Seattle entrepreneurs Andy Sack and Chris Devore introduced a new angel investment concept with the launch of the Founders Co-op earlier this year, a $2 million fund that they said was designed to "offer a more supportive and open environment for new startups."

Now, some big names in the Seattle tech startup scene are lining up behind the business incubator. The firm is going public with its list of limited partners, which includes Wetpaint's Ben Elowitz; BuddyTV's Andy Liu; WhitePages.com's Alex Algard; Madrona's Geoff Entress; Microsoft's Brent Turner; Blue Moon Ventures' Edward Yim and others.

"In a time when most investors are battening down the hatches and putting on helmets because the sky is falling, I'm announcing the expansion of a unique peer-to-peer seed stage fund that consist(s) of proven entrepreneurs in the Seattle area," said Sack in an e-mail.

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has more details on Founders Co-op, which has raised another $1.8 million from the new investors. Arrington also notes that he likes spending time in the Seattle tech scene because it "isn’t so big that the community breaks down into cliques and haters as Silicon Valley often does in the boom times."

For years, Seattle area entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have claimed that the local community is far different from the Bay Area in part because people here are collaborative and willing to help others out. In other words, Seattle's tech community lacks some of the cutthroat business tactics seen elsewhere.

But a "co-op" for venture? Well, if it worked for REI, maybe it will work in the startup tech world. Sack and Devore, who previously founded the now-defunct Judy's Book, have invested in three companies to date: Cooler Planet, Askablogr and Orange Line Media.

They typically invest $50,000 to $200,000 in two- to three-person teams, including "at least one genius software engineer."

Founders Co-op, along with Monster Venture Partners and Curious Office Partners, are trying to bring new ideas to the venture market in Seattle. It is too early to say whether any of them will catch on, but it is certainly reassuring to see innovation occurring at all levels in the startup scene. And that includes the people who fund new ventures.