Michael Jones (entrepreneur)
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Michael Jones (born August 13, 1975) is an American entrepreneur and investor. Jones is currently the 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]
Michael Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Jones August 13, 1975 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Oregon (B.A.) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Education
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]
Business career
Early career
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]
Myspace
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]
Science Inc.
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); Delicious; Playhaven (acquired by RockYou); Kyoku (acquired by TheFeed); and Quarterly.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] His exits in 2016 included Science portfolio companies HelloSociety (acquired by The New York Times),[23] FameBit (acquired by Google)[23] 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]
Science Blockchain
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]
References
- ^ "Mike Jones Launches Technology Studio, Science, In LA With $10M From Eric Schmidt And Others" Techcrunch, November 16, 2011
- ^ "The next big thing coming out of Silicon Beach? Mobile everything" USA Today, July 14, 2015
- ^ "LA 500: Michael Jones" LA Business Journal, August 11, 2017
- ^ "University of Oregon Alumni Association" UOAlumni.com, April 26, 2014
- ^ "Take a tour of former Myspace CEO and tech incubator Mike Jones' Malibu mansion" Business Insider, May 8th, 2015
- ^ "AOL snaps up IM developer Userplane" CNET, August 14th, 2006
- ^ "Former MySpace CEO Michael Jones launches $30M VC fund to back Indian mobile startups" TechCircle India, July 2015, 2015
- ^ "Former MySpace CEO launches a startup studio" CNET, November 11th, 2014
- ^ "Saving Myspace: CEO Mike Jones Talks About Rethink, Relaunch and–Fingers Crossed–Resurgence" AllThingsD, October 27th, 2010
- ^ "For Myspace, a Redesign to Entice Generation Y" The New York Times, October 27th, 2010
- ^ "Exclusive: Myspace to Be Sold to Specific Media for $35 Million" AllThingsD, June 29th, 2011
- ^ "Myspace Acquired, CEO Out: Email From Mike Jones To Employees" TechCrunch, June 29th, 2011
- ^ "Former MySpace CEO creates startup incubator called Science, invests in former MySpace execs" VentureBeat, November 16th, 2011
- ^ "The Most Innovative Social Media Companies 2013" Fast Company, February 13th, 2013
- ^ "15 Questions with Mike Jones" CNN Money, May 13, 2015
- ^ a b "Science Incubator Turns Up the Heat With New Services" LA Business Journal, June 28, 2015
- ^ "Science Inc. to buy Social Bookmarking Site Delicious" Social Tech, May 8, 2014
- ^ "Science Inc. Acquires Mobile Ad Network PlayHaven From Upsight" TechCrunch, September 24, 2014
- ^ "Science Ventures III Investment Themes " LinkedIn, October 6, 2020
- ^ A Former Netflix Creative Director just got $1.6 million from Big Names in Tech for Liquid Death, which is Water in a Tallboy Can Business Insider, May 7, 2019 November 7, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mashayekhi, Rey (January 4, 2022). "Liquid Death Raises $75 Million in Funding at a $500 Million-Plus Valuation". dot.LA. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ^ Dave, Paresh (March 29, 2017). "Rover.com acquires Santa Monica dog-sitting start-up DogVacay, which couldn't keep up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c Ha, Anthony (October 11, 2016). "Google acquires FameBit to connect YouTube creators with marketers". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (May 6, 2015). "RockYou acquires PlayHaven as it moves deeper into mobile ad networks". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ^ "Unilever Buys Dollar Shave Club for $1 Billion" Fortune, July 19, 2016
- ^ a b c d "A Venture Firm Turns to Coin Offering for Incubator Gambit" Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2017
- ^ a b "Science, the L.A.-based incubator, just closed on $75 million for its first real venture fund" TechCrunch, February 2, 2018
- ^ "Why Science is turning to ICOs for its incubator" TechCrunch, August 4, 2017