Coronavirus Updates: Virgin Orbit Gets OK on Ventilators, Curative Signs Pact With Air Force

Coronavirus Updates: Virgin Orbit Gets OK on Ventilators, Curative Signs Pact With Air Force

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:

  • Curative signs pact With Air Force to deploy COVID-19 tests
  • Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gets FDA approval on new ventilator design
  • New report quantifies Q1 loss of L.A. filming days from COVID shutdown

    New figures show COVID shutdown cut L.A. filming by 18% in Q1, set to free-fall

    images.pexels.com

    A new report from Film LA released Thursday reveals that filming days in L.A. in the first quarter of this year were down 18% compared to the same period last year. That number will plummet next quarter due to a county-wide filming moratorium that began on March 20.

    In its forecast for Q2, Film LA has assumed the earliest date that filming could resume is June 1st -- and even then, only for small projects that can adhere to social distancing. Even if this scenario occurs--which FilmLA VP of Communications Philip Sokoloski admitted is optimistic--analysts already forecast that the shooting days lost this year so far are unrecoverable.

    The timing of the shutdown is particularly bad for pilot season, which typically runs from February through May. In Q1, television took the largest hit, seeing a 20.6% decline in filming days. Feature film shoots fell 6.9%, while commercial shoots fell 12.5%. Reality shows, however, did see a Q1 uptick, of 11.7%.

    Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gets FDA approval on new ventilator design

    upload.wikimedia.org

    Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin immediate delivery of a new "bridge" ventilator designed and built by the satellite launch company. The Long Beach-based space company was given clearance through the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization, and expects to begin delivering ventilators to hospitals within the next few days.

    "Virgin Orbit has leveraged its extensive engineering design, manufacturing, and operational capabilities to quickly design a novel ventilator, test prototype units, and ramp up production of these devices," the company said in a statement.

    The device has been funded entirely by Virgin Orbit, and is a simple ventilator that's driven by a windshield-wiper motor. Physicians believe it can be used as a stop-gap solution until patients are able to be put on a standard ventilator.

    Curative signs pact With Air Force to deploy COVID-19 tests

    COVID-19 testing startup Curative and aerospace accelerator Gothams have signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to deploy its FDA-authorized oral fluid tests and comprehensive testing service to military personnel around the world.

    "Broad testing is critical to our nation's ability to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, maintain operational readiness and restart the American economy," the companies said in a statement.

    In this initial agreement, Curative will rapidly establish a new laboratory facility, fully operational this week, which will process up to 50,000 tests per day for the presence of COVID-19. In future phases of this agreement, Curative will establish eight testing locations across the U.S. to support testing for the U.S. population.

    Curative has processed 75,000 tests amounting to about 20% of those administered in California, according to a spokesperson for the company.

    Turner set up shop in a San Dimas lab in March and became an unsung hero in the battle to combat coronavirus in Southern California when he turned the focus of his company, originally meant to detect sepsis, to the pandemic. As part of this agreement with the Air Force, each Curative lab will have a daily capacity to examine 50,000 tests per day. Currently Curative has the capacity to scale to a network of 10 labs across the country for a total of 500,000 tests per day.

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    March Capital Raises $650 Million Fund to Invest in AI Startups

    Samson Amore

    Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College and previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

    March Capital Raises $650 Million Fund to Invest in AI Startups
    March Capital founder Jamie Montgomery. Illustration by Dilara Mundy.

    Santa Monica-based venture outfit March Capital announced Feb. 3 that it raised its largest fund to date, a $650 million investment vehicle that will be used to back up to 15 startups focused on delivering new uses of artificial intelligence.

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    samsonamore@dot.la

    The Three Best Ways to Work With Your Startup Board

    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.

    The Three Best Ways to Work With Your Startup Board

    When launching and running a startup, your board of directors is one of your most valuable assets. If you already understand why you need a board and how to structure your board, it may be tempting to think you can cross that item off the list. But building a board is just the beginning. Now you’ve got to get down to business—together.

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    https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
    admin@dot.la

    This Week in ‘Raises’: Saviynt Lands $205M, Pagos Secures $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.

    This Week in ‘Raises’: Saviynt Lands $205M, Pagos Secures $34M
    This Week in ‘Raises’:

    While it was a slow week of funding in Los Angeles, security vendor Saviynt managed to score $205 million that will be used to meet the company’s growing demand for its converged identity platform and accelerate innovation.

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