TechCrunch LA

JULY 17, 2020

From a partnership with the Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to make chicken meat replacements using plant material and lab cultured chicken cells to an expansion of its Beyond Fried Chicken pilots to Southern California, KFC is aggressively pushing forward with its experiments around the future of food. In Russia, that means providing 3D Bioprinting with breading and spices to see if the company’s chicken replacements can match the KFC taste, according to a statement from the comp

Southern California 307

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L.A. Business Journal

JULY 13, 2020

The idea of artificial intelligence may conjure up images of robots and mechanical automation, but for businesses, the technology’s applications are much more wide-ranging.

Artificial Inteligence 305

Artificial Inteligence Company Companies Ideas 305

Berkonomics

JULY 2, 2020

At the MIT Center of Collective Intelligence, professors and graduate students are wrestling with an important opportunity – and gaining ground. With new collaborative tools available for use in the cloud, people are no longer isolated in their creative endeavors. Some label this “crowdsourcing,” a term used to describe one form of this new empowerment.

Cloud Computing 177

Cloud Computing Tool IBM IBM 177

socalTECH

JULY 2, 2020

Los Angeles-based, low-cost e-commerce products site Hollar is no more, and will be swallowed up by new owner Five Below , six months after the acquisition of Hollar by Five Below. According to an email to current customers of Hollar--known for its "dollar store" style, grab bag of products--Hollar will "soon become Five Below" and continue to offer up its $1 to $5 products, and occasional products of up to $10.

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Sites Commerce Los Angeles Email 203

Advertiser: Aggregage

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

Company

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Even those things that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, as the market matures, the culture changes, and competitors appear with new solutions.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

Tech.Co

JULY 28, 2020

All the optimism in the world couldn't make an in-person CES 2021 happen, as the world's largest trade show has officially been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The cancelling of tech conferences was one of the first signs that the pandemic was going to be disruptive, and not in a fun, entrepreneurial way. From SXSW in mid-March to E3 in June, many believed these cancellations would help curb the spread of the virus, opening the door to more events in 2021.

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Technical Review Conference Press Help 159

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 15, 2020

Video-sharing platform Triller, which is owned by Century City-based Proxima Media, has completed the acquisition of Halogen Networks.

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Century City Networking Platform Acquisition 299

Berkonomics

JULY 30, 2020

Yes, we’re invincible when young. When we are young and early in our business lives, we feel infallible to the degree that we do not think of what might happen if we die while in office or decide to leave the company for any reason. Such thoughts just do not occur to most of us until the business is substantially far enough along in its growth to have multiple layers of management and enough employees and stakeholders that there is a board of directors and calls for key man insurance and succes

Coach 156

Coach Email Company Companies 156

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2020

Venice, California-based Snapchat has debuted the new meditation features that it developed with Los Angeles-based Headspace this morning, the new meditation-with-friends feature that the company announced at its Partner Summit in June. The new "Snapchat mini" feature lets friends simultaneously access the "Headspace Mini" feature, which are three to four minute meditation exercises.

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Snapchat Tool Venice Los Angeles 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. A question I get from time to time is “Can I ever expect any backing from my bank for a great opportunity?” The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Tech.Co

JULY 29, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies to embrace working from home. And for some, the transition will last much longer than others. Google has announced that its staff will work from home until at least July 2021. The company is the first technology company to publicly commit to keeping its remote working policies in place into next year, in an attempt to give employees more clarity on how long they would be working from home.

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TechCrunch LA

JULY 29, 2020

After raising $15 million in financing from one of technology’s most successful global investment firms, the Los Angeles-based consumer goods rental company Joymode is selling itself to an early-stage retail investment firm out of New York, XRC Labs. Joymode’s founder Joe Fernandez will continue on as an advisor to Joymode as the company moves to pivot its business to focus on retail partnerships.

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L.A. Business Journal

JULY 20, 2020

Santa Monica-based Spot Parking (US) Inc. is repurposing its mapping technology to build a tool that helps business communities stay on top of ever-changing Covid-19 regulations.

Tool 246

Tool Help Santa Monica Technology 246

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

How about outside investors? Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Most all experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is the unfortunate truth that half of their investments fail, on average, within the first several years of the investment.

Company 156

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socalTECH

JULY 30, 2020

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software used by retail brands for optimizing mobile and proximity searches, has raised $10M more in funding, the company said on Thursday. The funding was led by Level Equity, and also included Signia Venture Partners, Draper Nexus, and DFJ Frontier, all prior investors. The company says it has now raised $38.3M in total.

Software Review 157

Software Review Draper Santa Monica Google 157

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2020

The reigning theory in business has long been that “alpha” leaders make the best entrepreneurs. These are aggressive, results-driven achievers who assert control, and insist on a hierarchical organizational model. Yet I am seeing more and more success from “beta” startup cultures, like Zappos and Amazon, where the emphasis is on collaboration, curation, and communication.

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Organization Competition Entrepreneur Startup 149

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 30, 2020

Monday, August 3, 2020 -- Fixing the Top Fundraising Mistakes Startup Entrepreneurs Make. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Scott Fox, CEO of the OC Startup Council, for a discussion of the top mistakes that early stage entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups for funding. Together they will review the challenges that face startup founders, including how to avoid the most common problems in pitch deck slide presentations, developing new products/services, finding first customers, buil

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Entrepreneur Slides Startup Venture Capital 100

TechCrunch LA

JULY 29, 2020

“The doctor’s office is dead.” That’s the way Nick Desai, the co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based startup Heal describes the future of traditional healthcare delivery. While Desai’s bluster may be wishful thinking, the doctor’s office is certainly changing, and that’s thanks in part to companies like Heal, which offer in-home and telemedical consultations — and health insurance providers like Humana that are backing them.

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Services Invest Demand Los Angeles 244

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 6, 2020

Santa Monica-based eTail Pet Inc. is giving small pet stores a longer leash in the digital space.

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Santa Monica Help 235

Berkonomics

JULY 16, 2020

Catching up from past insights. Growing companies usually require more working capital during their periods of rapid growth. In past insights we have calculated the amount of additional capital needed for a business as it grows, and the additional capital required is often surprisingly large. In this insight, we need to speak of the sources of working capital and the implications to the future financial health of the choices made when selecting one financial resource.

Company 156

Company Companies .Net Equity 156

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2020

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software to help multi-location brands manage their reviews, location listings, and much more, says it has rolled out a new product. According to MomentFeed, its new Proximity Search Optimization Dashboard allows multi-location brands to easily monitor and manage how well their local marketing efforts are performing.

Software Review 154

Software Review Santa Monica Technical Review Pricing 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Time is too precious to waste trying to close a deal with the wrong investors at the wrong time. Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup.

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Startup Ideas Equity Invest 148

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 14, 2020

Monday, July 20, 2020 -- How Equity Crowdfunding helps achieve Success. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Bruce Virga to discuss how funding platforms connect everyday investors to growth-focused businesses, helping both parties to achieve success. We will further dive into what entrepreneurs need to know before embarking on a capital raise via equity crowdfunding and, conversely, best investment practices.

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Equity Help Platform Entrepreneur 100

TechCrunch LA

JULY 10, 2020

Replicated , the Los Angeles-based company pitching monitoring and management services for Kubernetes-based applications, has managed to bring on the former head of product of the $2.75 billion-valued programming giant GitLab as its new chief product officer. . Mark Pundsack is joining the company as it moves to scale its business. At GitLab, Pundsack saw the company grow from 70 employees to 1,300 as it scaled its business through its on-premise offerings.

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Product Los Angeles Customer Custom 244

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 6, 2020

Instantaneous livestreaming and multi-angle replay might become a reality next year for music and sports fans at Staples Center and L.A. Live.

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Berkonomics

JULY 9, 2020

The need for real time information. From sports car to aircraft to super tanker, successful operation depends upon the pilot’s understanding and urgent timely use of a dashboard. Real time information is critical to real time decision-making, and increasingly in the modern business world, decisions are made by management without extended meetings or discussion with others.

Metrics 156

Metrics Software Review Technical Review Statistics 156

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2020

JetBlue has become the very first airline to deploy high tech, ultraviolet cleaning robots--developed by an LA startup--in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. JetBlue said on Wednesday that it has begun using Honeywell's UV Cabin System to disinfect cabins in "less than 10 minutes" using UV light. That Honeywell UV Cabin System was developed and licensed from Los Angeles-based Dimer LLC, maker of the "GermFalcon" germicidal lighting systems, back in June.

High Tech 140

High Tech Startup Hollywood Los Angeles 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROMI).

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Customer Custom Marketing Startup 146

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 11, 2020

Friday, July 17, 2020 -- AltaSea, Milken Institute and Santa Monica College: Mobilizing an Ocean Economy Workforce in California. Join AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles for the second of back-to-back webinars focused on the blue economy. Panelists include: Tim McOsker, CEO of AltaSea; Matt Horton, Director of Public Policy for the Milken Institute; Dr.

Santa Monica 100

Santa Monica Mobile Los Angeles Report 100

TechCrunch LA

JULY 17, 2020

It’s not hard to see why Russell Quinn calls 2017 the worst year of his life. That was the year he moved back to the United Kingdom to take care of his mother, and the year in which both his mother and grandmother died within a month of each other. Quinn recalled returning to Los Angeles afterwards and “trying to unpack all of this trauma that had happened.” During that time, he said he was “reading a lot about how other creative people dealt with grief” and realize

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Los Angeles Writing Media Examples 206

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 20, 2020

Century City-based FitOn Inc. is trying to turn the phone into a pocket-sized gym.

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Century City Report 211

Xconomy

JULY 8, 2020

Dave Johnson has known UC San Diego physician and cancer reseacher Thomas Kipps for nearly 20 years. Now Johnson, CEO of San Diego-based cancer drug developer VelosBio, has secured $137 million to accelerate the company’s goal of developing targeted therapies based on an antibody program developed by Kipps that homes in on tumors with a specific genetic signature.

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San Diego Develop Development UCSD 121

socalTECH

JULY 21, 2020

A new effort-- HelpWith Black Equity , said on Tuesday that it has launched, to help connect people with time and skills to projects advancing racial equity across the globe. The new effort--powered by social impact company Deed, the company founded by former YCombinator President Sam Altman--said the new virtual, skills-based volunteering platform is based on a similar platform, HelpWith COVID, which was created by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help connect people helping in assisting wit

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Equity Platform Help Technology 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( 200 on Wikipedia ), or another dating site/app ( over 1500 in the USA ). Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare.

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Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 10, 2020

Thursday, July 16, 2020 -- AltaSea and LAEDC: Latest Cutting-Edge Tech Companies Are All Wet. Join AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles for the first of back-to-back webinars focused on the blue economy. The July 16 webinar will be moderated by multi-Emmy award-winning journalist, Val Zavala. Panelists will include: Tim McOsker, CEO of AltaSea; Bill Allen, CEO of LAEDC; Rusty Jehangir, Founder and CEO of Blue Robotics; Kelly Stromberg, Co-Founder and COO of Holdfast Aquaculture.

Company 100

Company Companies Los Angeles Angel 100

TechCrunch LA

JULY 22, 2020

When big platforms have carved out large swaths of the delivery market, the best thing for an upstart company to do is to specialize. For Chowbus , that meant building a food-delivery business that finds restaurants whose cuisines specialize in regional cuisines from Northern and Southern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s a strategy that has now netted the company $33 million in financing led by the Silicon Valley-based investment firm Altos Ventures and New YorkR

Services 187

Services Los Angeles .Net Mobile 187