Madrona Announces Madrona Venture Labs, an In-House Startup Studio
First Labs' Spinout, Spare5, Raises $3.25 Million from NEA, Foundry and Madrona
SEATTLE, Dec. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Madrona Venture Group ("Madrona") today announced the public unveiling of Madrona Venture Labs ("Labs"), an in-house startup studio that has already spun out one company, Spare5, and is working on additional companies to be launched in 2015. Madrona Managing Director Greg Gottesman and serial entrepreneur Joe Heitzeberg lead the Labs effort, joined by a team of developers and designers.
"Building a successful company from the ground up is the most rewarding experience you can have as an entrepreneur or investor, financially and otherwise," said Gottesman. "Madrona has incubated several successful companies over the years, including Rover, Farecast and Z2, but those efforts were ad hoc. Labs is purpose-built to tackle the earliest stages of company-building with a team that has done it before."
In addition to being a venture capitalist, Gottesman founded and was the initial CEO of Rover.com. Heitzeberg served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Madrona and has founded several businesses including Poppy, MediaPiston (acquired by oDesk) and SnapVine (acquired by WhitePages).
Spare5, a mobile-optimized, on-demand insights platform, is the first spinout from Labs. The company announced $3.25 million in seed funding from New Enterprise Associates, Foundry Group and Madrona earlier this week. Labs incubated Spare5, hired CEO Matt Bencke and helped recruit a management and engineering team, including the co-founders of Urbanspoon, FeedBurner and veteran technology executives of Amazon.com.
"The way Greg and Joe have structured Labs, it gives potential CEO entrepreneurs a huge head start," said Bencke, formerly Senior Vice President of Product and Customer Experience at Getty Images. "Labs handed me an idea I loved, traction with the product and customers, and then helped me recruit a killer technical team and drive a successful financing."
Labs focuses on building software applications and services. The team incubates concepts that it can validate quickly with customer traction. Labs has already tested and rejected several ideas that failed to meet its viability standard.
"Mobile and cloud have created more opportunities than ever for software to change people's lives for the better," said Heitzeberg. "We focus on ideas where software can create a meaningful impact and where willingness to pay isn't a question."
In addition to Gottesman and Heitzeberg, the team consists of experienced startup developers and designers, including Amy Falcone, Brian Fioca, Ben Gilbert, Brendan Ribera and Matt Terich. Madrona Managing Directors Paul Goodrich and Scott Jacobson join Gottesman and Heitzeberg on the board of Labs.
About Madrona Venture Labs
Madrona Venture Labs is a startup studio funded by and housed at Madrona Venture Group, led by Madrona Managing Director Greg Gottesman and serial entrepreneur Joe Heitzeberg. For more information, visit www.madronaventurelabs.com.
About Madrona Venture Group
Madrona has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region's most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and cloud computing, and mobile. Madrona manages approximately $1 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Isilon Systems, Redfin and Rover. For more information, visit www.madrona.com.
About Spare5
Spare5 is a mobile-optimized, on-demand insights platform. For more information, visit www.spare5.com.
Media contact: Erika Shaffer, [email protected] 206-972-5514
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SOURCE Madrona Venture Group
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