Bay Partners Accelerates Development of Applications for Facebook(R) Platform

Top-Tier VC firm creates the AppFactory, a fast-track program for

entrepreneurs developing applications for Facebook Platform

    MENLO PARK, Calif., July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Bay Partners, a Silicon
 Valley-based early stage venture capital firm with over $1B under
 management, today announced the AppFactory, a program for funding
 entrepreneurs writing applications for Facebook Platform. Bay Partners is
 targeting tens of investments of $25,000 to $250,000 using a flexible,
 fast-track approval process.
     "We're excited by the entrepreneurial opportunities arising from
 Facebook's new open platform architecture," said Salil Deshpande, Partner
 at Bay Partners. "Facebook, in essence, has become the Social Operating
 System. Historically, the creation of an operating system, or a platform,
 has always led to a new economy, which includes a marketplace of
 applications that are optimally designed for that platform and its user
 base. Bay wants to find the killer apps, whatever they may be, for this new
 social OS; and with the AppFactory, we will help entrepreneurs discover,
 build, and monetize them."
     Bay's AppFactory program was created in response to the recently
 released Facebook platform, a development platform that enables companies
 and engineers to integrate applications into the Facebook website and
 offers them an opportunity to build businesses around those applications.
     "Internet start-ups have traditionally had to not only build a service,
 but also to find a way to attract millions of users and to make it possible
 for them to interact in meaningful ways," said Angela Strange, Senior
 Associate Partner at Bay Partners. "Facebook Platform provides an
 alternative to the destination-site approach that may be more viable and
 attractive for certain types of applications. By building on top of
 Facebook Platform, distribution can be dramatically expedited by leveraging
 an active user base of 29 million and growing."
     Since AppFactory investments are really bets on people and concepts,
 Bay will use an aggressive timeline and fast-track approach to awarding
 AppFactory funding. An entrepreneur's time is best spent developing the
 application and experimenting with variables that affect adoption,
 virality, and usage, while exploring reasonable theories about
 monetization. Bay Partners thus looks at the AppFactory as an accelerated
 relationship starter with tomorrow's innovators. In addition to the
 dollars, Bay commits technical and business resources, and a community of
 "Factory Entrepreneurs," all part of a program designed to ensure the
 business success of these application entrepreneurs.
     "We are already starting to see developers use Amazon Web Services to
 build applications for the Facebook platform. This is happening because
 software developers know that their applications could become overnight
 successes and therefore may need to scale quickly and reliably. Amazon Web
 Services helps developers do this simply and affordably," said Steve
 Rabuchin, Director of Developer Relations, Amazon Web Services. "We hope to
 see even more developers build applications for Facebook using Amazon Web
 Services as a result of Bay Partners' new support system for
 entrepreneurs."
     "We have an active development community of several thousand Ajax
 developers, who now regard Facebook as a viable platform upon which to
 build compelling apps," said Dion Almaer, founder of Ajaxian.com, recently
 acquired by TechTarget. "We're excited to collaborate with Bay Partners to
 further the AppFactory ecosystem."
     "Not only is Facebook's business move brilliant, but from a technical
 standpoint, the API is deep, sophisticated and well-architected, yet also
 easy to use and adopt," said Salil Deshpande. "Due to Facebook's lead,
 other social networks, when they open up their APIs, may be forced to
 design their APIs to be at least compatible, if not identical to Facebook's
 -- thus aggressively investing in Facebook applications is completely
 sensible."
     Bay's "AppFactory" program is being led by Salil Deshpande and Angela
 Strange. Entrepreneurs interested in applying for Factory grants should
 contact Deshpande or Strange at appfactory@baypartners.com.
     More information about Bay Partners' AppFactory program can be found
 at: http://baypartners.com/appfactory.
     About Bay Partners
     Bay Partners is a Silicon Valley-based early stage venture capital firm
 that has been building successful technology companies since 1976, and has
 funded more than 350 startups. Notable successes from Bay's portfolio
 include Brocade, Concord Communications, Exodus, Sonicwall, Placeware,
 Informatica, Weblogic, Digital Island and NetScaler. Bay is currently
 investing its eleventh venture fund and has over $1 billion under
 management. Bay invests in early stage companies either through the seed
 track ($250K-$750K) in bold out-of-the-box capital-efficient ideas or
 through the more typical early stage track ($1M-$7M) in early product
 development stage of a company. With the launch of the AppFactory, Bay also
 invests ($25K-$250K) in Facebook Applications.
     Facebook(R) is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
 
     Media Contact:
     Caroline Traylor
     512.241.2239
     Caroline.Traylor@porternovelli.com
 
 

SOURCE Bay Partners