VC Mark Suster of GRP Partners told LAUNCH that he's "considering the possibility of office space" for his two-year-old program LaunchPadLA, which selects and mentors entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles area to strengthen the local startup scene.

He says he will have a decision on office space in the next 30 to 45 days and noted that Accel Partners is not involved [ see our previous story ].

Mark acknowledges that taking on office space would change LaunchPadLA's approach because he would "have to have money to pay for it." To date, LaunchPadLA has not taken an ownership stake in the companies it accepts, and companies do not pay to participate. The incubator's sponsors include two law firms and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

LaunchPadLA has held its meetings in other company's offices, including Mahalo, founded by LAUNCH founder Jason Calacanis. Each class runs for four months, with meetings every week or every other week. Mentors are from the area but come from other cities as well.

The next class is likely to start in six weeks, Mark says, slightly delayed because of "this idea of getting office space."

Mark tells LAUNCH that of the 23 companies that LaunchPadLA has accepted, 19 have raised money and five have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was just last week, when American Express bought virtual-currency platform Sometrics for $30M.

CONTACT INFO

Mark Suster
Twitter: @msuster
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksuster
Blog: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/
This Week in Venture Capital

LaunchPadLA
Email: launchpadla at gmail dot com
Twitter: @launchpadla
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114692005329&ref=ts
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1920406&trk=anet_ug_hm

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