. Add your extended social network to your support list, and reach out to them on Facebook and Twitter. If your fundraising takes off, you can access a dashboard to analyze what’s working and view a list of your greatest supporters.
Membership: Approximately 1.5 million users.
Greatest success story?  A member recently raised $20,000 to help save a Minnesota church from foreclosure.
What is the secret sauce? Its all-star network of supporters. Rally.org has successfully rallied celebrities like Bon Jovi and Silicon Valley’s venture capital community. When Digg.com founder Kevin Rose joined Google Ventures, Rally.org was his first investment. It was further propelled into the spotlight when the Romney campaign chose it as its fundraising platform. “We’re increasingly seeing artists, brands and large corporations being very vocal and open about leveraging their celebrity and brand to benefit causes,” said Nick Warshaw, Rally.org’s business development lead in a recent interview with VentureBeat.

Why not offer an internship to a teen programmer?

Organization: CodeNow
What is it? A nonprofit that encourages high school students from inner city neighborhoods to pick up computer programming.
Who’s it for? Developers with a few hours to spare on an occasional evening who would be willing to teach; tech startups that can offer an internship to teen graduates of the program; kids from want to learn foundational skills in computer programming through free extra curricular off campus training.
How does it work? Teens reeceive netbook computers when they enter the program and sign up for 45 hours of programming training after school and during the summer or winter break. Once they complete the program, some of the graduates land internships at tech startups like LivingSocial.
Membership: The program has about 50 alumni. It started in Washington, D.C., but it recently expanded to San Francisco.
Greatest success story? Wilfred, a teen from a rough neighborhood in Washington D.C., who was ready to hand out handwritten business cards with the title “future engineer” in a few months. A natural at the programming language Ruby on Rails, he is now teaching the new recruits.
What is the secret sauce? Its close ties to the tech community. In attendance at the recent launch event in San Francisco were venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and other high-profile techies like Jonathan Abrams, founder of Friendster, and Roy Bahat, chairman of Ouya. The organization’s emphasis on diversity is both impressive and unique — about 40 percent of the program’s graduates are girls.

Red ribbon image via discpicture // Shutterstock

Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Who would have thought that cloud computing would be the modern day equivalent of Robin Hood?

In a report published by the University of San Diego, Unlocking the Benefits of Cloud Computing for Emerging Economics, researchers found countless benefits in increased global access to cheap data storage and processors. The authors intimated that in the future, cloud computing technologies will be an economic stabilizer.

Cloud-based technologies have experienced explosive growth in recent years, and evidence suggests they they will continue to grow. By 2014 Gartner predicted that 60 percent of the world’s server workloads will take place on virtualized cloud servers.

It’s great news for vendors and businesses, but what does this mean for people in countries like India, Mexico and South Africa?

The researchers make the case that cloud computing is keeping the cost of storing information down, and is making broadband faster as more people can access it. In combination, these two factors will enable people in the low-and middle-income bracket to enter into the competitive global economy.

“This growth emerges from the Cloud’s economic advantages of scale and scope that lower costs, improve speed of service, expand operational flexibility for users and reduce risks in IT deployment,” the report explains.

If conditions are reasonable (broadband is sufficient and there is the freedom to operate data centers), there are five major implications for people in the developing world:

• The Cloud enables people to be more competitive in “higher value-added products because goods and services are becoming more ICT (information and communications technologies) intensive.” As ICT grows in intensity, the Cloud enables emerging economics to tap the economic gains.
• It’s vital to ensure that these countries can compete in the “knowledge economy“.
• The Cloud can stimulate the growth of small to medium sized businesses, and improve job creation. It’s beneficial for entrepreneurs as it reduces the cost and upfront investment in the necessary IT infrastructure.
• It enables governments to more effectively share and deliver information to citizens.
• There is a strong synergy between the growth of the cloud and the build-out of broadband networks.

With an eye to the future, the Cloud will improve transparency, and create a dialogue between governments and citizens. As a final step, the researchers recommend that these governments work with multiple stakeholders to improve access to information and create policies that will enable people-in-need to benefit from the Cloud.

(VentureBeat’s upcoming conference CloudBeat is unique with its emphasis on customer case-studies. It’s not abstract theories and ideas — executives will reveal their hard-frought solutions to very real technology problems and discuss the impact on the global economy).

Robin Hood image // Tumblr

It’s not nearly often enough that we hear about startup ideas that address global hunger, fuel inefficiency, or support the deaf and blind.

This week, Intel threw an event to do just that — to uncover these ideas from research labs, and provide them with funds for launch in the global market. This is the eighth time that the computing device maker has hosted the global business plan competition. This year, it was held at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and the finalists received $100,000.

The winner?

Greenway Grameen Infra (GGI), a team from India that produces efficient, biomass-based cooking solutions to replace indoor open fires and traditional mud stoves.

The flagship product is the Greenway Smart Stove, which incorporates a unique air-flow generator to provide clean and efficient combustion, saving up to 65 percent of fuel and resulting in a 70 percent reduction in smoke. The team piloted the stove in India; sales topped 12,000 units through rural retail outlets. The team received $50,000 from Intel’s Foundation.

“The Intel Global Challenge inspires and rewards great entrepreneurs who bring the best science and technology innovations from universities around the world to market for the benefit of us all,” said Andre Marquis, executive director, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UC Berkeley. Marquis said it has bolstered the school’s efforts to build a network of entrepreneurs around the world.

The runners up include Dreambender, an Indonesia-based startup that has developed an innovative sign language system; it uses Microsoft’s Kinect as a motion sensor, enabling users to practice gestures based on video examples until they have mastered them. ISkyTracker, a Russian technology, enables people to connect to the Internet anywhere. Its system provides automatic searches for telecommunication satellites.

Read more about the recent Tech Laureate awards (another recent competition to reward “tech for good” ideas) here.

Top image courtesy of Alexander Kirch, Shutterstock

The organizers of Startup Weekend, the event where entrepreneurs hack a startup in 54 hours, believe that technology can be a unifying force.

Through the hackathon, they hope to better integrate an underrepresented community into Israel’s thriving tech scene, and in the words of local venture capitalist Erel Margalitdraw, draw attention to a “hidden talent.”

This month, Startup Weekend is headed to Nazareth, the largest city in the Northern District of Israel, also known as the “Arab capital.”

This is the first time that an event of this scale is taking place in an Arab district of the country.

Read more here about Israel’s hi-tech and entrepreneurial scene.

The event is organized by three local entrepreneurs — Jouna Khalil, Sami Abboud and Bshara Rezik, and is sponsored by Jerusalem Venture Partners, Cisco, Google, Mercy Corps, and others. ”This is an opportunity for all local innovators to make a difference,” said Khalil, a bio-medical engineer.

Their motivation is to improve access and understanding around technology in Nazareth. According to Tsofen, a nonprofit that is working to better integrate the Arab community into the tech industry, only 500 Arabs work in Israel hi-tech. Through programs and events like this one, Tsofen hopes this number will increase tenfold in the coming year.

“Israel hi-tech, which is ranked second in the world, must break down barriers,” Margalit, founder and chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners said in a statement. Margalit will offer his services as a mentor during the weekend. “There is huge potential for creativity and innovation among youth from the Arab Sector,” he added.

The event takes place on November 8th. Learn more about it here. 

Basilica Image via Shutterstock 

It only took a few months for Wilfred, a teen from a rough neighborhood in Washington D.C., to begin handing out handwritten business cards with the title “future engineer.“

With a presence in D.C. and now San Francisco, CodeNow is a nonprofit that encourages high school students from inner city neighborhoods to pick up coding skills. Wilfred (pictured left, teaching a fellow student) was one of the first to join the program — he practiced up to five hours a night and has a proclivity for the programming language Ruby on Rails.

Wilfred’s was just one of the many heartwarming stories shared at the launch event, held at a co-working space in San Francisco this week. In attendance were venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and other high-profile members of the local tech community. Jonathan Abrams, founder of Friendster, and Roy Bahat, chairman of Ouya, are among the organization’s supporters.

“About 40 percent of the students have the potential to be developers,” said CodeNow founder Ryan Seashore during a phone interview with VentureBeat. Once they pick up these skills, the kids increase their chances of getting into a top engineering school at college, and many aspire to become entrepreneurs.

There are already over 50 alumni of the CodeNow program, which has close ties to the tech community. Teens are given netbook computers when they enter the program and sign up for 45 hours of programming training after school and during the summer or winter break.

Once they complete the program, some of the graduates land internships at tech startups like LivingSocial. The internship program is still under development — Seashore told me he’s hoping to connect with tech companies in the Bay Area that would be willing to mentor a budding developer.

Seashore had the idea for CodeNow in early 2011 when he struggled to find a great programming class. “If I’m having trouble finding a program, these kids must not have a shot,” he told me. Convinced that high school students, particularly those from underrepresented communities, would be empowered by learning to code, he launched a pilot class.

CodeNow is currently oversubscribed, and its focus is on maintaining diversity. The program’s directors are particularly proud that 40 percent of its students are girls.

Seashore is confident that CodeNow will be met with a warm welcome in the Bay Area, the nation’s tech capital. “We can do it if we get the financial resources and the right companies behind us. It’s the perfect place for our program,” he said.

CodeNow is looking for volunteers, mentors, programmers, board-members, and donors in D.C. and San Francisco. If you’re interested, apply through the site. 

The Boston-based Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are putting high tech into high gear with an initiative to bring cell phones, laptops, and other tech products to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Sisters have been making regular trips to the region since 1984. Through donations, they have been able to maintain 10 mission centers in Africa with schools, health clinics, water purification equipment and round-the-clock electricity.

Recently, they noticed a growing demand for use of their personal computers.

To provide equipment and an Internet connection to the local people, they solicited the help of the Alliance for Global Good‘s Innovation Fund, which provides funds to nonprofits that combine a mission and business model for sustainable social good. The Sisters were awarded $20,000 in funds.

“A few of our locations are so remote that using Skype is the only method of voice communications. One older man walked 80 kilometers to be able to talk with his son via Skype,” Sister Lorraine Connell, the general treasurer for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, told me.

“[During] a visit a couple of weeks ago, three whole schools came out to welcome the team of us who were upgrading the lightning protection and the data logger systems. They sang greetings and welcomed us with flowers, a traditional Congolese welcome,” Sister Lorraine said.

The nuns told me they are using the grant to build new Cyber cafés in which people can use computers, printers, and the Internet for a small fee, and will continue to provide education and access to disease-free water.

Since they launched the project a few months ago, several micro-businesses have developed, including phone charging stations (pictured, left).

According to Sister Lorraine, villagers walk long distances to visit the Cyber cafés because they heard they can “talk through the air” to their children who are living abroad. Members of other religious organizations, school facilities, healthcare workers, and NGO representatives will also travel for several miles to access these Internet cafés.

The computers are already making a difference in the community: Teachers use them to access information that is more reliable and current for students, and local leaders are surfing the Internet to research business opportunities.

The nuns’ ultimate goal is to help the local population become self-sufficient. However, they have needed to be sensitive to the country’s cultural limitations related to women operating businesses. To ease acceptance, they framed the Cyber Initiative under the heading of the local ministry.

With four of the new computers operating for three hours per day (the current capacity of the cafés), the revenue being generated is $360 per month. The Sisters hope to expand the project — additional computers would generate thousands of dollars per year and further bolster the community’s economic growth.

LendUp, a website and mobile app where people with poor credit can apply for short-term loans, wants to help people crippled by debt.

Launching today, the San Francisco-based startup is using technology to experiment with lower interest rates and ensure that loans are a way to help people move up the ladder. Unlike other small-dollar lenders, there are no hidden fees or rollovers, and loan decisions are instant.

The founders want to replace payday loans altogether and help people who banks typically decline. For a first-time borrower, they charge a maximum of 15 percent of the loan amount plus fees and offer opportunities for customers to get discounts for paying on time, paying early, or for completing the company’s online education courses.

Small loans are defined by LendUp as under $250 for under 30 days. They have a centralized pool of convertible debt to lend, which was recently raised from local venture capital and angel investors.

What’s interesting is that the company pulled in some of its funding from Kapor Capital and Bronze Investments. Stephen DeBerry, an investor at both firms and an advisor to the company, is a major force in “social entrepreneurship” circles. In previous interviews with VentureBeat, DeBerry, an avowed mission investor, has said that startups need to aspire to do more than make a billion dollars.

Social entrepreneurship is a term that refers to startups with social or environmental missions. Read more about social entrepreneurs here.

Jacob Rosenberg, LendUp Cofounder

According to LendUp’s founders, technology can make a difference for people in need. “We have a way to help our customers actually build credit where traditionally other short-term lenders have been an entry point into a vicious cycle of debt,” cofounder Jacob Rosenberg told me.

When a debt is repaid, the borrower moves up a rung in the ladder and can access better terms. It’s still in the early stages, but the hopes is that interest rates will be as low as 2 percent per month.

To keep interest rates low, the team of engineers have developed a “big data” analytics engine to get a better picture of the borrower. As well as demographic information and credit history, the algorithm also pulls in social data (from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc).

“These machine learning techniques aren’t present in the industry,” Rosenberg told me during our phone interview. LendUp isn’t the only tech startup to experiment with new financing models. SoFi recently pulled in $77 million for its new lending model for students.

The ideal borrower, according to the founders, is a single mother with a poor credit history, who has to “wait on a street corner behind bullet proof glass” to take out a loan for groceries.

LendUp has been testing the concept since February this year and has only accepted 15 percent of applicants. At this stage, it has kept the sample size at a thousand people to ensure that it can offer a hands-on customer experience. The founders told me they personally respond to queries and are always looking for feedback.

The step-brothers behind the startup are Rosenberg, the 80th employee at Yahoo and CTO of Platform at Zynga, and Sasha Orloff, who worked at the Grameen Bank, whose founder was Muhammad Yunus. Yunus (a Nobel Peace Prize winner) is an advocate of socially conscious business. The founders will make money by taking a cut of the interest, but there are no late fees.

LendUp is a Y Combinator alumnus that pulled in its first round of funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Kapor Capital, Yuri Milner’s Startfund, Google Ventures, Thomvest Ventures, Data Collective, and others.

Image via Shutterstock

Conway’s latest viral video fields ideas for how to use the latest tech innovation to improve the local transportation system, parking, public safety, the police department, public Wi-Fi, and more.

Conway describes the video as a “gift to San Francisco,” and it’s already making its rounds on the Internet, which isn’t surprising, given that the stars of the new video boast a combined 4.2 million Twitter followers.

In addition to Dorsey, creator of Twitter and founder of Square,  Conway convinced Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter, Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky and Jawbone’s CEO Hosain Rahman to star in the video.

“We wanted to produce a video to bring the tech community together and raise awareness about Proposition E,” Conway told me. Proposition E is a payroll tax that many believe disincentivizes job creation in San Francisco.

According to Conway, the goal is to “save tech companies millions of dollars, encourage hiring, and help local small businesses.” He told me that in 2013, there will be an initiative in the city to educate and prepare local San Franciscans to take entry-level jobs at tech companies.

The video is a promotional effort for the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, “Sf.citi,” a nonprofit that functions like a tech-centric chamber of commerce.

Conway commissioned the video from the same San Francisco-based production agency, Portal A Interactive, that produced the “Too legit to quit” video, where Conway publicly endorsed Ed Lee (a long-time friend to the tech community) for mayor, a post Lee currently holds.

Check out the video here:

In Silicon Valley, we understand how to market a new iPhone app or game to millions of people in a matter of weeks. What if we applied these principles to support a good cause?

Bay Area tech founders and venture capitalists gathered today to hear a presentation from the United Nations Foundation about its plans to make its charitable work more relevant to young people. The nonprofit organization launched the Global Good Challenge this fall to encourage people to take action on the world’s most pressing problems and engage via their social networks.

It’s not a fundraising effort. The Global Good Challenge is an educational game that is already spreading on Twitter and Facebook.

Former Senator Tim Wirth, Kyri McClellan, CEO of the San Francisco America’s Cup Organizing Committee, Jimmy Spithill, Veteran Yachtsman

Zaw Thet, a veteran entrepreneur who started his first company as a teenager, told VentureBeat that was inspired to create the game that could educate people about how to empower young girls in developing countries, prevent diseases like malaria, and combat global poverty. He approached the U.N. Foundation with the idea six months ago, and he interviewed dozens of friends in the tech community for their advice on developing a “viral” social campaign.

Click here to play the game. Sign in via Facebook to unlock prizes like a trip to Africa or a VIP tickets to a Stevie Wonder concert.

“Instead of donating money, we want people to donate their social media influence,” Thet told me. Last year, Thet (one of the youngest people to graduate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business) was selected as one of 10 entrepreneurs to serve on the U.N. Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council. 

Serial entrepreneur Zaw Thet.

Thet told me he was inspired by a mobile game that is educating female players across the world about different ways to prevent pregnancy. This is one of many social and educational games that are popping up on the market. The team behind the initiative also borrowed from the “gamification” trend. In Silicon Valley, tech companies like Facebook and LinkedIn are finding ways to leverage game mechanics to influence user behavior. (Read up on the “gamification” trend here.)

“People involved in the gaming industry are thinking about how to create social good,” Rick Thompson, the founder of Playdom, told me. Thompson, an adviser to Thet, was an attendee at today’s presentation alongside about a dozen other Silicon Valley big-whigs.

Read more about social entrepreneurship, and the tech startups that want to change the world.

Another highlight of the event was that the announcement of the latest prize. One lucky player will be selected to be the guest racer in a sailboat competing in the upcoming America’s Cup in San Francisco. Veteran yachtsman Jimmy Spithill attended the event to deliver the news in person– ladies, trust me, you will want to win this one!

The U.N. Foundation is currently working on the mobile version of its game, which will be released in the coming months.

Top Image via Shutterstock 

OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton has launched ImpactEngine, a new Chicago-based accelerator to support for-profit businesses that aim to make a positive social or environmental impact in the world.

This week, ImpactEngine accepted its first class. These founders hope to become leaders of businesses doing social good and are tackling global problems like illiteracy in emerging nations, water filtration problems, and inequities in U.S. financial services.

Read more here about the growing number of for-profit startups that are trying to change the world.

Impact Engine has raised a $500,000 fund to invest in the startups. Templeton and the other founders, Jamie Jones, assistant director of social enterprise at Northwestern University, and Linda Darragh, executive director of Kellogg School of Management‘s Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice, will take a small equity stake of 7%, in exchange for doling out $20,000 in funding.

“Our mission is to show investors that they can invest in social business and still make strong returns,” said Templeton, in an interview with VentureBeat. The founder of OpenTable, an online reservations service, told me that he was inspired to support businesses focusing on social good when his daughter was born.

“I started to think about what the world might look like when she got older,” Templeton explained. “There are some deep challenges, but with those challenges are huge business opportunities.”

ImpactEngine is the first of its kind in the Midwest, and it takes its cue from Hub Ventures, a Bay Area-based accelerator program for socially-focused entrepreneurs. VentureBeat covered its Demo Day this month; seven companies attempted to build technologies to improve healthcare, education, civic engagement, and the environment.

ImpactEngine’s inaugural class will start in September with a demo day on December 5. Here is a list of the eight startups, as they describe themselves:

Certainly there are dozens of Bay Area tech accelerators, but few would exclusively fund startups that make the world a better place. Even fewer would handpick entrepreneurs with no concrete notion of how to make money, and train them to become social business leaders.

At the Hub Ventures’ demo day last week, seven companies pitched their ideas to Bay Area investors, with the intent to solve problems around healthcare, education, civic engagement, and the environment. This week, two of the startups — StreetOwl and CheckInOn.Me — received financing from Lakeland Ventures, and DIIME, a medical advice maker for Africa, is also under consideration.

It was refreshing to hear pitch ideas with more substance than a geo-located mobile app, and we’ll keep tabs on the graduating class. CheckInOn.Me is a particular favorite of mine — it’s a personal safety app for the iPhone that alerts friends and colleagues to check in when you’re in a vulnerable situation like a late night walk home or an online date.

Wes Selke, Hub Ventures

I caught up with Hub Ventures’ founder, Wes Selke, also an investor at Good Capital, to chat about the program, what they’re looking for from the next batch of entrepreneurs, and the future of this booming space known as social entrepreneurship.

To read more about mission investment and technology for good, click here.

VentureBeat: Wes, how would you sum up Hub Ventures’ vision?
Wes Selke: Hub Ventures is a startup accelerator that provides funding and support to high caliber entrepreneurs building scalable, for-profit solutions to global challenges ranging from poverty to environmental sustainability.

VB: How does it differ from your typical accelerator?
WS: We take the best of the tech accelerator model (seed funding, mentorship, community, perks, etc.) and apply it to impact startups to help these entrepreneurs build their companies better and faster. We’re filling a gap in the marketplace and catalyzing early stage impact startups that otherwise aren’t getting the funding and support they need to take their companies to the next level.

VB: Can you tell me more about the kind of companies that you’re looking for?
WS: What differentiates us from other accelerator programs is our focus on impact companies – to get into Hub Ventures, you have to be solving a big global challenge rather than a trivial “problem” such as a better way to share photos online.

During the program, we help our entrepreneurs design their companies for maximum impact from day one and help them fully integrate that impact into their business models, so as their companies scale, the impact scales also.

VB: Why did you choose these seven companies?
WS: The seven startups in the current class are the cream of the crop, and they have what we look for:  really strong teams, scalability (most are tech focused), and potential for big world-changing impact.  The teams are impressive and include a serial entrepreneur (Ofer Raz from StreetOwl) who built an industry-leading transportation company that is backed by Benchmark Capital and plenty of entrepreneurs with strong pedigrees – MIT, Berkeley, University of Michigan, and solid skill sets in engineering, computer science, business admin, international development, and mobile banking.

VB: How many applications did you receive? Is this a hot space for entrepreneurs?
WS: This year we received 209 applications for the seven slots in the program, up 300% over last year and only a 3% acceptance rate. So, needless to say, we had our pick!

VB: I enjoyed hearing the pitches and meeting the startups at Investor Day. How do you think it went?
WS: Investor Day was a huge success, with a packed room of over 200 investors and exciting pitches from our seven startups. Since the event, investor interest in our startups has been high – a few already have firm commitments, several have verbal commitments, and all have had numerous investor meetings since last week. I’m optimistic that they will all raise capital in the weeks and months ahead. Additionally, we’ve had good investor interest in our fund — we’re currently fundraising for our next cohort in 2013 — and from experienced folks who are interested in mentoring our next class.  All in all, it was a successful event.

Upon acceptance to the program, each company will receive mentorship, training, and $17,500 to $20,000 in convertible debt note financing. To learn more about the program, click here.

[Top image credit:  Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock]

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