Golden Gate Ventures, JFDI.Asia offer fast-track seed funding

• Golden Gate Ventures co-founders Vinnie Lauria, Jeff Paine and Paul Bragiel join JFDI.Asia's bootcamp accelerator program as mentors
• Start-ups they nominate and which show sufficient traction will be fast-tracked to follow-on funding of up to US$600,000

GOLDEN Gate Ventures and JFDI.Asia (the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator) have announced a strategic alliance that could offer early-stage digital start-up companies pre-Series A funding, with intensive mentoring included.
 
With immediate effect, Golden Gate Ventures co-founders Vinnie Lauria, Jeff Paine and Paul Bragiel join JFDI.Asia's "bootcamp" accelerator program as mentors, Golden Gate Ventures said in a statement.
 
Start-ups they nominate and which show sufficient traction through the bootcamp will be fast-tracked to follow-on funding of up to US$600,000.
 
“The next billion people are coming online in our region. It’s a huge opportunity and an equally huge pool of talent in the region is set to make the most of it,” said Vinnie Lauria (pic), co-founder and mentor at Golden Gate Ventures.
 
“Golden Gate Ventures’ links to later stage investors and Silicon Valley can add most value once start-ups launch products and prove market traction,” he added. “JFDI.Asia really proved itself earlier this year and working even closer together is the best way our two firms can help the ecosystem.”
 
Golden Gate Ventures will continue to fund start-ups that have already launched and shown traction, independent of the bootcamp.
 
However, Golden Gate Ventures and JFDI.Asia have agreed to share their respective pipeline of pre-launch companies, working together to identify businesses that could benefit from a boost before their first major cash injection. Support from both teams of mentors will substantially increase startups chances of success, the two said.
 
Hugh Mason, co-founder and CEO at JFDI.Asia said: “Vinnie was amongst the most popular and valued mentors on the bootcamp we operated earlier this year. Jeff and Paul also both have great reputations for sharing their know-how.
 
“We hope that this will be the first of several alliances with key partners across the region who share our ambition to support the coming generation of digital success stories across Asia, for Asia."
 
Golden Gate Ventures, with offices in Singapore and San Francisco, operates a seed investment program for digital start-up companies that have already launched a product and achieved market traction.
 
Since March 2012, it has has been accredited as a Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS) incubator by Singapore’s National Research Foundation.