Washington D.C. based LaunchBoxDigital, a Y Combinator-like startup incubator that will invest small amounts of capital in very early stage startup ideas, is now taking applications for their first program. They’ve also raised their own first round of funding - $250,000 from Jonathan Miller (former CEO, AOL), Reed Hundt (former FCC Chairman), Raul Fernandez (CEO Object Video) and Chris Schroeder (CEO HealthCentral).

LaunchBoxDigital says they’ll invest $15,000 - $30,000 in six to ten startups, in exchange for 4% to 8% of the equity. Founding teams must spend the summer in Washington D.C. to participate in a twelve week incubation program. Applications must be received by March 14, 2008.

The model is based on the much emulated Y Combinator, which has now funded dozens of startups. London based SeedCamp and Colorado based TechStars have nearly identical business models.

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We are hosting a party in central London next week on Thursday, September 6 to support the Seedcamp event and to announce some TechCrunch UK news.

Most of the spots are reserved for Seedcamp attendees, but we are opening up 100 tickets to the public as well. To discourage no shows, we are charging a £10 fee per ticket, which will be donated to charity. Tickets are available here. There will be plenty to drink (and we’re working on food), and we’ll be giving away a ticket to the upcoming TechCrunch20 conference.

I will be flying in to London for the Seedcamp event and to attend the party. Hope to see you there.

We are taking a limited number of sponsors to offset the cost of the event. Email Jeanne Logozzo for more information about sponsoring the party.

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Seedcamp, a European Y Combinator-like seed fund and mentoring program, has announced the final twenty candidates for funding. Next week, five of the twenty startup ideas will be funded, each receiving €50,000 to build out their business. We are one of the media sponsors of the program.

In all, 240 applications were received from 40 countries.

SeedCamp Finalists

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We’re pleased to announce that TechCrunch has partnered to support the launch of SeedCamp in Europe. Inspired by YCombinator and the OpenCoffeeClub, Seedcamp will be a week long event in London, September 3-7, for twenty young entrepreneurs to showcase their early-stage strategies and product concepts.

The mission of Seedcamp is to develop the next generation of entrepreneurs in Europe by providing the money, mentoring and media to help propel forward great ideas. At the end of the week, Seedcamp will invest €50K for a 10% stake in each of final five teams and provide ongoing mentorship and support for three months in preparation for the companies’ formal rounds of financing.

Applications are due August 12th.

TechCrunch and the Financial Times are the exclusive media partners for Seedcamp. We’re supporting Seedcamp because we believe that it will help incubate some great new products from young entrepreneurs in Europe, and we’re enthusiastic to provide exposure to this new initiative and expand our editorial coverage internationally. We have no financial interest in the venture.

The idea for Seedcamp came from Saul Klein in a post earlier this year looking to energize the European startup community. Participating VCs and advisors include Index Ventures, Atomico Investments, Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital, TAG, Forsyth Group and Brown Rudnick.

We’ll also be hosting a TechCrunch Meet-Up one night in London during the week of Seedcamp. More details on that to follow.

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