Want to get rich on the web? Apply here

Got an idea for a web 2.0 start-up?

Fancy yourself driving around a flash car bought with the fat wad of cash some inspired venture capitalist has lobbed your way?

Then you've got just under two weeks to write a business plan. On August 10, applications close for this year's Seedcamp, a London-based initiative that is part investment round, part mentorship program, part summer boot camp.

The idea is that a team of 20 or so investors drawn from the European tech community assess pitches from dozens of would-be entrepreneurs. The 20 best are invited to London and grilled for a week about their business, at the end of which the five or six most promising are given up to 50,000 euros each in return for 10 per cent equity in their companies.

The chosen few offered offered the opportunity to come to London for three months of further mentorship and guidance in which their ideas and business plans are refined. (This they have to pay for themselves. Seedcamp says it is working on finding cheap accommodation, and some meals are provided by sponsors.)

The teams are then presented to the wider venture capital community with a view to attracting more first round or 'angel' funding.

"If you're a serial entrepreneur, you've got good connections with the investment community, but if you're a young graduate that's much harder to do," Reshma Sohoni, the chief executive of Seedcamp, said. "This is all about creating an environment that helps start ups get off the ground."

The only requirement is that the idea be in the 'software, internet and mobile' sector. Last year, four out of the six teams that were selected for the three-month program received further funding.

One was Mybuilder.com, a UK-based company that links customers with local builders and other tradesmen. Another was a Slovenian outfit called Zemanta, which helps publishers such as bloggers find other web-based content that is similar to their own.

Ms Sohoni said that one of the problems for European tech entrepreneurs was that the centres of technological expertise - places such as Cambridge, London, Berlin, Paris, Poland, and the Balkans - were very spread out, which made it difficult for young businesses to connect with investors.

By contrast Silicon Valley is very compact, which makes it a more attractive mecca for entrepreneurs keen to follow in the footsteps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook).

Seedcamp, now in its second year, is backed by individual investors, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), and some venture capital firms, among them Atomico, which was set up by the co-founders of Skype and Joost.

The advice from the experts? "You have to be very ambitious, and want to play in big, big markets," says Sohoni. "It's much harder to back something too niche. Plus, you have to be able to follow through. You may be a brilliant visionary, but ultimately these things come down to execution."

Applications are still open on the Seedcamp website.

Comments

[SEO India]

The web 2.0 is a great concept with more focus on social networking. Great to see some initiative from seedcamp.

[Jane Fleming]

Rich dreamers with web iphones surfing and doodling online. Get real, what sells is something everyone with a mobile cell phone can do on the ground. That's what a seed camper should remember

[El-Kris-O]

Forget Web 2.0, I've already invented Web 3.0!

[chetas]

Web 3.0?? Please!!

I'm adding the finishing touches to web 3.9!!!