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Here are the latest headlines regarding how the novel coronavirus is impacting the Los Angeles startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for the latest updates.
Today:
- Disney donates masks to hospitals in California, New York and Florida
- More than 3,500 coronavirus cases in L.A. County; new worries about asymptomatic carriers
- L.O.L. Surprise! maker creates ventilator prototype, launches $5 million fund for healthcare workers
L.O.L. Surprise! maker creates ventilator prototype, launches $5 million fund for healthcare workers
Health care workers receive masks and other protective gear.
MGA Entertainment
The maker of L.O.L Surprise!, Chatsworth-based MGA Entertainment has launched a nonprofit to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and is working on a ventilator prototype.
Chief executive Isaac Larian, whose company has production facilities on contract in China, said he started to order masks from his suppliers after hearing from friends in the medical field who couldn't find needed supplies.
"They couldn't get protection," he said. Next week, he expects a shipment of 200,000 masks to arrive.
Dubbed Operation Pac-Man, the fund will go towards procuring personal protective equipment for health care workers, the company. Larian promises that funds donated will be matched and he's committed $5 million to start the effort.
Meanwhile, the designers at MGAE have created a prototype ventilator that's being tested at UCLA, Larian said. He plans to produce it at the company's Little Tikes factory in Hudson, Ohio.
"We are going to move fast on this," he said. "We expect to go into production late next week."
More than 3,500 coronavirus cases in L.A. County; new worries about asymptomatic carriers
As the number of novel coronavirus cases continued to climb past 3,500 in the county, public health officials warned there's growing evidence asymptomatic carriers of the virus could be spreading it.
"There are people who are infected with COVID -19, but don't have any symptoms and for some of these people there is also evidence that they are able to spread the infection," said the county's director of public health Barbara Ferrer during her daily briefing.
The novel coronavirus has claimed 11 more lives in the county and has infected 513 more people, county health officials said on Wednesday. There's now 3,518 individuals that have been infected and 65 that have died.
She warned that people should continue to take precautions, even if a person doesn't appear sick.
About 20% of those that have tested positive for the fast-moving virus have been hospitalized. Of those, Ferrer said 76% had no documented underlying health conditions.
"Everyone should take seriously the fact that they are at risk not only for illness for COVID-1 but for serious illness," she said.
Disney donates masks to hospitals in California, New York and Florida
Disney Parks has donated 100,000 N95 masks to the states of New York, California and Florida, the company announced through its Disney Parks Blog on Wednesday. In the same announcement Disney said the Parks unit had also donated 150,000 rain ponchos to MedShare, a humanitarian aid group, which will distribute the gear to hospitals. The need for masks is clear, but why ponchos? On March 20, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article calling for ideas to address the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). The article received over 100,000 views and yielded more than 250 comments, with many more ideas sent straight to JAMA editors. On March 28, JAMA published a summary of the recommendations, which included repurposing ponchos for gowns. "The idea was inspired by nurses across the country who inventively found that rain ponchos can be an excellent way to protect their clothing and prolong the use of PPE, while also freeing up gowns when needed," Disney's statement said.
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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.