Charles River Ventures announced the launch of their QuickStart program today.

From the site:

CRV has created an innovative program to eliminate these issues and help entrepreneurs get up and running quickly – the CRV QuickStart Seed Funding Program. CRV QuickStart provides select entrepreneurs with a loan to fund the work needed to build out your idea, enabling you to explore its potential in its earliest stage ­ before you raise a round of formal equity financing. By offering up to $250,000 in the form of a loan (also referred to as a “convertible note”), we’re providing you with the capital to fuel your ideas without equity dilution. As a non-equity financing, no public filing is required. As a result, entrepreneurs can stay in stealth mode during their seed phase, which is often an important competitive advantage.

You can get on thier radar by emailing quickstart@crv.com.

Josh Kopelman has some interesting thoughts on this with links to even more.

My thought is that it may not be a bad place to go look for a little money if you have the type of business where $250,000 will get you to a Series A.