Survivor Producer Helps Launch L.A. Accelerator

A Los Angeles accelerator that emerged from stealth today combines Hollywood star power with Silicon Valley savvy and plans to attract companies to a funky office space in California's Venice Beach.

Among the L.A. luminaries backing the Amplify accelerator are Survivor and Shark Tank creator Mark Burnett and 24 producer Brian Grazer. On the Silicon Valley side of the equation are second-generation VC Timothy Draper and Accel Partners, which has bet on such tech companies as Facebook.

"The convergence of tech and entertainment is finally happening in Los Angeles, and I couldn't be more excited to help Amplify bring these worlds together,” Burnett said in a release.

Amplify has amassed $4.5 million and is renovating a building in Venice as a combined working space for the companies within its portfolio. It has initial plans to fund about 20 companies a year and has been meeting with companies for the past two to three months to get the ball rolling. The Venice space won’t be ready until 2012, but until then, Amplify will operate out of Santa Monica.

“I think we’ve got a great team,” said Jeff Solomon, cofounder and executive director of Amplify. He said he expects the accelerator to draw from the talent on hand in the entertainment business in Los Angeles to create new companies, as well as attracting tech talent from elsewhere.

Amplify will invest up to $50,000 in a company, for an 8 percent stake in the company. Eight or nine companies at a time will work in the offices Amplify is creating, and they will roll in and out of the space on a rotating basis.

“I do want to keep it intimate enough that we can spend time with each of the companies,” Solomon said. “I really want to provide a value vehicle.”

Housing the companies in one office building will give Amplify companies an edge when it comes to learning from one another and building a network of potential recruits, said Solomon, who plans to work very closely with Amplify’s portfolio companies.

“I love building things from scratch,” he said. “The accelerator itself is a perpetual startup.”

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Kent Bernhard Jr. is News Editor of Portfolio.com