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March means March Madness, of course - the time of year when eyes turn to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, one of the most watched sports events of the year.

The startup accelerator TechStars is getting in on the action with its own "bracket-style" tournament to find the next big startup. It's picking 64 startups to face off in Startup Madness.

TechStars is joining forces with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to help simplify access to the growing number of accelerator programs. As part of the partnership, the Kauffman Foundation will provide TechStars with $200,000 funding to build software that can be utilized by accelerator programs.

Specifically, these funds will be used to help build an application system that can be used across industries, not just within the TechStars Network. The aim of the system will be to ease the application process, allowing entrepreneurs to fill out one form to apply to multiple participating programs, rather than have to repeat the process for each organization they apply to.

Early stage education technology startups can now apply for Startl's second annual accelerator program. The program offers ed-tech startups a three-month residency in New York City and an opportunity to work with the social venture Startl and the tech accelerator DreamIt Ventures.

The program involves mentorship from marketing, business development, brand building, and customer acquisition experts, all with a special emphasis on the education technology industry. There's no funding associated with the program but like most accelerators, it culminates in a pitch day where each team gets to present to potential investors.

One the interesting differences for startups on the east coast compared to the west coast is how much more compact the east coast is. For Silicon Valley, the nearest major metro cities are 400 to 800 miles away, which makes the San Francisco area much more secluded. Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and Baltimore are all within a short drive of each other, which makes the sharing of resources, talent pools and events much easier that on the west coast. Philadelphia, conveniently located between Washington D.C. and New York, is home to DreamIt Ventures, which is now accepting applications for its 2010 summer accelerator class.

Last month we brought you information about a promotional package available to startups at this years South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) event, a popular place each year to launch new products. This year SXSWi will be holding their second annual Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator competition where a recently released list of 32 finalist companies representing innovative web technologies, entertainment, and social media (both business and personal) will battle for the chance to be named one of four champions.

Morpheus describes itself as "a gang of serial entrepreneurs and around 40 startup founders" who are "trying to make a small contribution towards India's startup revolution." The venture aims to fill the gap in early-stage financing with a decidedly hands-on approach. Is it a fund, an angel network, or an incubator? Are these labels even still relevant? What segments does it focus on? What is early-stage innovation in India like? We spoke recently with Indus Kaitan, a Valley entrepreneur who returned to India as a Morpheus partner. Read on and listen to find out more about the early-stage scene in India.

When we wrote about the 22 finalists selected to pitch at Seedcamp Week 2009, there were several teams whose ideas excited us in particular.

Three of our eight picks have now been announced as Seedcamp winners and will receive €50.000 and three months of advisement and assistance from the European startup accelerator program. Read on for video and details on who gets the cash, who gets to come to America, and what exactly happened this week in London.

According to reports from local news sources, a Memphis startup incubator and business accelerator is taking aim at a grant from the federal government to fund its expansion and growth.

EmergeMemphis, an incubator with 26 companies currently in its stable, is home to ventures of all stripes: A budding ISP, software development shops, a hosting service, several marketing and PR firms, investment groups, web developers, a mobile gaming company, and a research lab from a well-known corporate name. They've applied for a $500,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help cover a $1.26 million planned capital project - capital meaning, in this case, buildings and equipment rather than funds for investment.

Philadelphia-based early-stage investment outfit DreamIt Ventures is in the business of finding, funding, and accelerating great startups.

Like many similar programs we've covered in the past, DreamIt, now in its second year, sees startup founders through the summer with seed funding and advisement, allowing them to demo their wares for media and investors mid-August. The ten companies demonstrating today include a few exciting ideas, from a crowdsourced version of CliffsNotes to a personal inventory management system to an app that predicts the price of event tickets and more. Read on for a rundown of Philly's freshest startups.

We spoke recently with Joshua Baer and Bryan Menell of Capital Factory, a technology incubator/accelerator based in Austin, Texas. Capital Factory puts on an intense 10-week summer program that gives participating startup companies up to $20,000 in cash, more than $20,000 in free services, and mentorship from a group of successful entrepreneurs. The program culminates in a demo day when the startups present to investors, the press, and the world. For more on incubators, see our post on Josh Catone.

Incubators are local by nature. So we wanted to find out more about the innovation scene in Austin. We also wanted to get Capital Factory's take on how the incubator model is changing.