Sat.Mar 13, 2021 - Fri.Mar 19, 2021

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Squarespace raises $300M at a staggering $10B valuation

TechCrunch LA

Squarespace has raised $300 million in a round of funding that values the company at a staggering $10 billion valuation. New backers include Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Spruce House. Existing backers Accel and General Atlantic also participated. .

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Pledge Gets $3 Million for Video Fundraising Platform

L.A. Business Journal

Online fundraising startup Pledge announced that it had raised $3 million in new seed funding to finance the launch of a new virtual fundraising platform.

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7 Ways to Convince Other People To Take A Risk On You

Startup Professionals Musings

As a member of an angel investment group for years, I’m sometimes surprised to see founders with a good technical business case get rejected for funding, while others seem to have a hidden quality that gives them credibility to be fundable despite some missing elements. Investors often chalk this up to inbred charisma or charm, but I’ve often wondered if could be a learned skill.

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Entrepreneurism is all about personal risk.

Berkonomics

Well, of course it is. So, let’s dig a bit deeper. Sometimes, you can reduce your personal risk by taking in other people’s money in various ways, perhaps starting with a consulting contract with a customer, purchasing a going business where profit or loss is known, or spinning off an existing revenue-generating portion of an existing business. But the risks don’t stop there.

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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

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Swell Energy’s new deal in New York shows how the company plans to spend the $450 million it’s raising

TechCrunch LA

Back in December, Swell Energy said it would be raising $450 million to support the development of distributed power projects in three states. Now, with the announcement of a deal between the venture-backed startup and New York City’s utility, ConEd, industry watchers can get a glimpse of what those projects may look like. The Los Angeles-based company has a new residential solar plus energy storage program for homeowners in Queens that’s going to be rolled out in partnership with Co

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EVgo Partners With Midwest Grocery Store Chain

L.A. Business Journal

Sawtelle-based EVGo will install electric vehicle charging stations at 256 Meijer locations.

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IDrive Releases VPS Hosting Offering

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based IDrive Online Backup, best known for its online cloud backup and storage services, says it has released a new virtual private server (VPS) offering aimed at developers and enterprise. According to the company, its new serviec, IDrive Compute, offers multiple NVMe-powered instances at 20 of its US-based edge computing locations. The company said the hosting starts with shared CPUs at $0.0074/per hour or $5/month, and also includes dedicated CPU options.

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Now approved in LA, Abodu’s backyard homes can now go from contract to completion in as little as 30 days

TechCrunch LA

Abodu , one of a slew of startup companies pitching backyard homes and office spaces to Californians in an effort to help address the state’s housing shortage, has instituted a new “Quickship” program that can take an order from contract to construction and installation in about 30 days. Behind the quick turnaround time is a pre-approval process that was first rolled out in Santa Fe and came to Los Angeles in recent weeks.

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MediaAlpha Brings Innovation to Staid Insurance Industry

L.A. Business Journal

MediaAlpha Inc., which generates customer acquisition leads for insurance carriers through a digital platform, is far from a typical tech startup.

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5 Early Entrepreneur Strengths That Can Limit Growth

Startup Professionals Musings

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. All the skills and instincts you needed to get to this level can actually start working against you, and you can fail to scale. Investors often say that successfully navigating the early stages of a startup requires lots of street smarts, guts, and luck.

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Flowspace Takes $31M

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based startup Flowspace, which is developing fulfillment technology to help e-commerce companies store and ship their products, said this morning that it has raised $31M in a new funding round. The Series B funding was led by BuildGroup. The company said that existing investors, including Canvas Ventures, Industrious Ventures, Moment Ventures, 1984 Ventures, eGateway Capital and Y Combinator also participated.

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New markets emerge for carbon accounting businesses as cities like LA push proposals

TechCrunch LA

Earlier this month, Los Angeles became the latest city to task its various departments with prepping a feasibility study for deploying new software and monitoring technologies to better account for its carbon footprint. LA’s city council initiative, led by Council member Paul Koretz, follows a push from the state legislature to mandate that all businesses operating in California that gross over $1billion annually disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and set science-based targets to redu

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These 4 Programs Fuel SpaceX’s Ambitions

L.A. Business Journal

It has been nearly 20 years since Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded with the relatively humble goal of bringing down the cost of launching small satellites into orbit.

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8 Ways Your Values And Results Make A Trusted Leader

Startup Professionals Musings

As an angel investor in new startups, I’ve long believed that investors invest in people, not ideas. But the magic that makes one entrepreneur stand out over others is hard to quantify – yet we all recognize it when we see it. In my view, it starts with your communication of real personal values , and ends your focus on results. In fact, these same attributes also bound your leadership skills.

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Magnite Raises $400M In Convertible Note Offering

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based advertising technology developer Magnite--formerly known as Rubicon Project--said it raised $400M in a convertible note offering. The company said the 0.25% convertible senior notes due 2026 included the exercise of an option to purchase $50M of additional notes to its initial purchasers. Magnite had originally said it would raise $350M in the convertible note offering.

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Preccelerator Program Virtual Demo Day

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, March 25, 2021 --.

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Super League Acquires Mobcrush Streaming

L.A. Business Journal

The Santa Monica-based amateur esports broadcaster says the merger will help it reach 85 million monthly viewers.

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10 Strategies To Keep Ahead Of Market Changes Today

Startup Professionals Musings

I’m a very logical guy, so I still fondly remember when new solutions and technologies started trends on the basis of their logical strengths. In today’s world, it seems that emotion, not logic, sparks the new trends that become culture, and drives our devotion or disappointment in new products and brands. How does an entrepreneur best deal with that environment?

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NuORDER Signs Black Diamond Equipment

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based B2B e-commerce software developer NuORDER said this week that outdoors product firm Black Diamond Equipment is in a partnership with the company, and will conduct all its wholesale practices through its digital buying platform. Financial arrangements between the two companies were not announced. NuORDER develops a B2B e-commerce platform which includes virtual showrooms, product recommendations, and order placement tools.

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Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing; How organizations benefit from fiber networks’ capabilities

Southern California Edison Blog

Organizations leveraging fiber optic networks have access to Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) capabilities, which essentially divides fiber cable bandwidth into multiple, smaller channels, which increases bandwidth. This technology is extremely useful for enterprises, schools, and government agencies looking to increase data transmission capacity and speeds while getting the most value for their investment. .

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NuOrder Raises $45 Million for Wholesale Ecommerce Platform

L.A. Business Journal

NuOrder Inc., the Century City-based developer of a wholesale ecommerce platform for brands and retailers, announced March 10 that it had raised $45 million in a new round of funding.

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Bankers As Buyers 2021

Steve Reich

I was honored to co-author an article with Jill Homan, President, DeepTarget for this year’s edition. Many thanks to William Mills Agency for including us. You can download a copy here.

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Citadel Defense Lands New Contracts

socalTECH

San Diego-based Citadel Defense says it has signed a number of international contracts, for its counter-drone systems. Details on the exact customers and financial impact of those contracts were not announced. The company said the wins came from Five Eyes (FVEY) customers, the intelligence alliance which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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These 4 Programs Fuel SpaceX’s Ambitions

L.A. Business Journal

It has been nearly 20 years since Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded with the relatively humble goal of bringing down the cost of launching small satellites into orbit.

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Heal Names New CEO

L.A. Business Journal

Sawtelle-based health care technology company Get Heal Inc., doing business as Heal, announced March 3 that co-founder and Chief Executive Nick Desai had stepped down.

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NuOrder Raises $45 Million for Wholesale Ecommerce Platform

L.A. Business Journal

NuOrder Inc., the Century City-based developer of a wholesale ecommerce platform for brands and retailers, announced March 10 that it had raised $45 million in a new round of funding.

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MediaAlpha Brings Innovation to Staid Insurance Industry

L.A. Business Journal

MediaAlpha Inc. is far from a typical tech startup.

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Red Cell Targets Healthcare, Defense Technology With Investment, Incubation

socalTECH

Red Cell Partners, a newly formed investment and incubation company targeting healthcare and defense technology, announced it has launched the firm out of Washington and Los Angeles. The company said it will look to invest in companies and technologies in the areas of health care and defense. The firm was founded by Grant Verstandig, Josh Lobel, and John Tenet.

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Montgomery Summit Posts Sessions Online

socalTECH

The Montgomery Summit, the annual gathering of technology industry luminaries, CEOs, venture and private equity investors, and others, may not have been held in person this year in Santa Monica--however, hearing insights from the conference's speakers might just be more accessible this year than it ever has been. The summit has begun posting recorded sessions from its virtual sessions this year, including ServiceNow's Bill McDermott, sessions on the past and future of gaming with speakers from Z

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Pledge Finds $3M To Help Nonprofit Fundraising

socalTECH

Venice, California-based Pledge, which provides a fundraising platform which links businesses, nonprofits, and individuals to help raise money for nonprofits, has raised $3M in additional seed funding, the company said this week. The funding was led by Maven Ventures, along with Designer Fund, Mantis VC (the Chainsmokers Venture Fund), MS&AD Ventures and angels Randi Zuckerberg and Bill Tai, among others.

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Netflix Measures Carbon Footprint

socalTECH

Online movie streaming service Netflix, which has a significant presence in Los Angeles, has quantified its carbon footprint, using a tool created by UK researchers. According to calculations by the DIMPACT tool--developed by researchers at the University of Bristol--one hour of streaming is equivalent to running a 75W ceiling fan for four hours in North America, not an insignificant amount of energy.

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EVgo Inks Partnership With Grocery Chain Meijer

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based electric vehicle charging network operator EVgo says it has inked a deal with Midwest grocery and supercenter operator Meijer. According to the two, EVgo will install EV charging stations at Meijer's supercenters. Financial deals of that partnership were not announced by the companies. Meijer has more than 250 supercenters across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

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Snap Buys Fit Analytics

socalTECH

Venice, California-based Snap said on Wednesday that it has acquired Fit Analytics, which is developing machine learning technology which helps people figure out what clothing or shoes might fit them best. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Fit Analytics is based in Berlin, and has around 100 employees. Fit Analytics' technology lets users enter their measurements and preferences, and uses that to help match those users to clothing available through online retailers.

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Find My Vax LA Looks To Streamline Vaccine Appointments

socalTECH

Find My Vax LA, a new website created by developer Andrew Friedman, is looking to help streamline vaccine appointments in Los Angeles County, allowing users to find both confirmed and possible available appointments. According to the website, it aggregates multiple vaccine providers sites--including myturn.ca.gov, carbonhealth.com/covid-19-vaccines/los-angeles, riteaid.com, and kaiserpermanente.org--and also tweets out as new appointments become available.

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Viasat Gets Renewal From US Navy

socalTECH

Carlsbad-based satellite wireless equipment and services provider Viasat reported today that it has received a renewal contract from the U.S. Navy, and will continue to offer up managed internet, Wi-Fi, voice, and other services fro personal use networks across Navy facilities worldwide. Financial details of that contract renewal were not announced.

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Crate Modular Names New CEO

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based modular building manufacturer Crate Modular, which is baked by private equity investor WindSail Capital Group, said yesterday that it has named Rich Rozycki as its new CEO and member of its board. Rozycki was previously Senior Vice President at Z Modular, and also served at Champion Commercial Structures, in addition to serving as an attorney representing general contractors and real eastate investors.

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