Berkonomics
JUNE 22, 2017
Close. Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. “My job as a (newspaper publisher telephone installer, stockbroker, travel agent, retail store manager) is safe as this economy continues to grow.” Yup. Thought so. We are in a decade of creative destruction that will affect most everybody. And the prime motivators of this massive destruction are the same class of entrepreneurs and innovators that have done it before.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 29, 2017
I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. Upfront VI is our latest core fund and is $400 million to invest in early stage entrepreneurs. This brings our combined funds under management to nearly $2 billion. A huge thank you to all of the Limited Partners who have entrusted us with your capital, time and reputations.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
socalTECH
JUNE 23, 2017
The insurance industry today is one of the last industries to fully jump into adopting technology for offering up their products, says Wayne Slavin , CEO and founder of SURE (www.sureapp.com), and just needs some help in getting there. We chatted with Wayne about how SURE--backed by IA Capital, Menlo Ventures, FF Venture Capital, Nationwide Ventures, Assurant and AmTrust--is applying technology and working with, not against, insurance companies to make buying insurance something you can easily d
TechCrunch LA
JUNE 29, 2017
As the firm looks ahead to its own future, Suster and the firm he's helped grow remain committed to the future of Los Angeles. The two are paired, and these days if an investor is #LongLA (to use the hashtag the firm coined), it looks like limited partners are saying that it pays to be long on Upfront, as well. .
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.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 30, 2017
Actress Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. has reached a $7.35 million settlement in a marketing fraud lawsuit that alleged the company fraudulently labeled home and personal care products as natural, plant-based or chemical-free.
Tech.Co
JUNE 15, 2017
Before Pokémon Go hit smartphones around the world like a ton of bricks, the augmented reality discussion was cemented in a futuristic image of the tech. Think Ironman’s heads up display without the cumbersome helmet and the English voice assistant. People have had high expectations for augmented reality and consumers are waiting for the technology to catch up.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 17, 2017
There are certain topics that even some of the smartest people I talk with who aren’t startup oriented can’t fully grok. One of them is whether profitability matters. It’s common cocktail party chatter to hear people confidently pronounce that some well known startup is sure to blow up because, “How could they succeed when they’re not even profitable!
socalTECH
JUNE 27, 2017
UCLA , a limited partner in venture capital investment fund Binary Capital , has pulled its committment to the venture fund over the weekend, after Managing Director Justin Caldbeck was accused of unwanted advances towards women. UCLA had been one of the venture capital fund's first investors. Caldbeck is accused of unwanted sexual advances on women pitching the fund for investments.
TechCrunch LA
JUNE 29, 2017
As the firm looks ahead to its own future, Suster and the firm he’s helped grow remain committed to the future of Los Angeles. The two are paired and these days if an investor is #LongLA (to use the hashtag the firm coined), it looks like limited partners are saying that it pays to be long on Upfront as well. Read More.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 27, 2017
Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk shut down its operations at the Port of Los Angeles’ largest terminal Tuesday morning after a cyberattack hobbled its computer systems worldwide.
Tech.Co
JUNE 7, 2017
Moving to a physical venue signals exciting times for a technology startup. You, the leader, think of the possibilities for greater collaboration and productivity once the team is all together. Chances are you’ve considered the open-office concept. With no need for walls and cubicles, it seems the ideal space for communication and ideas to flow with ease.
Berkonomics
JUNE 29, 2017
If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more. And yet, in an earlier post, we spoke of the problems that come when taking unstructured investments from friends and family.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 19, 2017
One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management. Of course there is no right answer but it’s a function of how much capital you have raised, your prospects for raising more capital in the future, your growth rate and y
socalTECH
JUNE 29, 2017
To the newly initiated, it might seem that Southern California is not particularly well known for its venture capital funds--however, for those insiders keeping track, Southern California is actually seeing an unprecedented upsurge in local venture capital firms seeking to make funding available to entrepreneurs, particularly at the seed and Series A stage.
Xconomy
JUNE 19, 2017
[ Updated 6/19/17 1:17 pm. See below. ] The San Diego biotech company Synthetic Genomics and supermajor ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) said today they have successfully inserted a gene in a particular strain of algae that more than doubled its oil content without slowing down the algae’s rate of growth. The two companies described the work in a statement as a “breakthrough in algae biofuel research.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 20, 2017
A Chinese tech company announced Tuesday that it would invest more than $179 million to increase its stake in online electronics retailer Newegg Inc. to almost 94 percent from 55.7 percent, according to Bloomberg.
SoCal Tech Calendar
JUNE 24, 2017
Friday, June 30, 2017 -- Expert Dojo Investor Festival. Q2 Investor Festival Where Startups Meet Investors. You have been working hard building the foundation for a great business. Now its time to meet strategic investors who can provide you the investment you need to grow to the next level. Without a doubt we have over 80 of the highest caliber investors attending and can cater for seed, series A and series B funding.
Berkonomics
JUNE 15, 2017
Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 25, 2017
Fresno State students receive supplies for school with help from Renaissance Scholars staff John Hunt, Jr. (left) and Kizzy Lopez (right). We’re all bombarded with social media campaigns asking for us to Tweet, share, like, change our badge, use a hashtag or generally show outrage at a topic du jour. We jump in when we feel compelled or want to support the person who enlisted us.
socalTECH
JUNE 2, 2017
The world of mobile apps has added serious challenges for software developers, who don't just have to deal with crashes�they have to deal with slow performance, strange hangs, multiple carrier networks, and more. To try to make it easier for developers to better understand what is happening in those environments, LA-based Embrace.io (www.embrace.io) has created a software toolkit which integrates with those apps to provide much better visibility into how those apps are performing, what's going w
Berkonomics
JUNE 1, 2017
Hold it! These are confusing terms. When does a budget become obsolete? Do we rely upon constant changes and call it a forecast? So, let’s spend a few moments defining this sometimes-confusing set of terms. A budget should be created each year after a series of negotiations between departmental managers and their superiors all he way yup to the CEO, all in support of the next year’s tactics previously agreed upon (which in turn support the longer-term strategies leading to the next goal beyond)
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 22, 2017
Glassell Park-based boutique studio VR Playhouse has launched an educational program meant to attract students, artists, developers and directors to the virtual reality industry, according to a company statement.
socalTECH
JUNE 6, 2017
A new, startup accelerator, aimed at startups and small-and-medium-sized businesses looking to go global, says it is launching this summer in Los Angeles. The International Business Accelerator said it is running its first program in Los Angeles from June 26th to July 7th, with workshops aimed at aspects of exporting, one-on-one coaching, and a demo day in October.
socalTECH
JUNE 13, 2017
Laguna Hills-based See Jane Go , a startup which operates a ridesharing service driven by, and which serves just women, has raised $2.47M in an angel funding, the company said Tuesday. Name of the investors in the company were not announced. See Jane Go currently offers it service in Orange County and Long Beach, with plans to expand to the rest of Southern California using the funding.
socalTECH
JUNE 30, 2017
Los Angeles-based Headspace , which develops meditation applications for your smartphone or tablet, has raised $36.7M in funding, the company disclosed on Friday. The funding came from Spectrum Equity. The company has now raised $73.7M in total. Headspace is now led by co-founder Rob Pierson, after a widely publicized management shakeup and ousting of the company's CEO.
socalTECH
JUNE 21, 2017
Santa Monica-based BlockFraud , a developer of machine learning and artificial intelligence software used for detecting mobile fraud, has reportedly raised $5M in a Series A funding, the company disclosed on Wednesday. The funding was led by Palisades Venture Capital. BlockFraud is led by CEO Massimo Cristini. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
JUNE 26, 2017
San Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina announced a win in the United Kingdom today, saying that Genomics England has been selected as the primary variant interpretation and reporting software vendor for tumor and matched normal samples characterized as part of the 100,000 Genomes Project. Financial impact of the selection was not announced.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 13, 2017
Factual Inc. announced on Tuesday that it signed a deal to sell its location data to Snap Inc. for use in Snapchat.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 8, 2017
Boring Co. founder Elon Musk acknowledged that his company would likely struggle to gain government approval for a tunnel extending from Los Angeles International Airport to Sherman Oaks, but said the endeavor was still worth a shot.
socalTECH
JUNE 27, 2017
Two drivers on ridesharing service Uber have been accused of two, separate sexual assault incidents in Los Angeles over the last week. One of the two women victims has filed a lawsuit alleging that Uber has a "toxic culture for women inside the company and for women riders on the road." The first incident involved a groping incident on June 9th. The second incident, reported on Monday , said that an Uber driver with a felony record took a passenger to a motel and sexually assaulted her, rather t
socalTECH
JUNE 29, 2017
Elon Musk , the tech billionaire behind SpaceX and Tesla Motors, said on Wednesday that his tunneling project has completed its "first segment of tunnel" in LA. Musk as been discussing an idea to dig tunnels underneath Los Angeles to cut down on traffic jams and commute times. Musk did not provide details on how long or where that first segment of tunnel will lead to; apparently, the digging operations before now had been confined to the SpaceX parking lot.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 27, 2017
L.A. solar developer PermaCity Inc. has completed the world’s most powerful solar rooftop generating project in San Pedro, company and L.A. city officials announced Monday while touring the facility.
socalTECH
JUNE 12, 2017
A new, electric car sharing program was launched by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday, called the BlueLA Electric Car Sharing Program , in an attempt to bring electric car vehicle sharing to low income communities. The new program, which is being run by Blue Solutions , will initially offer up electric vehicles in the Westlake, Pico Union, Koreatown, Echo Park, and Downtown Los Angeles areas of Los Angeles, and specifically is aimed at expanding access to electric vehicles to low-income
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 20, 2017
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has announced new partnerships with South Korean entities as it moves forward on its plans to implement its patented technologies in South Korea.
L.A. Business Journal
JUNE 14, 2017
Mayor Garcetti plans tech jobs for L.A.’s youth, insurance mobile app startup Sure raises $8 million, and computer software company Datum Security acquired by Prevalent.
socalTECH
JUNE 26, 2017
Carlsbad-based ViaSat said this morning that it has won $88.3M in contracts from the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), to provide tactical radio terminals for the U.S. Navy and Air Force. According to ViaSat, it is tripling production of its Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) terminals specifically for those contracts. Those software defined radio (SDR) terminals are used in battlefield communications, providing voice, video and data communications with a line-of-sight,
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
295 
Let's personalize your content