Any North Carolinians with expertise in mobile computing and wireless devices – and there are a lot of them, especially in the Triangle – can get some long sought-after attention from Silicon Valley investors if they have a good “Glass” idea.

The search is on for new apps.

Google plus top-tier venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins are looking to fund startups with up to $2 million for projects focusing on Google’s wearable computer known as “Glass.”

Google’s venture arm is pledging to share ideas and possible investments with the two Silicon Valley venture giants in a deal that was disclosed Wednesday.

The “Glass Collective”

“Glass is a potentially transformative technology. It’s a window into the world’s information, and a new way to share experiences with those you care about.

“Here at Google Ventures, my partners and I thought the potential for Glass was significant enough to invite our friends at Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to join us in exploring this big opportunity,” wrote Bill Maris, vice president of Google Ventures, in a blog.

“We’ve formed the Glass Collective, an investment syndicate between our three firms, to provide seed funding to entrepreneurs in the Glass ecosystem to help jumpstart their ideas.

 

“Smart entrepreneurs and engineers are going to develop amazing experiences through Glass. If you’ve been mulling over a brilliant idea for Glass, let us know.”

The firms are pledging to work together to arrange seed funding ranging from $250,000 to $2 million to support ideas for software and other gear.

Called the “Glass Collective,” it’s is likely to heighten the anticipation surrounding Google Glass. The device isn’t expected to be released on the mass market until next year.

Early Focus

Early apps of interest are for entertainment, education and health care.

“The creativity that can be applied against this is basically unbound,” said Marc Andreessen, the web pioneer and co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. “There’s hundreds of thousands of things people are going to be able to do.”

The three investors will use capital from existing funds to support the project and don’t intend to create a new fund or invite other VCs to join, Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris said at the event.

Google Glass has already gained support from large mobile- app developers, including Path Inc. and Twitter Inc., which have begun looking at ways to adapt their services to the new technology, Kleiner Perkins General Partner John Doerr said.

“This could well be more than another platform,” said Doerr, whose firm invested in Path and Twitter. “This could be a whole new way of appreciating the world. It’s amplified reality.”

Google plans this month to start shipping Glass Explorer Edition, early versions of the glasses designed to let developers tinker with new applications, the company said.

Evolving Business Model

The Glass Collective plans to back app makers even though there isn’t yet a business model for such software, Andreessen said.

“At some point, it would be nice to build apps for Glass that you can charge for,” he said. “That’s not a precondition” to investing, he added.

When asked about apps they’d like to see on Google Glass, the investors showed different interests. Maris said he would like to see science programs. Doerr saw a need for more visual online-education apps. Andreessen said he wanted a zombie game.

Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder who strode into the meeting sweaty from a bike ride, said he’d like an app that monitors his heart rate while he rides.

Extolling the benefits of Google Glass in February, Brin said that standing upright and summoning information to the eyes is a more elegant use of the body than “rubbing a featureless piece of glass.” Hunching over a smartphone while walking about, he said, is “emasculating.”

(The AP and Bloomberg contributed to this report.)