L.A. Business Journal
JANUARY 24, 2022
Construction began earlier this month on a $25 million project to reconstruct a major taxiway at Long Beach Airport, according to an announcement from city of Long Beach, which runs the airport.
TechCrunch LA
JANUARY 25, 2022
Starship Technologies , one of the bigger names in the world of autonomous delivery robots — those little caboose-like, boxy delivery vehicles that self-drive around cities — has been on a roll during Covid-19, providing extra (unmanned) horsepower to distribute food and other goods between stores or restaurants and consumers, at a time when consumers were either reluctant or being ordered to stay at home to minimize the spread of the virus.
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Berkonomics
JANUARY 27, 2022
Why is this important advice? Because the first rule for raising money is to do it on good news – right when sales are increasing at an accelerating rate. Or when a major customer signs a significant deal. Or when something happens that makes an investor think this company is about to break out. What if you have no good news to offer? Unfortunately, the longer you wait without significant upward news, the harder it is to get attention.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 28, 2022
Is it possible to be successful in business and not fulfilled? The answer is a resounding yes today, and I’m convinced that it will be even more true tomorrow, as young idealistic entrepreneurs try to adapt to the long-standing business culture if success is only measured in the money you make for yourself and your business. That isn’t very fulfilling to the growing number of entrepreneurs whose vision and satisfaction comes from making the world a better place, and enjoying a leisurely lifestyl
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
JANUARY 24, 2022
Westwood-based Concrete-AI Inc., a UCLA spinout with technology to enable more efficient use of concrete, announced January 13th that it has raised $2 million in a seed financing round led by Boston-based Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
TechCrunch LA
JANUARY 26, 2022
Glossier, the popular beauty brand led by former blogger Emily Weiss, let go of 80 of its corporate employees today, according to an internal email obtained by Modern Retail. The cuts, which amount to around one-third of Glossier’s corporate workforce, will primarily impact the company’s technology team. “[W]e are shifting our technology strategy to leverage external partners for parts of our platform that we’re currently maintaining internally,” Weiss wrote in the email announcing the layoffs t
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Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 22, 2022
Potential startup founders are always looking for ideas to implement, when they should be looking for problems to solve. Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. I’m often approached by people with a “million dollar idea,” but I haven’t seen anyone pay that for one yet. Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and
L.A. Business Journal
JANUARY 24, 2022
Last month, Southern California Edison, the electric utility subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, announced two major moves to reduce reliance on greenhouse gases (GHG).
TechCrunch LA
JANUARY 27, 2022
Gaming has been one of the most popular entertainment categories in the last two years of pandemic living. Now, a gaming startup that’s building a new kind of platform that it thinks will be a — wait for it — game changer in the category is announcing some funding as to ride that wave of attention. PortalOne , which is building an immersive gaming platform that describes itself as hybrid in more ways than one — it mixes games with a game show/talk show format, and it̵
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2022
Long Beach-based satellite launch provider Rocket Lab announced this week that it has been selected by NASA, as one of twelve companies to provide launch services for NASA's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions. Rocket Lab did not say how much its portion of the $300M in launch contracts is worth. Rocket Lab has previously been involved in NASA's Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contracts, first deploying 13 educational satellites to orbit from its Electron la
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 26, 2022
As an advisor to business executives and owners, I often hear discussions about employee accountability , almost always focusing on the negative. Phrases like “holding people accountable” imply negative consequences or punishment, rather than rewards or providing the freedom and coaching to team members to choose their own actions, and pursue what matters most to them.
L.A. Business Journal
JANUARY 24, 2022
Mid-Wilshire-based 8minute Solar Energy on January 19th announced that it closed $400 million in financing from Washington, D.C.-based EIG Global Energy Partners, which specializes in investments in global energy and infrastructure.
L.A. Business Journal
JANUARY 24, 2022
The Long Beach-based tech platform creator iTrustCapital Inc. secured a $125 million Series A equity raise for its Crypto IRA software platform, the company announced on January 19th, with a post-funding valuation exceeding $1.3 billion.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2022
Santa Monica-based InCharge Energy a developer of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, has been acquired by Zurich-based ABB. Financial details of the deal were not announced. ABB said deal gives it an approximately 60% controlling interest in InCharge Energy. InCharge has around 50 employees. InCharge Energy says it provides EV fleet planning services, design and engineering, construction and commissioning, and other related services.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2022
Los Angeles-based NVISIONx, a developer of data risk reduction software, says it has raised $4.6M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Companyon Ventures, and also included Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund, SixThirty Ventures, Gaingels, Gutbrain Ventures, PBJ Capital, and CreativeCo Capital. NVISIONx develops enterprise software, used to find and defensibly purge files that have no business value, to help to reduce data risks.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2022
Los Angeles-based accounting automation software developer BlackLine said on Thursday that it has acquired FourQ Systems, a developer of financial management software. According to BlackLine, it paid $165M at close, plus earnout of over $75M over the next three years subject to certain financial performance milestones. BlackLine said the deal will help it enhance its existing intercompany accounting automation capabilities.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2022
Santa Monica-based video game publisher Activision Blizzard is planning a new, yet-to-be-named survival game, which it calls "Unannounced Survival Game", it announced in looking to recruit people to work on the new project. The announcement linked to a Blizzard job postings page, and included a few pieces of conceptual art. It's unclear when the new title will hit the market.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2022
Alhambra-based Apollo Medical Holdings, a healthcare company focused on "value-based care", said it has acquired Orma Health and Provider Growth Solutions LLC. Orma Health develops an artificial intelligence software platform that helps healthcare providers identify patients for various clinical programs, including remote patient monitoring, mental health support, chronic disease management, and more. financial terms of the deal were not announced.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2022
San Diego-based Shield AI, which is developing artificial intelligence software for automated drone piloting, says it has set up an office in the UAE, led by a former Navy SEAL Vice Admiral. According to the company, the new international office is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and will be led by Bob Harward as Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2022
Matters Lab, with operations in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Taipei, says it has raised $2M in what it calls a "Pre-A" fundraising round. The funding came from Longling Capital, Protocol Labs, Mask Network, Crust network, Infinity Labs, Assembly Partners, and Incuba Alpha. The startup said it is developing an "open-source decentralized Web3 publishing platform" which it says is a "blockchain media experiment".
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2022
Los Angeles-based market research provider and software developer MarketCast said on Wednesday that it has acquired Invoke, a provider of market research focused on video streaming services. Financial details of the buy were not announced. MarketCast said the acquisition will help it grow its entertainment research and content testing for streaming and broadcast content.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2022
Irvine-based Peregrine Connect announced this morning that it has spun off from Neudesic. Peregrine Connect develops several software products associated with Microsoft.NET, including Neuron ESB, Design Studio, Management Suite, and NetSuite PSA Add-In for Microsoft Project. Financial details of the spinoff were not announced.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2022
Los Angeles-based Rx Delivered Now says it has raised over $1M in a pre-seed funding, via a crowdfunding campaign. According to the company, it is working on technology for prescription delivery, offering up deliveries for local pharmacies. The company said the fundraising came from over 900 individual investors. The company said it is currently offering up delivery of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to local communities in Greater Los Angeles.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2022
San Diego-based Koji, which develops an app store for helping creators earn money, said late Tuesday that it has raised $20M in its Series B fundraising. The funding was led by Jump Capital, plus new investors HBSE Ventures, Electric Feel Ventures, Visary Capital, Metaversal, and University Growth Ventures, along with Galaxy Interactive and BITKRAFT, and and a number of angels, including Shivakumar Rajaraman, Michael Eisner, and Francis Ma.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2022
Mojave-based aerospace developer ,a href="[link] reports that it has received a research contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), to help assess feasibility of hypersonic flight tests of a wide range of Air Force experiments and payloads on a frequent and routine basis. Financial details of that contract were not announced by the company.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2022
Los Angeles-based ServiceTitan, which develops software-as-a-service products to help home service and contractors manage their business and service calls, is reportedly looking to file for an IPO. According to reports, the company has "kicked off preparations" for an IPO in early 2022. Reuters cites "people familiar with the matter", and said ServiceTitan was valued at $9.5 billion earlier this year.
socalTECH
JANUARY 25, 2022
Glendale-based Phonexa, which develops marketing automation software, said it has name Mohd Abbas as Vice President of Onboarding and Client Success. Abbas was previously Director of Onboarding and Customer Success at the company, where he has been at since September 2020. Phonexa said that Abbas will oversee its Onboarding and Customer Success teams.
socalTECH
JANUARY 25, 2022
Amazon is planning to open up one of its new, fully automated, cashier-less stores somewhere in the Los Angeles suburbs, according to reports today. USA Today says that Amazon's new "Go" store in LA comes alongside a similar store in Silicon Valley, in Mill Creek. The new stores use machine learning and computer vision detection to see what shoppers have picked up, automatically charging you for those items when you leave the store.
socalTECH
JANUARY 25, 2022
Los Angeles-based micromobility provider Bird is eyeing more expansion in Europe, saying it is expanding its micro-electric vehicle sharing service in the Dutch city of Amersfoort. The company also said it has recently launched in Bordeaux, France and Rome, Italy, and has plans to launch a bike sharing service in Sesto Fiorentino, a town in the metropolitan area of Florence, Italy, among other European expansion efforts.
socalTECH
JANUARY 25, 2022
Corona, California-based a href="[link] Coach, which operates a service which helps homebuyers better understand the difference between different kinds of mortgage loans, has received a strategic investment from private equity investor LLR Partners. Financial details of the investment were not announced. LLR Partners announced the deal alongside an investment in a Baltimore, Maryland company called Sales Boomerang.
socalTECH
JANUARY 24, 2022
Los Angeles-based Subspace, which operates a WebRTC, real time application network, has appointed Davide Petramala as its new Vice President of Sales, the company said today. Petramala was most recently at Avaya, where he was Managing Director of Avaya's public cloud business unit. Subspace said Petramala had joined Avaya through the acquisition of Esna technologines inc.
socalTECH
JANUARY 24, 2022
Carlsbad-based DCN Dx, a developer of rapid diagnostics products, said it has named Mitzi Rettinger as the company's new Chief Revenue Officer. Rettinger was preivously senior director of digital sales and digital transformation for MilliporeSigma, and also had served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Cerilliant Corporation.
socalTECH
JANUARY 24, 2022
Los Angeles-based advertising technology developer Zefr says it has partnered with TikTok, to provide brand safety and brand suitability measurements. Financial details of the partnership were not announced. According to Zefr, it will provide advertisers with independent, video-level verification of their content adjacencies on TikTok, mapped to the Global Alliance of Responsible Media (GARM) brand safety floor and brand suitability categories.
socalTECH
JANUARY 24, 2022
Los Angeles- and Salt Lake City-based Route, which develops shipment tracking software that allows any e-commerce provider provide real-time updates on orders to customers, has raised $200M in a funding. Investors in the funding include Eldridge, Madrona Venture Group, Riot Ventures, FJ Labs and Jaws Capital. The company said it is now worth $1.25 billion, and has raised a total of $291M.
socalTECH
JANUARY 24, 2022
Quality assurance (QA) testers for Santa Monica-based Activision are seeking to form a new union, called the Game Workers Alliance, according to reports, with the effort being driven by QA testers at Activision's Raven Software.
Startup Professionals Musings
JANUARY 23, 2022
Every business needs repeatable processes to grow and thrive, but modern business processes need the right people to make them efficient and productive. In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. The right people make productive processes, not the other way around.
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