Berkonomics
AUGUST 26, 2021
How we often handle employment issues today. When we accept the work commitment from a person we hire, we make a pact with the new employee that often stops at agreeing to pay for service rendered and to provide a safe working environment. There should be more than that. . With some people you hire, you know you are just renting their services as they pass through your organization, aimed at a higher calling.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
Manhattan Beach-based Fisker Inc. is lining up capital to start production on a second electric vehicle in late 2023 after unveiling a debt offering of $625 million.
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Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 22, 2021
Every business I know is intimately familiar with outbound marketing, or pushing your message out to customers through email, newspaper, and television advertising. Only a few really understand the process and value of inbound marketing, for pulling customers to your brand. In my experience, it’s the fastest way to create trust and authenticity in this age of the consumer.
Tech.Co
AUGUST 25, 2021
A California judge has ruled that Proposition 22 violates the state's constitution. Under the less-than-a-year-old measure, gig-economy app companies like Uber and DoorDash could classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees as they would otherwise be considered. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch made the ruling, arguing that the law improperly limits the state's ability to protect its workers.
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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.
socalTECH
AUGUST 27, 2021
San Diego-based cloud-based finance software provider Kyriba said this week that it has tied with Openpay Group Ltd, a payments fintech company, to provide new B2B payment options to Kyriba's clients. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Openpay's software is used by B2B management of payments to buyers and suppliers. The two said that the partnership is Openpay's first expansion into the United States.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
Hollywood-based virtual reality gaming studio ForeVR Games Inc. raised $7 million in additional seed financing to grow its studio and slate of offerings.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
From startups to established titans, aerospace companies are expanding their presence in Long Beach.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
What’s keeping executives up at night these days? Cyber attacks and IT breaches.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 27, 2021
Are you one of those people who believe that happiness at work is an oxymoron? If so, maybe it’s time to rethink your perspective, and perhaps start enjoying work for a change. As an advisor to new entrepreneurs and new ventures, I’m seeing a refreshing new focus by Millennials on work and successful new companies with a purpose, and more productivity through happy employees.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 25, 2021
In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. Of course, that’s a personal decision, with many considerations and risks, but in my experience, the answer depends on some key mindset elements you can best assess.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 21, 2021
When you see startups like SpaceX and Pinterest grow from a low valuation to a billion dollars in just a few years, it’s easy to assume that if you just keep doing what you are doing, you can get there as well. Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
Saud Siddiqui and Andrew Berg said they shared an uncommon way of studying for their classes at UC Irvine School of Medicine.
socalTECH
AUGUST 27, 2021
UTA, the talent, entertainment, and sports agency, said this week that it has linked with Rally, a new "social token fan engagement and monetization platform", to help its creators, artists, celebrities, athletes, and to launch their own social tokens. According to UTA, UTA Marketing will UTA Digital Assets division to educate and facilitate talent onboarding onto the Rally platform.
socalTECH
AUGUST 27, 2021
Los Angeles-based Bright said on Thursday that it has raised $15M in a celebrity-packed funding round, for its online, livestreamed classes. The company said that the funding roudn was led by Sound Ventures, RIT Capital, and Regah Ventures, along with Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Globo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Jeff Lawson (Twilio co-founder), Rachel Zoe, Drew and Jonathan Scott, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Amy Schumer, Bethenny Frankel, Ryan Tedder, Shawn Mendes and his manager Andrew
socalTECH
AUGUST 27, 2021
Los Angeles-based Coco, a new startup focused on delivery robots, said this week that it raised $36M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from Sam Altman, Silicon Valley Bank, Founders Fund, Sam Nazarian, Ellen Chen, and Mario Del Pero. The company, led by co-founder and CEO Zach Rash, is developing autonomous delivery robots, and wa sformerly known as Cyan Robotics.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
El Segundo-based space thruster developer Phase Four says it has won a U.S. Space Force contract, as a result of its participation at the SpaceWERX Pitch Day. According to the company, the contract calls for the company to use a US air force developed propellant and its radio-frequency thruster in a demonstration effort. Size of that US Space Force contract was not announced.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
La Jolla-based biopharmaceuticals developer Avidity Biosciences has shuffled its board, saying today that it has named Eric Mosbrooker to its board, with Roderick Wong, M.D. departing. Mosbrooker is the chief operations officer for Cognoa. He also has served as chief commercial officer at Audentes Therapeutics overseeing the gene therapy business unit, in addition to serving at Horizon Pharmaceuticals.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
Orange County-based fintech startup Happy Money, which operates a service to help consumers better manage their money and pay off credit card debt, says it has named Jeff Winner as the company's Interim CEO. The company said its founder, Scott Saunders, will remain Chairman of the company. Winner previously served at such companies at Twitter, Stripe, and also was Chief Technology Officer for Marcus, Goldman Sachs' Consumer Business.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
Los Angeles-based esports organization Immortals said this week that it has named Robert Yip as Head of Player Performance at the organization, in addition to making a number of promotions. Yip returns to Immortals, having previously been there in 2017 working with its League of Legends team. According to Immortals, Yip works with both the LCS and VALORANT teams on their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
Los Angeles-based employee feedback management software developer AllVoices said this week that it has raised $9.6M in its Series A funding round. The funding was led by Silverton Partners, and also included M13 Ventures and Crosscut Ventures. According to the company, the funding will go towards growth of its platform. The company's software allows for anonymous two-way communication, a whistleblower hotline, pulse surveys, and a case management system.
socalTECH
AUGUST 26, 2021
Los Angeles-based mindfulness app developer Headspace is merging with mental health app developer Ginger, in a deal that reportedly values the combined company at around $3 billion. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. Ginger is backed by Blackstone Group. The new company will be led by Ginger CEO Russell Glass, with current Headspace CEO CeCe Morken shifting to become President of the combined company.
socalTECH
AUGUST 25, 2021
Los Angeles-based involve.ai, a startup developing artificial intelligence-based customer retention software, said today that it has raised $16M in its Series A funding round. The funding was led by Sapphire Ventures, and also included Bonfire Ventures, Greycroft, Launch Capital, BDMI plus new investors GTMfund, Fenwick, Gokul Rajaram, Stanford University and Michael Whitmire.
socalTECH
AUGUST 25, 2021
San Diego-based Shield AI, a startup developing AI and self driving technologies for aircraft, has raised $210M in a Series D investment round, according to the company. The funding was led by Disruptive, and also included Point72 Ventures, Breyer Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. Shield AI says it is focused on the defense market. The company said the new funding round will go towards accelerate its plans for growth across both the defense and commercial industries.
socalTECH
AUGUST 25, 2021
Westlake Village-based Energy Vault, which is developing gravity-based, grid-scale energy storage systems, has raised $100M in its Series C funding round, the company announced this morning. The funding was led by Prime Movers Lab, and also included SoftBank Vision Fund, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Helena, and Idealab X plus new investors, including Pickering Energy Partners through its Energy Equity Opportunity Fund, SailingStone Global Energy Transition, A.T.
socalTECH
AUGUST 25, 2021
Long Beach-based Rocket Lab is the region's newest, public company, after completing a deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) this morning. The company--which rang the Nasdaq opening bell this morning--merged with Vector Acquisition Corp., which had been trading as VACQ on the Nasdaq. The company is now trading this morning as RKLB and RKLBW.
socalTECH
AUGUST 24, 2021
Los Angeles-based Greenfly, a developer of marketing software for brand ambassadors, athletes, and sponsors, said on Tuesday that it has raised $8.4M in a strategic growth round. The funding included NBA player Chris Paul, as well as Verance Capital, Higher Ground Labs, DD Venture Capital, SW19 Ventures, LinkinFirm and Allievo Capital plus previous investors Go4it Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, Alpha Edison and Iconica Partners.
socalTECH
AUGUST 24, 2021
Los Angeles-based Infinite Canvas, a startup which is combining esports with game publishing, has raised $2.8M in a funding round, the company disclosed today. The funding was led by Lightshed Venture Partners, and also included Bitkraft Ventures, Emerson Collective, Day One Ventures, and Crossbeam. The startup was founded by Tal Shachar and Sebastian Park.
socalTECH
AUGUST 24, 2021
Gardena-based toy maker Educational Insights said this morning that it has launched a new product, a "coding robot" which is designed to help kids learn how to write their own software. According to the company, its new robot, Artie Max, helps kids learn five coding languages (Blockly, Snap!, JavaScript, Python and C++), learning how to code line-by-line.
socalTECH
AUGUST 24, 2021
Irvine-based GoDocs, a developer of legal document preparation software, said today that it has raised round of investment from private equity investor M33 Growth, and appointed a new CEO. Size of the investment round was not announced. According to the company, it has appointed Steve Butler as CEO of the company. Butler was previously the founder of AI Foundry, a mortgage technology company, and was most recently President of the technology subsidiary of Guaranteed Rate.
socalTECH
AUGUST 24, 2021
A new, Los Angeles-based startup, Tango, said this morning that it has raised $5.7M in a seed funding, for its software for streamlining the process of creating documentation. The company said the round was led by Wing Venture Capital, and also included General Catalyst, GSV Ventures, Outsiders Fund, and Red Sea Ventures. Angel investors include Michael Stoppelman (former Senior Vice President of Engineering at Yelp), Jai Ranganathan (former Head of Data at Uber), Shoaib Makani (CEO of KeepTruck
socalTECH
AUGUST 23, 2021
Los Angeles-based private equity investor OpenGate Capital said that one of its portfolio companies, Kongsberg Precision Cutting Systems, has acquired another company, MultiCam, from private equity investor Rosewood Private Investments. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. MultiCam is a manufacturer and distributor of Computer Numerical Code (CNC) cutting machines.
socalTECH
AUGUST 23, 2021
El Segundo-based Millennium Space Systems, which was acquired by Boeing in 2018, said this morning that it has demonstrated its technology, which allows companies to "deorbit" their satellites in significantly less time than normally required after a satellite's usable life. The company said it demonstrated use of its deployable tape technology in de-orbiting a satellite in only eight months, rather than allowing a satellite to deorbit by itself in what is expected to take at least seven years.
socalTECH
AUGUST 23, 2021
Long Beach-based Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch technology company which is related to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism business, says it will become a publicly traded company through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). According to Virgin Orbit, it will become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq by merging with NextGen Acquisition Corp.
socalTECH
AUGUST 23, 2021
Long beach-based Rocket Lab is expecting to be a public company by Wednesday, thanks to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Vector Acquisition Corporation, the two said this morning. According to the two, Rocket Lab will be renamed Rocket Lab USA, Inc., and will commence trading on the Nasdaq as RKLB and RKLBW on August 25th. The deal is the latest in high flying technology companies in the area--particularly those in the electric vehicle and aerospace industry--going public
socalTECH
AUGUST 23, 2021
Los Angeles-based Ferret, a startup working on artificial inteligence software to help people determine who they can trust, has raised $4M in a seed funding round, according to the company. The company said the funding came from Artesian, plus over 30 angel investors, including Lanyon Advisory and Paul Grinberg, chairman of the Axos Bank. The company said it is developing machine learning algorithms which help users determine who they can trust in real time.
L.A. Business Journal
AUGUST 23, 2021
317 Labs, which does business as Emotive, named Matt Cooley as the company’s new president and chief operating officer.
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