SAN FRANCISCO - Twilio Fund says it will launch a second $250,000 fund focused on companies using Twilio Connect, which was launched at the Twilio Conference.
The fund is appropriately named Twilio Fund CONNECT and is run by Dave McClure of 500 Startups, an early-stage seed fund and incubator, who will invest $125,000 in the winning startups. Each investment will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Ron Conway of SV Angel.
The Twilio Fund is a microfund created by 500 Startups and launched in September 2010 to provide seed capital to startups built on the Twilio cloud communications platform.
Twilio says it is merging the worlds of cloud computing, web services and telecommunications. Twilio hosts a telephony infrastructure web service in the cloud, allowing web developers to integrate phone calls, text messages, and IP voice communications into their web, mobile, and traditional phone applications
“Twilio has always done a brilliant job empowering developers to build amazing products,” said McClure. “With Twilio Connect, Twilio helps developers keep their pricing simple. As an investor, I’ve witnessed firsthand how much entrepreneurs struggle with pricing, so I love that. I’m immensely excited to see what the next batch of Twilio Fund startups comes up with. We’re also thrilled to have SV Angel as a co-investor, and welcome their extensive experience in early-stage investing.”
“At SV Angel, we have a chart of ‘mega-trends’ that we follow closely,” said Conway. “The biggest mega-trend we see is social, which is exactly what Twilio Connect enables — connecting people through next generation communications. I see a huge opportunity to invest in entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of the scalable tools Twilio offers.”
The previous investment of $250,000 by Dave McClure for Twilio Fund has since gone on to fund 10 companies to date: Callyo, FastCall411, KnockKnock, Magnolia Prime, Order Mapper, Proven, Qwipd, Textaurant, Voicendo, and Volta.
The fund will open for submissions October 15th, 2011, and close January 1st, 2012, at www.twiliofund.com
