i/o Ventures, a workspace incubator that launched just over a year ago, is accepting applications for the start of its March 2011 program. The deadline for applying is February 21st and the program starts on March 15th. The five or six startups who pass muster can take a 4-6 month long spot in the i/o Ventures 7,000 square foor loft/coffee shop as well as $25,000 in seed money. Each of the companies in each class gives up around 8% of the company for the package deal.
The six companies in the last batch have all benefited greatly from being a part of the incubator, with two acquisitions and 4 financings between them: Damn The Radio was acquired by Fanbridge, SocialVision was a acquired by an undisclosed suitor, AppBistro raised around 700K from angels like Alfred Lin, Anomaly has raised a 500K round it will soon disclose more details about, Apprats has raised 400K from Dave McClure and other LA angels and Skyara is in the middle of financing a round.
Co-founder Paul Bragiel says that one of the benefits, aside from the space, of being an i/o Ventures-backed company is the repeated exposure to other entrepreneurs and investors, “Our opinion is that the most valuable thing is all the people they get to meet through us and working very closely on a daily basis with us four partners.”
Former Lefora and Meetro co-founder Bragiel joins partners like former Myspace Aber Whitcomb, BitTorrent co-founder and Yahoo corporate development exec Ashwin Navin, HotOrNot co-founder Jim Young at the accelerator’s helm.
You can read more about the first i/o Ventures demo day, here.
Paul Bragiel is a co-founder and managing partner at i/o ventures, an early stage startup accelerator which operates out of a funky workspace+cafe in San Francisco. Previous he has founded and served as the CEO of 3 companies including: Lefora, a product bringing forums into the 21st century, proudly hosting over 100,000+ unique communities. Meetro, the first location based social network. Paragon Five, a game development studio specializing in console and mobile content with offices in Chicago and Krakow, Poland. He...
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