L.A. Business Journal
JULY 20, 2020
Santa Monica-based Spot Parking (US) Inc. is repurposing its mapping technology to build a tool that helps business communities stay on top of ever-changing Covid-19 regulations.
TechCrunch LA
JULY 22, 2020
When big platforms have carved out large swaths of the delivery market, the best thing for an upstart company to do is to specialize. For Chowbus , that meant building a food-delivery business that finds restaurants whose cuisines specialize in regional cuisines from Northern and Southern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s a strategy that has now netted the company $33 million in financing led by the Silicon Valley-based investment firm Altos Ventures and New YorkR
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Berkonomics
JULY 23, 2020
How about outside investors? Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Most all experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is the unfortunate truth that half of their investments fail, on average, within the first several years of the investment.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 19, 2020
The reigning theory in business has long been that “alpha” leaders make the best entrepreneurs. These are aggressive, results-driven achievers who assert control, and insist on a hierarchical organizational model. Yet I am seeing more and more success from “beta” startup cultures, like Zappos and Amazon, where the emphasis is on collaboration, curation, and communication.
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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.
L.A. Business Journal
JULY 20, 2020
Century City-based FitOn Inc. is trying to turn the phone into a pocket-sized gym.
TechCrunch LA
JULY 21, 2020
When Upfront Ventures partner Kara Nortman first met Natalie Portman a few years ago to talk about ways their non-profit organizations All Raise and Time’s Up could collaborate, she never realized they’d eventually be partners on a sports franchise. Now the two women are co-founders of Angel City, leading a gaggle of venture capital, sports, and celebrity investors, alongside Angel City co-founder and President Julie Uhrman, in bringing a National Women’s Soccer League team to
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Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 22, 2020
Time is too precious to waste trying to close a deal with the wrong investors at the wrong time. Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup.
L.A. Business Journal
JULY 22, 2020
CIM Group announced a $40 million investment in solar device cleaning company Ecoppia Scientific.
Xconomy
JULY 24, 2020
EQRx launched in January during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference with an audacious pledge to create 10 new drugs in as many years and then sell them at “dramatically” lower prices than existing medicines. But it offered few specifics about how it would achieve those goals. This week, drug licensing deals it made with two publicly traded companies spurred it to say more.
socalTECH
JULY 21, 2020
A new effort-- HelpWith Black Equity , said on Tuesday that it has launched, to help connect people with time and skills to projects advancing racial equity across the globe. The new effort--powered by social impact company Deed, the company founded by former YCombinator President Sam Altman--said the new virtual, skills-based volunteering platform is based on a similar platform, HelpWith COVID, which was created by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help connect people helping in assisting wit
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 20, 2020
Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROMI).
L.A. Business Journal
JULY 21, 2020
Snap Inc., the Santa Monica-based social media company, reported earnings results for the second quarter ended June 30. While the company has beaten revenue expectations, it continues to see an increase in net loss.
Xconomy
JULY 21, 2020
Acadia Pharmaceuticals received the FDA’s OK for pimavanserin (Nuplazid), the first drug approved to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease , in 2016. Since then, the San Diego company has looked to expand its use into other indications, with mixed results. That trend continued Monday when Acadia (NASDAQ: ACAD ) reported it would end its efforts to advance the drug as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) after preliminary data from a Phase 3
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Los Angeles-based CreatorIQ which develops influencer marketing software, has raised $24M in a Series C funding round, the company said on Wednesday. The funding was led by Kayne Partners Fund, a private equity fund managed by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. The funding also included TVC Capital and Unilever Ventures. According to CreatorIQ, it helps power global influencer marketing for brands such as Disney, Salesforce, Sephora, adn Unilever.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 24, 2020
Brand loyalty is still critical for your business growth, but is becoming tougher and tougher to achieve and hold. According to studies , the alternative of acquiring new customers still costs you five to seven times more than retaining existing ones. But customers today are fickle, instantly aware of every new alternative, due to the Internet and social media, and not afraid to change.
L.A. Business Journal
JULY 20, 2020
Century City-based FitOn Inc. is trying to turn the phone into a pocket-sized gym.
L.A. Business Journal
JULY 20, 2020
Santa Monica-based Spot Parking (US) Inc. is adapting to the pandemic by repurposing its mapping technology to build a tool that helps business communities stay on top of ever-changing regulations.
socalTECH
JULY 24, 2020
A new, Santa Monica-based startup, Sensi Ag , which was founded by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Dr. David Agus, founding director of USC's Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, said on Thursday that it has launched to tackle food growing, indoor farming, and other agtech efforts. The new company was split off from Sensei Holdings, the combined leisure and agriculture company run by Ellison on the Hawaiian island of Lana'i.
socalTECH
JULY 23, 2020
Los Angeles-based Sidecar Health , a startup which is developing health insurance technology, says it has raised $20M in a new funding round. The round was led by Cathay Innovation, and included Comcast Ventures, Kauffman Fellows, and Anne Wojcicki (co-founder and CEO of 23andMe). Prior investors GreatPoint Ventures and Morpheus Ventures also participated.
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet , a developer of brand protection software, has raised $5.1M in a funding round. According to the company, the round--a Seed-2 funding--was led by Okapi Capital, and also included The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners and Brad Perry (co-founder of Dealer Socket), along with others.
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Santa Monica-based Mobalytics , a startup developing tools that help videogame players improve their hardcore gaming on such titles as League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Legends of Runeterra, has raised $11.25M in a funding round, the company said on Wednesday. The funding came from Almaz Capital, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, Cabra VC, HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic, and T1 Esports.
socalTECH
JULY 20, 2020
Oxnard-based Mission Produce , a major avocado distributor, says it is deploying a new, high tech system from Hazel Technologies Inc. , to help extend the lifetime of its avocados. According to Mission, it has launched AvoLast by Hazel, using technology which it says keeps avocados at an optimal level of ripeness for three extra days, on average, across its supply chain.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 18, 2020
When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Rather than quitting, there are always alternatives, like pivoting the business model or merging with new partners for support. Either could improve the statistic that half of startups fail within the first five years.
socalTECH
JULY 24, 2020
Hollywood-based Casa Verde Capital , the venture capital firm run by Snoop Dogg, has led a $9.5M investment in Proper a New York startup which says it is developing "evidence-backed" supplements and personalized coaching to help people sleep. Casa Verde acpital typically only invests in cannabis investments; Proper says it is about to embark on a study of CBD to add to its formulations.
socalTECH
JULY 24, 2020
Los Angeles-based Wave.tv , a sports media company focused on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Youtube, and Tiktok, said this week that it raised $32M in its Series A funding round. The funding--which included both equity and debt--was led by CoVenture and GPS Partners, and also included existing investor Golden Ventures and Sweet Capital. The company said the funding will go to expand its portfolio of media brands.
socalTECH
JULY 23, 2020
Santa Monica-based on-demand scooter company Bird has failed to obtain a contract to deploy its scooters in Paris , in what is a high profile loss for Bird. According to Paris, it selected Lime, Tier, and Dott as the scooter companies for the city, which will result in deployment of 15,000 scooters in total through the city. The failure to win a contract with Paris comes despite a big push by Bird to set up shop in the city, where it had planned to hire "thousands" at a new European hub.
socalTECH
JULY 23, 2020
Los Angeles-based NOM , a developer of tools to ensure that advertisement for brands reach the right YouTube, video and social audiences, said on Thursday that it has named Brian Atwood as its CEO. Atwood previously served at Zefr, dataxu, iHeart Radio and AOL, and was a member of the board at the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). NOM says it uses both machine learning and human intervention to help ensure that clients' ads show up in places that reflect a brand's values.
socalTECH
JULY 23, 2020
Irvine-based biopharmaceuticals company Seragon Pharmaceuticals announced on Wednesday that it has launched a new, artificial intelligence platform it says can predict an individuals' aging speed, and assess aspects of physiological funtions. The company said its new GenomeScore platform uses epigenetic and transcriptome analysis for its predictions, using a "neural network-trained algorithm".
socalTECH
JULY 23, 2020
Venice, California-based Vive Organic , an organic "wellness" drink brand, said today that it has raised $13M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Monogram Capital, and also included Cambridge SPG and Powerplant Ventures. Vive's beverage brand focuses on "cold-pressed wellness shots" which it claims boost the immune system. According to Vive Organic, it will use the new funding to expand its digital footprint, for its pipline, and to make it products more accessible to consumers n
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Torrance-based The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation announced on Tuesday that it has received $1.75M as a donation, to fund a multi-site, clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the compound psilocybin in individuals with severe psychological distress associated with a terminal medical illness. Source of the funding was not announced.
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Los Angeles-based Whip Media Group , a developer of software used by the entertainment industry to manage content, said that Shout! Factory , also based in Los Angeles, has selected its platform. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Whip Media says that Shout! is using its products to streamline and monetize their transactional digital sales, and to provide real-time performance data to partners.
socalTECH
JULY 22, 2020
Los Angeles-based Swoop , a new startup which develops software for limousine, party bus, and other transportation providers, has raised $3.2M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Signia Venture Partners, South Park Commons, and angels. The startup, led by CEO and co-founder Amir Ghorbani, said he created the company after he saw, during college, the struggle that small business vehicle owners have while helping with his parents' limousine business.
socalTECH
JULY 21, 2020
Venice, California-based Snap Inc. has reportedly launched an investigation into accusations of racism and sexism in the company, according to a report from the Business Insider. The investigations are allegedly over "whitewashing" within Snap, and disparagement of Block representation in media, according to the report. Snap has not yet announced any information on the alleged investigation.
socalTECH
JULY 21, 2020
Local venture capitalists, investors, and celebrities have launched an effort to bring a new, professional women's soccer team to Los Angeles, as part of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). According to Angel City --although it has yet to have an official name or venue--the group hopes to announce one before the end of the year. The new soccer league is backed by venture capitalist Kara Nortman (Partner at Upfront Ventures), actress Natalie Portman , along with Julie Uhrman (former Founde
socalTECH
JULY 21, 2020
San Diego-based cloud communications provider Voxox says it has rolled out a new, free small business texting and voice marketing product, which it says is aimed at helping small businesses recover from the national crisis. According to the company its new VoxDirect "Free Forever" plan offers up marketing SMS tools--with up to 20 marketing SMS a month; tools to build a SMS marketing list; a free, local toll-free number; audio conferencing; call recording; and other features.
socalTECH
JULY 21, 2020
San Diego-based Taoglas , a developer of RF antennas for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) market, says it has linked with electronics distributor Arrow Electronics. According to Taoglas, the partnership includes a new global distribution agreement focused on AI and IoT products and services. Taoglas said it will use Arrows sales and services organization to expand their customer base, grow ecosystem partnerships, and improve supply chain services.
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