TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

It seems Los Angeles is becoming an enterprise software hotspot. LA saw its first big enterprise exit in recent memory with the recent acquisition of Signal Sciences for $775 million, and less than a month later a hometown startup, Britive has raised $5.4 million from LA’s own venture fund, Upfront Ventures and a clutch of security experts. LA gets a big SaaS exit as Fastly nabs the Culver City-based Signal Sciences for $775M.

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Los Angeles Chief Technology Officer Culver City Angel 308

L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Already facing limited options amid pressure from the White House, any deal for the U.S. operations of TikTok may now encounter opposition from the Chinese government.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. According to the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are over 2,200 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Now you have worked for months to get this deal to the closing, anticipating the wire transfers to the shareholders that will come any minute. This could change your lifestyle and give you that much needed pause in your life you have been looking forward to. How it happens today. All the documents were signed in a rolling series of emailed scanned or DocuSign signature pages during the past week or more, with each party signing their own set, never having to be in the same room to sign the sin

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Conference Email Startup Invest 156

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

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Reducing consumption by expanding the notion of the rental economy and giving people access to tools and equipment has been something of a startup holy grail for some time. It’s a model that’s worked famously well for fashion and accessories ( just ask investors in Rent the Runway ), but has had not had the same resonance for white label goods.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Los Angeles-based solar power developer 8minute Solar Energy and Southern California's Clean Power Alliance announced on Thursday that the Clean Power Alliance has signed a 15-year, power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 400 megawatt solar power plant, with 180MW/540MwH energy storage project in Tulare County. According to the two, the Rexford 1 Solar & Storage Center will be the largest solar-plus-storage effort for a community choice aggregator.

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Southern California Los Angeles Custom Customer 133

L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., is reportedly in discussions with the U.S. government on ways to avoid a complete sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations.

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TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Verishop , the Los Angeles online retailer founded by former Snap executive Imran Khan, launched a little over a year ago to change the way people shop online. Now the company is launching a new initiative called “Verified Shops” which looks to change the way that up-and-coming retail brands can sell their wares. . As direct-to-consumer and upstart brands look for new ways to sell, they’re increasingly turning to online partners to grow their businesses.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Los Angeles-based advertising technology and ad exchange operator OpenX announced on Wednesday that it has named Mark Liao as the company's new Chief Financial Offier. Liao was previously at Amobee, where he had served as CFO for over three years. He previously had also served at Turn, iSocket, and Yahoo!, where he had been VP of Business Operations and VP of Operations Finance for the Yahoo!

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

In my experience in large businesses as well as years of advising startups, I see far too much focus on product skills, and too little on people and process skills. In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors.

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L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. conducted two launches last week using its Falcon 9 rockets, including one mission that marked another milestone for the Hawthorne-based aerospace company.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Tuesday, September 15, 2020 -- We believe that diverse ideas from all walks of life can help expand the realm of possibility for the entire world. The Urban Tech Connect // Forward Conference is helping bridge the gap of diverse ideation in technology. You can expect: Fine tune your fundraising and marketing strategies Target angels and VCs to raise money Overcome your fears and insecurities as a founder of color Develop tactics for product growth Tap into Job Opportunities in Tech Learn more ab

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Conference Los Angeles Organization Ideas 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

A new, climate-focused investment fund--the VertueLab Climate Impact Fund --said it launched yesterday afternoon, fueled by a donation from a couple of Los Angeles area philanthropists. Portland-based VertueLab said it launched its $5M, Climate Impact Fund with the first close of $525,000 from the Woka Foundation, ImpactAssets, Vanguard Charitable and a number of individuals.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

If you aren’t willing to take some risk as an entrepreneur, then don’t expect any gain. Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags.

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L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Long Beach-based Rocket Lab USA Inc. made a successful return to flight on Aug. 30, rebounding from a July mission where the company lost its launch vehicle and client payloads.

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Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

The 2020 National Xconomy Awards complimentary two-week, 11-part, on-demand Meet the Finalists daily webcast series starts this Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 11 a.m. ET. Registration is complimentary and includes access to a networking app with already more than 400 life science contacts. The daily series leads up to the Thursday, Sept. 24 free online National Xconomy Awards ceremony – celebrating the best in biotech.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Redlands-based geographical information systems (GIS) giant Esri announced this morning that it has acquired nFrames , a company that develops imagery and lidar 3D surface reconstruction software. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. According to Esri, the addition of nFrames will help its users capture and analyze 3D data from aerial, drone, and ground-based sensors. nFrames is known for SURE, a tool which helps with 3D data creation.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

In business, and in your personal life, the ability to anticipate and overcome criticism is one of the biggest differentiators between leaders, who make things happen, and followers, who may have great ideas but never seem to get things to go their way. In fact, leaders are not remembered for their dreams, aspirations, or intentions – they are remembered because they achieved results.

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Ideas Case Study Mobile Resource 126

L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

While many industries have struggled in the face of Covid-19, companies in the nimble tech sector have adapted quickly and, in many cases, even thrived.

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Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

COVID-19 research efforts are often described as a race between companies, a description that reflects the urgency to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The description is not quite right. A race has one winner and public health officials have said we’ll need multiple vaccines to address the global need. Vaccine developers have progressed to pivotal testing with unprecedented speed, compressing the years-long clinical testing process into months.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Los Angeles-based venture investment firm Greycroft Partners is one of the backers in a $2.25M funding round for Chartable , an online service which provides statistics for podcast downloads. According to Chartable, it raised $2.25M in its seed funding, which was led by Initialized Capital, and also included Naval Ravikant, Greycroft Partners, The Fund, Weekend Fund, Jim Young and Lukas Biewald.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Burbank-based Final Draft --which is owned by software developer Cast & Crew --says it has named Shelly Mellot as President of the company. Final Draft is a developer of screenwriting software. According to Cast& Crew, Mellott has been at Final Draft for 14 years, having joined the company in 2006. Mellot was most recently Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the company.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

San Diego-based ProSciento , a clinical research organization (CRO) which focuses on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), diabetes, obesity, and related metabolic diseases, has raised a round of funding, the company said this week. Size of the funding was not announced. According to ProSciento, the growth financing came from 1315 Capital. The company said it was advised by SVB Leerink in the transaction.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Los Angeles-based Bonfire Ventures has closed its second fund, Bonfire Ventures II , at $100M. According to the firm, the new fund was oversubscribed. The fund is a boost from the firm's last fund, which closed in January of 2017 at $63M. Bonfire says it plans to invest in 25 to 30 companies over a three year investment period, focused on the seed stage of investing.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

San Diego-based sales enablement and marketing software developer Seismic said this morning that it has named Heather Cole as the company Vice President, Market Growth. Cole was previously VP and Research Director at Forrester-SiriusDecisions. According to Seismic, Cole has over 20 years of expertise and leadership in the area, and also had served at Wolters Kluwer, Ricoh, IKON and Pitney Bowes.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Los Angeles-based on-demand, mobile automotive repair service RepairSmith announced this week that it will provide up to $250,000 in free repair service to nonprofits focused on advancing socioeconomic, racial and ethnic equality, in the company's service area. According to the company, Jump Start , its new program, will allow any non-profit which meets its program criteria to apply for up to $10,000 in free services for its passenger and light duty vehicles.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

North Hollywood-based UNest , which operates a mobile app which helps parents set up saving plans for their children's college, has acquired Littlefund , an app and service which helps parents with collecting gifts, and tracking and saving towards a child's goals. According to UNest, the acquisition will help it expand its product offerings. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

San Diego-based wireless hardware maker Inseego has rolled out a new, wireless hotspots for Verizon today, sayin git has launched a second-generation, 5G hotspots for Verizon's 5G Utra Wideband network. According to Inseego, its new Inseego MiFi M2100 5G UW mobile hotspot is now available from Verizon. The company said the new hardware is aimed at use by remote workers, first responders, for AR/VR, telemedecine, gaming, and other applications.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Los Angeles-based fantasy sports site Monkey Knife Fight said this week that it has partnered with the Texas Rangers , on a promotion where the company will donate a minimum of $50,000 to the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation. The promotion involves placing cutouts of their logo, "Furious George" in the left field seating area, and donating $10,000 to the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation each time a ball from either the Rangers or the opposing team hits one of the cutouts.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

BayWa r.e. , a renewable energy developer and distributor with its U.S. office in Irvine, says it has acquired Enable Energy , a solar and energy storage solutions provider. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. BayWa r.e. says it will expand its solar and storage capabilities with the acquisition. Enable Energy provides engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) support, according to BayWa r.e.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Los Angeles- and India-based VueXR , a developer of augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality publishing tools, said it has launched a new platform to help publish content via iOS and Android smartphones. According to the company, its free tool can be used to share XR emojis, send XR wishes, showcase animated XR movie trailers, share XR game trailers, and more.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Los Angeles-based VideoAmp , which measures advertising impact across multiple mediums--including linear TV, OTT, and digital--says it has named Jonathan Steuer as its EVP of TV Strategy and Currency. Steuer was most recently Chief Research Officer at Omnicom Media Group (OMG). The company says Steuer has been in media research and audience-based media planning for nearly two decades.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

A group of Hollywood studios will collect $9.9M from bankrupt "movie sanitizing" service VidAngel , and VidAngel will drop a appeal of a $62.4M copyright infringement suit award, as part of an agreement between VidAngel and the studios. Disney, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and others had sued VidAngel in 2016, in order to stop the company from editing movies and streaming them to its customers.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Costa Mesa-based Strategic Data Center Fund Manager , which acquires data center real estate, says it has secured $200M in a credit facility, from Sunflower Bank. The company said the credit line--initially worth $25M--will allow it to continue acquiring and developing its portfolio of data center real estate assets. Strategic Data Center said the first $25M of the line of credit will go to facilitate the acquisition of a data center property.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

El Segundo-based The List , a startup which operates a matchmaking service for business professionals, is one of four, female-led startups which is part of Beta Boom , a startup accelerator focused on training traditionally overlooked founders, such as women and people of color. According to Beta Boom, The List--founded by Constance Curtis--is part of a group of startups which is near completion of a six month program, the Beta Boom 2020 Women's Startup Academy--which culminates with a competiti

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El Segundo Startup Invest Training 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

San Diego-based Ensysce Biosciences , which is developing opioid pain medication, says it has named Steven R. Martin to its board of directors. Martin is Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of Aramata Pharmaceuticals. Ensysce said the expansion will help move its new opioid drug glasses, TAAP and MPAR, through clinical development. Ensysce says it is developing 2 new classes of opioid pain medication with abuse and overdose protection.

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