ICM Partners, Manatt and Originate Unite to Incubate Start-Ups

ICM Partners has joined forces with Originate, a software developer, and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a law firm, to launch O Labs, a joint venture that will incubate a few start-ups each year.

Their first project is Versus, a tournament platform for video games that video game publishers can integrate into games such as “Halo” and “League of Legends.” Anyone playing the game can challenge someone else to a one-on-one tournament for money.

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“This is a new way to monetize their games,” O Labs CEO Matthew Pierce told TheWrap. “There are some really fun games we’re hoping to work with.”

Pierce argued O Labs is different from other incubators because its three founders will offer their expertise and services — products more valuable than their capital.

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But there will be capital. Pierce said the companies would pledge high six figures to each company, meaning the incubator will offer low seven figures each year.

In return, O Labs will be a large stakeholder in every company.

“We will be putting the resources of three large trust and service providers into early stage companies with hopes that they can build products and services that address needs of larger enterprise clients,” Pierce said.