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.

Rainmaker Just Raised $100M to Solve the Weather

🔦 Spotlight

Hey Los Angeles.

Last year, we introduced you to an El Segundo startup that had raised $25M to make it rain.

This year, rain is apparently just the beginning.

Rainmaker raised a $100M Series B to expand its cloud-seeding technology and pursue a much larger ambition: building the scientific and technical infrastructure to understand, influence and eventually mitigate extreme weather.

In startup parlance, it is a pivot from “make it rain” to “solve the weather.” Subtle.

The round included NOA VC, DCVC, Lowercarbon Capital, Dream Ventures and LA-based Upfront Ventures.

When we covered Rainmaker last year, the company was preparing to expand its drone fleet, atmospheric research and commercial partnerships.

It now says it has generated more than 145M verified gallons of precipitation during a four-month period. During a summer research program near Homer, Alaska, Rainmaker says one operation produced 19M gallons in three hours.

Those are eye-catching numbers. The company’s ambitions are considerably larger.

Rainmaker is working to build what it calls a “Weather Prime,” combining atmospheric science, autonomous aircraft, sensors and predictive software into an infrastructure platform capable of responding to water scarcity and extreme weather.

The idea is to make cloud seeding cheaper, more measurable and easier to deploy at scale. Rainmaker’s drones deliver specialized particles into carefully selected clouds, while radar and software help determine where to operate and measure how much additional rain or snow may have been produced.

The new funding will help Rainmaker hire more atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, chemists and engineers while expanding its research and data-collection capabilities. The company also plans to move toward increasingly autonomous operations, allowing more missions to be conducted at a lower cost.

Rainmaker expects its cost per acre-foot of water to fall below alternatives such as desalination and agricultural fallowing in the Colorado River Basin during the upcoming water season. If that projection holds, cloud seeding could begin looking less like an experimental intervention and more like another piece of water infrastructure.

That “if” is doing some serious atmospheric lifting.

Cloud seeding has existed for decades, but measuring its precise effects remains scientifically difficult. A successful operation requires the right type of cloud at the right moment, and proving exactly how much precipitation would have fallen without intervention is no simple task.

Rainmaker’s next challenge, therefore, is not merely to produce more rain. It must make the results measurable, repeatable and credible enough for governments, farmers and communities to trust.

That responsibility becomes even more important as the company expands its vision beyond water. Rainmaker describes cloud seeding as the first step toward eventually mitigating hail, heat and other weather-related threats.

It is a grand ambition, even by startup standards. Most founders promise to disrupt an industry. Rainmaker wants to influence the atmosphere.

The company’s location makes the mission particularly fitting. El Segundo has become a center for startups tackling physical problems with drones, satellites, factories and defense systems. Rainmaker is applying that same aerospace-minded approach to one of the West’s oldest constraints.

For Los Angeles, this story is about more than another substantial funding round. Rainmaker has progressed from proposing that cloud-seeding technology could be modernized to claiming it has produced rainfall at a meaningful scale.

Now, with four times the capital it announced last year, the company must prove that those results can become dependable infrastructure.

California has never been shy about reshaping nature to support its growth. Rainmaker is betting that the next great water project will not be built across the landscape.

It will fly into the clouds.

More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

🤝 Venture Deals

    LA Companies

    • Hair care brand Arey raised an undisclosed Series A led by Unilever Ventures, with returning investors Greycroft and Female Founders Fund also participating. The company, which develops supplements and topical treatments for graying and aging hair, will use the funding for product development, clinical research, hiring and retail expansion. - learn more
    • Fluxnium raised a $7M seed round led by Congruent Ventures, with participation from Constellation Technology Ventures and Active Impact Investments. The company will use the funding to develop, test and scale its fiber technology for extracting uranium from seawater, aiming to create a secure domestic alternative to conventional uranium mining. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds
    • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in BigHat Biosciences’ $75M Series C, co-led by DFJ Growth and Premji Invest, bringing the AI-driven biotech’s total funding to $223M. BigHat will use the capital to expand its autonomous protein-design platform and advance its AI-designed cancer therapies, including BHB810 and BHB299, toward key clinical milestones. - learn more
    • Alt Capital participated in Trebellar’s $18M Series A, led by Blossom Capital and joined by Haystack, 1Flourish and Bynd Venture Capital. Trebellar will use the funding to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams and enhance its AI platform, which helps enterprises combine fragmented workplace data to make better real estate decisions. - learn more
    • B Capital participated in Precision Neuroscience’s oversubscribed $250M Series D, co-led by Pershing Square, the Ackman Oxman Institute and an undisclosed life sciences fund, bringing the brain-computer interface company’s total funding to $430M. Precision will use the capital to expand clinical trials, advance its Layer 7 brain implant through additional FDA review and build the infrastructure needed for commercialization. - learn more
    • Mantis Venture Capital participated in Pilgrim’s $25M seed round, led by Buckley Ventures, which valued the Redwood City defense-biotech startup at $150M. Pilgrim is developing a portable system that monitors the air for viruses and other biological threats, with additional backing from Anthropic leaders, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and other technology investors. - learn more
    • Starshot Capital participated as a returning investor in Mojave Energy Systems’ $19M Series B, led by Fairtree Elevant Ventures with a significant investment from River Bay Investments. The Sunnyvale company will use the funding to expand manufacturing, grow its sales team and develop new products for its energy-efficient commercial heating, cooling and humidity-control platform. - learn more
    • 4th Revolution Capital participated in infiniFi’s $3M-plus funding round, led by Electric Capital and joined by New Form Capital, Generative Ventures, Fasanara Capital and others. The decentralized finance platform will use the capital to launch infiniFi Prime, expand its products through neobanks and consumer finance apps and prepare for its Q4 token generation event. - learn more
    • Riot Ventures participated in American Supercritical’s $8M pre-seed round, led by Silent Ventures and joined by Harpoon, Reveille VC, Hillwood, Mana Ventures, Climate Capital and Alumni Ventures. The Denver startup is developing compact systems that use supercritical carbon dioxide to convert gas-turbine waste heat into additional electricity, potentially helping data centers generate up to 50% more power without using more fuel or water. - learn more
    • M13 led Baselayer’s $35M Series A, with participation from Torch Capital, Picus Ventures, Afore Capital and Socure executive Matt Thompson. The company will use the funding to expand its identity and risk infrastructure beyond businesses to AI agents, helping financial institutions verify who an agent represents, what it is authorized to do and whether it can be trusted. - learn more
    • BAM Ventures participated in Bird&Be’s $13M funding round, which was led by BDC Thrive and BFG Partners and joined by Founder Collective, Rejuvenation Ventures and HSR Ventures. The fertility and wellness brand will use the capital to develop new supplements and at-home diagnostic tests, expand its retail presence and broaden access to evidence-backed reproductive care. - learn more
    • March Capital joined Snorkel AI’s $350M Series E as a new investor, participating in a round co-led by Insight Partners and S32 that valued the company at $3.5B. Snorkel will use the funding to expand its platform for creating the specialized datasets and training environments needed to develop and evaluate advanced AI models and agents. - learn more
    • Clocktower Technology Ventures is among the investors backing Soteris, which has raised more than $8M in seed funding led by Spider Capital. The Y Combinator-backed insurtech company has emerged from stealth with an AI platform that helps property and casualty insurers identify the profitability and expected losses of individual policies, potentially improving margins without changing rates or staffing. - learn more
    • Smash Capital led Firecrawl’s $75M Series B, with participation from Altos Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Freestyle and Offline Ventures. Firecrawl will use the capital to expand Alexandria, its new platform that gives AI agents one place to access the live web, specialized indexes and licensed data while compensating the people and organizations supplying that knowledge. - learn more
    • ND Capital participated in Ramona’s $25M Series A, which was led by ARCH Venture Partners and joined by Stealthpoint, Fall Line Capital, Hamamatsu, Murchison Capital Partners and Overlap Holdings. Ramona will use the funding to expand production and grow its team as it scales a 24-camera microscope that captures entire biological experiments at cellular resolution, generating richer data for drug discovery and AI models. - learn more
    • Chisos Capital participated in Axio BioPharma’s $2.4M pre-seed round alongside Elmstead Partners, the Chemical Angel Network and several angel investors. The Madison-based company will use the funding to deploy its Axio Lattice platform, which connects manufacturing data across pharmaceutical companies and their partners without requiring either side to replace existing systems or relinquish control of its data. - learn more

    LA Exits

    • Zuma has been acquired by real estate technology company Venn for $50M, bringing its AI leasing tools and engineering team into Venn’s platform. The combined company plans to help multifamily operators automate leasing and eventually expand its AI capabilities into collections, renewals and resident support. - learn more
    • GTXN was acquired by digital asset platform Luno for an undisclosed amount, bringing its licensed collection and payout infrastructure into Luno’s operations. GTXN will serve as Luno’s cross-border payments arm, helping enterprise customers move money between developed and emerging markets through a single provider with fewer intermediaries and faster settlement. - learn more
    • Podium Entertainment was acquired by private equity firms Shamrock Capital and Flexpoint Ford for more than $400M, with GoldState Music also taking a minority stake. The audiobook and publishing company, which has built a catalog of roughly 15,000 titles by working with independent authors, will retain its existing management team. - learn more

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      Impulse Space Just Raised $308M to Build the Roads in Orbit
      Impulse Space

      🔦 Spotlight

      Happy Friday, Los Angeles.

      Space may not have roads, but it still has a transportation problem.

      Rockets have become remarkably good at carrying satellites beyond Earth. Once those satellites reach space, however, getting them from one orbit to another can still be slow, expensive or impossible.

      Redondo Beach-based Impulse Space wants to change that, and investors are giving it considerably more fuel for the journey.

      The company raised a $308M extension to its Series D, bringing the round’s total to $808M. The new financing comes just over three months after Impulse announced the initial $500M raise and pushes its total capital raised above $1.3B.

      Existing investors 137 Ventures, BANNER VC, DFJ Growth, Linse Capital, Lux Capital and Valor Equity Partners participated in the extension. Impulse did not disclose a valuation, but convincing existing backers to commit another $308M so soon after an already substantial round is a strong signal of confidence in both the company and the market it is pursuing.

      Founded by former SpaceX propulsion executive Tom Mueller, Impulse is building vehicles designed to move satellites and payloads after they have already reached space. If rockets are responsible for getting cargo off the ground, Impulse wants to handle what happens after delivery.

      Impulse Space

      Its Mira spacecraft is built for precise maneuvering, payload deployment and proximity operations in orbit. Helios, scheduled for its first flight in 2027, is a high-energy kick stage designed to move payloads from low Earth orbit to destinations such as geostationary orbit in less than a day. The company has also introduced an electric propulsion system called Electra and a rideshare service aimed at making higher-energy orbits more accessible.

      Together, those products represent something larger than a collection of spacecraft. Impulse is attempting to build a transportation network for an economy that increasingly needs one.

      That need is becoming harder to ignore. More satellites are reaching orbit, governments are prioritizing responsive space capabilities and commercial operators want greater flexibility after launch. A satellite that can change position, reach a different orbit or respond quickly to a new mission is significantly more useful than one permanently tied to its original destination.

      The U.S. government is already putting Impulse’s thesis to work. Helios was selected for the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 program, making it the first upper-stage prime awarded a position in the program. Impulse also received a $28M contract extension to provide two Mira spacecraft for additional Space Systems Command missions.

      The company says its headcount has more than doubled over the past year as it expanded its facilities in Redondo Beach, Mojave, Boulder and Washington, D.C. The new capital will support further hiring, product development and facility growth as Impulse works to serve commercial, civil and defense customers.

      It also recently appointed its first chief financial officer, Adam Townsend, who previously helped guide Vizio through an IPO and its eventual sale to Walmart. The hire is another sign that Impulse is preparing for a more complex chapter, one defined not only by engineering milestones but also by a growing capital base, government contracts and large-scale operations.

      That is where this announcement becomes more interesting than its considerable price tag.

      Impulse has already shown that Mira can operate in space. Now it must prove that it can turn several ambitious vehicles into dependable infrastructure. The difference between a promising spacecraft company and a transportation network is repetition: more missions, more customers and systems that work reliably enough to become part of how the space economy operates.

      An $808M round gives Impulse the resources to pursue that vision. It also raises the expectations attached to it.

      For Southern California, the financing reinforces the region’s role in the new space economy. Los Angeles helped build the original aerospace industry, and a new generation of companies is now developing the vehicles, factories and infrastructure intended to support life beyond the launchpad.

      Impulse Space is tackling what may be the next big bottleneck. Getting to space is only the beginning.

      Someone still has to get you where you are going.

      More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

      🤝 Venture Deals

        LA Venture Funds

        • Riot Ventures co-led EnduroSat’s $205M funding round alongside Atreides Management, with participation from GV, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, the European Innovation Council and other investors. The Bulgarian space company will use the capital to open a high-volume satellite factory in the U.S., build a major European space and defense hub and scale production of its standardized spacecraft. - learn more
        • Upfront Ventures and M13 participated in Ayble Health’s $16M Series A, led by Neon and joined by Unum Ventures, Cleveland Clinic Ventures, DigiTx and Accomplice. The virtual-care company will use the funding to expand its AI-enabled clinic for chronic digestive and autoimmune conditions across national health plans, major employers and benefits platforms, bringing its total capital raised to more than $27M. - learn more
        • Blue Heron Ventures participated in Voxela’s Series A, led by Delight Ventures and joined by SOMPO Growth Partners, Happiness Capital, Archetype Ventures and ALL STAR SAAS FUND, bringing the eldercare technology company’s total funding to approximately $13.2M. Voxela will use the capital to expand hiring and develop new AI capabilities for its VCare platform, which helps care facilities monitor residents, prevent incidents and automate administrative work such as documentation and reporting. - learn more
        • Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Mainstay’s more than $18M growth round alongside new investors Parker89, Stackpoint, Alpaca VC and FJ Labs, as well as returning backers Khosla Ventures and Era Ventures. Mainstay also acquired AI-powered listing platform Truelist and will use the funding to bring its real estate data, pricing and automation infrastructure to more brokerages, agents and smaller investors. - learn more
        • Amboy Street Ventures participated in Evvy’s $40M Series B, led by Catalio Capital Management and joined by new and returning investors including Rethink Impact, Muse Capital, Labcorp Venture Fund and General Catalyst. Evvy will use the funding to expand its AI-powered women’s health diagnostics and care platform, beginning with fertility, while growing distribution through physicians and strategic partners. - learn more
        • Second Sight Ventures participated in Fin.com’s $20M seed round, led by Expa and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, with backing from Coinbase Ventures and other investors. The payments infrastructure startup will use the funding to expand its cross-border network through additional acquisitions and plans to acquire a bank within six months. - learn more
        • Clearlake Capital, Mantis Venture Capital and Sound Ventures participated in Factory’s $200M funding round, which valued the AI software development company at $5B and brought its total funding above $400M. Factory will use the capital to accelerate research, product development and global expansion for its platform, which enables enterprises to build, manage and improve software using autonomous AI agents. - learn more
        • Navitas Capital led Scaffold’s $15M seed round, with participation from D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, Builders FirstSource and other construction-industry investors. The Austin startup will use the funding to expand its engineering team and broaden its AI-powered platform, which connects homebuilders, contractors and suppliers to automate scheduling, purchase orders and other coordination work. - learn more
        • Halogen Ventures led it’s electric’s oversubscribed bridge round, joined by Wisdom Ventures, Future Communities, E8 Angels and other new and returning investors, bringing the curbside EV-charging startup’s total funding to $15M. The financing will support its rapid expansion, including a New York City contract to install hundreds of locally manufactured chargers across all five boroughs over the next three years. - learn more
        • Matter Venture Partners participated in Delos Data’s more than $100M funding round alongside Matrix, Playground Global, Socratic Partners, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and IAG. The Palo Alto startup will use the capital to expand its engineering teams and accelerate development and sales of its Nonstop AI infrastructure, designed to reduce network bottlenecks and improve the speed and efficiency of AI inference. - learn more
        • Mantis Venture Capital and Gold House participated in A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya’s $5.5M pre-seed round alongside SV Angel, BoxGroup, Quiet Capital and other investors. Founded by Spotify’s former head of innovation, the startup is developing playful music apps that let users remix, manipulate and collaboratively create sounds rather than simply stream or generate songs. - learn more

        LA Exits

        • Headspace has agreed to be acquired by AI healthcare company Sword in a deal expected to close by the beginning of Q4 2026; financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition will combine Headspace’s mental health brand, global consumer base and network of more than 15,000 providers with Sword’s AI-powered clinical platform to offer more personalized and continuous care. - learn more
        • Nasty Gal was acquired by WSG Brands for an undisclosed amount, adding the women’s fashion label to a portfolio that also includes Von Dutch and Allbirds. WSG plans to expand Nasty Gal internationally and into categories such as footwear, beauty, activewear and accessories while growing its direct-to-consumer, wholesale and licensing businesses. - learn more
        • Converse Health was acquired by healthcare AI company Hello Patient for an undisclosed amount, bringing its back-office automation technology into the buyer’s platform. The combination will allow medical practices to use one system for patient communications and administrative work such as referral processing, chart follow-ups, authorization paperwork and medical records. - learn more

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          From Breaking Tech News to Backing It
          Image Source: Sources

          🔦 Spotlight

          Hey there, Los Angeles.

          For the past decade, Alex Heath has made a career out of figuring out what the technology industry is doing before everyone else.

          Now, he is going to invest in it.

          Heath announced this week that he is joining Los Angeles-based Sound Ventures as a partner on its investing team. The veteran technology journalist will continue independently operating Sources, the newsletter and podcast business he launched after leaving The Verge last year.

          It is an unusual career move, but perhaps not as unusual as it initially appears.

          Journalists and venture capitalists spend much of their time doing surprisingly similar work. Both look for signals before they become obvious, build relationships with people who know what is coming next and attempt to distinguish a lasting shift from a convincing story.

          The crucial difference is what happens after they find one.

          A journalist publishes. An investor writes a check.

          Heath has spent years reporting on some of the technology industry’s most powerful companies and executives. At The Verge, where he served as deputy editor, his work focused on the internal decisions shaping companies such as Meta. More recently, Sources has taken readers inside the AI race through reporting and interviews with executives including Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg.

          That experience gives Sound something venture firms increasingly want: someone who already understands the founders, companies and narratives competing to define the next era of technology.

          Sound Ventures is not exactly starting from scratch. Led in Los Angeles by Guy Oseary and Effie Epstein, the firm manages nearly $2B and has backed companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, World Labs, Brex, Affirm and GitLab. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sound deployed more than $800M into early positions in OpenAI, Anthropic and World Labs as it intensified its focus on artificial intelligence.

          Heath is joining during an important transition for the firm. Ashton Kutcher, who co-founded Sound with Oseary in 2015, departed earlier this year to launch a new venture firm. Oseary and Epstein are continuing to lead Sound while raising its fifth flagship fund and sharpening its strategy around companies with the potential to reach meaningful commercial scale.

          Adding Heath suggests that Sound’s next phase will not be defined by capital alone.

          As AI makes it faster and less expensive to build software, technical capability may become less effective as a differentiator. More startups will be able to create credible products, and more of them will compete for the same finite supply of customers, talent and attention.

          In that environment, knowing how to identify a compelling founder is only part of the job. Venture firms also need to understand how companies earn trust, communicate what makes them different and remain culturally relevant in an increasingly crowded market.

          That is familiar territory for Sound. Oseary built his career managing artists including Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, where recognizing talent was inseparable from helping that talent connect with an audience. Heath brings a different version of the same instinct, developed through finding important stories and understanding why people should pay attention to them.

          Heath will continue owning and operating Sources independently while expanding its podcast and interviewing prominent voices across the technology industry. That means he is not abandoning the platform or audience he built. He is adding a new vantage point.

          The combination could prove especially valuable to Sound. Heath brings the instincts of a reporter, the reach of an independent media founder and years of relationships with the people shaping technology. Now, he can apply that experience to finding and supporting the next generation of founders.

          It is a fitting evolution for someone who has spent his career identifying important technology stories early.

          This time, he will have the opportunity to help write what happens next.

          Venture firms once competed primarily through capital, networks and operating expertise. Now, access to attention is becoming an asset of its own. Founders need help reaching customers and shaping public understanding, while investors want better ways to recognize which people and ideas will command that attention next.

          Sound Ventures hired someone who has spent a decade doing exactly that.

          Heath used to decide which technology stories were worth following.

          Now, he will help decide which ones get funded.

          More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.

          🤝 Venture Deals

            LA Companies

            • Maven Robotics emerged from stealth with a $100M Series A and humanoid robots already operating in warehouse deployments. The company says its robots can work for 16 hours a day with 99% uptime and is positioning itself as a reliable alternative for businesses whose existing robotics providers fail to meet deployment targets. - learn more

            LA Venture Funds
            • Bedrock Capital participated in Mach Industries’ $600M Series C extension alongside Ribbit Capital, Infinite Capital and Sequoia, bringing the round’s total to $900M and doubling the defense startup’s valuation to $3.7B in three months. The Huntington Beach company manufactures lower-cost unmanned aircraft, strike weapons and counter-drone systems, while expanding into solid rocket motors and jet-engine production to address critical defense supply-chain bottlenecks. - learn more
            • U First Capital participated in Positron AI’s $875M funding round, which was co-led by NEA, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, Andra Capital, SemiAnalysis Capital and Jim Clark, valuing the AI chip startup at $5B. Positron will use the capital to bring its memory-focused Asimov processor and Titan server system to market, offering an energy-efficient alternative to GPUs for running AI models. - learn more
            • WndrCo participated in Harvey’s $550M funding round, co-led by Diffusion and Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing the legal AI company at $15.5B. Harvey will use the capital to expand its team and advance its AI platform, which helps law firms, in-house legal departments and professional-services organizations build and manage proprietary legal intelligence. - learn more
            • Nolan Capital participated in Encoded Therapeutics’ $275M Series F, which was co-led by GV and another healthcare-focused fund and included several new and returning investors. The biotech will use the capital to advance its lead gene therapy for Dravet syndrome through pivotal studies, expand its manufacturing capabilities and prepare another treatment for post-amputation nerve pain for clinical testing in 2027. - learn more
            • UP Partners led Overroute’s $5.5M seed round to expand its AI-powered freight execution platform for large trucking fleets and logistics operators. The company’s AI agents automate load monitoring, exception management and freight coordination, helping fleets respond to disruptions and keep shipments moving with less manual work. - learn more
            • Patron Fund participated in System’s $20M funding round alongside Will Ventures, Vine, Courtside, Daybreak, SV Angel and RiverPark Ventures. The San Francisco company will use the capital to expand its vertically integrated peptide platform, which connects patients with licensed clinicians and personalized treatments from U.S. compounding pharmacies while emphasizing testing, traceability and regulatory compliance. - learn more
            • Alpha Edison led Onix’s $5M pre-seed round, with participation from Garage Capital, Ride Home Fund and strategic investors including UTA co-founder Jeremy Zimmer and Real Ventures co-founder JS Cournoyer. The Montreal startup will use the funding to develop its private AI platform, onboard more specialists and prepare for a public launch, offering personalized guidance built exclusively from licensed expert knowledge rather than information scraped from the internet. - learn more
            • Rebel Fund participated in VideoGen’s $3.3M seed round alongside Y Combinator, Lobster Capital, Stretford End Capital, Mento VC, Pioneer Fund and Decacorn VC. The San Francisco startup, which has reached more than 5M users across 190 countries, will use the funding to expand its team and grow its AI platform for producing editable, copyright-free videos. - learn more

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