Techstars Seattle has named Marius Ciocirlan, co-founder of the filmmaker and photographer marketplace ShareGrid, as the business accelerator's new managing director.
The move, announced Tuesday, comes after Isaac Kato, Techstars Seattle's previous managing director, stepped down at the end of September after leading the accelerator for three years. Ciocirlan's first day is Oct. 31, according to Sarah Studer, Techstars Seattle's director of platform. Ciocirlan's start lines up with the beginning of the accelerator's new class.
Ciocirlan was also the CEO of Seattle-based ShareGrid. The startup was acquired in January by Brooklyn-based Backstage, which connects creative projects with staff. ShareGrid, meanwhile, allows users to shop, rent and sell camera gear. Ciocirlan also designed the Groupon mobile apps earlier in his career, according to Techstars.
Techstars says more than 130 companies have come through the Seattle program since 2010, and those companies have raised more than $2.5 billion in private capital. Techstars Seattle's graduates include big local names like the remittance company Remitly and the sales technology company Outreach.
Techstars also has a blockchain-focused sister program called the Filecoin Techstars Accelerator, which launched in July 2021. The larger Techstars accelerator and mentorship network has programs around the world, and the network has graduated 19 "unicorns," or companies with a value of at least $1 billion. The larger network has more than 7,100 mentors, according to Techstars.
Kato was president of Seattle-based MightyAI before taking over as managing director at Techstars Seattle. The company provided training data to computer vision models. In addition to his managing director role, Kato also led the Filecoin Techstars Accelerator.
"It was a pleasure and an honor to serve the Techstars Seattle, Filecoin Techstars, and broader Seattle tech community these past few years, and I am looking forward to being an active member in the ecosystem for years to come," Kato wrote in an email to the Business Journal earlier this month. "My family and I moved to the area in 2018, and we love it here."
Kato added at the time he is taking a sabbatical but is "working on something in the investment space" for his next career move.
