Announcing Twilio Fund: $250,000 for Twilio Powered Startups

Announcing Twilio Fund: $250,000 for Twilio Powered Startups

Today is a pretty kick ass day for the Twilio development community, because 500Startups has announced a $250,000 investment in our ecosystem of awesome Twilio-powered startups.

From the 500 Startups blog:

Today we’re excited to announce Twilio Fund, a $250,000 micro-fund for investments in startups that are powered by Twilio’s APIs for phone calls and text messages. Via Twilio Fund, we’ll offer investments of $10,000 in up to 10 companies for a 1% stake in the company. In addition, one or more of these companies may be selected for a $50,000 investment and invitation to participate in our soon-to-be announced accelerator program at the 500 Startups space in Mountain View, CA.

How to Submit Your Startup to Twilio Fund

If you’re building a business on Twilio and are interested in submitting for a chance to review equity investment from the Twilio fund, you can apply beginning next Monday, September 27th.  Submissions will be accepted through 10pm PST on November 16th, and as always the Twilio team is here to support you and help you get your apps working, rocking, and ready to roll for the judges.  If you have any questions please drop us a note at help@twilio.com

What is Twilio’s Role?

We’re not involved in deciding who gets funded, but members of the Twilio team will be offering advice on our blog as well as some events and other opportunities to perfect your product and pitch leading up to the November 16th deadline.  If you’re planning on attending TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon this weekend, any upcoming Startup Weekend, Startup Day in Seattle, Super Happy Dev House, NYU Startup Week, or any other startup event across the country you’re likely to find us there.  That’s great time to get started on your submission!

Check out the announcement coverage:

• GigaOM: Got a Twilio-based App? Get Some Investment Dollars
• 500Startups Blog: Twilio Fund for 500 Startups
• John Sheehan (developer evangelist here at Twilio): I Can’t Do This Right Now, But You Should