The Digital Catalyst Fund Opens Its Door For Business

BUCHAREST, Romania, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Digital Catalyst Fund, a Silicon Valley inspired incubator, officially opened its doors today in Bucharest, home of one of the largest tech, programming, and developer communities in Europe.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120531/DC16949LOGO)

The mission of the Digital Catalyst Fund is to provide funding and counsel for entrepreneurs and start-ups from the United States and Europe, and to connect them with leading tech teams in Romania. This will help remove the most significant hurdles facing start-ups -- finding CTO/tech partners and accessing low-­cost development.

Ten highly motivated and talented entrepreneurs working on exciting and scalable new opportunities in the digital media, marketing, and communications spheres will be selected this summer by our review team. The ten selected start-ups will be offered the opportunity to participate in a highly customized setting for 3 months. During this time, selected entrepreneurs will:

• Be partnered with a technical advisor, who can function as a CTO;
• Gain daily access to some of the world's best technical development skills;
• Benefit from the opportunity to pitch to top-flight venture capitalists and investors for funding at the conclusion of the incubation period.
• Expect to conclude the program with a working prototype

The project's objective is to create -- under one roof -- a community of local tech experts, programmers, and developers with well-structured start-up projects, and to help bring their ideas to life and turn them into profitable entities.

At the end of the three-month period, up to $500,000 of total capital will be invested by the Digital Catalyst Fund across the most promising start-ups.

"A digital entrepreneur needs a place like this, where smart people with a project or simply an excellent idea can go to find solid development resources from where to turn dreams into business. Having a number of bright and motivated minds, investors, professionals, and academic or marketing representatives supporting the same project creates excellent opportunities for networking and building off each other's experience and energy, fostering cross-border innovation."
-- Cristian Burci, Founder

The Digital Catalyst Fund has also pulled together a world-class board of international experts ranging from tech professionals, academics, entrepreneurs and marketers. The board will offer counsel and guidance to these ten startups across marketing, product design, development and infrastructure, business strategy and funding.

Applications started on May 25th and will close on July 15th.  The ten startups will be selected by August 1st and the boot camp in Romania will start one month later.

Interested startups can apply online at www.digitalcatalystfund.com

The DCF will start its second round of investments in ten new companies in Jan 2013, and will follow up with two more rounds of investments each year.

About Digital Catalyst Fund
Digital Catalyst Fund is a Bucharest-based early-stage business incubator dedicated to bringing together the brightest minds in business, marketing, and technology, and combining them with local developers' talents in order to create the most interesting and engaging digital startups imaginable.

SOURCE Digital Catalyst Fund