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XAngel City FC Athletes, Execs Talk Challenges Facing Women in Sports and Tech
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

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Following the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s recent $24 million equal pay settlement, Los Angeles’ own women’s soccer club, Angel City FC, teamed up with Swedish fintech startup Klarna to host a panel on Tuesday evening spotlighting the obstacles women still face in the worlds of tech and sports alike.
Held at the Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park (where Angel City FC plays its home games), the panel featured businesswomen like FounderForward CEO Robyn Ward and Klarna executive Raji Behal, as well as women athletes like former U.S. women’s national team player Shannon MacMillan and current Angel City players Cari Roccaro and Sarah Gorden.
An ad for Women’s History Month from ACFC and Klarna at the Banc of California Stadium.Courtesy of Klarna
Angel City has close ties with L.A.’s tech community, having been founded in 2020 with backing from investors like Upfront Ventures’ Kara Nortman, gaming entrepreneur Julie Uhrman and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Tennis legend (and Ohanian’s wife) Serena Williams is also an investor, as are celebrities like Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria and Jennifer Garner.
Though the worlds of tech and sports may, at first glance, seem to have little in common—existing at nearly opposite ends of the vocational (and high school popularity) spectrum—the evening’s speakers found common ground on the challenges that women encounter in both male-dominated industries.
“I was almost always the only woman in the room,” said Ward. Prior to founding Santa Monica-based leadership consulting business FounderFoward, Ward (who’s also an Angel City investor) ran United Talent Agency’s strategic investment arm and served as an executive at startups like Docstoc and Betterworks. “I’ve been a proud activist for a long time for changing the ratio of [women] founders and funders in the tech ecosystem,” she noted. “We are starting to see some change.”
Speaking on the sports end of the matter, Gorden told the audience that while the National Women’s Soccer League (in which Angel City competes) has not achieved the same pay equity that the U.S. women’s national team has, the settlement “is still important to all female athletes, because they’re setting the standard for what we will eventually follow.”
The team up between ACFC and Klarna brought Angel City players to the stage.Decerry Donato
Upon winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015, the U.S. women’s national team took home $2 million in prize money; meanwhile, the U.S. men’s team won $9 million for its 11th-place finish in the 2014 World Cup. A similar discrepancy is at play in the business world, where women executives continue to face a sizable pay gap and women startup founders receive only a sliver of overall venture capital funding.
The role that women usually play as the primary caretakers in their families often forces compromises in their careers. Though a challenge, Gorden noted how she’s been able to balance motherhood with a pro soccer career. “I had my son in college and it realigned my focus,” she said. “Being pregnant made me realize I love the game and I want to be able to follow a dream of mine.”
Angel City is set to play its first-ever competitive game on Saturday against San Diego Wave FC in the NWSL Challenge Cup. While that game will be played in Fullerton, the team will open the NWSL regular season at Banc of California Stadium on April 29. It is the first time since 2010 that Los Angeles has a professional women’s soccer team of its own.
“We’re not just building a company,” said MacMillan, also an investor in the team. “We’re building this movement and the community has been so solid in this.”
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Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
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This Week in ‘Raises’: Improvado Hauls $22M, Clearlake Launches $14B Fund
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
This week in “Raises”: A pair of Web3 platforms for gamers landed funding, as did a Manhattan Beach medical startup looking to bolster primary care via nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, a Santa Monica-based investment firm launched its seventh fund with more than $14 billion in dry powder.
Venture Capital
Improvado, a marketing data aggregation platform, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Updata Partners.
Web3 gaming platform FreshCut raised $15 million in funding led by Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands and Republic Crypto.
Medical startup Greater Good Health raised $10 million in a funding round led by LRVHealth.
Joystick, a Web3 platform for gamers and creators, raised $8 million in seed funding.
Open source data protection company CipherMode Labs raised $6.7 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors .
Mobile phone charging network ChargeFUZE raised $5 million in seed funding led by Beverly Pacific, TR Ventures, VA2, Jason Goldberg and Al Weiss.
Polygon, a startup aiming to better diagnose children with learning disabilities, raised $4.2 million in seed and pre-seed funding led by Spark Capital and Pear VC.
Pique, a virtual women's sexual health clinic, raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Maveron.
Psudo, a sneaker startup that utilizes recycled water bottles and 3D sublimation printing to create its shoes, raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by SternAegis Ventures.
Funds
Santa Monica-based investment firm Clearlake Capital Group raised $14.1 billion for its seventh flagship fund.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Kristin Snyder (kristinsnyder@dot.la).Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: New Head of Originals at Snap, New President at FaZe Clan
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
“Moves”, our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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FaZe Clan brought on Zach Katz as the gaming and media company’s new president and chief operating officer. Katz was previously the chief executive officer of the music tech investment fund Raised in Space Enterprises.
TikTok brand factory LINK Agency promoted Dustin Poteet to chief creative officer. Poteet was previously creative director at the firm.
Livestream shopping platform Talkshoplive hired Tradesy co-founder John Hall as its chief technology officer. Universal Music Group Nashville's former vice president of digital marketing, Tony Grotticelli, also joins the company as vice president of marketing.
Anjuli Millan will take over as head of original content at Snap after three years of overseeing production for the division.
Tech and media company Blavity hired Nikki Crump as general manager of agency. Crump joins the company from Burrell Communications Group.
O'Neil Digital Solutions, which provides customer communications and experience management for the health care industry, hired Eric Ramsey as national account sales executive. Ramsey joins from T/O Printing.
Investment firm Cresset Partners named Tammy Funasaki as managing director of business development. Funasaki previously served as head of investor relations for Breakwater Management.
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Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Snapchat’s New Controls Could Let Parents See Their Kids’ Friend Lists
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Snapchat is preparing to roll out enhanced parental controls that would allow parents to see who their teenagers are chatting with on the social media app, according to screenshots of the upcoming feature.
Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.