Frost Data Capital and GE launch new incubator

The incubator will create companies in-house specifically for the industrial Internet

These days, there’s an accelerator or incubator for just about everything. Today, a new incubator is hitting the streets: Frost I³.

A joint venture between Frost Data Capital and GE, Frost I³ will develop and scale up to 30 startups over the course of three years. The idea is to address specific areas of the “industrial Internet,” such as intelligent machines, predictive and contextual analytics, and new workforce mobility tools.

Managing Partner and President at Frost Data Capital, John Vigouroux, tells me that Frost I³ won’t be like other Internet incubators and accelerators that you typically find in and around Silicon Valley. Frost and GE aren’t looking for applicants—no entrepreneurs or teams or ideas. The whole point, he says, is to create companies in-house that will address and fill specific gaps in the industry.

“We are creating the ideas along with GE and our shared customers,” said Vigouroux. “Industrial analytics and healthcare analytics will be the initial focus.”

But as additional GE business units are engaged, the initial focus will broaden, Vigouroux added.

The CEOs, CTOs, and engineering teams will all be recruited for the projects.

The startups that Frost I³ creates will have access to GE’s global network of 5,000 research scientists and 8,000 software professionals in industries ranging from healthcare and transportation to energy and finance.

“Our partners will no longer seek out companies to fill strategic gaps or struggle with build vs buy decisions. Instead, they can immediately track progress on a concept they have been involved in from the start, build confidence in a proven management team, and then make an acquisition at the right time, with the right technology that will fit their environment,” said Frost Data Capital founder Stuart Frost, in a statement. “What we are looking at, perhaps for the first time, is a scalable model of predictable, repeatable innovation.” 

Based out of Southern California, Frost Data Capital is something of a combined venture capital firm and incubator, though it isn’t strictly one or the other. Frost is entirely dedicated to the companies that it creates and never funds outside deals, nor does it deal with the slushpile of business plan pitches.

“We go far beyond the traditional boot-camp approach of most incubators and, critically, we are the founders of the incubated companies in our portfolio,” said Vigouroux. “Companies are created, founded, and funded only after a rigorous validation process that includes our strategic partners and other important market participants. The companies are funded from seed stage through acquisition/exit alongside our partners and other investors.”

Companies in Frost Data’s portfolio include cloud database management service GenieDB, remote analytics and monitoring platform for health scientists, Jointly Health, and more.