Founded by Rob Vickery and Alex Rubalcava in 2015, Stage is a Los Angeles-based seed-stage venture capital fund that invests in software startups from around the world. It recently raised a second fund to continue to invest in new SaaS and enterprise software technology firms, with a particular interest in artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine learning.

Stage will be utilizing the Innovation Center’s unique facilities and capabilities to add value to its portfolio companies, investors and its wider operations, as a venture fund.

Rob Vickery, Co-founder of Stage Venture Partners, said: “We have long been admirers of InvestCloud, and are excited to be entering the Los Angeles Innovation Center. Our aims are perfectly aligned – to enable the next generation of entrepreneurs to bring revolutionary ideas to market. The unique proposition of the InvestCloud Innovation Center helps to accelerate this. We look forward to seeing the exciting new firms coming out of the Innovation Center that are bringing their technology to market.”

The InvestCloud Innovation Center is a fourth-generation financial technology accelerator and incubator. It allows startup technology businesses and established financial institutions alike to undertake ‘residences’ that accelerate the development of new digital modular apps through access to InvestCloud’s full digital platform, working together in InvestCloud’s creative space, under the guidance of a team of InvestCloud mentors.

Yaela Shamberg, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at InvestCloud, said: “Stage is a great fit for the InvestCloud Innovation Center. We both have the same mission – to enable the next generation of technology businesses to bring their ideas to life and get them to market.”

Yaela added: “Many first-, second- and third-generation incubators offer the ‘standard’ benefits – offering either flexible workspace, coaching or market and distribution, or a mixture of these elements. But the InvestCloud Innovation Centers go beyond this. We offer both startups and large corporates alike the opportunity to use our unique digital platform, along with access to our Apps and APIs to provide the building blocks for new capabilities. This greatly reduces risk for both, and ensures success.”

Stage joins several InvestCloud clients already in residence or committed to residences in the Los Angeles Innovation Center, which was announced in March 2017, including Anchorage-based FinTech firm Efficient Tax. In June, InvestCloud announced a second Innovation Center at its European headquarters in Soho, London, which will offer the same innovation model.