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LAв s tech scene heats up as Science Inc. gets ready to launch its first batch of startups

2012-02-05 11:58
What does it take to create a tech scene Entrepreneurs, startups, coworking spaces, venture capital, mentors and angel investors are among the numerous ingredients required for a flourishing ecosystem. Just off the boardwalk in Santa Monica, California, you 8217;ll find Science Inc., a new technology studio that was founded in NovemberВ of last year for budding startups in Los Angeles.В Former MySpace CEO Mike Jones is the man behind the project, along with industry veteransВ Peter PhamВ (Color, Photobucket), Ryan SitВ (Myspace,В Tsavo), Mike MacadaanВ (Urbandig, Twiistup) and Tom Dare (MySpace, Tsavo). В And yes, Science Inc. is composed of quite a few Myspace connections. Unlike traditional accelerators and incubators likeВ Y CombinatorВ andВ TechStars, Science develops and invests in early technology startups, involving itself for the long-term much like New York City 8217;sВ Gramercy Labs CollectiveВ andВ Betaworks Studio. The latter of whichВ recently initiatedВ a $15 million offering on top of its previous rounds, which included a $27.5 million investment fromВ RRE Ventures, Intel Capital, DFJ Growth, AOL Ventures, Softbank Capital and Lerer Ventures. Science has raised $10 million in funding from investors such as LAв sВ Rustic Canyon, as well as Palo-Alto basedВ Chamath PalihapitiyaВ and Eric Schmidt 8217;sВ Tomorrow Ventures. Science isn 8217;t looking to raise more money in the U.S., although Jones tells me he 8217;s very interested in seeking investor capital in Brazil. I 8217;ve spent a lot of time with John Borthwick at Betaworks and am a huge fan of what they 8217;re doing there. Hopefully we can collaborate with them. I really admire their structure. And in contrast to what accelerator programs are doing today, which includes small time money and a rotating door of advisors, we 8217;re a studio. We are co-founders and partners with the businesses we work with. We set up the operational team by pulling in the best people in our networks from different areas.В All we do is focus on these companies everyday. Is it wise for Science Inc. to follow in Betaworks path As recentlyВ reported by VentureBeat, it took Betaworks less than a year to generate a return on the $20+ million it raised last March. In fact,В PandoDaily reportedВ that Betaworks has returned all invested capital plus a dividend with cash left over for its balance sheet. All physical signs point to - yes, this model is a keeper. Science Inc. will focus on 4 verticals. First: e-commerce or push commerce. Second: market places; companies like Airbnb that disrupt legacy services. Third: systems that rely on large volumes of social data. And fourth: what Jones calls insular networks , a trend he 8217;s spotted on the Web where in the same way ad networks have grown around content, he sees monetization networks growing around influential people. Take Pinterest as an example. An influential person on Pinterest has the potential to drive great value to an e-commerce site. Let...
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