DOT.LA TERMS OF SERVICE

Last Updated: 1/27

Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") apply to your access to and use of the websites, mobile applications and other online products and services (collectively, the "Services") provided by Intersection Media Group, Inc. ("dot.LA" or "we"). By clicking "I Accept" or by using our Services, you agree to these Terms, including the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver in Section 15.If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use our Services.

If you have any questions about these Terms or our Services, please contact us at legal@dot.la. For information about how we collect, use, share and otherwise process information about you, please see our Privacy Policy.

Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to use our Services. If you are under 18 years of age (or the age of legal majority where you live), you may use our Services only under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms. If you are a parent or legal guardian of a user under the age of 18 (or the age of legal majority), you agree to be fully responsible for the acts or omissions of such user in relation to our Services. If you use our Services on behalf of another person or entity, (a) all references to "you" throughout these Terms will include that person or entity, (b) you represent that you are authorized to accept these Terms on that person's or entity's behalf, and (c) in the event you or the person or entity violates these Terms, the person or entity agrees to be responsible to us.

User Accounts and Account Security

You may need to register for an account to access some or all of our Services. If you register for an account, you must provide accurate account information and promptly update this information if it changes. You also must maintain the security of your account and promptly notify us if you discover or suspect that someone has accessed your account without your permission. If you permit others to use your account credentials, you are responsible for the activities of such users that occur in connection with your account. We reserve the right to reclaim usernames, including on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim, including trademark rights, in those usernames.

User Content

  1. Our Services may allow you and other users to create, post, store and share content, including messages, text, photos, videos, software and other materials (collectively, "User Content"). Except for the license you grant below, you retain all rights in and to your User Content, as between you and dot.LA.

  2. You grant dot.LA a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed without compensation to you. When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through our Services, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your username or profile photo) may be visible to others.

  3. You may not create, post, store or share any User Content that violates these Terms or for which you do not have all the rights necessary to grant us the license described above. You represent and warrant that your User Content, and our use of such content as permitted by these Terms, will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity. Although we have no obligation to screen, edit or monitor User Content, we may delete or remove User Content at any time and for any reason with or without notice.

Prohibited Conduct and Content

You will not violate any applicable law, contract, intellectual property right or other third-party right or commit a tort, and you are solely responsible for your conduct while using our Services. You will not:

  1. Engage in any harassing, threatening, intimidating, predatory or stalking conduct;
  2. Use or attempt to use another user's account without authorization from that user and dot.LA;
  3. Impersonate or post on behalf or any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  4. Sell, resell or commercially use our Services;
  5. Copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly perform or publicly display all or portions of our Services, except as expressly permitted by us or our licensors;
  6. Modify our Services, remove any proprietary rights notices or markings, or otherwise make any derivative works based upon our Services;
  7. Use our Services other than for their intended purpose and in any manner that could interfere with, disrupt, negatively affect or inhibit other users from fully enjoying our Services or that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the functioning of our Services in any manner;
  8. Reverse engineer any aspect of our Services or do anything that might discover source code or bypass or circumvent measures employed to prevent or limit access to any part of our Services;
  9. Use any data mining, robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods designed to scrape or extract data from our Services;
  10. Develop or use any applications that interact with our Services without our prior written consent;
  11. Send, distribute or post spam, unsolicited or bulk commercial electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
  12. Bypass or ignore instructions contained in our robots.txt file; or
  13. Use our Services for any illegal or unauthorized purpose, or engage in, encourage or promote any activity that violates these Terms.
You may also post or otherwise share only User Content that is nonconfidential and that you have all necessary rights to disclose. You may not create, post, store or share any User Content that:
  1. Is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, indecent, lewd, suggestive, harassing, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory or fraudulent;
  2. Would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party or otherwise create liability or violate any local, state, national or international law;
  3. May infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual or proprietary right of any party;
  4. Contains or depicts any statements, remarks or claims that do not reflect your honest views and experiences;
  5. Impersonates, or misrepresents your affiliation with, any person or entity;
  6. Contains any unsolicited promotions, political campaigning, advertising or solicitations;
  7. Contains any private or personal information of a third party without such third party's consent;
  8. Contains any viruses, corrupted data or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files or content; or
  9. In our sole judgment, is objectionable, restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying our Services, or may expose dot.LA or others to any harm or liability of any type.
1. Enforcement of this Section 4 is solely at dot.LA's discretion, and failure to enforce this section in some instances does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in other instances. In addition, this Section 4 does not create any private right of action on the part of any third party or any reasonable expectation that the Services will not contain any content that is prohibited by such rules.

Ownership; Limited License

The Services, including the text, graphics, images, photographs, videos, illustrations and other content contained therein, are owned by dot.LA or our licensors and are protected under both United States and foreign laws. Except as explicitly stated in these Terms, all rights in and to the Services are reserved by us or our licensors. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you are hereby granted a limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use our Services for your own personal, noncommercial use. Any use of the Services other than as specifically authorized herein, without our prior written permission, is strictly prohibited, will terminate the license granted herein and violate our intellectual property rights.

Trademarks

dot.LA and our logos, our product or service names, our slogans and the look and feel of the Services are trademarks of dot.LA and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned on the Services are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by us.

Feedback

You may voluntarily post, submit or otherwise communicate to us any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, original or creative materials or other information about dot.LA or our Services (collectively, "Feedback"). You understand that we may use such Feedback for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you, including to develop, copy, publish, or improve the Feedback in dot.LA's sole discretion. You understand that dot.LA may treat Feedback as nonconfidential.

Repeat Infringer Policy; Copyright Complaints

In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable law, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that anything on our Services infringes any copyright that you own or control, you may notify dot.LA's designated agent as follows:

Designated Agent: DMCA Manager
Address: 212 26th st #317

Santa Monica CA, 90402

E-Mail Address: legal@dot.la

Please see 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) for the requirements of a proper notification. Also, please note that if you knowingly misrepresent that any activity or material on our Services is infringing, you may be liable to dot.LA for certain costs and damages.

Third-Party Content

We may provide information about third-party products, services, activities or events, or we may allow third parties to make their content and information available on or through the Services (collectively, "Third-Party Content"). We provide Third-Party Content as a service to those interested in such content. Your dealings or correspondence with third parties and your use of or interaction with any Third-Party Content are solely between you and the third party. dot.LA does not control or endorse, and makes no representations or warranties regarding, any Third-Party Content, and your access to and use of such Third-Party Content is at your own risk.

Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless dot.LA and our officers, directors, agents, partners and employees (individually and collectively, the "dot.LA Parties") from and against any losses, liabilities, claims, demands, damages, expenses or costs ("Claims") arising out of or related to (a) your access to or use of the Services; (b) your User Content or Feedback; (c) your violation of these Terms; (d) your violation, misappropriation or infringement of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights); or (e) your conduct in connection with the Services. You agree to promptly notify dot.LA Parties of any third-party Claims, cooperate with dot.LA Parties in defending such Claims and pay all fees, costs and expenses associated with defending such Claims (including attorneys' fees). You also agree that the dot.LA Parties will have control of the defense or settlement, at dot.LA's sole option, of any third-party Claims. This indemnity is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other indemnities set forth in a written agreement between you and dot.LA or the other dot.LA Parties.

Disclaimers

Your use of our Services is at your sole risk. Except as otherwise provided in a writing by us, our Services and any content therein are provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. In addition, dot.LA does not represent or warrant that our Services are accurate, complete, reliable, current or error-free. While dot.LA attempts to make your use of our Services and any content therein safe, we cannot and do not represent or warrant that our Services or servers are free of viruses or other harmful components. You assume the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Services.

Limitation of Liability

  1. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, dot.LA and the other dot.LA Parties will not be liable to you under any theory of liability—whether based in contract, tort, negligence, warranty, or otherwise—for any indirect, consequential, incidental, or special damages or lost profits, even if dot.LA or the other dot.LA Parties have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

  2. The total liability of dot.LA and the other dot.LA Parties for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our Services, regardless of the form of the action, is limited to the greater of $100 or the amount paid by you to use our Services.

  3. The limitations set forth in this Section 12 will not limit or exclude liability for the gross negligence, fraud or intentional misconduct of dot.LA or the other dot.LA Parties or for any other matters in which liability cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. Additionally, some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.

Release

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you release dot.LA and the other dot.LA Parties from responsibility, liability, claims, demands and/or damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown (including claims of negligence), arising out of or related to disputes between users and the acts or omissions of third parties. If you are a consumer who resides in California, you hereby waive your rights under California Civil Code § 1542, which provides: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him or her must have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor."

Transfer and Processing Data

In order for us to provide our Services, you agree that we may process, transfer and store information about you in the United States and other countries, where you may not have the same rights and protections as you do under local law.

Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration

Please read the following section carefully because it requires you to arbitrate certain disputes and claims with dot.LA and limits the manner in which you can seek relief from us, unless you opt out of arbitration by following the instructions set forth below. No class or representative actions or arbitrations are allowed under this arbitration provision. In addition, arbitration precludes you from suing in court or having a jury trial.

  1. No Representative Actions. You and dot.LA agree that any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or our Services is personal to you and dot.LA and that any dispute will be resolved solely through individual action, and will not be brought as a class arbitration, class action or any other type of representative proceeding.
  2. Arbitration of Disputes. Except for small claims disputes in which you or dot.LA seeks to bring an individual action in small claims court located in the county of your billing address or disputes in which you or dot.LA seeks injunctive or other equitable relief for the alleged infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, you and dot.LA waive your rights to a jury trial and to have any other dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or our Services, including claims related to privacy and data security, (collectively, "Disputes") resolved in court. Instead, for any Dispute that you have against dot.LA you agree to first contact dot.LA and attempt to resolve the claim informally by sending a written notice of your claim ("Notice") to dot.LA by email at legal@dot.la .la or by certified mail addressed to [insert legal department address]. The Notice must (a) include your name, residence address, email address, and telephone number; (b) describe the nature and basis of the Dispute; and (c) set forth the specific relief sought. Our notice to you will be similar in form to that described above. If you and dot.LA cannot reach an agreement to resolve the Dispute within thirty (30) days after such Notice is received, then either party may submit the Dispute to binding arbitration administered by JAMS or, under the limited circumstances set forth above, in court. All Disputes submitted to JAMS will be resolved through confidential, binding arbitration. Arbitration proceedings will be held in Los Angeles County, California unless you are a consumer, in which case you may elect to hold the arbitration in your county of residence. For purposes of this Section 15, a "consumer" means a person using the Services for personal, family or household purposes. You and dot.LA agree that Disputes will be held in accordance with the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures ("JAMS Rules"). The most recent version of the JAMS Rules are available on the JAMS website and are hereby incorporated by reference. You either acknowledge and agree that you have read and understand the JAMS Rules or waive your opportunity to read the JAMS Rules and waive any claim that the JAMS Rules are unfair or should not apply for any reason.
  3. You and dot.LA agree that these Terms affect interstate commerce and that the enforceability of this Section 15 will be substantively and procedurally governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq. (the "FAA"), to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. As limited by the FAA, these Terms and the JAMS Rules, the arbitrator will have exclusive authority to make all procedural and substantive decisions regarding any Dispute and to grant any remedy that would otherwise be available in court, including the power to determine the question of arbitrability. The arbitrator may conduct only an individual arbitration and may not consolidate more than one individual's claims, preside over any type of class or representative proceeding or preside over any proceeding involving more than one individual.
  4. The arbitration will allow for the discovery or exchange of non-privileged information relevant to the Dispute. The arbitrator, dot.LA, and you will maintain the confidentiality of any arbitration proceedings, judgments and awards, including information gathered, prepared and presented for purposes of the arbitration or related to the Dispute(s) therein. The arbitrator will have the authority to make appropriate rulings to safeguard confidentiality, unless the law provides to the contrary. The duty of confidentiality does not apply to the extent that disclosure is necessary to prepare for or conduct the arbitration hearing on the merits, in connection with a court application for a preliminary remedy or in connection with a judicial challenge to an arbitration award or its enforcement, or to the extent that disclosure is otherwise required by law or judicial decision.

  5. You and dot.LA agree that for any arbitration you initiate, you will pay the filing fee (up to a maximum of $250 if you are a consumer), and dot.LA will pay the remaining JAMS fees and costs. For any arbitration initiated by dot.LA, dot.LA will pay all JAMS fees and costs. You and dot.LA agree that the state or federal courts of the State of California and the United States sitting in Los Angeles County, California have exclusive jurisdiction over any appeals and the enforcement of an arbitration award.
  6. Any Dispute must be filed within one year after the relevant claim arose; otherwise, the Dispute is permanently barred, which means that you and dot.LA will not have the right to assert the claim.
  7. You have the right to opt out of binding arbitration within 30 days of the date you first accepted the terms of this Section 15 by emailing dot.LA at legal@dot.la. In order to be effective, the opt-out notice must include your full name and address and clearly indicate your intent to opt out of binding arbitration. By opting out of binding arbitration, you are agreeing to resolve Disputes in accordance with Section 16.
  8. If any portion of this Section 15 is found to be unenforceable or unlawful for any reason, (a) the unenforceable or unlawful provision shall be severed from these Terms; (b) severance of the unenforceable or unlawful provision shall have no impact whatsoever on the remainder of this Section 15 or the parties' ability to compel arbitration of any remaining claims on an individual basis pursuant to this Section 15; and (c) to the extent that any claims must therefore proceed on a class, collective, consolidated, or representative basis, such claims must be litigated in a civil court of competent jurisdiction and not in arbitration, and the parties agree that litigation of those claims shall be stayed pending the outcome of any individual claims in arbitration. Further, if any part of this Section 15 is found to prohibit an individual claim seeking public injunctive relief, that provision will have no effect to the extent such relief is allowed to be sought out of arbitration, and the remainder of this Section 15 will be enforceable.

Governing Law and Venue

Any dispute arising from these Terms and your use of the Services will be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of California, except to the extent preempted by U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict of law rules or principles (whether of California or any other jurisdiction) that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. Any dispute between the parties that is not subject to arbitration or cannot be heard in small claims court will be resolved in the state or federal courts of California and the United States, respectively, sitting in Los Angeles County, California.

Modifying and Terminating our Services

We reserve the right to modify our Services or to suspend or stop providing all or portions of our Services at any time. You also have the right to stop using our Services at any time. We are not responsible for any loss or harm related to your inability to access or use our Services.

Amendments

We may make changes to these Terms from time to time. If we make changes, we will provide you with notice of such changes, such as by sending an email, providing a notice through our Services or updating the date at the top of these Terms. Unless we say otherwise in our notice, the amended Terms will be effective immediately, and your continued use of our Services after we provide such notice will confirm your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the amended Terms, you must stop using our Services.

Severability

If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Miscellaneous

  1. The failure of dot.LA to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. These Terms reflect the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior agreements, representations, statements and understandings of the parties. The section titles in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. Use of the word "including" will be interpreted to mean "including without limitation." Except as otherwise provided herein, these Terms are intended solely for the benefit of the parties and are not intended to confer third-party beneficiary rights upon any other person or entity. You agree that communications and transactions between us may be conducted electronically.

  2. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California consumers are entitled to the following specific consumer rights notice: The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite N-112, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at 1 (800) 952-5210.

Snap’s New Growth Engine Isn’t Ads

🔦 Spotlight

Hey LA,

This week’s most interesting story isn’t a flashy new feature, it’s a quieter flex: Snapchat is getting people to pay for Snapchat, on purpose.

Snap just proved “free app” isn’t the only business model

Snap says its direct revenue business is now running at a $1B annualized pace, with 25M+ subscribers paying across a growing menu of products like Snapchat+, Lens+, Snapchat Premium, and Memories Storage Plans. That matters because it’s not just a nice add-on to ads, it’s a different kind of relationship with users. Ads monetize attention. Subscriptions monetize intent.

And intent is sticky. If someone pulls out a card for you, they don’t churn the way an algorithm does.

Creator Subscriptions are the real tell

Snap is also launching Creator Subscriptions, starting with an alpha on February 23 for select U.S. creators, then expanding to Snap Stars in Canada, the U.K., and France in the following weeks. The offer is straightforward: subscriber-only Stories and Snaps, priority replies, and an ad-free experience inside that creator’s Stories.

The strategic move is even simpler. Snap wants “paying for closeness” to happen inside Stories and Chat, not on some external membership page. If they get that right, creators stop treating Snapchat as just a top-of-funnel channel and start treating it like a place to actually monetize their audience. Snap, meanwhile, gets a revenue stream that doesn’t care what CPMs are doing this quarter.

Meanwhile, IRL: lululemon’s Studio Yet.

Lululemon’s Studio Yet. pop-up is running Feb. 18 through March 8 at 8175 Melrose Ave. It’s a ticketed, limited-capacity lineup of workouts and community programming, with proceeds (less fees) supporting BlacklistLA.

Keep scrolling for the latest LA venture rounds, fund news and acquisitions.

🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

      • Radiant announced a strategic investment from Lockheed Martin via Lockheed Martin Ventures, further oversubscribing the company’s current financing round. Radiant is developing its 1 MW Kaleidos portable nuclear microreactor and says it’s targeting a first reactor startup this summer at Idaho National Laboratory, with initial customer deployments planned for 2028. - learn more
      • Mesh Optical Technologies announced it has raised over $50M, led by Thrive Capital, to scale production of its Alpha C1 optical transceiver, which converts electrical signals to light at 1.6 Tbps for AI data centers. The startup says its edge is manufacturing: it builds the optical engine using fast, repeatable flip-chip die bonding to make high-volume, U.S.-based production of optical links possible, backed by a team with experience from SpaceX and Intel.- learn more

                  LA Venture Funds

                  • Alexandria Venture Investments participated as an existing investor in Ten63 Therapeutics’ latest strategic financing, which also included participation from Morpheus Ventures and added new backers such as Chugai Venture Fund and the Gates Foundation, bringing total funding to more than $45M. Ten63 says it will use the capital to scale BEYOND, its AI-driven “Large Quantum Chemistry Model” platform for designing small-molecule drugs against historically “undruggable” targets, including programs in oncology and an HPV-focused effort supported by the Gates Foundation.- learn more
                  • B Capital participated in Code Metal’s $125M Series B, a round led by Salesforce Ventures that valued the company at $1.25B, alongside investors including Accel, J2 Ventures, Shield Capital, Smith Point Capital, and others.Code Metal says it will use the new capital to expand engineering, accelerate product development, grow government and commercial partnerships, and scale go-to-market for its “verifiable” AI code generation and translation platform used in mission-critical environments. - learn more
                  • Bonfire Ventures co-led Odynn’s $9.5M seed round alongside 8VC, with participation from Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst. Odynn says it’s building personalized AI infrastructure for travel companies, aiming to replace one-size-fits-all booking portals with dynamic experiences that tailor search, recommendations, and conversion flows to each traveler. - learn more
                  • MTech Capital led Qumis’s $4.3M oversubscribed seed round, which also brought in American Family Ventures as a new strategic investor and pushed total funding to $6.75M. The company says it’s building an attorney-trained AI platform for commercial insurance “coverage intelligence,” and will use the funding to expand go-to-market and deepen product capabilities as adoption grows among large brokers and carriers (including NFP). - learn more
                  • WndrCo participated in Mansa’s seed funding round, which the company says totaled $12M and was led by MaC Venture Capital. Mansa is now launching a vertical “micro-drama” format inside its app, debuting with the 27-episode original series The Heiress, The Baller & The Secret Society and positioning the feature as a mobile-first way to release serialized stories globally. - learn more
                  • Alpha Edison co-led Ownwell’s $50M Series B, with Wonder Ventures participating alongside investors including Mercato Partners, Intuit Ventures, Left Lane Capital, First Round Capital, Long Journey Ventures, and PROOF Fund. The round includes $30M in equity and $20M in debt financing from Western Alliance Bank, and Ownwell says it will use the capital to expand nationally and simplify the property-tax appeal process through a new “National Appeals Packet” product. - learn more
                  • Three Six Zero participated as an existing investor in Hook’s $10M Series A, which was led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Point72 Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, and Waverley Capital, bringing Hook’s total funding to $16M. Hook is an artist-first social platform that lets fans legally remix licensed songs using simple AI-powered tools and share them across social platforms, and it says the new capital will fund user growth plus product expansion like an Android app, richer creation formats, and deeper ecosystem integrations. - learn more
                  • Overture Ventures participated as an existing investor in Zero Homes’ $16.8M Series A, which was led by Prelude Ventures alongside SJF Ventures and the Exelon Foundation. Zero Homes says it’s using the funding to expand into new markets, broaden its home-upgrade offerings, and grow its contractor network, powered by a smartphone-based “digital twin” approach that produces upgrade designs and pricing remotely. - learn more
                  • Rebel Fund participated in Sphinx’s $7.1M seed round, which was led by Cherry Ventures alongside Y Combinator, Deel Ventures, and Singularity Capital. Sphinx is building browser-native compliance agents that work inside banks’ and fintechs’ existing tools to automate AML, KYC, and KYB work, with the new funding earmarked to scale that “agentic compliance workforce.” - learn more
                  • Matter Venture Partners led ChipAgents’ oversubscribed $50M Series A1, bringing total capital raised to $74M, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Micron, MediaTek, and Ericsson. ChipAgents says it will use the new funding to scale its agentic AI platform for chip design and verification, expand engineering and research, and accelerate global deployment of multi-agent “chip teams,” alongside a new HQ buildout in Santa Clara. - learn more
                  • MemorialCare Innovation Fund participated in SpendRule’s $2M round, which was led by Abundant Venture Partners with additional backing from Zeal Capital Partners. SpendRule is emerging from stealth with an AI-driven platform that helps hospitals validate invoices against complex contract terms before payments go out, aiming to reduce overspending and “contract leakage” across purchased services. The company says early customers include health systems like MemorialCare, Kettering Health, and MUSC Health. - learn more

                              LA Exits

                              • Fred Segal is being acquired by Aritzia, which is buying the brand’s rights/IP (terms not disclosed) and planning a revival under its ownership. Melrose Avenue is central to the deal too, since Aritzia is also taking a lease on Fred Segal’s iconic ivy-covered site at 8100 Melrose as part of the comeback plan. - learn more
                              • The Expert is being acquired by Havenly in an all-equity deal (terms not disclosed), bringing The Expert’s high-end virtual designer consultations and trade-oriented marketplace into Havenly’s broader home and commerce ecosystem. Lee Anne Blake will join Havenly as chief commercial officer, and while The Expert will remain a standalone website, Havenly plans to plug in its tech to strengthen The Expert’s purchasing and procurement tools for designers. - learn more

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                                                      💘Zeitview’s New Valentine : Catching Methane Leaks

                                                      🔦 Spotlight

                                                      Hello Los Angeles, happy Friday and happy Valentine’s Day weekend.

                                                      While the rest of us are debating flowers vs. gifts vs. reservations, LA’s infrastructure nerds are out here celebrating a different kind of romance: finding leaks before they ghost your entire operation.

                                                      Zeitview just made methane a first-class feature

                                                      Zeitview has acquired Insight M, folding high-frequency aerial methane detection into its broader “see it, measure it, fix it” play for critical infrastructure. The combined offering pairs methane monitoring with Zeitview’s predictive asset-health and inspection workflows, so operators can spot emissions faster, prioritize repairs, and tie results back to ROI instead of vibes.

                                                      What Zeitview actually does, beyond the buzzwords

                                                      If you haven’t been tracking them, Zeitview is essentially the operating layer for inspecting big, physical assets using drones, aircraft, and computer vision. They can analyze imagery you already have or capture fresh data, then turn it into inspection reports and analytics through their Asset Insights platform.

                                                      Zeitview was previously known as DroneBase and rebranded after raising an expansion round, signaling a broader push beyond “drones” into enterprise-grade infrastructure intelligence across energy and other asset-heavy industries.

                                                      Why Insight M fits, and why this isn’t just “climate tech”

                                                      Methane is the rare climate problem that also hits the P&L, because a leak is both emissions and lost product. Insight M has built credibility around methane monitoring that’s meant to be operational, not just observational, and that plugs neatly into Zeitview’s inspection footprint.

                                                      Put together, this looks less like a single acquisition and more like a workflow upgrade: one system that finds a problem, quantifies it, routes it to the right team, and proves it was fixed. The least romantic Valentine’s message of all, maybe, but also the most adult: “I noticed something small, and I handled it before it became expensive.”

                                                      Keep scrolling for the latest LA venture rounds, fund news and acquisitions.

                                                      🤝 Venture Deals

                                                          LA Companies


                                                          • HAWKs (Hiking Adventures With Kids), a nature-based children’s enrichment brand founded in Los Angeles, secured a strategic investment from Post Investment Group to accelerate its nationwide franchise expansion. The company plans to scale its mobile, outdoor-program model (after-school adventures, camps, and weekend sessions) by opening franchise territories across the U.S. while using Post’s franchising platform to build the operational infrastructure and support system for new operators. - learn more

                                                                      LA Venture Funds

                                                                      • Allomer Capital Group participated in TRUCE Software’s newly closed Series B, a round led by Yttrium with additional backing from New Amsterdam Growth Capital. The company did not disclose the amount, but says it will use the funding to scale go-to-market for two mobile-first product suites: an AI video telematics platform for commercial fleets that runs on standard smartphones, and TRUCE Family, a software approach to limiting student phone distractions in K–12 schools. - learn more
                                                                      • Wonder Ventures participated in The Biological Computing Company’s $25M seed round, which was led by Primary Venture Partners alongside Builders VC, Refactor Capital, E1 Ventures, Proximity, and Tusk Ventures. The startup is commercializing “biological compute,” connecting living neurons to modern AI systems to make certain tasks dramatically more energy-efficient, and says its first product shows a 23x retained improvement in video model efficiency while also helping discover new AI architectures. - learn more
                                                                      • Bonfire Ventures co-led Santé’s $7.6M seed round, with backing from Operator Collective, Y Combinator, and Veridical Ventures. Santé is building an AI- and fintech-driven operating system for wine and liquor retailers that brings POS, inventory, e-commerce, delivery orders, and invoice workflows into one platform to replace a lot of manual, fragmented processes. - learn more
                                                                      • B Capital co-led Apptronik’s initial 2025 Series A and participated again in the company’s new $520M Series A extension, bringing the total Series A to $935M+ (nearly $1B raised overall). The company says it will use the fresh capital to ramp production and deployments of its Apollo humanoid robots and invest in facilities for robot training and data collection, with the extension also bringing in new backers like AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and Qatar Investment Authority alongside repeat investors including Google and Mercedes-Benz. - learn more
                                                                      • WndrCo participated in Inertia Enterprises’s new $450M Series A, a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners with additional investors including GV, Modern Capital, and Threshold Ventures. The company says it will use the milestone-based financing to commercialize laser-based fusion built on physics proven at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including building its “Thunderwall” high-power laser system and scaling a production line to mass-manufacture fusion fuel targets. - learn more
                                                                      • Riot Ventures participated as a returning investor in Integrate’s $17M Series A, which was led by FPV Ventures with participation from Fuse VC and Rsquared VC. Integrate is pitching an ultra-secure project management platform built for classified, multi-organization programs, and says it has become a requirement for certain U.S. Space Force launch efforts. The company plans to use the new funding to ship additional capabilities for government customers and scale go-to-market across the defense tech sector. - learn more
                                                                      • MANTIS Ventures participated in Project Omega’s $12M oversubscribed seed round, which was led by Starship Ventures alongside Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, Slow Ventures, and others. Project Omega is emerging from stealth to build an end-to-end nuclear fuel recycling capability in the U.S., aiming to turn spent nuclear fuel into long-duration power sources and critical materials, with early lab demonstrations underway and an ARPA-E partnership to validate a commercially viable recycling pathway. - learn more
                                                                      • Plus Capital participated in Garner Health’s $118M round, which was led by Khosla Ventures with additional backing from Founders Fund and existing investors including Maverick Ventures and Thrive Capital, valuing the company at $1.35B. Garner says it helps employers steer members to high-quality doctors using its “Smart Match” provider recommendations and a reimbursement-style incentive called “Garner Rewards,” and it will use the funding to expand its offerings, grow its care team, and scale partnerships with payers and health systems. - learn more
                                                                      • Emerging Ventures co-led Taiv’s $13M Series A+ alongside IDC Ventures, with continued support from investors including Y Combinator and Garage Capital. Taiv says it will use the funding to scale its “Business TV” platform, which uses AI to detect and swap TV commercials in venues like bars and restaurants with more relevant ads and on-screen content, as it expands across major North American markets. - learn more

                                                                                LA Exits

                                                                                • Mattel163 is being acquired by Mattel, which is buying out NetEase’s remaining 50% stake and valuing the mobile games studio at $318M. The deal gives Mattel full ownership and control of the team behind its IP driven mobile titles, strengthening its in-house publishing and user acquisition capabilities as it expands its digital games business. - learn more
                                                                                • DJ Mex Corp. is set to be acquired in part by Marwynn Holdings, which signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase a 51% stake in the U.S.-based e-waste sourcing and logistics company. The deal would bring DJ Mex into Marwynn’s EcoLoopX platform to expand its asset-light “reverse supply chain” services for recyclable materials, though it’s still subject to due diligence and final agreements. - learn more

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                                                                                                        Skyryse Raised $300M+ to Do What Most Startups Can’t

                                                                                                        🔦 Spotlight

                                                                                                        Hello Los Angeles

                                                                                                        LA just minted another aviation unicorn, and it is not because someone built a prettier helicopter demo. It's because Skyryse is trying to do the rarest thing in tech: turn software into something regulators will sign their name to, and that pilots will trust when conditions are at their worst.

                                                                                                        El Segundo’s newest unicorn is simplifying the cockpit

                                                                                                        Skyryse raised $300M+ in a Series C at a $1.15B valuation. The round was led by Autopilot Ventures and returning investor Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority, ArrowMark Partners, Atreides, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Rokos (RCM Private Markets Fund), and Woodline Partners, among others.

                                                                                                        Image Source: Skyryse

                                                                                                        The pitch is bold and deceptively simple. Skyryse is building a “universal operating system for flight,” SkyOS, designed to replace the cockpit’s maze of mechanical controls with a computer-driven system that makes routine flight easier and emergency situations more manageable. The bigger claim is standardization: if you can make the interface and controls feel consistent across aircraft, you reduce training friction, lower pilot workload, and create fewer opportunities for human error when the stakes spike.

                                                                                                        The real work starts after the press release

                                                                                                        Skyryse says the funding will be used to accelerate FAA certification and scale SkyOS across additional aircraft platforms, including the Black Hawk. That is the hard part, and also the part most startups never reach. Aviation is where software has to prove itself in edge cases, repeatedly, with zero tolerance for surprises, because “mostly works” is another way of saying “eventually fails.”

                                                                                                        The bet hiding inside the headlines

                                                                                                        If Skyryse clears certification and can port SkyOS across aircraft types the way software ports across devices, it could unlock a new category of safety automation for fleets that cannot afford downtime, confusion, or long training cycles. Emergency response, defense modernization, and industrial aviation are all markets where reliability is the product, and simplicity is the differentiator. In a world obsessed with shipping faster, Skyryse is playing a different game: getting permission to ship at all.

                                                                                                        Keep scrolling for the latest LA venture rounds, fund news and acquisitions.

                                                                                                        🤝 Venture Deals

                                                                                                            LA Companies

                                                                                                            • Accrual announced it has raised $75M in new funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from Go Global Ventures, Pruven Capital, Edward Jones Ventures, and a group of founders and industry executives. The company says the raise supports its official launch and continued buildout, alongside early partner firms, investors, and advisors. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Morpheus Space secured a $15M strategic investment led by Alpine Space Ventures and the European Investment Fund, with continued support from existing investors, to fuel its next phase of growth. The company says it will use the capital to expand mass-production capacity and its team at its Dresden “Reloaded” facility, helping industrialize its GO-2 electric propulsion systems and meet rising demand from large satellite constellations. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Machina Labs raised a $124M Series C to build its first large-scale “Intelligent Factory,” a U.S.-based production site aimed at rapidly manufacturing complex metal structures for defense, aerospace, and advanced mobility. The company says the funding, backed by investors including Woven Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, and Strategic Development Fund, will help it scale its AI-and-robotics “software-defined” manufacturing approach from breakthrough tech into high-throughput production infrastructure. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Midi Health raised a $100M Series D led by Goodwater Capital, with new investors Foresite Capital and Serena Ventures joining and existing backers including GV, Emerson Collective, and others returning, valuing the company at over $1B. The women’s telehealth provider says it will use the funding to scale beyond menopause care into a broader, AI-enabled women’s health platform, expanding access and using AI to personalize care and streamline clinical operations. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Mitra EV raised $27M in financing, combining equity led by Ultra Capital with a credit facility from S2G Investments, to expand its “no upfront capital” fleet electrification model. The Los Angeles-based company says it will use the money to grow its shared charging network, roll out additional fleet solutions, and expand into new markets, positioning itself as a fully managed package that bundles EV leasing, overnight charging, and access to shared fast-charging hubs. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Plug raised a $20M Series A to scale its EV-first marketplace, following $60M in used EV sales since launching in 2024. The round was led by Lightspeed with participation from Galvanize and existing investors including Autotech Ventures, Leap Forward Ventures, and Renn Global, as Plug positions itself as infrastructure for the coming wave of off-lease EV inventory with EV-native pricing, battery health insights, and faster dealer transactions. - learn more
                                                                                                            • Breezy, a Los Angeles-based AI operating system for residential real estate professionals, raised an oversubscribed $10M pre-seed round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Fifth Wall, DST Global, Liquid 2 Ventures, O.G. Venture Partners, and others. The company says it will use the funding to strengthen its product and data platform, grow engineering and design, invest in security, and prepare for broader U.S. and international rollout. - learn more

                                                                                                                      LA Venture Funds

                                                                                                                      • Upfront Ventures participated in Daytona’s $24M Series A, a round led by FirstMark Capital with participation from Pace Capital and existing investors E2VC and Darkmode, plus strategic checks from Datadog and Figma Ventures. Daytona is building “composable computers” for AI agents, essentially programmatic, stateful sandboxes that can be spun up, paused, and snapshotted on demand so agents can safely run code and explore many paths in parallel at scale. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Second Sight Ventures participated in Willie’s Remedy+’s $15M Series A, a round led by Left Lane Capital to fuel national retail expansion and continued product development for its hemp-derived THC beverages positioned as an alcohol alternative. The company says it has already sold 400,000+ bottles in under a year and claims the top spot for online THC beverage sales as it gears up for broader distribution in 2026. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Navitas Capital led Cadastral’s $9.5M funding round, with participation from JLL Spark Global Ventures, AvalonBay, Equity Residential, and 1Sharpe. Cadastral says it will use the capital to accelerate product development and expand go-to-market for its vertical AI platform, positioning the product as an “AI analyst in a box” that automates core commercial real estate workflows like underwriting and due diligence. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • B Capital participated in Lunar Energy’s $232M raise, which the company disclosed as two rounds: a $102M Series D led by B Capital and Prelude Ventures, and a previously unannounced $130M Series C led by Activate Capital. The startup says it will use the capital to rapidly scale home-battery manufacturing and deployments, turning those distributed systems into a grid-supporting virtual power plant as electricity demand surges. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • B Capital participated in Goodfire’s $150M Series B at a $1.25B valuation, a round that also included investors like Juniper Ventures, DFJ Growth, Salesforce Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed, South Park Commons, Wing, and Eric Schmidt. Goodfire says it will use the funding to scale its interpretability-driven “model design environment,” aimed at helping teams understand, debug, and deliberately shape how AI models behave in high-stakes settings. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Helena participated in Positron AI’s oversubscribed $230M Series B at a post-money valuation above $1B, alongside strategic investors including Qatar Investment Authority and Arm. The round was co-led by ARENA Private Wealth, Jump Trading, and Unless, and the company says it will use the capital to scale energy-efficient AI inference now and accelerate its next-generation “Asimov” silicon roadmap. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Smash Capital participated in ElevenLabs’ $500M Series D, which values the company at $11B as it scales its voice and conversational AI products for enterprise use. The round was led by Sequoia Capital with support from existing backers like Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Capital, plus additional participation including Lightspeed Venture Partners. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • MTech Capital participated in Pasito’s $21M Series A, a round led by Insight Partners with additional participation from Y Combinator. Pasito says it’s building an AI-native workspace for group health, life, and retirement benefits that turns messy, unstructured plan and census data into a unified layer so carriers and brokers can automate workflows end-to-end, from quoting and enrollment to support and claims. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Rebel Fund participated in Ruvo’s $4.6M seed round, led by 1confirmation with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others, as the Y Combinator-backed fintech expands its cross-border payments infrastructure between Brazil and the U.S. Ruvo says it operates like a U.S. dollar account for Brazilians, combining Pix, stablecoins, ACH/wire transfers, and a Visa card in one app to speed up remittances by reducing intermediaries. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Rainfall Ventures participated in a seed funding round for Deft Robotics alongside Spring Camp, backing the company’s push to build AI-driven automation tools for manufacturers. The round amount wasn’t disclosed in the announcement, but the funding is positioned to help Deft scale product development and customer deployments in industrial settings. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Trousdale Ventures participated in CesiumAstro’s Series C by leading the $270M equity portion of a $470M total growth-capital raise, alongside investors including Woven Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, and Airbus Ventures. CesiumAstro says the broader financing also includes $200M from Export-Import Bank of the United States and J.P. Morgan, and will fund a major U.S. scale-up including a new 270,000-square-foot HQ and expanded manufacturing to accelerate deployment of its software-defined, AI-enabled space communications platforms. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Mucker Capital participated in Linq’s $20M Series A, which was led by TQ Ventures to help the company become infrastructure for AI assistants that run directly inside messaging apps. Linq’s platform lets developers and businesses deploy assistants through channels like iMessage, RCS, and SMS, and the company says the funding will go toward expanding the team, building a go-to-market motion, and continuing to develop the product. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Sound Ventures participated in Day AI’s $20M Series A, which was led by Sequoia Capital with additional participation from Greenoaks, Conviction, and Permanent Capital. Day AI says the funding will help scale its AI-native CRM platform and support its move into general availability, positioning “CRMx” as a faster, context-driven alternative to legacy systems that turn simple questions into slow projects. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • Chaac Ventures participated in Arbor’s $6.3M seed round, which was led by 645 Ventures with additional backing from Next Play Ventures, Comma Capital, and angel investors. Arbor is building an AI interview and research platform that captures frontline employee and customer conversations and turns that qualitative “ground truth” into structured operational intelligence leaders can act on quickly, without slow surveys or pricey consultants. - learn more
                                                                                                                      • B Capital participated in When’s $10.2M Series A, a round co-led by ManchesterStory and 7wire, with new investor Mairs & Power Venture Capital and returning backers Enfield Capital Partners, TTV Capital, and Alumni Ventures. When says it helps employers and departing or transitioning employees navigate health coverage changes by steering people to more affordable alternatives to COBRA through an AI-powered marketplace and targeted reimbursements, with the new capital going toward team growth and expanding into more transition scenarios like Medicare eligibility and early retirements. - learn more

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