Mark Patricof

MESA+, a four-year old venture arm of the investment bank and strategic advisory firm MESA Global, is launching a $10 million venture fund today for seed stage and Series A investments. The fund will be allocated towards companies in consumer Internet, digital content, advertising, marketing, and commerce and focus on investments in New York, from the Mesa+'s Union Square headquarters.

"Since its inception, MESA has worked hard to connect startups with our network in the media and entertainment world," the company said in a press release, noting that, "we are a startup ourselves." The firm has ballooned from four people to more than 25, including its three partners: Jacob Brody, Andrew Montgomery, and Mark Patricof.

Mr. Brody, a fixture in the city's startup scene, is a mentor at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable accelerator and on the advisory board of Livelyhoods, a non-profit that empowers impoverished children in Africa by training them to become direct sales reps. Mr. Montgomery is also a VP at MESA Global, where he's worked on financing and M&A deals with clients like Blue Man Group, Interpublic Group, and Fantasy Sports Ventures.

Mr. Patricof, son of long-time venture capitalist (and one-time runway model!) Alan Patricof, is also a managing partner at MESA Global. He cofounded <kpe>, leading clients like CBS, Sony, and Viacom toward the transition to digital. He started his career at Creative Artists Agency and was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

In a statement about the fund, Mr. Patricof noted the firm's crossover appeal between tech, media, and entertainment: "These industries have increasingly become intertwined; the complex relationship between these industries has made it difficult for many entrepreneurs to build their businesses."

In the press release, MESA+ also offered some details about the fund as well as its frequent co-investors:

MESA+ expects to invest in 50 to 70 companies alongside high quality co-investment partners. We are off to a great start having already invested in 7 companies in New York and California alongside funds including Lerer Ventures, Google Ventures, IA Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, True Ventures, Floodgate and Betaworks. We are able to invest globally, however our focus will be on the New York market where MESA has a hometown footprint. MESA+ will not lead investment rounds or take board seats, but we will be a trusted partner to our portfolio companies by providing recruiting assistance, strategic advice, PR and business development opportunities.

MESA+ has an impressive group of limited partners that fit well with its investment focus on digital media, including Conde Nast, Saban Capital, and Sony Music. The fund's LP advisory committee includes Andrew Siegel, senior VP of strategy and corporate development at Advance Publications, parent company to both Conde Nast and Reddit, as well as Jonathan Miller, News Corp's former chief digital officer. For its startup bona fides, that list of advisors also includes Dan Maccarone, cofounder and CEO at Charming Robot and cofounder at Hard Candy Shell, which designed the original UX for Hulu, Foursquare, Rent the Runway and Jetsetter.

New Work City.

HIP LIKE HP. New Work City just signed its newest sponsor: HP. "This is really great for us, as their support will play a huge part in helping us make ongoing improvements to the space and community. To consummate the relationship, we're hosting an event on December 5th. I'll have more details next week. In the meantime, come play with some new gadgets and help us help HP make printing suck less!"

FITOCRACY PUSH. "Fitness is something that people tend to take very seriously so it should be no surprise that when they embark on the quest to better bodies, they want their chosen tools to be the best they can be. Since the beginning, one of the most often requested features for Fitocracy has been a way to visualize your workout progress over time. And so it is with incredible excitement that we announce the official release of Graphs on Fitocracy."THE BIGGEST SALE IN INTERNET HISTORY. This is how you know Fab.com has made it. "Get Dealy has launched as 'Fab.com for Digital Goods.' We're really excited about launching our new platform, a daily flash sales site for digital goods, such as software, resources for designers and developers, courses and tutorials."

HATCHED. "Just wanted to give you the heads up that Hatch is officially out their private beta as of this past Tuesday, designed by Hard Candy Shell to make organizing activity plans fun, easy and seamless.

NOW EMERGING FROM BETA. "EZBZ is a New York-based startup that goes beyond  reviews by connecting area consumers with top-rated local business products and services.  EZBZ is built on a real-time open bidding platform driven by text message queries to compensate for the relatively poor Web infrastructure that typical local small businesses have, providing a mobile functionality that’s also convenient for consumers."

HIRINGS. Signpost needs a chief of staff. "As the 'Chief of Staff' you’ll be doing a combination of accounting, HR, stocking the fridge, and anything else we need help on." Wildfire Interactive seeks a senior account executive and Thrillist needs a web apps developer (work with the talented Michael Smith!) while meanwhile Rent the Runway is hiring for a software engineer, Linux engineer. SNAP Interactive needs a MySQL dev.

HEALTH TECH. Startup Health partners with New York eHealth Collaborative, "a public-private partnership that serves as a focal point for health care stakeholders to build consensus on state health IT policy priorities. We established the StartUp Health Pavilion at the NYeC Digital Health Conference to showcase some of the leading early stage health and wellness companies in the greater NY area at the event.  We have one spot left so if you are interested in this great opportunity to show off your offering to more than 500 HIT stakeholders and decision makers across the region, be sure to reach out to us!"

(foursquare.com)

Foursquare will soon say goodbye to its longtime office mates at 36 Cooper Square, Betabeat has learned. The startup, which raised a $50 million round of funding over the summer, has vastly outgrown the 7,600 sq. ft. at the hip East Village digs it shares with Curbed and web design shop Hard Candy Shell, and is negotiating a sublease for the top two floors at 568 Broadway.

Nothing has been signed, but the deal has been in the works for more than two weeks and appears set to close soon. "We're in the process of drafting the lease with Foursquare," said Richard Pierpoint, real estate manager for Scholastic, which leases the space from the building's owner.

It's not easy to find office space to accommodate the needs of a fast-growing startup. Most young Silicon Alley companies are in fierce competition for talent, so location matters--startups want the usual proximity to transportation and reasonable prices, but also require a hip neighborhood and room to rapidly expand. "There's very little in that size range, and creative loft-like space is hard to come by in general," said one broker who works on similar deals.

Among startups, it would seem that 568 Broadway, a sunny elevator building at the confluence of eight subway lines, is in high demand. Another local tech rockstar, ZocDoc, which recently raised $75 million from Goldman Sachs and Facebook investor Digital Sky Technologies, occupies the teal-painted ninth floor of the building.

Foursquare was also up against another buzzy, fast-growing startup: Tumblr, which raised $85 million in September and was also interested in the space, said multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations, although the space ultimately went to Foursquare. "They’re not pursuing 568 Broadway now or in the future," said a source familiar with the deal, of Tumblr. "Obviously, they’re in the market for a lot of space."

The move also marks the end of an era at 36 Cooper, affectionately known as 36 Coop and considered a Silicon Alley fixture. The three-way arrangement between its three techie tenants was an early experiment in the coworking movement, in which shared offices such as General Assembly in Flatiron, WeWork Labs in Soho and Midtown, and Skillshare and Svpply in Soho, have become an increasingly popular office option for startups.

Foursquare, founded in 2009, has more than 70 employees in New York and is currently hiring for at least another 18. The company also recently opened a San Francisco office. The two floors at 568 Broadway will give the company a combined 56,000 sq. ft. The startup declined to comment.

Bonus trivia: 568 Broadway also houses Keith McNally's off-site restaurant operations for Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller's, Morandi and Minetta Tavern. There is also a Bliss Spa in the building as well as Dennis Leary's production company, Apostle.

It's like Chat Roulette, but replace the offensive male gentalia with lovable baby animals.

Cute Roulette

Creator Courtney Lewis dishes, "We've done several ethnographic research studies on media consumption in last couple years and everyone old and young, male and female admitted that they click on animal videos.  Since it had nothing to do with the client projects we were working on, we decided to take the insight and run with it. We launched it even though it's held together with glue and duct tape because it was a tough Friday with too many deadlines. And hey, it's the Internet. You launch now and fix while it's live."