New Incubator Targets Big Data Startups

A group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and data scientists have opened a new firm called Data Elite, to provide big data analytics startups with funding, along with mentoring support from a network of execs working at companies such as Facebook, Netflix and Zynga.

Data Elite has been set up by Tasso Argyros, founder of Aster Data, which sold to Teradata for $300m in 2011; and Stamos Venios, who has held M&A and investment positions with companies in Europe and Israel. Their firm is backed by a group of venture capital companies and individuals: The Social+Capital Partnership, Andreessen Horowitz, Formation8, Ron Conway and Anand Rajaraman.

In a statement, Data Elite said it is seeking companies that 'use data to drive big disruption', in which it will invest a minimum of $150k in exchange for equity. Successful applicants that make it on to Data Elite's three-month program will be expected to work from the company's office in San Francisco, where they will receive access to technical and business development advice from a team of twelve partners. The twelve include Ken Rudin, Head of Analytics at Facebook; Daniel McCaffrey, General Manager of Platform and Analytics at Zynga; and Jeff Magnusson, Manager of Data Science Platform Architecture at Netflix.

Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and Managing Partner at The Social+Capital Partnership, explains: 'There are many funds, incubators, and accelerators out there that entrepreneurs can turn to today for general business advice. However, none of these programs have the industry knowledge to help highly technical founders in the data sciences to commercialize their research or build out their products. Data Elite was formed to bridge this gap, with hands-on support from today's most accomplished and knowledgeable data scientists.'

Applicants for the program, which begins next January, are expected to have expertise in a given aspect of data sciences, as well as an incorporated company or a concrete idea for starting a company.

Web site: www.data-elite.com .