How a Canter's Deli Scion Built a Restaurant Tech Revolution — and Stoked a Revolt

Oren Peleg
Oren Peleg is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles. He covers design, media, the restaurant industry, and local politics. He can be found on Instagram @o_peleg and Twitter @orenpeleg.
Alex Canter
Photo by Dan Tuffs

Alex Canter understood his role from the beginning. As a fourth-generation restaurateur and heir to beloved Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, he was set to continue the family legacy. But running a restaurant in 2021 is very different than running one in 1981, let alone 1931.


As Canter saw it, his job was "bringing in new technology and proving to my family that change is good," he says with a laugh.

Within a few short years, Canter has undoubtedly succeeded, building a delivery platform, Ordermark, that not only brought the family business into the digital age, but helped thousands of other restaurants as well.

But as Ordermark expands into the worlds of 'virtual brands' and ghost kitchens, some are asking whether the company is creating more problems for mom-and-pop businesses than it's solving, and if the ultimate goal is to support restaurants or compete with them.

Bringing the Deli to the Web

After a few years of working his way up from a dishwasher to managing the restaurant, Alex Canter set about bringing his family's 90-year-old deli online. He introduced Postmates, GrubHub and other delivery apps into Canter's service, and business for the kitchen picked up.

Alex Canter is the heir to L.A.'s beloved Canter's Deli and founder of Ordermark.

Photo by Dan Tuffs

"Fourteen online ordering platforms later, delivery accounted for over 30% of our revenue," Canter says. A substantial chunk, no doubt, and surprising for all, "but the staff in the back hated me because we had nine tablets, two laptops and a fax machine" to manage all the incoming orders.

"It was a very complicated process and very disruptive to our operations," he continues, adding that each third-party platform used its own device, and menus had to be manually updated across each site individually.

After talking with a few other restaurants around L.A., Canter came up with a solution: consolidate.

"Most brick-and-mortar restaurants are not set up for delivery," he says. From the in-and-out of delivery drivers waiting on their pick-ups, to the constant if disorganized stream of orders coming into the kitchen, "I really wanted to take a step back and reimagine the entire online ordering experience from scratch at a restaurant."

The result was Ordermark, which Canter co-founded in 2017.

The idea was to combine the various delivery apps onto a single OrderMark tablet. The device would allow restaurant kitchens to view incoming orders from Postmates, DoorDash, UberEats and others on one screen, and easily update menus from the same spot, too.

"When we started, we had no relationship with any of these companies," Canter says of the 50 or so online ordering platforms and point-of-sales companies that integrate with Ordermark. "And none of these companies wanted to be hardware businesses, anyway."

It was easy to see how Ordermark's system would be a win-win for restaurants and delivery platforms alike: driver wait-times were reduced along with order errors, while revenues increased.

And Ordermark seemed to have entered the online delivery market at just the right time. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, the total U.S. market for food delivery grew from $260 billion in 2017 (the year Ordermark launched), to $356 billion in 2019. Any company that could capture even a fraction of the market was poised for a windfall.

Then the pandemic hit.

Within a few weeks, the company went from adding about 300 new restaurants a month to their platform, to over 1,000 a month in March and April 2020. By then, 92% of restaurants' orders were coming from off-premise sales.

This explosion in growth, fueled by a once-in-a-century scenario, helped push Ordermark past $1 billion in sales in 2020 and sent a nascent service Ordermark had begun experimenting with into hyperdrive.

From Ordering and Delivery to Virtual Brands and Ghost Kitchens

Canter and his team launched Nextbite in late 2019, envisioning a platform that partners restaurants with virtual brands designed by Ordermark.

"The restaurant industry is in the midst of the ecommerce phase where restaurants must get creative by embracing technology and new sources of revenue generation to reach customers outside of their four walls," Canter said in an October statement after securing a $120 million Series C round of funding.

Through Nextbite, a restaurant essentially does gig work using their kitchen and staff to fulfill orders for virtual brands.

The brands are designed from scratch, Canter explains, by "looking at a lot of data of what's performing well in which markets and what time of day, based on what we know is going to deliver well, and based on what we know will be non-disruptive to restaurants' existing business."

So, say you're a Thai restaurant with a kitchen operating at only 75% capacity on weeknights, Nextbite might partner you with HotBox by Wiz Khalifa to pump out burgers and BBQ tofu in addition to your Thai menu. If all goes well, you have a new revenue stream—you keep 55% from each order you've filled, and the remaining 45% gets split between the delivery apps and Ordermark.

"A big chunk of that [45%] goes to the third-party delivery services," says Canter, "and we use some of our take to invest in the marketing of that brand so that we can continue to drive more gross sales for the restaurant."

But all this begs the question: is Ordermark solving a problem that Ordermark itself helped to create?

The restaurant industry was already in a fragile state before the pandemic. Food delivery apps and point-of-sales platforms have been devouring the razor-thin margins of small operators for the last few years now. Is Nextbite creating a cannibalistic cycle by propping up smaller restaurants' while simultaneously ensuring that their margins continue to shrink?

"It's an inevitability that dining occasions are moving off-premise," begins Zach Goldstein, founder and CEO of Thanx, a customer engagement platform.

Faced with that inevitability, many restaurants are rushing to adopt various platforms and technologies to capture whatever revenue they can from outside sales. The problem, Goldstein continues, "is that's all well and good in the medium term. But in the long term, if you have incubated a new class of restaurant [with virtual brands] that has taken on a disproportionate share of dining occasions, then we will see far fewer traditional restaurants able to survive."

Restaurants should be creating their own digital channels instead, Goldstein states.

"Every restaurant should be focused on, 'how am I building my first-party digital channels under a brand I own so that I gain the brand equity?'," he says. And the technology is there for even the smallest and least savvy players to do it, Goldstein adds. "The only proven model, in my opinion, for long-term sustainability as a restaurant is to own your own digital channels, to own your own brand or brands, and to own your customers directly so that you can talk to them."

It's a notion Canter pushes back on. He says Nextbite is plugging businesses into a national virtual restaurant marketing system.

"A mom-and-pop restaurant can't just go partner with George Lopez," he says. With the resources a small business has, "they're not going to be able to even get in the door with Wiz Khalifa to say, 'hey, let's collaborate and co-market a brand together'. But we're doing that for them, and turning it on for them, and driving all the demand for them, and basically paying them to make the food for this concept."

Investors seem to agree. SoftBank Investment Advisers, which led Ordermark's Series C raise, said in a statement that their firm was "excited to support [the company's] mission to help independent restaurants optimize online ordering and generate incremental revenue from under-utilized kitchens."

$120 million is a sizable sum of cash if neither Ordermark nor their big-name investors are looking for anything more than assist struggling mom-and-pops.

Canter's Deli pastrami sandwichCanter's famous pastrami sandwich.Photo by Dan Tuffs

Still, Nextbite has already helped save certain restaurants during the pandemic. "It's given me a way to hire some of my staff back, get a stream of revenue, and leverage the fact that I have a kitchen and a health permit and all that, when previously I wasn't able to make any money," says Mitch Edelson, owner and operator of Jewel's Catch One in Los Angeles.

Since the city of Los Angeles mandates an establishment with a liquor license to also serve food, Nextbite has helped Catch One turn the burden of a nightclub's kitchen into a profitable proposition. Yet, Edelson is aware that the platform is something of a double-edged sword for operators. He says that bars, music venues, and restaurants should adopt the technology "before their neighbors do and they kind of lose out on opportunity."

Xandre Borghetti, co-owner and operator of Nossa LA, is even more skeptical. As he sees it, Nextbite definitely could be a band-aid for a one, two, six-month period, he says, "but at some point, it's not going to last. And then you're gonna be back to where you were, probably worse," because you've been distracted from your core business by an outside concept.

"You want to be investing in the people that you have hired to get better at your own business," Borghetti notes. "This it's kind of a distraction, and not really worth it. Especially during this time when it's pretty difficult to hire people."

It's a sentiment Jesse Gomez of restaurants YXTA and Mercado echoes. As the owner/operator of two concepts and multiple locations, "why would I want to invest energy into a concept that isn't my own?" Gomez asks. "And what if one of those outside concepts should take off?"

So, does integrating a Nextbite brand into a kitchen distract small owner/operators and potentially push them into a losing cycle of chasing revenue streams from competing virtual brands whose recipes and IP they don't own?

"Absolutely not," says Canter. "We're not in the business of competing with restaurants, we're rather enabling restaurants to do more with their existing operations." All Nextbite brands are designed specifically to be non-disruptive to the restaurants they're partnering with. Canter says the first question Ordermark asks a potential fulfillment partner is "can you handle an extra 10 or 20 online orders a day in your restaurant? If the answer's no, then why would you sign up to throttle extra orders in your kitchen if you're already at full capacity?

For those struggling to bring in revenue, Ordermark has positioned itself as a life-line in a time of flux — even if it means trimming their margins and feeding concepts that aren't their own.

The rise of delivery apps and the pandemic shutdowns have left the restaurant industry irrevocably changed. But will off-premise orders remain at 2020 highs, or will diners clamor back into seats desperate for face-to-face interaction? The continued growth in revenue among the various ordering platforms suggests delivery is here to stay. Meanwhile virtual concepts and ghost kitchens will have to prove that they're not as ephemeral as their names suggest.

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Forget Rockets, This Long Beach Startup Spins Satellites Into Orbit

🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles!

It may be scorching this weekend, but the real heat is coming out of Long Beach, where SpinLaunch just raised $30 million to accelerate its Meridian Space satellite constellation. If you’ve heard of SpinLaunch before, it’s probably because of its wild approach: instead of burning tons of rocket fuel, the company literally spins payloads in a giant centrifuge before releasing them into the sky. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s one of the boldest bets on making access to orbit cheaper, faster, and more sustainable.

Image Source: SpinLaunch

The new funding will go toward advancing Meridian Space, a low Earth orbit broadband network that aims to deliver flexible, affordable global connectivity. With its first customer links expected in 2026, the project has the potential to do more than beam internet. It could reshape how enterprises, defense networks, and communities around the world connect. For Los Angeles, it’s a reminder that our region isn’t just about building the next social app or entertainment platform. We’re also home to the companies trying to redefine the very infrastructure of the digital age.

And while space tech often feels far away, SpinLaunch keeps its roots planted firmly here. Its headquarters and orbital accelerator facility sit right in Long Beach, reinforcing Southern California’s reputation as a launchpad for both aerospace and climate conscious innovation. After all, swapping fuel heavy rockets for a ground based launch system isn’t just cost effective, it’s far greener.

So while you’re cranking the A/C this weekend, remember SpinLaunch is busy cranking satellites into orbit, proving once again that in Los Angeles we don’t just chase the stars, we spin new ways to reach them.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

    • Wellth, a Los Angeles–based digital health company focused on daily care motivation and behavior change strategies, has closed an oversubscribed $36M Series C round led by Mercato Partners. The funds will be used to expand access to its platform across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, D SNP, and other high-need populations, while also accelerating product innovation including introducing generative AI capabilities to personalize engagement, backed by strong performance metrics like 90 percent care plan adherence, a 51 percent drop in inpatient admissions, and a 16 percent boost in medication adherence. - learn more

      LA Venture Funds

        • Presight Capital participated in General Fusion’s oversubscribed $22M financing round, helping the Canadian fusion energy company push forward with its LM26 demonstration program. The fresh capital will drive progress toward key scientific milestones in Magnetized Target Fusion technology such as high temperature plasma generation and renew momentum on the path to commercializing clean fusion energy. The round also brings new board members onboard to fortify leadership as General Fusion advances toward a zero carbon energy future. - learn more
        • B Capital led a new Series C strategic growth investment in CompanyCam. The construction tech platform, known for its AI-powered job site documentation and workflow tools, will use the funding to expand globally, deepen AI integration, and enhance product features. WndrCo also participated in the round, backing CompanyCam’s push to transform contractor productivity. - learn more
        • Clocktower Ventures participated in Relcu’s latest funding round. Relcu provides an AI powered “system of action” for financial services that helps institutions streamline workflows, improve customer engagement, and drive growth. The company will use the new capital to extend its CRM and AI Agent Co Pilot beyond mortgage into deposits, lending, and other areas by enhancing AI integration, expanding APIs, and embedding intelligent automation to boost conversion, retention, and cross sell. - learn more
        • UP Partners participated in Loft Dynamics’ latest $24M Series B funding round. The Swiss based VR flight training company will use the investment to expand its revolutionary pilot training solutions, built on FAA and EASA qualified VR simulators, into commercial aviation, launching full motion Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 systems alongside cloud connected, AI enhanced tools and immersive at home training kits. - learn more
        • Upfront Ventures led the $5.6M Series A funding for Agenda Hero. The San Francisco based AI platform helps users eliminate manual calendar work by transforming text, images, and PDFs into fully structured, shareable events and schedules. The new capital will accelerate AI features, expand calendar integrations, and scale adoption across individuals, teams, and organizations. - learn more
        • Thiel Capital participated in Stark’s latest $62M funding round, which was led by Sequoia Capital and brings the German startup's valuation to around $500 million. Stark, founded in 2024, specializes in AI powered loitering munitions and command and control systems for battlefield drones, and plans to use the fresh capital to enhance its autonomous navigation, swarming capabilities, and expand production into new markets like the UK. Doepfner Capital also joined the round, backing Stark’s push to scale its defense technology. - learn more
        • Crosscut Ventures and Vamos Ventures joined Aalo Atomics’ $100M Series B funding round, supporting the Austin‑based company’s mission to deploy modular nuclear reactors tailored for AI data centers. Aalo plans to build its first full-scale reactor, dubbed Aalo‑X, by next summer, co‑locating it with an experimental data center to showcase how factory‑produced nuclear plants can deliver clean, reliable power rapidly. This latest capital infusion accelerates Aalo’s deployment timeline and reinforces its strategy of mass manufacturing scalable nuclear infrastructure for the AI era. - learn more
        • Overture VC co-led a $7M seed round in ChemFinity Technologies to boost its deployment of modular, sorbent-based systems that recover over 20 critical minerals from waste streams at low cost. The funds will help the company pilot and scale its high-performance technology, enabling domestic recovery of valuable metals like rare earth elements and platinum, while reducing reliance on imports and lowering environmental impact. - learn more
        • Muse Capital led a high profile strategic investment in Ohai.ai, the AI powered household assistant founded by Care.com veteran Sheila Lirio Marcelo, joining a star studded lineup of backers including Olivia Munn, Mindy Kaling, and Abby Wambach. The new funding will accelerate Ohai.ai’s mission to relieve parental mental load, launching a back to school feature that lets families automatically sync school calendars by ZIP code or flyer, making household planning significantly smoother. - learn more
        • Navitas Capital, alongside other investors, participated in EliseAI’s $250M Series E funding round. The New York-based AI company automating complex systems in healthcare and housing, will use the new capital to rapidly scale its team, enhance product innovation, and accelerate deployment of its AI-powered automation platform across front-desk operations, resident services, and beyond. The company has already doubled its workforce since its Series D, surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, and aims to expand its impact across multiple stressful sectors. - learn more
        • Bedrock participated in TensorZero’s $7.3M seed round to advance its open source infrastructure for building industrial grade LLM applications. TensorZero offers an integrated stack covering LLM gateways, observability, optimization, evaluation, and experimentation, all designed to create a data driven “learning flywheel” that turns feedback into smarter, faster model performance and is rapidly gaining traction with developers and enterprises alike. - learn more
        • Calibrate Ventures co-led a $6M seed round in Grid Aero, backing the aerospace startup’s debut of its Lifter Lite drone, an autonomous heavy lift aircraft designed to deliver thousands of pounds over long distances in challenging environments. The seed funding will drive testing and scaling efforts as Grid Aero readies for ground trials and positions the “pickup truck of the skies” as a low cost, modular logistics solution for military and future commercial use. - learn more
        • Chapter One participated in Hyperbeat’s oversubscribed $5.2M seed round. Hyperbeat will use the new capital to expand its suite of on-chain tools such as staking tokens, high yield vaults, credit layers, and portfolio tracking aimed at simplifying and enhancing DeFi yield generation for traders, protocols, and institutions. The round underscores growing institutional confidence in Hyperliquid’s expanding ecosystem, which recently surpassed $2.1 billion in total value locked. - learn more
            LA Exits
            • SpectrumAi has been acquired by CentralReach, a leading provider of autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities care software, alongside fellow acquisition AI.Measures. The deals expand CentralReach’s Care360 platform with advanced tools including predictive analytics, real time decision support, and individualized assessment capabilities that help providers deliver outcomes based care. Leadership from both acquired companies will join CentralReach, further strengthening its ability to empower providers, payors, and families with intelligent, results driven therapy solutions. - learn more

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                      The Legal System Just Got Its AI Upgrade

                      🔦 Spotlight

                      Hello Los Angeles!

                      We talk a lot about AI in L.A., usually in the context of streaming platforms that “recommend” a movie you regret watching or apps that let you swap your face onto a Marvel poster. But the most interesting AI stories here aren’t gimmicks; they’re rewiring the hidden machinery of massive, slow moving industries. And this week, that spotlight falls on…lawyers.

                      LawPro.ai, a Los Angeles based legal tech startup, just closed a priced seed round led by Scopus Ventures to bring AI deeper into the world of injury claims. Their new “Case Assistant” isn’t about flashy automation, it’s about instantly surfacing case insights, cutting down endless hours of drafting, and helping law firms run with the precision of a Formula 1 pit crew.

                      Here’s why this matters: the legal industry has been one of the last holdouts when it comes to adopting tech that actually speeds things up. Now, with AI making its way from the red carpet to the courtroom, we’re watching the early stages of a shift that could change how justice is delivered in real time. In L.A., we’ve already seen AI startups shaking up entertainment, aerospace, and healthcare. Legal might be next.

                      And if LawPro.ai pulls it off, you might not just get a faster verdict, you might see the ripple effect across an industry that has spent decades charging by the hour. In other words, the billable clock might finally start running in our favor.


                      🤝 Venture Deals

                      LA Companies

                        • Equatic, a company using a patented seawater electrolysis process to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide while producing green hydrogen, has raised $11.6M in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) and Singapore-based Kibo Invest, and the capital will support the engineering, commercialization, and construction of its first 100‑kilotonne carbon removal facility, as well as broader manufacturing and technological development. - learn more
                        • SetPoint Medical has secured $140M in private financing, comprising a $25M second tranche of its Series C round and a $115M Series D round co-led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Ally Bridge Group. The funds will be used to launch and scale commercialization of the FDA approved SetPoint System, a pioneering neuroimmune modulation implant that targets the vagus nerve to treat moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, as well as to advance development of therapies for other autoimmune conditions. - learn more

                        LA Venture Funds

                          • Bonfire Ventures participated in Topline Pro’s $27M Series B funding round to help the company scale its AI driven platform for local home service businesses. Topline Pro provides tools for plumbers, landscapers, painters, and other service providers to manage websites, marketing, CRM, payments, and more, enabling them to operate as scalable, autonomous enterprises. The new funding will be used to enhance its AI agent suite and expand onboarding, customer success, and product development capabilities to deliver greater ROI for small businesses. - learn more
                          • B Capital participated in Isaac Health’s $10.5M Series A funding round, backing the company’s mission to expand access to brain health and dementia care. Isaac Health provides virtual and in-home services nationwide and will use the funds to enhance its AI-driven screening tools, strengthen its technology platform, and grow partnerships with health systems and payers. - learn more
                          • Bold Capital Partners joined a $44M Series C financing round for Gameto, a clinical stage biotech company developing stem cell derived reproductive therapies. The new funding, which brings Gameto’s total capital raised to approximately $127M, will support completion of its pivotal Phase 3 trial of Fertilo, an iPSC derived egg maturation therapy, and the company’s global regulatory filings and commercialization efforts. - learn more
                          • M13 led a seed round that raised $8.5M for Mako, a New York based AI startup focused on automating GPU code optimization. Mako’s platform lets developers write in familiar high level languages while its AI intelligently generates and continuously tunes low level GPU kernels, yielding faster performance, cost savings, and compatibility across hardware like NVIDIA, AMD, and Tenstorrent. The fresh funding will be used to expand the engineering team, deepen hardware support, and bring Mako’s performance tools to a broader audience in AI, graphics, simulation, and scientific computing. - learn more
                          • Rebel Fund participated in a $9M Series A round for Chowdeck, a profitable Nigerian food delivery startup aiming to build Africa’s next super app for food, groceries, and essentials. With this capital, Chowdeck plans to roll out its quick commerce strategy, powered by a network of dark stores and hyper local logistics, to speed up delivery across Nigeria and Ghana. - learn more
                            LA Exits
                            • Mayweather Boxing + Fitness has been acquired by Giant Ideas, LLC, alongside KickHouse, and will be combined with the company’s flagship brand Legends Boxing to form the largest skill based boutique fitness network with more than 70 studios worldwide. Rather than focusing solely on rapid expansion, the unified brands will prioritize operational excellence, franchisee success, and community driven skill development. - learn more

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                                      Locket, Disney, Instagram and the Battle for Your Attention

                                      🔦 Spotlight

                                      Happy Friday, Los Angeles!

                                      This week, LA’s biggest tech and media players made one thing clear: they want to own the relationship. Whether it’s a celebrity sending selfies straight to your home screen or a content giant rewriting the rules of sports broadcasting, the power shift toward more curated, direct experiences is unmistakable, and it’s being engineered right here.

                                      Image Source : Locket

                                      📸 Locket Doubles Down on Star Power

                                      Venice-based Locket, the viral photo sharing app that made homescreen widgets cool, is now leaning into what LA does best: celebrity. Its new feature, Celebrity Lockets, allows artists to send exclusive photos directly to fans’ home screens. Early adopters include Suki Waterhouse and JVKE, with creators curating limited fan access to maintain intimacy and exclusivity. As Locket evolves from a casual social tool into a direct fan engagement platform, it’s becoming an increasingly relevant player in LA’s creator tech ecosystem.

                                      🏈 Disney’s ESPN Plays Offense

                                      Disney made a trio of bold moves this week that solidify ESPN’s future and its dominance in sports media. It’s buying out the NFL’s stake in ESPN, securing exclusive NFL Draft and behind the scenes content through 2033, and finally giving its standalone ESPN streaming service a launch date: August 21, 2025. That’s a power play straight out of Burbank. At the same time, Disney announced it will no longer report individual subscriber numbers for Disney Plus and Hulu, signaling a shift in how it wants investors and maybe consumers to measure success.

                                      🗞️ The New York Post Bets on LA

                                      In a sign of LA’s growing national influence not just in entertainment, but in news, the New York Post is launching a West Coast vertical called The California Post. With an editorial mission to cover the state’s cultural and political pulse, this move reflects a broader trend of major media brands planting roots in LA to chase both readers and relevance. For local media startups, content creators, and civic tech players, it’s yet another sign that the competition and the opportunity is growing.

                                      Image Source: Meta

                                      📱 Instagram Wants Your Inner Circle

                                      Instagram rolled out a new set of features this week that prioritize connection with close friends. Users can now share what they’re doing, watching, or feeling with a smaller group, clearly borrowing from the intimacy playbooks of apps like BeReal, Snapchat, and yes, Locket. As social platforms shift from mass broadcast to curated circles, LA-based creators and consumer startups should take note: the next frontier might not be going viral, it might be going personal.

                                      From star-powered lockets to streaming shakeups and platform reinventions, this week’s stories highlight how LA’s tech and media companies are rewriting the rules on connection and control.

                                      Now onto this week’s venture deals 👇

                                      🤝 Venture Deals

                                      LA Venture Funds

                                        • Starburst co-invested in Madrid-based SpaceTech startup Orbital Paradigm’s €470,000 raise, part of an ongoing €2M funding round led by Akka. The company is developing reusable orbital re-entry capsules aimed at reducing costs and increasing sustainability for space missions. Starburst’s participation underscores its focus on backing innovative aerospace technologies with commercial and defense applications. - learn more
                                        • Rebel Fund participated in Orbital Operations’ $8.8M seed round, which came shortly after the company graduated from Y Combinator. The funding will support development of the company’s high-thrust orbital transfer vehicle, designed to maneuver satellites and other payloads in space more efficiently. - learn more
                                        • Fourth Revolution Capital participated in SuperGaming’s $15M Series B round, which valued the company at $100M, five times its previous valuation. The funds will help expand titles like Indus Battle Royale internationally and scale SuperGaming’s tools for developers in emerging markets. - learn more
                                        • Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures participated in Elion’s $9.3M seed round, joining NEA and others in backing the AI-powered healthcare research and intelligence platform. Elion helps over 60% of U.S. health systems evaluate emerging technologies through its structured vendor marketplace. The funds will support platform development, new product launches, market expansion, and team growth. - learn more
                                        • M13 led the $10M seed round for Kontext, an AI-powered contextual advertising startup emerging from stealth mode. Kontext’s platform enables real-time ads inside chatbot responses using large language models, and the funding will help expand its engineering team and develop image-based ad formats. - learn more
                                        • STORY3 Capital Partners made a significant minority investment in U.K.-based activewear brand Adanola, valuing the company at approximately $530 million. This strategic partnership brings STORY3’s deep experience in consumer brand scaling to support Adanola’s global expansion, particularly across the U.K. and U.S. markets. - learn more
                                        • Walkabout Ventures participated in OLarry’s $10M Series A round, which was led by TTV Capital and included Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures. The funding brings OLarry’s total capital raised to $14.5M and will be used to scale its AI-powered tax advisory platform for high-net-worth individuals and to acquire regional CPA firms as part of its growth strategy. - learn more
                                        • Glendon Capital Management participated in Grasshopper’s $46.6M funding round, which was led by Patriot Financial Partners, to support the bank’s merger with Auto Club Trust in April 2025. Their investment reflects confidence in Grasshopper’s ability to scale its digital banking platform and expand its suite of business and consumer financial products. Growth metrics as of June 30, 2025 showed a 53% increase in assets, an 81% surge in deposits, and a 49% rise in loans, all backed by this strategic capital infusion. - learn more
                                        • Mucker Capital participated in beatBread’s $124M capital raise, alongside Citi’s SPRINT team, Deciens Capital, and Advantage Capital. Their involvement supports beatBread’s strategy to expand sales, marketing, and technology operations, while enabling greater funding flexibility for independent artists, songwriters, and labels through its AI-powered platform. - learn more
                                        • B Capital co-led Positive Development’s $51.5M Series C funding round alongside aMoon and Flare Capital Partners, helping to fuel expansion of its developmental therapy model for autistic children. Their involvement underscores confidence in the company’s family-centered, play-based approach—which lowers costs by about 50% compared to traditional ABA therapy—and supports growth through new Medicaid partnerships and technology enhancements. - learn more
                                        • Clocktower Ventures participated in Creditop’s latest $3.7M funding round, which was led by Collide Capital and also included Alaya Capital, Amador Holdings, Newtopia, and Driven VC. Their involvement supports Creditop’s mission to enable credit access at the point of sale, without a credit card, and will help fintech deepen its footprint in Colombia while exploring expansion across Central America and Peru. - learn more
                                        • Thiel Capital participated in Pilgrim’s $4.3 million seed funding round, backing the biotech startup founded by 21-year-old Jake Adler after he demonstrated its hemostatic dressing, Kingsfoil, on himself. Their support underscores confidence in Pilgrim’s aggressive R&D and dual-use medical platform targeting both military and civilian emergency care. - learn more
                                        LA Exits
                                        • ElectroMagnetic Systems, Inc., a California-based specialist in AI and machine learning-powered target recognition software for space-based radar, has been acquired by Voyager. The deal strengthens Voyager’s AI-native surveillance and intelligence capabilities, enabling real-time monitoring across ground, air, and space domains to meet evolving defense and commercial demands. - learn more
                                        • Daring Foods is being acquired by Australia’s leading plant-based meat company, v2food, in a move that strengthens v2food’s push into the U.S. market. Daring will continue operating under its own brand and will serve as a platform to introduce v2food’s own products across the States. The deal, paired with a strategic partnership with Japanese food giant Ajinomoto, aims to accelerate innovation in clean-label protein and expand global reach. - learn more
                                        • Irwin Naturals is being acquired by FitLife Brands in an all-cash transaction valued at $42.5M, which includes approximately $16M in net working capital. The deal, expected to close around August 8, 2025, will nearly double FitLife’s scale, with projected combined annual revenue of over $120M and adjusted EBITDA between $20–25M. It will be funded with cash on hand, a new term loan, and a revolving credit facility, and is expected to generate synergies through complementary product lines, broader mass-market distribution, and improved operational efficiencies. - learn more
                                        • Solsniper, a Solana-focused trading and analytics platform known for high-speed memecoin execution, has been acquired by Phantom as part of its strategy to expand beyond wallets into full-service on-chain finance. The Solsniper team will join Phantom to enhance its advanced trading features, while the platform will continue operating independently. The move underscores Phantom’s ambition to offer seamless, integrated trading tools within the Solana ecosystem. - learn more
                                        • Cinelease is being acquired by Zello, a private investment platform dedicated to scaling businesses across the entertainment industry, in a strategic move to bolster production infrastructure and amplify its presence across North America. Under Zello’s ownership, Cinelease will continue operating as a standalone company led by its veteran team, enhancing its lighting, grip, and studio offerings for film, TV, and commercial productions. This acquisition sets the stage for disciplined growth and stronger relationships within the film and television production ecosystem. - learn more

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