SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Twilio Fund announced today that it will launch a second $250,000 fund focused on companies using Twilio Connect, which was launched earlier today at the Twilio Conference. The fund is named Twilio Fund CONNECT and is run by Dave McClure of 500 Startups, an early-stage seed fund and incubator, who will invest $125,000 in the winning startups. Each investment will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Ron Conway of SV Angel.

"Twilio has always done a brilliant job empowering developers to build amazing products," said McClure. "With Twilio Connect, Twilio helps developers keep their pricing simple. As an investor, I've witnessed firsthand how much entrepreneurs struggle with pricing, so I love that. I'm immensely excited to see what the next batch of Twilio Fund startups comes up with. We're also thrilled to have SV Angel as a co-investor, and welcome their extensive experience in early-stage investing."

"At SV Angel, we have a chart of 'mega-trends' that we follow closely," said Conway. "The biggest mega-trend we see is social, which is exactly what Twilio Connect enables -- connecting people through next generation communications. I see a huge opportunity to invest in entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of the scalable tools Twilio offers."

The previous investment of $250,000 by Dave McClure for Twilio Fund has since gone on to fund 10 companies to date: Callyo, FastCall411, KnockKnock, Magnolia Prime, Order Mapper, Proven, Qwipd, Textaurant, Voicendo, and Volta. The remaining investment is allocated to the finalists, who will be presenting on stage tomorrow at the Twilio Conference, along with presentations from selected alumni companies.

"We really can't wait to see what the next batch of submissions to the Twilio Fund brings," said Twilio founder and CEO, Jeff Lawson. "We're unlocking the black box of telecom and the innovation that Twilio allows is incredible, entrepreneurs are bound only by their imaginations."

The fund will open for submissions October 15th, 2011, and close January 1st, 2012, at http://www.twiliofund.com.

About Twilio Fund

The Twilio Fund (www.twiliofund.com) is a microfund created by 500 Startups and launched in September 2010 to provide seed capital to startups built on the Twilio cloud communications platform. The microfund is managed by 500 Startups founding partner, Dave McClure, an investor with experience managing platform funds. Dave previously managed the 2009 fbFUND Rev on behalf of Facebook, Accel Partners, and Founders Fund. 500 Startups is also an investor in Twilio.

About 500 Startups

500 Startups provides early-stage companies with funding ranging from $10K to $250K via seed investments, our startup accelerator program, and new micro-fund models like the Twilio Fund. With over 160 experienced startup mentors around the world, creative work space in the heart of Silicon Valley, and a vibrant community of startup founders, we help our companies succeed in ways other venture firms do not.

About SV Angel

SV Angel is a Silicon Valley-based angel fund. Together as a team they provide mentoring, business development, early and later-stage fund raising, M&A, and strategic advice.

About Twilio

Twilio (www.twilio.com), the cloud communications company, is reinventing telecom by merging the worlds of cloud computing, web services and telecommunications. Twilio hosts a telephony infrastructure web service in the cloud, allowing web developers to integrate phone calls, text messages, and IP voice communications into their web, mobile, and traditional phone applications. The company is privately held and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.