We are one of the first true Venture Science Capital companies
and we have double-blind, published, university and private-sector led tests
verifying the efficacy of our New Venture Assessor (NVA).
Our x Factor
Labx Ventures is leading an entirely different investment strategy called Venture Science Capital—driven by pure science, algorithms and rules engines—within the start-up and emerging growth venture investment industry. We take out the subjectivity and base scores on empirical data that uses a set of rules and principles garnered from academic and statistical methods about what makes a company a likely success or failure. In published double-blind university testing, our New Venture Assessor (NVA) successfully selected—with over 90% accuracy—which companies would bring profitable exits to investors. Our platform, our powerful assessor tool and our funds unite to create the new Venture Science Capital investment paradigm.
What the x Means in Labx
We wanted a name that was CORE to our business model. X is the variable or the unknown number. Our Lab process with our New Venture Assessor (NVA) formulates that number or score we call the xScore, or X for short.
NVA + xScore + Lab = Labx
TEAM
The back story behind Labx began years ago when a group of venture entrepreneurs and angels began collaborating on an idea. They wanted to crack the code to picking winning companies.
Clark Straw
Chairman of the Board
Master of Science
Admin. Sciences & Management, University of Texas, Dallas
Bachelor of Science
Electrical Engineering, Texas Tech University
Technology Special Purpose Funds (x3)
Managing General Partner
Leading BioSciences
Chairman of the Board, CEO & Investor
Hitachi Data Systems
Executive Vice President & Corporate Officer
Hewlett Packard
General Manager U.S. Sales & Support for HP computers
General Mgr. Worldwide Alliances & Channels (HP computers)
General Manager Western Region Operations (HP computers)
General Manager Texas Area for all HP products
Chip F. Parker
President, Chief Operations Officer
Technology Special Purpose Funds (x4)
General Partner
Leading BioSciences
Co-founder, Board Member and Investor
InLab Ventures
Founder, Executive Director
Keiretsu Forum
Founding Member, President of Southern California Chapters (x5)
Leading Ventures
Co-founder
Tech Coast Initiative
Founder
Moviegoers.com
Founder
Realm Internet
Co-founder
Tim Penkala
Interim Chief Financial Officer
PredictionWorks
Chief Financial Officer
Bachelor of Science, Accounting
University of Notre Dame
Registered Investment Advisor
Certified Public Accountant
Investment Banker
Certified Financial Planner
Asset & Fund Manager
Over 100 syndications
Angel Investor
Over 15 start-ups
Mark J. Jones
Director of Systems Engineering
Master of Business Administration
San Diego State
Master of Science
Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins
Bachelor of Science
Engineering, UC Berkeley
United States Navy
Lieutenant, Naval Reactors Officer
Silver Bridge Technologies LLC
Chief Technical Officer
Field Intelligence Inc.
Chief Technical Officer
Quake Global, Inc.
Chief Technical Officer
Steve Curtis
Director of Marketing
Adjunct Professor
Stanford Graduate School of Business-Marketing Innovation/Creativity
Gammon Games
Co-founder, Sold to Atari
WSJ, Price/Waterhouse
First Thought-Leader
Procter & Gamble
Senior Consultant, new business, multimillion-dollar projects
Levi Stroller
Inventor
Velcro Dart Board
Inventor
Paramount Studios
Senior Management (Licensing of Star Trek Properties)
USC Marshall School of Business
Chair (“The Road to Growth” Conference)
Buckeye International
Award: Marketing Man of the Year
Master of Business Admin.
University of Southern California
Bachelor of Science
Marketing & Finance, University of Southern California
Gary Rubens
Lead NVA Development
Master of Education
Science Curriculum Development, University of Texas, Arlington
Bachelor of Arts
Psychology, University of California, Irvine (Biology minor)
Aim for the Sun Microsolar
Founder, Inventor (patent holder)
California Coast Commercial
Founder, Owner: Commercial Brokerage Co.
Wm. S Hart School District
Chemistry, Biology & Geoscience Instructor
Fillmore Unified School Dist.
Science Department Co-chair, Chemistry & Biology Instructor
United States Coast Guard
Training & Administration Officer, Instructor, Command Duty Officer
Lisa López Cassidy
Director of Operations & Special Projects
Joe Simoni
Principal, Venture Analyst & Chairman of the Business Board of Advisors
Eric Neitzel
Principal & NVA Development
Armen Derderian
Principal & Director of Strategic Alliances
OUR ADVISORS
Investors
Bill Fairchild
Joe Siemienowski
Academic
Gary Cadenhead, PhD, University of Texas, McCombs School of Business
AI and Analytics
Gary Fogel, PhD, CEO, Natural Selections, Inc.
Group Genius
Matt Taylor, CEO, MG Taylor Corporation
Decision Support System
James Taylor, CEO, Decision Management Solutions, Inc.
WHY SAN DIEGO
Labx Ventures is based in San Diego, one of America’s top-tier start-up, emerging growth and venture capital investment communities. San Diego is a center of high-tech innovation and is home to the brightest thought leaders and science innovation centers, including…
The University of California, San Diego
The Scripps Research Institute
The San Diego Supercomputer Center
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology Call
• San Diego is home to over 100,000 R&D jobs generating over $14 billion in economic impact
• San Diego is the # 1 City for patents filed per population in the US and # 2 worldwide
• San Diego had more than 400 startups launched annually the last two years
• San Diego ranks in the top 10 metro areas nationally for startups
• San Diego has the highest pre-money VC valuations in the country
• As of August 2018, the UCSD faculty researchers and alumni have won twenty-seven Nobel Prizes
• As to talent attraction & retention, San Diego is one of the best locations to live, work and play
Our investment strategies and our investments will reach far beyond Southern California’s Tech Coast to make a global impact and Labx Ventures is proud to be based in of one of America’s science and technology hubs, San Diego, California.
Contact Us
To learn more about Labx Ventures, Venture Science, or our Venture Predictive Assessor Tool