PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Key executives of Sunstone Management, a leading diversified private capital management and investment firm, participated in the first annual IM DATA: Innovative Methods with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference held by Research Methods and Data Science (RMDS) Lab on Dec. 6th and 7th.
The event promoted advancement of the field of data science and featured global industry experts who discussed trends and approaches in big data, AI, data science, and their impact on society. Sunstone Founding Partner John Shen contributed to a panel on "Raising Capital for Data and AI Startups," an area in which Sunstone is already making a significant impact.
Earlier this year Sunstone, the City of Long Beach, and California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship founded the new Long Beach Accelerator™ (LBA), a first of its kind public-private partnership in the city that expects to welcome its first cohort of entrepreneurs in 2020. LBA will prepare early-stage tech startups to successfully secure funding as well as provide valuable resources, including physical space for participating entrepreneurs to develop capacity, technical assistance with seed-round funding, and a network of investors to identify and finance opportunities with capacity to scale.
"This event signals the continued growth of the rapidly developing Long Beach innovative ecosystem attracting top talent and investment to our area," commented Shen. "Sunstone is excited to learn from the industry leaders in these emerging fields and looks forward to bringing our resources and investments to support the growth of entrepreneurs at the forefront of big data and AI innovation."
Sunstone also recently partnered with CSULB to underwrite the university’s prestigious startup business competition - a program for young innovators to develop, submit, and pitch business plans to judges in order to compete for seed funding and additional financial resources - now known as the Sunstone Innovation Challenge at CSULB. The company additionally continues to build the Accelerator's and the region's venture investment network. LBA Sunstone Fund I and Seraph Long Beach I L.P. Fund, a partnership between Sunstone and leading structural angel investment firm Seraph Group, are two funds already established to facilitate the growth of startups participating in the Accelerator as well as seed round startup projects in Long Beach.
About Sunstone Management
Sunstone Management, with subsidiary Sunstone Venture Capital Fund, is a diversified private capital management and investment firm offering comprehensive wealth management solutions to high net worth clients worldwide, in particular U.S. new-immigrant families. Focusing on investments in U.S. based small businesses and lower middle markets, its offerings are carefully structured to meet targeted investor goals ranging from short term senior debt products to longer term, equity, growth capital, and venture capital investment strategies.