Can AI Change How Hollywood Structures Stories? Corto.ai is Launching to Find Out

Sam Blake

Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake

Can AI Change How Hollywood Structures Stories? Corto.ai is Launching to Find Out

Having watched his reputation flourish upon a foundation of self-spun fabrications, then crumble into a heap of infamy that led him to change his name, Yves Bergquist knows a thing or two about stories.

As detailed in a November 2019 story in The Hollywood Reporter, Bergquist, who leads artificial intelligence (AI) projects at USC's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), was formerly a national security analyst and ABC News consultant named Alexis Debat. Once his lies were exposed, he left Washington D.C. in 2007, shrouded in shame.


Now, Bergquist is set to go public with Corto, his previously stealth-mode startup that uses AI to help storytellers in the entertainment industry better understand their content, their operations, and their audiences. Since 2016, Corto has worked symbiotically with the ETC, a think tank founded in 1993 by Star Wars creator George Lucas to support cooperative technological advancement in Hollywood.

As the THR story conveyed, Bergquist seems genuinely contrite. He has embraced working extra hard to overcome his tarnished past and salvage his integrity.

"This is a very sensitive thing for me," he told dot.LA. "Twelve years later it's still haunting."

With the coronavirus indefinitely shutting down production and threatening to erode disposable incomes, Bergquist's comeback may be just in time to help Tinseltown recover from a looming downfall of its own.

Introducing Corto

Even in normal times, says Bergquist, Hollywood faces challenges. With front-loaded costs and lengthy investment timelines, it's an inherently risky industry. And Hollywood's customers have unique expertise in the products they consume.

"Cars and yogurt don't deal with car and yogurt experts," he said. "Media sells to customers who are extremely experienced and knowledgeable about the product of media."

Taking a page out of philosopher Yuval Noah Harari's book, Bergquist waxes poetic on the idea that religion, nationality, and modern economies all rely on collective buy-in to stories.

"They're the most important objects in human civilization," he said. "They're the reason we have a society."

Put that way, it's no wonder that people crave stories; and that many seek to profit from satisfying that craving. Indeed, as technology has progressed, the variety and volume of content platforms and stories at our fingertips has exploded.

Where Corto comes in, is to help storytellers–and story sellers–meet that demand and stand out against that competition.

The end goal, according to Bergquist: "Better understand what resonates with whom, and why."

Modern medicine offers a useful analogy. Previously, Bergquist explains, doctors made diagnoses with little information.

"Say you (were to) walk into my office. You seem to have a fever, your tongue is white. Those generally are associated with cold or bronchitis. So there's your diagnosis."

Compare that to modern healthcare, which empowers physicians to collect far more sophisticated and useful information. And soon enough, pundits forecast a new era of medicine, where tech-enabled lifestyle data merge with a patient's medical history, genetics, and more to provide the granular insights needed for personalized healthcare.

"It's the same thing for entertainment," said Bergquist.

So how does Corto aspire to bring about a new era of stories?

The What: Content Genomics

Essential to Corto is its database of stories that it has thoroughly analyzed using several AI techniques. Like a submarine, Corto probes the depths of a story at a level and speed that a human brain cannot, and extracts the extent to which the story contains certain features, including dozens of "emotional tonalities" like melancholy, power, and generosity. Soon, Bergquist says, Corto will be able to extract additional deep features, like those related to specific characters and the story's structure.

For now, Corto's value starts with what it can tell a user about a script that's not in its database.

Bergquist showed dot.LA how it works, using Ad Astra as an example. He expressed that the interface, while functional — and actively used by a "major studio" for the past several months — is in early form, and that the feature set is still just about "5% of the vision."

When a user uploads a script, Corto takes about five seconds to "parse" the document. Then, like a doctor receiving a patient's genetic readout, new doors suddenly open.

Corto has parsed the script, in this case Ad Astra

Typing "emotion for AD ASTRA" in the command bar brings up a table of dozens of those emotional tonalities, each with a score from 0-100. Anything in the 25-75 range is a weak signal, Bergquist explained, meaning that particular emotion is not especially prominent in the script. Scores below 25 suggest a notable absence of the given emotion, while those above 75 indicate a strong presence.

Corto emotional tonality output

The command "comps for AD ASTRA" yields a list of titles from the Corto database that are similar to the given title based on the deep features that Corto has unearthed. The lower a title's "distance" from another, the more similar they are. "Comp emotion" breaks down these comparisons across each of the dozens of emotional tonalities. Search results can be filtered, such as by type (movie, TV episode, etc.), release year, or country.

Comps for Ad Astra


Ad Astra comps across emotional tonalities

Importantly, these results can reveal unexpected similarities. The comparable titles that Corto yielded for a test user's spy procedural show, for instance, surprisingly included several Sci-Fi titles, said Bergquist.

"Suddenly," he said, "there's a whole new audience that they could potentially market this to."

In the future — later this year, according to Bergquist — Corto will add visual analysis to its text parsing. On top of exploring a script's depths, it will also be able to extract insights from video.

"We want to create a tool," Bergquist explained, "that essentially understands how specific human emotions or narrative structures are expressed visually and from a sensory perspective."

It would function similarly to what Corto currently does with scripts, except it would turn audiovisual footage, rather than text, into data and insights.

Parsing video footage

Encoding and labeling the various elements of video would also theoretically increase pre- and post-production efficiency. For example, explained Bergquist, a film editor could say, "'Show me all the times when a female character was smoking a cigarette in the rain' — things like that. You cannot search content like that currently."

And the content comparisons this would enable–based on attributes that do not exist in a script–would also help to improve recommendation algorithms, which Bergquist describes as the "big kahuna" for Corto's content analysis.

Whether the purpose is to identify just the right title for someone to watch next, or to successfully execute a finely targeted marketing campaign based on a title's comparables, one needs insight not just about the content, but also the audience.

The Who: Audience Genomics

"It's not just, 'okay, people liked Avengers, so they'll probably like this'," Bergquist said. "It's 'why did they like it? What did they like about it? Who liked which attributes?'"

To find these answers, Bergquist explained, Corto probes the wide world of social media.

By analyzing Tweets, Reddit posts and such that are related to a given title, and using analytical methods similar to those used for the content analysis, Corto "can derive positive or negative sentiment for a title based on attributes like the acting, the cast, the director, visual elements, emotional tonalities, the music, the plot and more."

Using a method called knowledge representation to pair this granular data with broader datasets like census data and voting behavior can provide a detailed picture of who these groups are, and where to find them.

"If you give us a script we'll give you all the zip codes where each narrative domain and/or character will resonate the most," Bergquist said.

What's more, Corto layers in network analysis, so that on top of knowing what resonates with whom, and where they are, it also shows how sentiment travels from one group to another. Particularly useful is the identification of "swayable" communities–those whom Corto believes are not yet fans of a given title, but could be converted. Armed with the knowledge of what titles and attributes have historically resonated with such a group, "these are the communities that you can target as a marketer."

"Since we have content analysis integrated directly with audience analysis," Bergquist summarizes, "we can run your script, get a list of comparables, then immediately give you deep insights on the size and type of audience for your script, directly based on millions of social media conversations across all the places where people talk about media."


Helping Hollywood

Though Bergquist shared plenty with dot.LA, he showed a practiced guardedness when asked about specific customers and pricing.

"I would love to tell you everything," he said, "but I would get sued into oblivion if this stuff was identified. Working with Hollywood is like working for the CIA."

He did share, however, that two studios have currently licensed Corto, with a third set to sign up soon. He declined to provide pricing information.

Corto is not the only AI-for-storytelling game in town. Cinelytic, also L.A.-based, uses AI for film analytics and project management. The firm, founded in 2013, recently inked a deal with Warner Bros. And StoryFit, which is headquartered in Austin but does most of its business in Los Angeles, has found some success licensing its tools which, like Corto, include elements of natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis to analyze scripts.

"Marketing is frequently our first stop when we're introduced to a studio, because they're used to using data," StoryFit Chief Executive Monica Landers told dot.LA. "But we're really a better fit during development."

This often entails helping creatives avoid what Landers calls "red flags."

"You may want a character to be intelligent," she explains as an example, "but our analysis will show that she's actually speaking less intelligently than other characters. Or we can surface that your script is too flat. Or that the balance of dialogue and action is off."

StoryFit does a variety of projects, ranging from focusing on one script to a broader landscape analysis. Landers says customers include large and mid-size studios, and networks.

"Annual subscriptions range for most studios from $5,000 - $40,000 a month," she said.

"We've taken a radically different approach," claimed Bergquist. "As a result, we're able to output much deeper insights from a much wider dataset."

AI Skepticism

"My feeling about using NLP on scripts, is there's just so many places that can go wrong," said Brian Dolan, who formerly managed NLP analytics as director of research at MySpace and with the CIA, and is now Chief Executive of LA-based AI venture accelerator Verdant.ai.

"I'm skeptical it'll hit two marks," he told dot.LA. "I don't think it'll get to the sophistication where it can (predict performance), and more importantly, I'm not sure it can reach a level of sophistication where it can be tested – how do we know where it's making a mistake?"

"That's on top of whether machines should (even) be trying to analyze content," Dolan continued. "Aren't we humans making stories for other humans? Who benefits? The finance department – not the audience."

"Look, this isn't a silver bullet," retorts Bergquist. "And it's going to be a long time until it is. What this is, is a set of powerful tools to give development and marketing executives a lot more context and data than was previously available."

"Tens of billions of dollars are being spent every year making and marketing media content," he wrote. "If we can optimize even 5% of that – and it's likely we could do even more, from what our initial tests tell us – that's an enormous amount of money."

Neither CEO denied that what they are aiming to do is hard. And they both recognize that appealing to the community that will ultimately use these tools is crucial. To that end, each emphasized that what they seek to do is not replace people and processes, but augment them. Bergquist points out that Corto has the advantage of having been developed with a high degree of Hollywood input through ETC members, which include most major studios.

In the future, Bergquist believes Corto can reach the sophistication that's needed to make predictions about a story's bottom line. For now, he is taking it slow.

"The last thing the AI field needs is more buzz."

Knowing full well what can happen when a story gets out of hand, Bergquist appears to be ratcheting up the caution in his personal comeback sequel.

"What bit me in the ass in my last career is I created a story that was false," he reflected.

Time will tell how his story this time around lands with his own target audience.

---

Sam Blake covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA

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Biometrics, Crypto, and Comfort: New Tech Lands in LA

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday, Los Angeles!

This week, it's all eyes, quite literally, on LA's latest tech headlines.

Image Source: World

First up, World has officially touched down in the U.S., launching its ambitious biometric crypto project in six cities, including right here in Los Angeles. Cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, World is betting big on a future where proving you're human is just a blink away. Their tool? An orb-shaped device that scans your eyes to create a "World ID," a decentralized digital passport built for the AI era. Verified users can then claim Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency aiming to become the first truly global digital currency. To tie it all together, World has rolled out the World App, a wallet to manage your ID and crypto and World Chain, a new blockchain designed to prioritize real people over bots. The ambition is bold. The stakes are high. And the question still lingers: How much privacy are we willing to trade for convenience?

Image Source: Lyft

Meanwhile, Lyft is rolling out the red carpet, or perhaps a comfortable seat cushion, for LA’s senior citizens. The rideshare giant just launched Lyft Silver in Los Angeles, offering older adults personalized support, live phone assistance, and specially trained drivers. It's a savvy play into an often-overlooked demographic, combining technology and empathy to serve a growing market of tech-savvy seniors. Will Lyft’s new approach give them an edge in LA’s competitive rideshare market? Stay tuned, and maybe text your grandma… she just might become Lyft’s latest power user.


🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

    • True Classic, a Los Angeles-based apparel brand known for its better-fitting basics, has received its first institutional investment from 1686 Partners. This strategic partnership aims to accelerate True Classic's global expansion and diversify its product offerings to include women's and children's lines. The investment will also support enhancements in supply chain, logistics, and omnichannel retail operations, positioning the brand for continued growth in the global market. - learn more
    • Chaos Industries, a Los Angeles-based defense technology startup, raised $275M in a Series C round led by Accel and New Enterprise Associates, valuing the company at $2N. The company develops advanced detection, monitoring, and communication systems for defense and commercial sectors. The funds will be used to expand product development, grow the team, and scale manufacturing operations. - learn more
    • Apex, a Los Angeles-based spacecraft manufacturer, raised $200M in Series C funding to scale production of its productized satellite bus platforms. The company will use the funds to expand operations at its 50,000-square-foot facility and increase manufacturing capacity to meet demand from government and commercial customers. Apex aims to accelerate delivery timelines and support national security initiatives like the U.S. Department of Defense’s Golden Dome program. - learn more
    • Deferred, a technology-driven Qualified Intermediary, has raised $3.6M in seed funding to modernize and democratize 1031 exchanges for everyday real estate investors. The funding round was led by B Capital and Fika Ventures, with participation from strategic investors. Deferred's platform offers AI-driven compliance, robust fund security, and a no-fee exchange model, aiming to make tax-deferred real estate transactions more accessible, secure, and efficient. The funds will be used to expand access to 1031 exchanges, ensuring that every investor, not just institutional players, can leverage this powerful wealth-building tool. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds

    • Village Global participated in Stately Bio's $12M seed funding round. Based in Palo Alto, Stately Bio is a biotech startup developing an AI-powered live-cell imaging platform that enables non-invasive, real-time analysis of cell behavior, enhancing regenerative medicine and cell therapy development. The funds will be used to scale the platform and expand its pipeline of stem cell-derived therapies. - learn more
    • Riot Ventures participated in True Anomaly's recent $260M Series C funding round. Based in Centennial, Colorado, True Anomaly develops advanced spacecraft and software systems for U.S. national security missions, including its flagship Jackal vehicle designed for close-proximity operations in orbit. The funds will be used to support upcoming space missions, expand manufacturing capabilities, and grow the company's workforce. - learn more
    • Navitas Capital led a $10.5M Series A funding round for Field Materials, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based startup that automates construction material and equipment procurement using AI. Field Materials' platform leverages proprietary large language models to process vendor quotes, delivery slips, and invoices, integrating the data into major construction accounting systems. This approach reduces purchase order and invoice processing time by 90%, improves margins, and helps construction companies secure volume pricing. The funds will be used to double Field Materials' team and triple its revenue in 2025, accelerating the delivery of AI capabilities to meet growing demand in the construction industry. - learn more
    • Bold Capital Partners participated in Near Space Labs $20M Series B funding round. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Near Space Labs deploys helium balloon–lifted "Swift" robots to capture ultra-high-resolution aerial imagery from the stratosphere. The company plans to use the funds to expand its fleet and increase coverage, aiming to provide 7cm-resolution images to 80% of the U.S. population twice annually. - learn more
    • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $15M Series A funding round for Hoofprint Biome, a Raleigh, North Carolina–based agtech startup. Hoofprint Biome develops enzyme-based feed additives aimed at reducing methane emissions from cattle while enhancing productivity. The company plans to use the funds to advance product development, conduct on-farm trials, and prepare for commercial launch. - learn more
    • Finality Capital Partners participated in a $25M seed funding round for Miden, a privacy-focused blockchain protocol spun out of Polygon. Miden leverages zero-knowledge technology to offer fast, confidential transaction processing tailored for large institutions handling sensitive payment flows. The funding will support the development of Miden's ecosystem and developer tools, with plans to launch its main network by the end of the year. - learn more
    • Overture VC participated in Glacier's $16M Series A funding round. Glacier, a San Francisco-based startup, develops AI-powered robotic systems designed to automate and enhance the efficiency of recycling processes at material recovery facilities (MRFs). The funds will be used to expand Glacier's operations, deploy its technology to more MRFs across the U.S., and further develop its AI and robotics capabilities to improve recycling rates and reduce environmental impact. - learn more
    • Powerhouse Capital and Rideback participated in a $10M funding round for Cheehoo, a Los Angeles-based startup developing AI-powered tools to streamline 3D animation workflows. Cheehoo's platform integrates with industry-standard software like Maya and Unreal Engine, offering features such as AI-assisted character animation, speech-to-motion capabilities, and real-time collaboration tools. The company plans to use the funds to enhance its technology and expand its reach to a broader range of creators, from major studios to independent animators. - learn more
    • Village Global participated in P-1 AI's recent $23M seed funding round. Based in Henderson, Nevada, P-1 AI is developing an artificial general intelligence (AGI) platform named Archie, designed to automate engineering tasks for physical systems. The company plans to use the funds to advance Archie's capabilities, starting with applications in data center cooling systems, and eventually expanding into sectors like industrial systems, automotive, and aerospace. - learn more
    • TenOneTen Ventures led a $3.3M seed funding round for Domos, a startup developing an AI-powered workforce to streamline property management operations. Based in New York City, Domos' platform automates routine communications and workflows, enabling property managers to focus on higher-value tasks. The funds will be used to expand the company's engineering team and further develop its AI capabilities to enhance efficiency and resident experience. - learn more
    • Leap Venture Studio participated in a $1M seed funding round for Buddy Bites, a Hong Kong-based dog food brand that donates to shelters with every order. The funds will support Buddy Bites' expansion in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK, with plans to enter Taiwan and launch new products later this year. Additionally, Buddy Bites joined Leap Venture Studio's 12-week accelerator program, gaining mentorship and access to a network of industry experts to further its mission of providing premium dog food while supporting animal shelters. - learn more

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    From Metro Rails to Blended Wings: LA’s Transportation Era

    🔦 Spotlight

    Hello Los Angeles,

    Move over Coachella, hello Stagecoach. With crowds headed east, LA might feel a little quieter this weekend, but beneath the surface, the city is busy making moves that could shape the future of travel.

    Image Source: Metro

    First up: a major milestone at LAX.

    This June, the new LAX/Metro Transit Center Station will officially open, finally linking Metro's C and K Lines to a new ground hub near the airport.

    It marks the first real rail connection to LAX in the airport’s history, a major step for a city that has long been synonymous with gridlock.

    While the fully Automated People Mover system connecting the station to the terminals is still under construction and expected to open in 2026, the launch of the transit center is a critical piece of LA’s broader infrastructure upgrade ahead of the 2028 Olympics.

    Even if most travelers will still rely on cars or rideshares for now, it is a sign that even the most car-centric corners of the city are starting to shift.

    Image Source: JetZero

    Meanwhile, in Long Beach, a local aerospace startup is aiming to transform air travel altogether and just got a major boost.

    JetZero, a stealthy aviation company based in Long Beach, announced a new investment from United Airlines to advance its radical new aircraft design: the blended wing body.

    Unlike traditional tube-and-wing planes, JetZero’s blended design integrates the wings and fuselage into a single structure, reducing aerodynamic drag and dramatically improving fuel efficiency.

    United's investment is more than just financial support. It is a strategic bet on JetZero’s vision for cutting long-haul flight emissions in half, a critical goal as the aviation industry faces mounting pressure to decarbonize.

    JetZero plans to have its first full-scale prototype flying by 2027, and if successful, it could set a new blueprint for the next generation of commercial aircraft.

    For Los Angeles, it is another reminder that some of the boldest ideas shaping the future of mobility are being built right here in our own backyard.

    Planes, trains, and a city learning to move a little differently. Just another week in LA.

    🤝 Venture Deals

    LA Companies

    • Durin, an El-Segundo startup aiming to automate drilling for critical minerals exploration, has secured $3.4M in a pre-seed funding round led by 8090 Industries. The company is developing a sensor-equipped drilling rig capable of drilling 300 meters deep, gathering data to build an automation model. The funding will support the development of this technology, with the goal of enabling unattended drill rigs within two to three years. - learn more
    • Altruist, a Los Angeles-based custodian and software platform for registered investment advisors (RIAs), raised $152M in a Series F round led by GIC, bringing its valuation to $1.9 billion. The platform streamlines account opening, trading, reporting, and billing for over 4,700 advisors. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team, and scale enterprise capabilities. - learn more
    • Sesh, a superfan engagement platform that connects artists with fans through interactive experiences, exclusive content, and live events, has raised $7M in funding led by Miura Global. The funds will be used to expand platform capabilities, onboard more artists, and enhance technology for deeper insights and engagement opportunities. - learn more
    • Khloud, a new consumer brand founded by Khloé Kardashian, has raised $12M in an oversubscribed funding round with participation from Jessica Bixby, Serena Ventures, William Morris Endeavor (WME), and Shrug Capital. The Los Angeles-based company is debuting with a protein-rich popcorn made from whole-grain corn and its proprietary “Khloud Dust” seasoning, delivering 7 grams of protein per serving. The funds will be used to expand into additional snack categories and scale retail distribution, beginning with a Target launch on April 29. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds

    • Anthos Capital co-led a $20M funding round for Theo, a New York-based crypto trading infrastructure startup. Theo enables retail investors to access institutional-grade trading strategies—such as high-frequency arbitrage and cross-chain funding rate optimization—through strategy-specific vaults, eliminating the need for technical expertise. The platform operates on a custom validator network that facilitates real-time execution across centralized and decentralized exchanges, enforcing margin requirements and system-wide overcollateralization. The funds will be used to expand Theo's validator infrastructure, integrate with additional financial platforms, and grow its user base. - learn more
    • Pinegrove Capital Partners participated in a $70M Series B funding round for Nourish, a New York-based startup offering AI-powered, insurance-covered virtual nutrition counseling. Nourish connects patients with registered dietitians to manage chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes, boasting a network of over 3,000 dietitians across all 50 states. The funds will be used to expand its provider network, enhance AI tools, and deepen partnerships with healthcare organizations. - learn more
    • Mantis VC participated in Chainguard's $356M Series D funding round. Based in Kirkland, Washington, Chainguard secures software supply chains by offering tools like secure containers, virtual machines, and libraries for open-source development. The funding will be used to expand product offerings, grow the go-to-market team, and support its expanding customer base. - learn more
    • Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in a $30M Series C funding round for Steadily, a landlord insurance provider based in Austin, Texas, and Overland Park, Kansas. Steadily offers tailored insurance solutions for rental property owners, serving policyholders across all 50 U.S. states. The funds will be used to expand operations, enhance technology, and grow the team, aiming to streamline the insurance process for landlords. - learn more
    • Blue Bear Capital participated in Ocient's recent $42.1M Series B extension, bringing the Chicago-based data analytics company's total funding to $159.4M. Ocient specializes in high-performance, energy-efficient analytics solutions for large-scale, complex data and AI workloads, leveraging its proprietary Compute Adjacent Storage Architecture® and Megalane™ technology. The new capital will be used to advance the development and delivery of energy-efficient solutions for costly, complex, and operationally burdensome data and AI workloads. - learn more
    • Group11 participated in Healthee's $50M Series B funding round, supporting the New York-based company's mission to simplify health benefits through AI. Healthee offers an AI-powered platform that helps employees and employers navigate complex healthcare systems, enhancing user experience, reducing costs, and improving care outcomes. The funds will be used to expand Healthee's product suite, scale go-to-market operations, and accelerate the development of its AI-powered tools. - learn more
    • Sum Ventures participated in Irrigreen's $19M Series A funding round. Headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, with operations in San Francisco, Irrigreen develops robotic irrigation systems that utilize digital mapping and AI to optimize water usage for residential lawns. The funds will be used to advance product development, expand manufacturing in the U.S., and enhance the company's smart lawn care solutions. - learn more
    • Ventek Ventures participated in Recce's $4M funding round. Based in San Francisco, Recce offers data-native code review tools designed to enhance data validation in AI and software development workflows. The funds will be used to advance Recce's open-source toolkit and launch its collaborative SaaS platform, Recce Cloud, aiming to streamline data validation processes across the software lifecycle. - learn more
    • B Capital led an $87M Series C funding round for Omnidian, a Seattle-based provider of performance assurance services for residential and commercial solar and energy storage systems. Omnidian offers comprehensive protection and performance plans, ensuring optimal operation and maintenance of clean energy assets. The funds will be used to scale core operations, expand into high-potential markets like Australia and Europe, and explore new product lines such as electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and commercial energy storage solutions. - learn more
    • Overture VC participated in PHNX Materials' $2.5M seed funding round. Based in the U.S., PHNX Materials has developed a process to purify coal fly ash by removing impurities like sulfur and carbon, making it suitable for use in concrete production. This approach not only repurposes industrial waste but also reduces the carbon footprint of concrete by replacing a portion of cement. The funds will be used to scale PHNX's purification technology and expand its operations to meet the growing demand for sustainable construction materials. - learn more

    LA Exits

    • Maza, a fintech startup catering to Spanish-speaking consumers in the U.S., has been acquired by Flex for $40M. Originally focused on helping immigrants open bank accounts and obtain ITINs, Maza shifted its services toward small business owners, such as landscapers and construction subcontractors. This pivot aligned with Flex's mission to provide comprehensive financial tools for business owners. Post-acquisition, Maza will rebrand as Flex Consumer, with its founders assuming executive roles within the combined company. The merger aims to accelerate their shared roadmap in delivering integrated financial solutions. - learn more
    • Moondust Management, a talent agency known for representing creators in travel, lifestyle, wellness, and purpose-driven content, has been acquired by Fixated, a digital entertainment platform. This acquisition aims to enhance Fixated's capabilities in content creation and brand partnerships by integrating Moondust's expertise and creator network. - learn more
    • ClaimShark, a provider of payment integrity solutions, has been acquired by Lyric, a leader in healthcare payment accuracy and integrity solutions. ClaimShark's innovative tools, including the Virtuoso command center and Replay audit platform, will be integrated into Lyric's AI-driven Lyric42 platform. This acquisition aims to enhance payment accuracy, transparency, and efficiency across the healthcare ecosystem by streamlining and simplifying healthcare transactions to eliminate waste. - learn more

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    This Week in LA: Robotaxis, Reels & a $100K Challenge

    🔦 Spotlight

    Happy Friday, LA,

    It’s Coachella Weekend 2, which means fewer cars on the road, easier restaurant reservations, and just enough quiet to hear the next wave of innovation humming through the city. This week, we’re watching more driverless cars roll in, Instagram remix your Reels feed, and a $100K climate challenge call for startups. Let’s get into it.

    🚕 Zoox Is Bringing Its Robotaxis to LA

    Image Source: Zoox

    Amazon-owned Zoox just announced that its futuristic, steering wheel–less robotaxis are heading to Los Angeles. The company has begun mapping the city as it gears up to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service. These aren’t retrofitted Teslas; they’re bidirectional vehicles built specifically for autonomy, with no front, no back, and no driver seat.

    It’s Zoox’s first major push beyond Northern California and Las Vegas, and it's a signal that LA is being positioned as a proving ground for next-gen transportation. As the city preps for the 2028 Olympics, Zoox is hoping to help LA reimagine what mobility looks like without a human behind the wheel.

    👀 More on that here:Zoox’s LA Expansion

    💬 Instagram’s New “Blend” Feature

    Image Source: Instagram

    Instagram just announced “Blend,” a new feature that creates a private Reels feed curated for you and a friend based on your shared interests. It’s like a personalized explore page, but just for two. Think Spotify Blend, but with more memes and fewer breakup ballads.

    It’s currently in testing, but if rolled out broadly, Blend could change how creators build community and how content spreads in smaller, more intimate algorithmic circles.

    🔥 LACI Launches the LA Resilient Rebuilding Cup

    100 days after the Palisades and Eaton fires swept through parts of LA, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is launching a new initiative: the LA Resilient Rebuilding Cup. It’s a pitch competition aimed at finding startup solutions to help LA rebuild stronger and greener.

    Up to $100,000 in prizes and piloting funds are up for grabs. Finalists will pitch live on July 10 in Downtown LA, and selected winners will get the opportunity to bring their technologies to fire-affected communities. Focus areas include fire detection, renewable energy, air quality, mental health tools, resilient construction, and more.

    Startups have until May 30 to apply.
    📍 Apply here


    🤝 Venture Deals

    LA Companies

    • Parallel Systems, a Los Angeles-based company developing autonomous battery-electric railcars, has raised $38M in a Series B funding round led by Anthos Capital, with participation from Riot Ventures and others. The funding will support the commercialization of its technology, including the launch of its first commercial pilot in Georgia. This pilot, approved by the Federal Railroad Administration, will test self-propelled intermodal flatcars over a 160-mile stretch, aiming to offer a more efficient and sustainable alternative to short-haul trucking. Parallel Systems plans to use the funds to scale production of its Generation 3 vehicles and expand operations in the U.S. and Australia. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds

    • Bonfire Ventures led a $7.5M seed funding round for 1Fort, a New York-based startup that automates commercial insurance workflows for brokers using AI. Village Global and others participated in the round. 1Fort's platform streamlines the insurance process by automating tasks such as application completion, quote retrieval, and policy binding, helping brokers secure better coverage for clients more efficiently. The funds will be used to enhance the platform's AI capabilities, expand the team, and grow partnerships with carriers and brokers across the U.S. - learn more
    • Strong Ventures led an ₩800 million pre-Series A funding round for LunchLab, a Seoul-based B2B startup offering corporate lunch subscription services. LunchLab provides daily lunchbox deliveries and post-meal dish collection for companies, streamlining office meal logistics. The funds will be used to expand production capacity, enhance delivery operations across Seoul, and improve their proprietary ordering app. - learn more
    • CIV participated in Crux's recent $50M Series B funding round, supporting the company's mission to streamline financing for clean energy and manufacturing projects. Crux, based in New York, operates a capital markets platform that facilitates transactions such as transferable tax credits and debt financing, aiming to enhance liquidity and efficiency in the clean economy sector. The newly acquired funds will be utilized to expand Crux's network of market participants, enhance its software infrastructure, and scale its operations to meet the growing demand for clean energy financing solutions. - learn more
    • Finality Capital Partners participated in the $11M seed funding round for Optimum, a startup incubated at MIT and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Optimum is developing a decentralized memory layer for Web3, utilizing Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) to enhance data storage and propagation across blockchain networks. The funds will be used to advance Optimum's technology and expand its team to address scalability challenges in decentralized systems. - learn more
    • TIME BioVentures participated in Phantom Neuro's recent $19M Series A funding round. Based in Austin, Texas, Phantom Neuro is developing a minimally invasive neural interface called Phantom X, designed to enable intuitive control of prosthetic limbs and robotic exoskeletons. The new funding will support the company's first human trials, preclinical testing, regulatory submissions, and expanded research and development for broader applications of its technology beyond prosthetic limbs. - learn more
    • Veridical Ventures participated in a $2M seed funding round for SlashExperts, a San Francisco-based B2B platform that connects prospective buyers with existing customers to facilitate authentic peer conversations. This approach aims to build trust and expedite sales processes. The funds will be used to enhance the platform's features, ensuring seamless and effective connections between buyers and users. - learn more
    • F4 Fund participated in Boby.ai's $1.25M seed funding round, supporting the Istanbul-based startup's mission to develop AI-powered mobile applications. Boby.ai, founded by Gökçe Nur Oğuz, Onur Olgun, and Berat Oğuz, focuses on creating user-friendly AI tools for end-users, such as their flagship app Mozart.ai, which enables users to generate personalized music using AI. The funding will be used to expand the team and develop new AI-based mobile products. - learn more
    • Riot Ventures and Impatient Ventures participated in Blue Water Autonomy's recent $14M seed funding round. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Blue Water Autonomy is developing fully autonomous, unmanned ships designed to operate on the open ocean for extended periods. The company plans to use the funds to expand its engineering team, accelerate ship testing, and integrate various payloads onto its platform. - learn more
    • Aliavia Ventures led a $1M pre-seed funding round for InsightWise, an AI-powered platform based in Sydney, Australia, designed to streamline the consulting process by automating tasks such as proposal development and strategy creation. The funding will be used to enhance the platform's capabilities and support expansion into the U.S. market. - learn more

    LA Exits

    • Pex, a leading provider of digital rights technology, has been acquired by Vobile, a global leader in digital content protection and transaction services. This acquisition enhances Vobile's services for the music industry and strengthens its position as a global solution provider for digital audio content. - learn more

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