Raising funding is hard any way you slice it, but the emergence of cause-base resources is helping pave the way for ethical startups that might have otherwise gone unseen. A few years ago we featured 13 seed funding options for entrepreneurs. Since then a few investment groups have come forward with a different approach. One such funder is the education-focused incubator Startl.
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As mentioned in Fred Wilson's latest blog post, Startl is similar to seed fund incubators like Techstars and YCombinator except that its a nonprofit organization focused specifically on advancing new learning experiences. While the program offers a mobile app design bootcamp in New York, it's Startl's 3 month accelerator program hosted by Philadelphia-based DreamIt Ventures and Ideo design firm that will allow entrepreneurs to learn the ins and outs of creating an education-based business. DreamIt celebrated a graduation and demo day in August and the new Startl program will be folded into the next cycle of DreamIt participants.
The rise of such philanthropic investment groups may open up new categories for startup funding. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Omiyar Network prides itself on being an organization that offers opportunities for entrepreneurs to "catalyze economic, social and political change". The network has invested in government transparency, micro-finance and education-focused companies. Meanwhile, the Knight Foundation's Knight News Challenge offers funding for community news innovations. Past prize recipients have included EveryBlock and Spot.us.
We know we're just skimming the surface for cause-related startup funding. If you've got suggestions, let us know in the comments below.
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