Hot on the heels of why it’s tough out there for some VCs comes news of another contender in the angel funding area. And if you’ve got a bright idea that only needs about $100,000 - $500,000 to make it happen, you may just want to read on.

Charles River Ventures has started a new program called QuickStart in response to the fact that it doesn’t take millions of dollars for consumer-focused internet businesses. I don’t really follow this industry closely but apparently it’s not really new (TechCrunch, PaidContent), just new that an old hat like CRV to be doing it.

An excerpt of the CRV release:

• It is our intention to convert our debt into equity if and when your company closes its Series A round. If the company successfully raises its Series A, in exchange for sharing the risk with the entrepreneur, CRV receives a discount on the conversion price when the loan is rolled into the Series A. The discount will be a maximum of 25% (determined ratably at five percent per month, depending on how long it takes to create a Series A financing, up to the maximum).A simple example: if CRV loans your company $100,000 with a six percent interest rate, and six months later the company closed a Series A round, at that point the loan balance (with interest) would convert at a 25% discount (value = loan dollar amount plus interest / .75) into $137,333.33 worth of Series A stock. Given that seed funding amounts are typically very small compared to the amounts one might expect to raise in a Series A round, as the example illustrates, the aggregate discount amount, in this case $37K, is a tiny fraction of what is likely to be a multimillion dollar Series A financing.
• In addition, CRV would like the opportunity to support the Series A financing and thus retains an option to contribute up to 50 percent of your Series A funding. For example, if you raise a $3M Series A round, we can contribute up to $1.5M of the round.

Now, for those with ideas in the Bay Area: STIRR, an entrepreneur’s networking group, is holding an event sponsored by Charles River on 11/15 (via TechCrunch’s comments)