The Los Angeles area is known for incubators and accelerators for tech startups such as Idealab, MuckerLab and MediaCamp. Even the Conejo Valley has the Ventura BioCenter, a biotech incubator started by a former Amgen Inc. scientist. Now Make In L.A. can be added to that list. An accelerator for fledgling manufacturing companies, Make In L.A. is funded by NEO Tech, a Chatsworth microelectronic components maker formerly known as Natel Engineering. The company has set aside 20,000 square feet of space for offices, manufacturing space and warehousing. And it is taking advantage of the 3-D printing revolution by ordering three of the printers, as well as a compact computerized numerical controlled milling machine. It also will make available its existing equipment. “Everything would be in one location as much as possible,” said Shaun Arora, director of marketing for NEO Tech and son of company Chief Executive Sudesh Arora. Accelerators focusing on making physical products are not unheard of; Highway 1 and Lemnos Labs are up in San Francisco, but they are not as common in the Los Angeles area. Shaun and his father thought the accelerator could be a way of keeping fledgling manufacturers in the San Fernando Valley. And while the company’s core business of producing electronic subassembly components may not directly benefit, the startups will help keep NEO Tech engineers on top of the latest trends. “We hope that our executives who are thinking to leave and start their own businesses do so under our wing,” said the younger Arora, who is managing the accelerator project. Ideally, NEO Tech hopes to bring in five to 10 early-stage companies with no revenue to start , with the companies staying five or six months before going out on their own. The hope is to eventually increase that to 20 to 30 companies. The fledgling business will not have to make any financial contribution to use the space, but NEO Tech expects to take equity stakes in most of them. “We want to promote them so they are successful and not suck them dry,” Arora said, adding he envisions the startups making medical devices, consumer and industrial goods and energy efficiency meters. Arora is still getting the word out to startups, angel investors, venture capitalists and other organizations that could be collaborators. Erik Steeb is vice president of programs of the L.A. Cleantech Incubator near downtown that works with tech startups. He is also director of it satellite Cal State Northridge satellite. He has talked with Arora about how the programs can work together. “If something else like that comes into the Valley that is excellent,” Steeb said. – Mark R. Madler
