Israel's accelerator ecosystem is continuing to expand with DreamIt Ventures' launch event at Afeka College tonight in Tel Aviv. Register here.

I had a chance to meet Managing Director, Kerry Rupp at the Landmark Ventures Dealmakers Conference where she shared her insights on the program, its expansion into Israel, and their partnership with Capital Factory in Austin to help entrepreneurs find co-founders at SXSW 2012.  Click here to learn more about the the entrepreneur speed-dating program during SXSW.

Mitchell Golner, Managing Partner with Dream It Ventures Israel will be running the program here in Tel Aviv.  Related coverage here on TechCrunch.

During the Capital Factory’s Demo Day in Austin, I had a chance to catch up with Blair Garrou, Managing Director at DFJ Mercury in Houston.  DFJ Mercury is a seed and early stage venture fund.

VC Minded / Super Angel Financing

Blair’s firm looks at deals ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000, so an event like this is a great place to get a sense of what early stage companies are trying to build out before they go to someone like Blair’s firm.

 “You know it when you see it….”

As you can see in this video, Blair talks about the types of companies he is looking for, and how the way the world has changed in terms of raising money.  The cost of starting up has been dramatically reduced, especially when you can outsource infrastructure services from companies like Rackspace or Amazon. 

Blair’s looking for deals in gaming, and specifically any type of company that is taking advantage of game mechanics to drive users and usage on the mobile web.

Blair also points out that if you can raise some amount of angel money, you are more likely to attract the attention of a firm like his.  If you’ve raised some amount of money from an angel, then it also means that you have someone who has done some due diligence as a precursor to having a firm like DFJ Mercury consider you and your team.

Follow Blair here on LinkedIn:  /bgarrou

And Twitter: @bgarrou