Start-up incubator to open 9 co-working spaces across L.A.
The Los Angeles start-up scene is getting some extra room to grow.
L.A. start-up incubator Be Great Partners has announced that it will open nine co-working spaces for start-ups.
The tech offices will add 110,000 square feet of co-working space to the region and collectively will be known as Be Great Labs. They will be spread out, with locations in Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Century City and Pasadena, among others.
The first, in downtown L.A., will open this year. All nine are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.
Be Great Partners is new to L.A., having launched just seven months ago with a $6-million start-up fund. Since then the Miracle Mile firm has invested in 23 start-ups, three-fourths of them headquartered in Los Angeles.
“We are here because the start-up scene and the start-up ecosystem is growing faster than ever,” Lin Miao, managing partner at Be Great Partners, said Tuesday at the company’s splashy party in West Hollywood to celebrate the local tech scene.
Miao said that for every start-up Be Great Partners has accepted into its incubator program “we deny over 300.”
Hundreds of people attended the party, which was dubbed Be Great Fest and held at the Pacific Design Center. They predominantly were well-dressed Hollywood types toting Chanel flap bags, an oddity about which several partygoers commented. Most L.A. tech events occur in Santa Monica or Venice and cater to a much more low-key, casual crowd.
About a dozen start-ups funded by Be Great Partners set up demo booths at the party, including local firms Me Undies and Enplug. Also in attendance: NatureBox, a subscription online snack company in San Carlos, and Hullabalu, a New York company that creates interactive stories for children.
Twitter: @byandreachang
