Facebook’s fbFund ‘09 Names First Batch Of Winners

18
May

Facebook’s fbFund ‘09 Names First Batch Of Winners

author: editor category: TechCrunch

Facebook has just named 25 of the finalists for the latest round of fbFund, the social network’s joint program with Accel and Founders Fund meant to help foster quality applications on Facebook Platform. Today’s announcement represents only half of the finalists for this round, and the company says that the other 25 winners will be annouced soon. These 50 finalists will each be given $1,000 in Facebook advertising, but much more important, they will have a shot at taking part in Facebook’s incubator program this summer.

fbFund has evolved since its inception in 2007, shifting from a no-strings-attached grant to an incubator model led by Silicon Valley vet Dave McClure. Of the 50 finalists from this round, a select number of winners will be invited to the incubator program, where they can receive as much as $100,000 in equity investment along with training alongside Facebook executives and mentors. The program’s latest round has also shifted focus from solely applications built on Facebook Platform to include those using Facebook Connect both on the web and the iPhone.

Here’s a list of the winners:

Connect sites:
Frintro
GovIt
RunMyErrand
RentMineOnline
MyChurch.org
GreetBeatz
Workstir
NutshellMail
RunThere
DropPlay
Magellan (private beta),
Life360 (private beta)
Vittanna (private beta)

Platform apps:
Travel Brain
Networked Blogs
Gameyola
Photos I Like
Paradise Paintball 3D
Veechi Classes
BitStrips (private beta)
SamaSource

iPhone apps:
FriendFreak
Near+Now (Sortuv)
Paparazzi
CrazyMenu