FbFund: 18 companies and 2 nonprofits win, head to Palo Alto

FbFund is kicking off its new incubator-style program this summer by announcing 18 company and two nonprofit winners today. Each organization will receive a small amount of seed funding in exchange for mentorship and connections provided by Facebook, its investors and other experts.

The companies will shortly be headed to Palo Alto, Calif., where Facebook is headquartered. They’ll spend the next couple of months improving their Facebook applications, their sites that use Facebook Connect, or their Facebook Connect-ed iPhone apps. Then, like other incubators, fbFund will have a “demo day” where the companies will present their products to angel investors and bloggers.

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Companies will receive around $25,000 each to help them pay their bills. FbFund itself has gone through a number of changes since it began last year. Run by Facebook investors Accel Partners and Founders Fund, the program is now giving money in the form of equity investments (except for the nonprofits, which will have their expenses paid for instead). See our previous coverage for more details.

The program also has another change, announced today. A revised name: “fbFund REV,” which was inspired by its new slogan, “accelerate, revise, iterate and revolutionize.”

The list of the winners, via Facebook, after the jump:

Frintro: Find friends-of-friends to date…or play matchmaker! If you’re single, you can search friends’ friends and ask for intros. If you’re taken, you can set friends up. Friends-of-friends are the best people to date. It’s social dating via friendly intros.

Funji: Funji is an avatar based social networking app for the iPhone & iPod touch satisfying users’ desire to express themselves and communicate with others in a fun, creative way. The team has over 5 years of experiences in mobile market in South Korea and US.

Gameyola: Gameyola is a distribution and monetization platform for casual Flash games. Flash games currently monetize poorly, but Gameyola solves this problem by providing Flash developers tools to sell virtual goods and to acquire users through social channels.

Life360 (private beta): From keeping track of your kids, to protecting your identity and getting back your lost stuff, Life360 is the place you go to keep your family safe, secure, and prepared for daily life.

MyChurch.org: Churches create their own social networks on MyChurch.org. They extend their community between Sundays with tools to connect and engage their members. Over 30,000 church congregations are represented on

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Navify: Navify is a visual encyclopedia that combines Wikipedia articles with images, videos, and comments. It is the only general encyclopedia that allows you to listen to music videos, watch movie trailers, and browse news and celebrity photo galleries.

Sortuv: Sortuv lets you start with something you like, & discover more. Instead of searching for a “great restaurant” just say what you mean: “Find me a place sortuv like Spago in Seattle”. iPhone app here.

Networked Blogs: Bring your blog to Facebook, and Facebook to your blog. Pull your feed to your profile and business pages, add widgets to promote your network, and read the news from blogs you follow on the largest community of bloggers and blog lovers on Facebook.

Nutshell Mail: Simplify the way you manage Facebook and other social networks. NutshellMail consolidates activity from all your accounts into a single email digest delivered on your schedule. Don’t let email alerts clutter your inbox. Get informed, not interrupted. Get the Nut!

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Paradise Paintball 3D: Paradise Paintball is the first game developed on Cmune’s next-generation social gaming platform. It is the first casual 3D multiplayer FPS game on Facebook, Apple Dashboard and Mac & PC. Play with up to 8 friends & virtual items to enhance the gameplay.

Photos I Like: PhotosILike is a digital media sharing and discovery site emphasizing lightweight social content, self-expression, and communities.

RentMineOnline: Combines the success of resident referral programs with the power of social networks. Residents refer their community to friends through social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and email to earn rewards and live with friends.

RunMyErrand: RUNmyERRAND is a social networking inspired web and mobile marketplace that provides people and businesses an easy and trusted way to get everyday tasks done in their own hyperlocal community.

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RunThere: RunThere is a social-networking service for runners and cyclists. Users can map and measure their favorite routes (no GPS required), keep a running/biking log, and find athletes and routes nearby.

TravelBrain by GeckoGo: Travel Brain by GeckoGo helps you track (and show off!) your travels, share experiences with others, and discover new places to visit. Learn from the knowledge of over 600,000 travelers, and get expert guide info for our Bradt Travel Guides partnership.

Weardrobe (private beta): Weardrobe is a fashion-focused community for discovering different ways to wear clothing. We provide a platform for people to share reviews of their own clothing, post photos of their looks, catalogue their closet and search for style inspiration.

Workstir: Workstir is a community that connects users with trustworthy local service providers. Anyone can post a job and choose a provider with confidence by browsing their past reviews. For businesses, Workstir provides a wealth of jobs in their area of expertise.

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Worldly Developments (private beta): Worldly Developments is building online services that will help you connect with the people, places and events in your local community. Its first product makes it a snap to plan, promote, and communicate around group activities.

The nonprofits:

Samasource: Sama is Sanskrit for “equal” – Samasource finds and trains reliable QA professionals to test Facebook apps with a user-friendly interface that lives on the Platform. With Samasource, developers lower costs, reduce poverty, and improve their applications.

Vittana: Vittana enables you to lend directly to students in the developing world, $25 at a time. Our mission is to bring student loans to the developing world through the power of person-to-person micro-lending.

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