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Defense Startup Anduril Industries Seeking to Raise $500M-Plus: Report
Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
Anduril Industries, the Costa Mesa-based defense technology startup and U.S. military contractor, is reportedly looking to raise at least $500 million in an upcoming funding round at a $7 billion pre-money valuation.
Anduril could raise up to $1 billion in the Series E round, The Information reported on Thursday, citing two sources with âdirect knowledge of the matter.â The publication also reported the round, which has not yet closed, is being led by an existing investor. The startup has raised $835 million to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and venture capitalist Elad Gil. Gil led a $450 million Series D round last June that valued Anduril at $4.6 billion.
Anduril develops and builds both hardware and software for defense applications, including border surveillance towers and self-piloting drones (including an autonomous submarine drone made for deepwater exploration). Its core software product is an operating system called Lattice, which is used to detect potential security threats.
The company has clinched several lucrative government contracts in recent years. In 2020, it struck a deal with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to deploy 200 surveillance towers on the Mexican border. In January, it inked a nearly $1 billion contract with U.S. Special Operations Command for systems that detect and neutralize counter-drone attacks.
Anduril was launched in 2017 by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, who sold the virtual reality headset firm to Facebook for $3 billion in 2014. After leaving Oculus, Luckey founded Anduril alongside Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens and ex-Palantir executives Matt Grimm and Brian Schimpf, who now serves as Andurilâs CEO. Luckey is the companyâs chief technology officer.
Anduril and Luckey did not respond to dot.LAâs requests for comment.
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
Here's How To Get a Digital License Plate In California
03:49 PM | October 14, 2022
Photo by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash
Thanks to a new bill passed on October 5, California drivers now have the choice to chuck their traditional metal license plates and replace them with digital ones.
The plates are referred to as âRplateâ and were developed by Sacramento-based Reviver. A news release on Reviverâs website that accompanied the billâs passage states that there are âtwo device options enabling vehicle owners to connect their vehicle with a suite of services including in-app registration renewal, visual personalization, vehicle location services and security features such as easily reporting a vehicle as stolen.â
Reviver Auto Current and Future CapabilitiesFrom Youtube
There are wired (connected to and powered by a vehicleâs electrical system) and battery-powered options, and drivers can choose to pay for their plates monthly or annually. Four-year agreements for battery-powered plates begin at $19.95 a month or $215.40 yearly. Commercial vehicles will pay $275.40 each year for wired plates. A two-year agreement for wired plates costs $24.95 per month. Drivers can choose to install their plates, but on its website, Reviver offers professional installation for $150.
A pilot digital plate program was launched in 2018, and according to the Los Angeles Times, there were 175,000 participants. The new bill ensures all 27 million California drivers can elect to get a digital plate of their own.
California is the third state after Arizona and Michigan to offer digital plates to all drivers, while Texas currently only provides the digital option for commercial vehicles. In July 2022, Deseret News reported that Colorado might also offer the option. They have several advantages over the classic metal plates as wellâas the L.A. Times notes, digital plates will streamline registration renewals and reduce time spent at the DMV. They also have light and dark modes, according to Reviverâs website. Thanks to an accompanying app, they act as additional vehicle security, alerting drivers to unexpected vehicle movements and providing a method to report stolen vehicles.
As part of the new digital plate program, Reviver touts its productsâ connectivity, stating that in addition to Bluetooth capabilities, digital plates have ânational 5G network connectivity and stability.â But donât worryâthe same plates purportedly protect owner privacy with cloud support and encrypted software updates.
5 Reasons to avoid the digital license plate | Ride TechFrom Youtube
After the Rplate pilot program was announced four years ago, some raised questions about just how good an idea digital plates might be. Reviver and others who support switching to digital emphasize personalization, efficient DMV operations and connectivity. However, a 2018 post published by Sophosâs Naked Security blog pointed out that âthe plates could be as susceptible to hacking as other wireless and IoT technologies,â noting that everyday âobjects â things like kettles, TVs, and baby monitors â are getting connected to the internet with elementary security flaws still in place.â
To that end, a May 2018 syndicated New York Times news service article about digital plates quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which warned that such a device could be a ââhoneypot of data,â recording the driversâ trips to the grocery store, or to a protest, or to an abortion clinic.â
For now, Rplates are another option in addition to old-fashioned metal, and many are likely to opt out due to cost alone. If you decide to go the digital route, however, it helps if you know what you could be getting yourself into.
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Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMCâs hit âBreaking Badâ prequel, âBetter Call Saul.â Heâs also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
steve@dot.la
FaZe Clan is Finally Embracing Womenâs Esports Over a Decade After its Founding
05:05 AM | March 15, 2023
Photo: FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan signed its first all-female esports team last week, and the five-woman team will begin competing this year in a spinoff of Riot Gamesâ âValorantâ pro league.
This is the first all-female esports team FaZeâs invested in since its 2010 launch. Before signing with FaZe, the five pro players â Jennifer ârefinnejâ Le, Emma âemyâ Choe, Vannesa Emely âpaniniâ Emory, Madison âmaddiesuunâ Mann and Diane âdi^â Tran â first became teammates while competing in Riotâs âValorantâ North American Champions Tour last year under the team name Hamboigas.
The fivesome wonât compete in the pro âValorantâ league since thatâs all-men. But they will make their debut as a FaZe team this year competing in a spinoff of the league called âVCT Game Changers,â which was created last February by Riot Games to offer new opportunities for âwomen and other marginalized gendersâ in its esports community. The esports industry largely still has yet to embrace co-ed esports at a professional level, though many collegiate programs under the National Association of College Esports do. This has led some esports fans to wrongly speculate that itâs just a skill issue and that female pros just arenât good enough to play on pro teams.
Erik Anderson, FaZeâs head of esports since 2016, said the organization went âout of our wayâ to make it clear in the announcements that this was a FaZe team just like its other all-male ones. Anderson said FaZe tried to make it clear in the branding that the all-women team didnât seem like âsome other sub-brandâĻ theyâre part of FaZe Clan, itâs not some sort of spin-off.â
Anderson wouldnât directly say why FaZe waited so long to sign female pros, but claimed it was partly waiting for the right opportunity. Anderson noted âGame Changers itself is a pretty new structure,â having launched in 2021.
But Anderson hopes Riot will continue to update âValorant,â adding he hopes to see it move into collegiate competitions which could further democratize its player base and encourage new women to consider becoming pros at it.
Prior to signing the quintet, FaZe had one other female gamer on staff, a content creator named Kalei Renay who joined in 2021 and boasts over half a million followers on Twitch. But until now, the organization thatâs nearing its 13th birthday has remained largely male-dominated.
Still, FaZe figured that it was better late than never to diversify its ranks. All five players are represented by the same agent, who pitched them as a package deal to various esports outfits looking to recruit more women. Each player wouldnât disclose contract terms but Emory told dot.LA âFaZe pays us very well, and compared to my last contracts it's technically been more or [about] the same.â
The companyâs staring down the barrel of a potential stock delisting, having seen over 95% of its value wiped out since its $725 million IPO last August. Still, its audience remains loyal and demanding new content. âWe got a great response from our communityâ about the all-female team, Anderson said.
Tran added however that sheâs optimistic that this team can help change how gaming treats female pros, and noted that over the years as esports has grown in popularity, the acceptance of women in the field has too. âYou do face discrimination no matter what in gaming, just because itâs a male-dominated area,â Tran said. âBut I do think itâs gotten better and now to be competing as [a] female, I donât think it's actually as bad as you would think.â
Emory, who splits her time between the Bay Area and Los Angeles, agreed. âNow on âValorantâ you can't type certain things and you just get chat banned,â she said. Adding that, âmoderation has gotten so much better. People just get banned left and right, thereâs certain words you canât even type anymore. I think Riotâs doing a really good jobâĻ and Iâd say the moderation has gotten a lot better, because in other games you really didnât really have that luxury.â
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
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