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Come April 1, Stan Eyler won't have time for fooling around. That day, the San Diego tech entrepreneur will be launching his Web site - artichok.com - with the help of a new local high-tech incubator.
Artichok.com is one of a handful of companies that already occupy VenturePlex, a 30,000square-foot incubator located in the San Diego Tech Center in Sorrento Valley.
The company is modeling itself after trend setting incubators such as Pasadena-based idealab!
San Diego is home to only a couple of incubators, including the nonprofit San Diego Technology Incubator at San Diego City College and Venture Catalyst, a publicly traded firm in Rancho Bernardo.
Another incubator, IdeaEDGE Ventures, is scheduled to launch in San Diego in April.
VenturePlex, which plans to be a multimillion-dollar-a-year operation, will focus on grooming telecommunications, E-business and life sciences entrepreneurs. The incubator, which occupies a building left vacant when Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia moved to its new site in Sabre Springs along Interstate 15, provides wide-band Internet access, administrative resources, and marketing and distribution relationships for its tenants. A 100seat conference room is also being constructed.
VenturePlex's first resident was Hamilton Technology Ventures LP, a new venture capital company focused on seed and early, stage investments. Hamilton expects to have more than million under management by June.
Virtual Gallery
Eyler, who left an 18-year career in a family-owned manufacturing business in San Diego to start artichok.com, hopes to net additional funding in six to nine months, with a planned initial public offering within 18 months. He launched the company with about $150,000 in family money.
Fyler compares artichok.com to La Jolla-based digital music company MP3.com, which allows artists to sell their own CDs online.
Artichok.com will create a Web community for painters and photographers to sell their work through virtual galleries.
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