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David Carter and Allen Hurff Launch Venture Studio in Los Angeles
[October 21, 2014]

David Carter and Allen Hurff Launch Venture Studio in Los Angeles


LOS ANGELES --(Business Wire)--

David Carter (News - Alert) and Allen Hurff today announced the launch of a venture studio, Zuma Ventures.

Zuma Ventures is focused on identifying early-stage technologies with large market opportunities and advancing them to run as independent companies.

The studio model is an emerging asset class that offers increased potential for augmented capital efficiency, earlier exits and lower capital requirements, while also mitigating much of the initial risk for investors. "The venture capital model is in a state of flux. We're experiencing a shift in the investment landscape where traditional venture capital funds are not maximized for a large part of the market," said David Carter, co-founder and CEO. "Zuma Ventures' model is architected for today's environment. It's a different way of doing venture."

The Zuma Ventures team is comprised of world class technology and business leaders who have deep strategic, technical and operational expertise. By leveraging the breadth and depth of the team's experience and building from the operational, capital and advisory support of the studio, Zuma Ventures' portfolio companies can focus on execution.

"Zuma Ventures is structured to accelerate development and go-to-market," said Allen Hurff, co-founder and CTO, Zuma Ventures. "The Zuma Ventures team has the experience and know-how to drive a startup through the early stages. We are experts in the startup lifecycle."

An area of immediate focus for Zum Ventures is recruiting world-class talent and leadership for its portfolio companies with focus on the greater Los Angeles area. "LA has gained national recognition for its burgeoning technology scene and will become an increasingly important epicenter of innovation," said Richard Wolpert, who joins Zuma Ventures as a Venture Advisor.



About Zuma Ventures

Headquartered in Santa Monica, Zuma is a venture studio that builds early stage technology companies. Zuma Ventures was founded by David Carter and Allen Hurff to usher in a new era building upon the emerging studio venture model. For more information, visit http://www.zumavc.com/.


About David Carter, Co-founder and CEO, Zuma Ventures

David Carter has a proven operational and investing track record. Of the 23 companies Carter has funded to date, he has played an active role in three as the founder/president/CEO and BoD/advisor to 10. Prior to Zuma Ventures, Carter was the former co-founder/partner of Amplify.LA and prior founder/president/CEO of Vertical Technologies [acquired by Zebra (ZBRA)], Thoughtstar [acquired by iManage (IMAN)] and S5 Wireless (News - Alert).

In 2012, Forbes named Carter one of the "12 Entrepreneurs that are Changing LA Forever" as part of Amplify.LA. He is currently a mentor for the USC Steven's Institute. Carter has also served as an EIR for Epic Ventures and chair of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship at Chapman University.

About Allen Hurff, Co-founder and CTO, Zuma Ventures

Allen Hurff is an entrepreneur and the former EVP of Engineering at MySpace (News - Alert). As an early employee at MySpace, Hurff grew his initial 12 person engineering team to more than 240+ employees in 14 offices worldwide. In his role, he oversaw Engineering, Project Management, Quality Assurance, and Creative Services. While at MySpace, Hurff was Chairman of the Board for Google's (News - Alert) OpenSocial. Prior to funding Zuma Ventures, Hurff was one of the original EIRs at Science, where he helped Mike Jones and Peter Pham architect and build their initial subscription commerce platforms. In 2013, Hurff moved to lead several of Science's research initiatives.

About Richard Wolpert, Venture Advisor, Zuma Ventures

Richard Wolpert has been a pioneer in the fields of consumer digital media and entertainment for the last 25 years. Wolpert has held key operational roles at Apple, Adobe, Disney, and RealNetworks. Wolpert is currently a Venture Partner at Accel Partners (News - Alert), a Managing Director at Amplify.LA, and an Executive Advisor at RealNetworks.


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