Big Funding Round, Big Names For BetaWorks

BetaWorks, the New York tech incubator that *hates* being called an incubator (they prefer "business acceleration platform") has raised a pile of money -- we're told it's something in the $10 to $15 million range -- from an assortment of high-profile tech and media angels.

Led by Time Warner vets John Borthwick (right) and Andy Weissman, BetaWorks had previously raised about $2 million last year; they've spent a good chunk of that on 15 investments and a small team of in-house tech folks. Best deal to date: Summize, which sold to Twitter this year for about $15 million.

The new cash will allow them to make slightly bigger investments -- John says average deal size will jump from $75,000 to $150,000.

Luminaries investing in BetaWorks include:

Jean-Marie Messier, last seen trying to transform Vivendi from a water utility into a media company during the last bubble.

Bob Pittman's Pilot Group*

Henry "Hank" Vigil, Steve Ballmer's chief dealmaker at Microsoft

Former Dow Jones publisher Gordon Crovitz*

Taavet Hinrikus, an early and current Skype employee

Paul Cappuccio, general counsel at Time Warner

Earlier investors include Huffpo's Ken Lerer, Google's Tim Armstrong, and Ron Conway.

* Both Pilot and Gordon are investors in SAI parent Silicon Alley Media.

See Also: Borthwick, BetaWorks And The Incubator Holy Grail
Twitter Buys Summize, And Maybe A Business Model