Coronavirus Updates: Disney Donates Masks; Cases in L.A. County Surge; L.O.L. Surprise! Makers Create Ventilator

Coronavirus Updates: Disney Donates Masks; Cases in L.A. County Surge; L.O.L. Surprise! Makers Create Ventilator

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

    upload.wikimedia.org

    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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    LA-Based Apex Is Tapping Into the Small Satellite Market by Making Buses for Spacecraft

    Spencer Rascoff

    Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

    ​Ian Cinnamon
    Ian Cinnamon

    On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


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    This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

    Decerry Donato

    Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow 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.

    Raises
    Image by Joshua Letona

    A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

    ***

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    McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

    Decerry Donato

    Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow 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.

    McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
    InLA

    In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

    “This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

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