Silicon Valley finds new ways to back tomorrow’s winners

SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Oct 17 (Reuters) – A group of high-flying Silicon Valley investors is betting that there is room for one more program that fosters early-stage companies. This time, they are focused on the massive amounts of information generated in part by the Internet and known collectively as big data.
The creation of Data Elite, a hybrid between a venture fund and an incubator, underscores the obsession among the valley’s investors of finding promising companies at the very earliest stages.
Data Elite is backed by some big Silicon Valley names. They include former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitya’s fund, Social+Capital; Palantir founder Joe Lonsdale’s fund, Formation8; angel investor Ron Conway; former Amazon executive Anand Rajaraman; and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Last month, regulations changed so private companies can advertise for investors, which is invigorating relatively new vehicles such as angel-investment syndicates.
Declining costs are leading to growing numbers of start-ups; the Bay Area is on track for a record year in terms of the number of companies receiving the early-stage financing known as seed money, according to consultancy CB Insights.
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