Facebook members can now vote on the second round of finalists for its FBFund seed funding competition, which will give out a total of $225,000 to five grand prize winners. The 25 companies currently in the running have already pocketed $25,000 apiece for the applications they have proposed for Facebook's third-party developer platform.
This is the second annual FBFund competition, but the first one in which members have been able to vote on their favorite apps. They can vote once per day, and can watch promotional "commercials" about what each one of them does. Voting involves installing an app called "FBFund08," which members can embed on their profiles.
The 25 finalists run the gamut from multiplayer games to college search to event planning.
Not only is the voting system a way for Facebook to promote and reward high-quality apps, but it's also a promotional strategy for Facebook to drum up more member interest in the developer platform and prove that some apps are actually worth installing. Some critics say interest is dropping, and the platform has suffered from months of negative press about "zombie bites" and other goofy apps.
Here's an interesting tidbit: The FBFund08 app was not created by Facebook, but by Wildfire, one of the app development companies in the running for an FBFund grant. Facebook effectively acquired the app from Wildfire to power the poll. But, Facebook representatives assured CNET News, that won't give Silicon Valley-based Wildfire any unfair advantages.
The $10 million initially invested in FBFund comes from Facebook investors Accel Partners and the Founders Fund.
A trio of German entrepreneurs-turned-investors may have invested in Facebook, TechCrunch wrote Tuesday.
The European Founders Fund, consisting of thirtysomething brothers Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer, has reportedly put out a "very brief press release" explaining that they have invested in the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social-networking site. An exact amount was not disclosed.
The investment firm was not immediately available for comment.
It's no secret that Facebook has been hunting for new investors ever since it was pegged with a whopping $15 billion valuation following Microsoft's famous purchase of a $240 million stake. Some of the rumors pertaining to potential investors, like a shadowy bit of gossip involving unnamed hedge funds, have turned out to be unsubstantiated.
According to the European Founders Fund's Web site, the brothers have already invested in a number of social-media ventures: business social network LinkedIn, the Second Life-based Anshe Chung Studios, and the German social network StudiVZ, which was acquired last year. Prior to becoming investors, the Samwers founded Alando (purchased by eBay) and Jamba (purchased by VeriSign).
The European Founders Fund does not appear to be affiliated with longtime Facebook investor The Founders Fund, spearheaded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
According to an e-mail copied to the CenterNetworks blog, Facebook's much-touted developer grant program may be off to a rocky start. The FBFund initiative is apparently restructuring its application process and is asking that all previous applicants re-submit their materials. Initially, applications were to be submitted via e-mail; now, a submission form is available.
"To make sure that everyone understands the conditions of submitting a grant application, we will not review any materials you have sent via email, and any materials you may have sent have been deleted," the copy-pasted e-mail read. It's apparently to ensure that applicants know that the company "can't promise that any materials or information (they) submit here will be kept confidential, or specifically that (Facebook) or others might not develop similar or identical products or services."
Presumably, it'll also streamline the process. CenterNetworks blogger Allen Stern noted that he "couldn't imagine for a minute the management via email" and noted that if Facebook had to reorganize the process, at least the company "called a mulligan" within a few weeks of the fund's debut.
Representatives from Facebook have not yet responded to an inquiry asking to confirm the contents of the e-mail posted to CenterNetworks.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the FBFund incentive program at the TechCrunch40 conference last month, designed as a way to provide venture cash to developers who want to create applications for the uber-hyped Facebook Platform. With an initial $10 million flowing in from Facebook investors Accel Partners and the Founders Fund, approved developers can net from $25,000 to $250,000 to develop their apps.
Because opening up the site just wasn't enough, apparently: Facebook is branching into a new role as an investor. The company has announced a new program called FBFund to provide grants to developers who are interested in creating applications for the Facebook Platform. FBFund, with cash infused by Facebook investors Accel Partners and the Founders Fund, will start with $10 million and will provide $25,000-$250,000 grants to developers who apply for the program. The fund's investment committee will consist of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, vice president of product marketing and operations Charmath Palihapitaya, and board members Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Peter Thiel of the Founders Fund.
The big requirement: the developer in question, who may be an individual or company, may not have raised prior formal venture funding. No equity or debt will be associated with participating developers, and the only major condition (at least for now) is that the money awarded must be used to develop the company in question on the Facebook Platform.
A release from the company explained the FBFund program: "By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will follow."
An advisory council, with members including LinkedIn founder and chairman Reid Hoffman, First Round Capital founder Josh Koppelman, and Stanford University computer science professor Rajeev Motwani, will oversee the application and approval process. (Stanford, as you may recall from last week's news, has created an entire class based around the development of Facebook Platform applications, but Motwani does not appear to be affiliated with it.) No formal site has been created for FBFund, but interested applicants are now encouraged to mail their business plans to platform@facebook.com.
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