 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(May 2020) |
Michael Jones | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Michael Jones August 13, 1975 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Oregon (B.A.) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Michael Jones (born August 13, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, investor and CEO of Science Inc. [1] [2] In 2017, Jones was named one of Los Angeles's 500 most influential people by the Los Angeles Business Journal. [3]
Jones attended Lake Oswego High School and has a bachelor of arts in international business and marketing from the University of Oregon, where he was named Student Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997. [4] [5]
In 2001, Jones founded Userplane, a Los Angeles-based company that provides instant messaging and other applications for companies such as Myspace and Honda. In 2006, Userplane was acquired by AOL. [6] In 2005, Jones began angel investing, primarily focused in the Los Angeles area. He has personally invested in more than 30 startups. [7] In 2008, Jones launched Tsavo Media, an online media network company which was later sold to Cybernex for $75 million. [8]
In 2010, Jones was hired as the CEO of Myspace where he was tasked with the company’s relaunch, one of the more high-profile turn-around challenges in the industry. [9] This included stabilizing a historically negative traffic and user trend, reducing the operational cost of the business by nearly 90 percent, and pivoting the product from its legacy as a social network to a social entertainment destination, [10] then selling the business on News Corp’s behalf to SpecificMedia. [11] Jones left Myspace in the summer of 2011. [12]
In 2011, Jones launched technology startup studio Science Inc. [13] [14] Jones spent much of his time working with the companies’ CEOs and investors on strategy, growth and business development. [15] In 2011, Dollar Shave Club launched with investments from Science Inc. Science was Dollar Shave Club’s first investor, before the startup raised a $1 million seed round in March 2012. [16]
Other startups that have come from Science include Liquid Death, where Jones sits on the board; DogVacay (acquired by Rover); HelloSociety (acquired by The New York Times); HomeHero; FameBit (acquired by Google and rebranded as YouTube BrandConnect); [17] Delicious; Playhaven (acquired by RockYou); Kyoku (acquired by TheFeed); and Quarterly. [16] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [17] [24] His exits in 2016 included Science portfolio companies HelloSociety (acquired by The New York Times), [17] and Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever). [25]
In 2017, Science Inc. launched its initial coin offering for its blockchain-focused incubator, Science Blockchain. It was the first incubator to do so. [26]
In February 2018, Science Inc. closed on $75 million for its venture fund with traditional limited partners, including a fund of funds, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and other institutional investors. [27] The capital will be used to back breakaway companies coming out of Science's incubators, co-invest in deals that were not seeded by Science, and will be used to co-invest alongside other venture investors. [27]
In September 2017, Science Inc. announced Science Blockchain, an incubator focused on blockchain-based companies, funded through an initial coin offering (ICO). [28] The offering falls within U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) private placement exemptions from registration under Regulation D (SEC) and Regulation S. [26] The ICO only allows accredited investors to buy tokens in the ICO. [26] The ICO offering is being managed by The Argon Group, via its subsidiary Argon Investment Management LLC, under the Regulation D Section 506(c) exemption from registration issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. [26]
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, and application development.
Rahul Sood is the CEO and co-founder of Irreverent Labs, the former CEO of Unikrn), and was the founder of VoodooPC. Sood was also an early investor in AR/VR company Vrvana he's also an investor in blockchain play to earn horse racing game ZED Run, and high-end PC gaming company, MAINGEAR.
Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/AI, and security. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion. Index Venture partners appear frequently on Forbes’ Midas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.
John William Gurley is an American businessman. He is a general partner at Benchmark, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in San Francisco, California. He is listed consistently on the Forbes Midas List and is considered one of the top dealmakers in the American technology industry.
Techstars is a pre-seed investor that provides access to capital, mentorship, and other support for early-stage entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. As of January 2024, the company had accepted over 4,100 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization of $106bn USD. Techstars operates accelerator programs in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Vinny Lingham is a South African-born American Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of an identity protection and management startup based in California called Civic. He was also previously the founder and CEO of Gyft & Yola, Inc. He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn Cape Town into a technology hub.
Airship is a US-based company that offers marketing and branding services to its clients. Its services enable businesses to create personalized messages that can be delivered to customers through various channels, such as push notifications and SMS messaging. In addition to messaging services, Airship provides its clients with customer analytics services to help them better understand their customers' behavior and preferences.
Dollar Shave Club, Inc. is an American company based in Venice, California, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery.
Geoffrey Arone is an American blockchain investor and advisor.
MicroVentures is an equity crowdfunding website that offers investments in early stage companies. It connects accredited investors with startups, businesses and services looking to raise funds or participate in select secondary market opportunities.
AngelList is an American software company for fundraising and connecting startups, angel investors, and limited partners. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge. Created by serial entrepreneur Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi in 2010, Avlok Kohli has been leading AngelList as its CEO since 2019.
Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company. The company began as the first Bitcoin blockchain explorer in 2011 and later created a cryptocurrency wallet that accounted for 28% of bitcoin transactions between 2012 and 2020. It also operates a cryptocurrency exchange and provides institutional markets lending business and data, charts, and analytics.
YourMechanic is an American company that provides mobile automotive repair and maintenance services to vehicle owners at their location, such as their home or office.
Lemonade, Inc., is an American insurance company. The company offers renters' insurance, homeowners' insurance, car insurance, pet insurance, and term life insurance in the United States, as well as contents and liability policies in Germany and the Netherlands and renters' insurance in France. The company is based in New York City and has approximately 1.9 million customers. Lemonade does not hire human employees to process claims for customers, instead using artificial intelligence and chatbots to process claims.
Consensys is a private blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin and based in Fort Worth.
Alejandro Carlos "Alec" Oxenford is an Argentine entrepreneur. He co-founded OLX, and co-founded letgo, a mobile classified ad app in the United States.
Science Inc. is a Los Angeles–based startup studio that invests and offers expertise in corporations, in an attempt to bring them to profitability. In 2011, Michael Jones founded the organization and is the current chief executive officer. Jones spent time serving with the company's Chief Executive Officers and investors on strategy, growth, and business development.
An initial coin offering (ICO) or initial currency offering is a type of funding using cryptocurrencies. It is often a form of crowdfunding, although a private ICO which does not seek public investment is also possible. In an ICO, a quantity of cryptocurrency is sold in the form of "tokens" ("coins") to speculators or investors, in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ether. The tokens are promoted as future functional units of currency if or when the ICO's funding goal is met and the project successfully launches.
Arjun Sethi is an American internet entrepreneur, investor and executive. He is co-founder and partner at venture capital firm Tribe Capital. He previously was partner at Social Capital and served as an executive at Yahoo! where he launched Yahoo! Livetext. Before that, he was co-founder and CEO of MessageMe and he was CEO of Lolapps, the developer behind Ravenwood Fair. In December 2023, he became Tribe Capital's chairman and CIO.
Republic is an investment platform headquartered in New York City that allows individuals to invest in startups, growth-stage pre-IPO companies, real estate, video games, and crypto companies.