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September 25, 2014

Hartford law firm gets into the startup game

LoopNet 100 Pearl St., where Cohn Birnbaum & Shea is based.

Law firm Cohn Birnbaum & Shea said it has launched its own business accelerator that will offer guidance and legal services to startup companies in exchange for equity stakes.

Based at the firm’s Pearl Street offices, the accelerator — called Accelerated Ventures LLC — is looking for a dozen startups to work with.

Acc-Ven is a partnership between the law firm and Joel M. Hartstone, an entrepreneur and lawyer who leads East Hartford’s StoneGate Capital Group. StoneGate offers business mediation and operations consulting to lenders, investors and others.

Hartstone filed registration papers with the Secretary of the State’s office in August for both Acc-Ven and its principal, AV Fund Management, records show.

The new venture is aimed at companies that aren’t yet ready to attract investors.

“Because Acc-Ven doesn’t charge cash fees, we’re completely at risk for guiding program participants,” Hartstone said in a statement. “While no one can guarantee the success of new companies, we’re betting Acc-Ven’s success entirely on their success.”

Accelerators have become more popular among law firms in recent years. Some even offer discounted office space and invest partners’ capital in startups they advise.

International firms Foley & Lardner and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati have each launched their own incubator-accelerators in Chicago and San Francisco, respectively, according to the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal.

Both firms invest in some of the companies through venture funds, the ABA reported.

Acc-Ven said it may be open to limited cash investments on a case by case basis, but said that isn't its business model.

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