In from the suburbs

The Matrix Kendall Square Project is spearheaded by partners David Skok and Antonio Rodriguez.

The new space will serve as home base for a series of events for entrepreneurs that has been dubbed Startup University.

Matrix isn’t vacating its Waltham offices atop Mount Money, but the Cambridge foray could lead to a wholesale move in coming years.

Rodriguez and Tim Barrows, another Matrix investor, both live in Cambridge.

The 3,000-square-foot Kendall Square space will have offices for the four partners who normally work in Waltham, but there isn’t room for the rest of Matrix’s support staff.

There will be a “living room’’ for casual conversations; two conference rooms; desks for two or three start-ups Matrix is supplying with seed capital; and event space for 40 to 50 people.

The first start-up to use the space will probably be GrabCad, Skok said. It’s an Estonian company that has been participating in TechStars Boston.

Skok said Kendall Square “is the area that’s the real hub of things that are going on with the community,’’ though he believes companies will still be started and built out in the suburbs.

He and Rodriguez hope their free Startup University events will help newer entrepreneurs.

“We’re thinking about topics like learning to hire, search-engine marketing and search-engine optimization, managing engineers, and customer acquisition,’’ he said.

Signed up as adjunct lecturers are entrepreneurs like LogMeIn’s chief executive, Michael Simon; Performable’s CEO, David Cancel; Constant Contact’s CEO, Gail Goodman; CloudSwitch chief executive John McEleney; and HubSpot’s chief technology officer, Dharmesh Shah.

One Matrix-backed entrepreneur said he views Startup University and the new space in Cambridge as a significant makeover for Matrix, which has a reputation as a straight-laced, supremely logical investor in communications and IT companies. “I think they recognize that they have to change the persona of the firm and the center of gravity,’’ this entrepreneur said.

Some say venture capitalists are herd animals, and that Matrix Kendall Square is part of a trend among suburban VC firms to cozy up with city-dwelling — that is, younger — entrepreneurs.