Sat.Feb 10, 2018 - Fri.Feb 16, 2018

article thumbnail

Meet Lumi, the Los Angeles startup that just raised $9 million for a packaging business

TechCrunch LA

Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that’s already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. Read More.

article thumbnail

Why Female Founder Office Hours is So Important

Both Sides of the Table

If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Framework Benchmarks Round 15

TechEmpower

What better day than Valentine's Day to renew one's vow to create high-performance web applications? Respecting the time of your users is a sure way to earn their love and loyalty. And the perfect start is selecting high-performance platforms and frameworks. Results from Round 15 of the Web Framework Benchmarks project are now available! Round 15 includes results from the physical hardware environment at Server Central.

Framework 250
article thumbnail

Bankers: love ’em or hate ’em. They may affect your future.

Berkonomics

Let’s get right down to it. Your banking relationship can be like a great marriage or a bad trip to the DMV. In most cases it is strictly your choice. But the results of that choice will reverberate for what could be years. For a start…. How did you open your first bank account? Did you just walk into a branch, fill out the forms, take your first ten checks from your newly-opened account and leave?

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Meet Lumi, the Los Angeles startup that just raised $9 million for a packaging business

TechCrunch LA

Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that's already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. .

article thumbnail

Pavemint Literally Makes Parking In LA A Musical

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based parking marketplace Pavemint wants to make parking in Los Angeles like a musical--quite literally. In a promotion for the service, which connects people with parking spaces with LA residents needing a space, Pavemint has rolled out a new music video featuring such film and TV stars as HGTV's Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, KTLA's Libert Chan, and Cool Runnings' Rawle D.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Billionaire Peter Thiel Moving to Los Angeles

L.A. Business Journal

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is reportedly moving his residence, as well as his venture capital firm and non-profit, to Los Angeles after expressing frustration with what he sees as Silicon Valley’s overwhelming liberal politics and diminishing opportunities for tech investing.

article thumbnail

The Life This Wearable Saves Might Be Yours

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Have you ever had a couple of drinks, started to feel a mild buzz and wondered if you’re over the legal limit? If you’ve had drinks in a public setting, the answer is likely “Heck yes.”. A Santa Barbara based company, Milo Sensors, is tackling this problem via a wearable that constantly alerts your smartphone of your blood alcohol level.

article thumbnail

Next SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch, Saturday, Should Be Visible Across SoCal

socalTECH

Anyone who someone managed to completely miss the last SpaceX launch in Southern California--the UFO-report-spurring, traffic-stopping launch of a set of satellites in December --might want to get up a little early on Saturday morning, and look to the North and West. SpaceX's launch of a satellite for Spanish satellite firm Hisdesat, as well as a secondary payload containing SpaceX's prototypes for its own Internet communications network, is expected to launch at 6:17 a.m.

article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Networking Mixer at The Room In Santa Monica (Limited Free Drinks)

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 -- Silicon Beach Networking Mixer at The Room In Santa Monica (Limited Free Drinks). Wednesday, February 21st Starting at 6pm! Meet new people and participate in lively discussions with outstanding names in the Silicon Beach community. Make sure to bring your business cards and be ready to make awesome connections with people across all industries.

article thumbnail

California Facing Competition for Video Game Industry

L.A. Business Journal

California is facing increasing competition from states and national governments for its video game industry, according to a report scheduled to be released on Feb. 13 by the Milken Institute.

article thumbnail

6 Pain Points Any Fast-Scaling Startup Needs to Know

Tech.Co

So you’ve finally got your startup up and running. Endless market research, late nights, more than one launch, bottomless coffee pots, and a grueling seed round have led to this. But as you have probably realized at this point in your startup journey, the learning process is constantly changing as your startup reaches new stages. The next stage after a successful seed round is to start proving that your business model can scale.

Startup 99
article thumbnail

Mucker Capital Aims To Raise New Fund, Mucker IV, Worth $55M

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based venture investor Mucker Capital , led by Erik Rannala and William Hsu, has booted up an effort to raise a new fund, Mucker IV, worth $55M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. No details on the new fund have yet been announced by the venture investment firm, which has not yet signed its first limited partner in the new fund, according to the filing.

Capital 140
article thumbnail

LA Fintech Demo Mix Mingle Network

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 -- LA Fintech Demo Mix Mingle Network. Come mix and mingle with other Financial Technologist's Tues February 20th. Learn about the newest and fastest changes going on in financial technology. Finance is undergoing a massive change some call the "financial paradigm". Laws from 1930-1940 (old right?) are getting broken down with technological innovation in finance.

article thumbnail

Online Retailer Hollar Inc. Adds InVia Robots to Its Workforce

L.A. Business Journal

City of Commerce-based Hollar Inc., operators of an online discount store, recently announced that it had deployed 100 “picker robots” to help with automating fulfillment services at its warehouse.

article thumbnail

FDA OKs Banyan Diagnostic, the First Blood Test for Concussions

Xconomy

The FDA has approved the first blood test to help diagnose concussions, clearing a path to the market for a diagnostic that could reduce the use of expensive brain imaging technologies that expose patients to radiation. The approval goes to San Diego diagnostics developer Banyan Biomarkers. The company’s test, called Banyan BTI (short for brain trauma indicator), measures the levels of two proteins that the brain releases into the blood in the hours following a head injury.

San Diego 102
article thumbnail

Billionaire Investor Peter Thiel Packs Up From Silicon Valley, Moves To LA

socalTECH

Peter Thiel , the highly visible, and controversial, billionaire investor and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal, is moving to Los Angeles , according to a report from the WSJ this morning. According to the report, Thiel is moving both his home and personal investment firms to LA, and also is considering resigning from Facebook's board. Thiel bought a house above the Sunset Strip six years ago, the report says, and plans to set up new LA headquarters for Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation.

Report 124
article thumbnail

7 Strategies To Enhance Agility In The Face Of Change

Startup Professionals Musings

Most small businesses have now forgotten the last recession, and are back to “business as usual.” They don’t realize that business as usual is gone forever. With social media and smart phone apps, real product information spreads at astounding speeds. Entrepreneurs that are not listening, not engaging, and not changing are destined to be left behind even in the best of times.

article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Report Feb. 14: Electric Scooter Sharing Startup Bird Raises $15 Million

L.A. Business Journal

Electric scooter sharing startup Bird raises $15 million; Snap to provide analytics to top Snapchat creators; and SpaceX hits two milestones in plan for low-latency satellite broadband.

Snapchat 133
article thumbnail

Startups Peddle Innovative Tools to Fight Tech’s #MeToo Problem

Xconomy

As the last year has shown, the tech industry has a significant problem with sexual harassment and ensuring that women are treated equitably in the workplace. Now, some founders are seeking to use tech tools such as chatbots, artificial intelligence, analytics, and mobile to help clients remedy those deficiencies. One of those founders is Heather Yanak, a Houston-based attorney who recently co-founded B3ond (pronounced “beyond”), a consultancy that works with companies to assess workplace cultur

article thumbnail

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Eyes Connecting Cleveland, Chicago

socalTECH

Playa Vista-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), the Hyperloop technology developer co-founded by Dirk Ahlborn and Bibop Gresta, said on Thursday that it has signed a study deal to look at routes to connect Cleveland and Chicago with its technology. According to HTT, it signed official agreements with the North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and Illinois' Department of Transportation (IDOT) to begin a feasibility study for the region to connect Cleveland and Chicago.

article thumbnail

Fundraising for HealthTech

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, February 22, 2018 --.

100
100
article thumbnail

Electric Scooter Sharing Startup Bird Raises $15 Million

L.A. Business Journal

Electric scooter sharing startup Bird announced on Feb. 14 that it raised a $15 million Series A round.

Startup 165
article thumbnail

The Painfully Poor Record of New Pain Drug Development: BIO Report

Xconomy

With the opioid epidemic showing little sign of letting up, new ways of treating chronic pain are desperately needed. But the development of non-addictive, non-opioid pain drugs lags far behind drug R&D for other diseases ( I wrote a few months ago about why that is ), and a report from BIO released today helps quantify just how little the industry is doing in this area, and how rarely they succeed when companies do try.

Develop 73
article thumbnail

GumGum Ranks NBA Teams On Social Media

socalTECH

Which NBA team is winning, on social media? Los Angeles-based GumGum , the image recognition, computer vision, and advertising technology developer, has rolled out a new service called GumGum Sports Scoreboard , a new tool which helps benchmark and analyze media value generated from NBA team-owned social media accounts. According to GumGum, its tool determined that about 80 percent of total sponsorship value for brand advertising for the NBA comes from Instagram, and that the top teams--at least

article thumbnail

Writing a Resume

SoCal Tech Calendar

Friday, February 16, 2018 --.

Writing 100
article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Report Feb. 13: Leaf Group Raises $23.3 Million in Secondary Offering

L.A. Business Journal

Leaf Group raises $23.3 million in secondary offering; online dollar store Hollar contracts with InVia Robotics; and plumbing monitoring company Phyn raises $10 million.

Report 100
article thumbnail

Execs Talk Hurdles As Immunotherapy Combos, CAR-T Launches Progress

Xconomy

With multiple products on the market and many more coming, it’s easy to think that cancer immunotherapy has arrived. In reality, however, we’ve only just begun to figure out how to coax the immune system into killing cancer. That’s why a mad dash is on to expand its reach, and a panel of experts invested in doing so pondered the major issues that lie ahead.

article thumbnail

Miso Robotics Picks Up $10M More

socalTECH

Pasadena-based Miso Robotics , the robot developer which is developing robots for assisting in commercial kitchens, has raised $10M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Acacia Research Corporation, and also included entertainment and sports hospitality firm Levy, Joseph Essas, the chief technology officer of OpenTable, as well as investors associated with CaliBurger.

article thumbnail

8 Strategies For Regularly Reinventing Your Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market.

article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Report Feb. 12: California Facing Competition for Video Game Industry

L.A. Business Journal

California facing competition for video game industry; Snapchat’s new update triggers revolt by teens; and Tony Goncalves hired as CEO of Chernin Group and Otter Media.

article thumbnail

Europe’s New Data Privacy Rules Nourish U.S. Privacy Tech Sector

Xconomy

Take a look at this blurb for a session about data privacy at the upcoming RSA conference on cybersecurity. It sounds a polite warning: “The importance of privacy is often alluded to in generalized, value-laden terms that, while sincere, don’t necessarily help privacy be taken seriously in the enterprise risk management process.” That situation is changing radically, with the looming May 25 deadline for enforcement of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—a sort of

article thumbnail

Acacia Research Makes Move Into Blockchain, Invests In Bitzumi

socalTECH

Newport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research has made its first move into the blockchain and cryptocurrency market, saying this morning that it has made an investment in New York-based Bitzumi. According to Acacia, it invested $1M in equity in Bitzumi in a joint venture, with the option to invest up to an additional $9M in the company. Bitzumi is developing technology for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, including a next generation decentralized exchange.

Research 124
article thumbnail

7 Strategies For Anticipating Future Customer Trends

Startup Professionals Musings

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. There are always new competitors who are planning their arrival tomorrow. As an angel investor, I routinely toss business plans that focus too much on today, and don’t talk about tomorrow.

article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Report Feb. 16: Task Management Software Workast Raises $1.85 Million

L.A. Business Journal

Task management software Workast raises $1.85 million; Snap CEO Evan Spiegel defends Snapchat redesign; and Air Force moves to buy small rocket launch services.

Software 100
article thumbnail

Buying Shoes? Digital Stylists Use A.I. to Suggest Clothing to Match

Xconomy

The black skirt had multiple personas. The fact that it was made of leather gave it an edgy vibe, but its A-line fit-and-flair cut was more flirty and feminine. “I fell in love with it,” says Michelle Bacharach, co-founder of FindMine. “But as soon as I brought it home, I wondered, ‘how do I wear this?’ ” That question, along with a realization that she found herself asking it repeatedly over a variety of her purchases—from clothing items to housewares—led her to found FindMine, an e