OpenIncubate, a new accelerator program focused on startups creating open source software and hardware, launched this week.
The program is backed by Austin Ventures in Austin, Battery Ventures in Boston and The Valley Fund in Menlo Park, Calif.
OpenIncubate is currently accepting applications.
“Our aim is to make 6-8 seed investments in the coming 12-18 months and work closely with young, early stage teams,” Alex Benik, a partner at Battery Ventures, wrote in a blog post.
The venture capital firms created the program in response to key shifts in the technology industry including “the emergence of open networking and the software-defined data center, and the growing prominence of open source initiatives such as Open Compute,” according to the OpenIncubate site.
The program offers seed funding, office space and mentorship to the teams that it selects to participate in the accelerator.
“Qualifying companies or teams of entrepreneurs must be product-oriented (versus services), and must utilize open source frameworks aimed at building on and refining the concept of the software-defined data centers in areas of innovation including hardware, software, and networking,” according to OpenIncubate.