Photo courtesy of Lucas Allen

If you have an idea for a media tech start up and have the passion and the will to work hard to make it succeed, then there is no better time than now to consider starting your company. For any idea to take off and become a reality it requires seed money. Seed money, as the name suggests, is the amount of funds required to plant the seeds and nurture a start up. There are many companies and businesses that are willing to fund the next big business or technological idea. Here is a look at some of the most well known seed money programs for media tech start ups.

Seed Money Programs

Spark Capital is one of the few companies that recognized the potential of Twitter even when it was just a concept that excited its developers. It is known for the funding it provided to entrepreneurs such as Twitter and Novatel Wireless. Now Spark Capital has started the ‘Start@Spark’ program to provide seed money of up to $250,000 to entrepreneurs who wish to invest in ideas developed on the foundation of media, technology and entertainment. Spark Capital finds that even an amount less than $250,000 is sometimes adequate to get a media start up off the ground.

Sequoia Capital offers seed money of $100,000 to $500,000 to media tech start ups. Some of the entrepreneurs that have benefited from the company’s seed program include Fireeye, LogLogic and Meebo. The company also funds some of the small seed programs for Y Combinator of as little as $5,000 to $20,000.

Y Combinator is a socially conscious venture capitalist like TechStars. It offers not just seed money to the entrepreneurs it supports but also a host of services that provides them the technical support, business management skills and essential administrative and logistic procedures that are essential for any company. From an introduction to venture capitalists, lawyers, journalists and executives from successful technological companies to teaching how to clinch a deal, Y Combinator takes entrepreneurs through all the right moves to succeed in the business. At any given time Y Combinator works together with multiple seed programs and this gives it the advantage of having a rich and interesting group of ‘alumini’ that is ever willing to pitch and help new entrepreneurs with whatever they require.

TechStars has a seed funding program of $18,000 and also offers a summer program for entrepreneurs that provide the skills and resources to give them a good start with their start ups. every year the TechStars program chooses 10 entrepreneurs each from Boston and from Boulder.

Charles River Ventures has the QuickStart Seed Funding Program that provides worthy entrepreneurs $250,000 as seed money. The QuickStart program focuses on start ups that deal with technology, media, telecommunications, software and related services.

Research indicates that in 2007 the 10.8% start ups received seed funding. This number increased to 11.5% in 2008. This is a clear indication that these are good times to start a company that combines technology with media and entertainment and is successful in seeing a need that requires to be addressed.

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