dot.LA Summit: Grid110 Wins Social Justice Award

dot.LA Summit: Grid110 Wins Social Justice Award

dot.La kicked off its inaugural in-person summit on Oct. 28-29 at the Fairmont Miramar hotel in Santa Monica. This year's summit features over 45 speakers covering cryptocurrency, telehealth, urban mobility and women in tech, among others. You can find a full schedule of this year's summit here and read the recap below!

Updates:


dot.LA Summit: As Attitudes Shift Around Drugs and Mental Health, ‘It’s Time’ for Psychedelic Therapies

Keerthi Vedantam

Fifty years after President Nixon announced the war on drugs, changing cultural attitudes around psychedelics have led to a slew of decriminalization and legalization efforts across the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration is now reviewing psychedelic-based drug, a sea change from just a few years ago.

Mike Dow from Field Trip Health, one of the many companies testing psychedelic-based drugs, and cannabis company Kurvana CEO Mehran Moghaddam believe that this shift will change the course of mental health treatment as the drugs become more accepted for medicinal use.

Canada-based Field Trip Health has clinics around the world, including Santa Monica, where therapists perform ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Ketamine, once known as a rave drug, has long been studied for its correlation with positive mental health outcomes in patients who use it. Read more >>

dot.LA Summit: The Concerts of the Future Will Be Hybrid, Says Wave Co-Founder

Joshua Letona

As the pandemic shut down, cancelled and delayed events people had been looking forward to, Wave co-founder and CEO Adam Arrigo saw an opportunity.

His company was founded in 2016 at a time when brands like Oculus and PlayStation were looking to bring virtual reality into the mainstream. Not knowing how ready people would be, Arrigo and his team were conservative with the company's money.

"We basically didn't spend any money because we weren't sure how quickly people were going to strap these things to their heads… And we were kind of right because VR sort of petered out," said Arrigo. Read more >>

dot.LA Summit: What to Expect When Breaking Into Tech Startups

Decerry Donato

There is no one secret to breaking into the tech industry, but one thing helps, a strong support system of colleagues and believing in yourself.

A group of powerhouse tech veterans talked about the roadblocks faced when starting out. Grace Kangdani, senior vice president market manager at Bank of America moderated a discussion on the pitfalls of coming up in a fast-paced industry. BallerTV Chief Technology Officer Kavodel Ohiomoba, Zella Life CEO Remy Meraz and Supernatural's Vice President of People Operations Lynnette Scarratt and Elisabeth Tuttass, head of community at Grid110 all agreed that there's no one path to success.

Finding success is oftentimes a matter of seeking out the right people to help you.

"At the end of the day people are genuinely wanting to help people," said Meraz who runs the life coaching platform. "And I guarantee you within two degrees of separation, there's a connection and people are really willing to make introductions and help in any way they can."

It's not uncommon for even accomplished people to feel as if they aren't competent. Read more >>

Once a Moonshot, Los Angeles' Venture Scene is Bigger Than Ever

Los Angeles has long taken a back seat to San Francisco when it comes to investing in and incubating local companies, but in recent years the venture capital scene in Silicon Beach has exploded.

Greycroft Partners co-founder and partner Dana Settle told dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff during the second annual dot.LA summit Friday that when she started Greycroft 15 years ago, her fellow investors in Northern California balked at her choice to leave the Bay Area and start investing in what was then a seldom talked-about market: Los Angeles. But since then, Settle's happily proved the haters wrong.

Settle told Rascoff that being an early investor in LA technology wasn't easy, and that over the years she also struggled to raise funding for Greycroft at first, which informs how she advises new companies.

Read more >>

Solving LA's Big Problem: How Metropolis Wants to Change Mobility 

By Ivan Fernandez

Metropolis co-founder Alex Israel has a grand plan to fix L.A.'s infrastructure. It just won't happen overnight.

Speaking to dot.LA co-founder Sam Adams during the "The Future of Urban Mobility" session out closed out dot.LA's summit, Israel described his vision of a complete repurposing of parking spaces and mobility that looks ahead at least 30 years into the future. Electric cars fit into this vision; rideshare companies do, too.

"Parking is the wild, wild west of real estate," said Israel. "It's a component of real estate that represents a large swath of the city that is non-institutionalized."

The startup raised $41 million in Series A financing earlier this year. It has parking garages throughout the U.S., in cities that include Los Angeles and Nashville.

Israel laid out three components that are at the core of Metropolis' work in understanding how to improve and empower the future they hope to create. The first is to understand the inventory of the facility in real time. The second is to have the ability to provision access to that facility in real time. Finally, one must be able to price inventory in real time.

"You have to understand the underlying infrastructure before you can repurpose the infrastructure," said Israel.

In a city as car-dependent as L.A., Israel will certainly have a lot of people rooting for his company's success.

"Getting around L.A. is one of the biggest obstacles to [Los Angeles] being, objectively, one of the nicest places on Earth to be," said Adams.

dot.LA Summit: Women at the Top on How to Expand LA's Tech Scene

As women in tech and venture, Kara Nortman and Robyn Ward heard a lot of nos when they started out. No we won't fund you. No, we don't have positions.

But, it was the yeses that kept them going.

"We have to expand the tent, we have to figure out how to continue. The tent needs to get bigger every day. If every one of us every day can find one more woman to bring into this tent, in some way it gets bigger and bigger," Nortman said.

Read more >>

dot.LA Summit: Telehealth Changed the Game for Health Care -- for Most

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, telehealth had been lauded as a great equalizer in the health care world.

The benefits were clear: It could help patients avoid travelling long distances and allow those with dependents to seek help without looking for childcare. And for poor neighborhoods and rural areas, where health care options are few and far between, telehealth could send specialists straight to their doors.

Those advantages have only become obvious during the pandemic, as executives from Honeybee Health, Advekit and Kenshō Health explained during dot.LA's panel "Telehealth: The New Way To Stay Healthy." The conversation was moderated by dot.LA's Rachel Uranga.

Read more >>

Going Beyond Lip Service

Pledges to boost diversity and inclusion are widespread in the tech and startup world, but the industry chronically fails to realize its own goals.

That's no coincidence. The venture capital world, which provides much of the capital fueling fledgling startups, remains a boys club with a bias towards white male founders. And that bias has a ripple effect, warping industry hiring practices and decision making. The problem is repelling workers, too, as post-lockdown resignations skyrocket and companies weigh new policies, such as remote work and hybrid schedules, to retain staffers.

"It's about being able to show up at work as your full self, said Ricardo Vazquez, executive officer at the mayor's Office of Economic Development, in a dot.LA Summit panel on building diversity and inclusion within startups and larger firms.

Read more >>

Pixar-Level Storytelling on Social Media

In just a few weeks, social media users can meet Jennifer Aniston's brand new 3D animated character—and though the avatar is mostly under wraps, word on the street is that it's "very cute." That character comes thanks to a partnership with Invisible Universe, an entertainment technology company partnering with celebrities to capitalize on their unique IP.

In a conversation with Rachel Horning (CEO of RippleFX Events), Invisible Universe CEO Tricia Biggio described the company as the "Pixar of the internet." The company creates beloved, celebrity-sponsored animated characters who live on social media and interact with fans.

Biggio, who started in television, is passionate about bringing Hollywood quality storytelling and worldbuilding to social media characters:

"We really think about being platform agnostic and story and character obsessed," she said. Pandemic isolation and scrolling was a boon for the company, with ten times the rate of growth on TikTok versus YouTube, Instagram and others.

Read more >>

How the Pandemic Changed Entertainment Tech Forever

By Ivan Fernandez

Like so many other industries, the world of entertainment went through some radical shifts during the pandemic. And, for the speakers at dot.LA's "The Evolution of the Digital Landscape in Shaping the Entertainment & Tech World" panel, that wasn't always a bad thing.

Take the music sector, for example. When the pandemic put a pause on live concerts—leaving musicians, promoters and stage crews without a main source of income—industry players pivoted to streaming.

"We found other ways to get our clients into people's homes, whether it was through a digital series or just releasing music in a more unconventional manner," said Allison Kaye, president of SB Projects. "Our clients really turned into content creators in a way that they hadn't been before."

"The need for kids content, especially digital-first, escalated tremendously as kids were stuck at home with nothing else to do except hang out on YouTube," added Kerry Tucker, chief marketing and franchise officer at pocket.watch, which works with kid stars/influencers on YouTube. "We actually saw a rise in our constant consumption, and then we also saw a rise in our consumer products."

Many artists, however, needed a helping hand when dabbling into the new digital space. That's where a company like Wave enters the picture. Wave is at the forefront of virtual entertainment, helping artists create virtual—and interactive—performances to livestream to viewers all over the world. "We are in this really cool, exciting space and everyone wants to get in on the action," said Tina Rubin, CMO at Wave. "In terms of the artists we work with, the way I think about it is virtual concept art. It's still evolving. We're still trying to figure out what is the art form and how does it encapsulate various types of performances?"

Technology can also help to strengthen traditional models such as the sale and purchase of a concert ticket. There are many issues that fans and promoters face when purchasing or selling a ticket. Scalpers use bots to scoop up tickets en masse and resell them on a secondary market. There's also the risk that a fan will purchase a fake ticket from a scammer. Tech such as blockchain and crypto can help with these challenges.

"Blockchain technology, crypto technology, can solve that," said Brent Weinstein, chief innovation officer & partner at United Talent Agency. "That's really, really exciting because that is a chance to completely change the nature of how people buy tickets to live events [and] how they relate to artists. That's a real life problem that people have been trying to solve for a long time and I finally have some hope that can be solved."

What It Takes to Transition From Founder to CEO

by Michaella Huck

A good founder will have a clear yet flexible vision. The same might be said of a good CEO. Still, there are plenty of differences between the two titles, as the speakers at dot.LA's "From Founder to CEO" discussion made clear.

"To be an entrepreneur you are the tip of the spear," said Boba Guys and Tea People USA founder and CEO Andrew Chau. "You want to be apologetic, you want to be authentic."

Chau chatted with KraveBeauty founder and CEO Liah Yoo about starting their businesses from the ground up. He said that as the company grew, he became much more than "a guy who owns a boba shop"; Yoo said she, too, morphed into something beyond a YouTube influencer.

"I call myself an accidental entrepreneur because I now have a skin care brand. Nowhere in my life did I ever think that I would be starting a company and second running a company," Yoo said.

One might assume a business' creator would spearhead its strategies, but that's often not the case. In fact, in a World Management Survey that looked at 212 startups over a 20-year period, only 50% of founders were still in control of their companies.

For Chau, the key lies in embracing both the micro- and macro-level problems. He said that though he has successfully transitioned into CEO, he sometimes can't help but treat his business like a grassroots operation, picking up trash he finds in front of his Boba Guys storefront in Culver City. Yet he's also often talking business strategies with other entrepreneurs over Zoom.

For Yoo, becoming a CEO was also an exercise in self-acceptance. "You keep comparing yourself to another CEO," she said. "I think the more I did that and then when we got started, I started to trick myself into this vicious cycle of 'I'm not good enough.'"

The Challenge of Finding Male Allies in Tech Circles

by Michaella Huck

Women-led startups made up just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. In addition, only about 12.4% of decision makers at venture capital firms are women. Though these numbers have increased throughout the years, the industry is still very much a boys' club, and, as the women at dot.LA's "Elevating Your Presence as a Woman in Tech" panel discussed, it can be tough to break through the glass ceiling.

"We are talking into an echo chamber about our problems, so it is also going to require a man to help us change that," said Samantha Ettus, founder and CEO of Park Place Payments.

Ettus was joined by founder and CEO of Makelene, Dulma Altan; co-founder and CEO of Vurbl Media, Audra Gold; and Head of Community at How Women Invest, Sophie Nazerian. Their discussion was centered around how they have managed to navigate leadership and microaggressions from co-workers, all while climbing the corporate ladder as an anomaly in the tech world.

Ettus discussed how she has experienced microaggressions firsthand; she remembered being on a conference call with a bank executive when he mentioned he brought a guest: his daughter. Ettus thought it was sweet until he mentioned he wouldn't have put her on the screen if it were a male CEO because he would not want to be seen as less professional. Ettus reminded him he has the power to change that.

"It's always on our shoulders to speak up or to wrong the right or to have this panel where 90% of the attendees are women," she said.

The panelists also talked about the importance of finding a good work/life balance — something that doesn't always come naturally. "The biggest thing I'm proud of, I've learned that not everything is actually on fire," said Altan. "My ability to discern what actually is from what isn't has increased, and my mental health has stabilized."

dot.LA Summit: How Crypto Is Changing the Creative Industries

NFTs aren't just remaking investments but they are changing how entertainment is being produced and distributed.

Non fungible tokens were the focus of the panel with Scott Greenberg, CEO of Blockchain Creative Labs; Andrew Klungness, Partner at Fenwick & West LLP; and Michelle Munson, CEO of Eluvio.

"When you own an NFT, you actually own what we call a convertible electronic record on the blockchain. You own a space in a ledger," said Klungness. As an example, it's the difference between owning the record versus owning the commercial rights to the property, like owning a baseball card doesn't give you the right to use that image commercially.

Read more >>

Virtual Influencer Lil' Miquela Will Soon Be Run By Her Community

Dapper Labs, the company that helped bring NFTs into the mainstream, is set on decentralization. And it's turning to its signature virtual social media influencer Lil Miquela to drive home the idea, company executives told a crowd at Friday's Future of Storytelling panel at the dot.LA Summit.

The NFT startup behind NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs clearly sees the value of virtual influencers. Brands are expected to spend about $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, according to Business Insider Intelligence. And the company is betting that a rising number of dollars will be spent on virtual influencers who can be fully controlled.

Read more >>

LA Investors on Tech Resilience and the Future of Work

Plenty of tech firms laid off workers as the pandemic took hold, but the industry ultimately raked in record profits as schools and offices spent big on remote tools and lockdowns drove shoppers toward digital services.

But there are challenges ahead for the startup community, like adapting to workers' evolving needs and expectations and building climate change mitigation into investment strategies.

Those were some of the takeaways from dot.LA's Town Hall panel on "rising from the COVID-19 ashes as a thriving startup ecosystem," which also explored how the virus is reshaping work. The talk was moderated by dot.LA CEO Sam Adams and featured Barber, RippleFX Events CEO Rachel Horning, Grid110 CEO Miki Reynolds, M13 partner Anna Barber and Leila Lee, of the mayor's Office of Economic Development.

Read more >>

Everlaunch Wins dot.LA's Startup Pitch Competition

A startup that offers gamified how-to guides for aspiring entrepreneurs was declared the winner of the second annual dot.LA pitch competition on Thursday in Santa Monica.

"My mission is to 'Pinky and the Brain' all of the currently available resources," said Everlaunch CEO Michelle Heng, referring to a cartoon where the main character was obsessed with taking over the world. Heng's service sets out to build a community for entrepreneurs and bring together essential business resources in a single hub.

Read more >>

Jam City's Josh Yguado on How the Blockchain WIll Change Gaming

At dot.LA's second annual summit, mobile game publisher Jam City's Chief Operating Officer Josh Yguado said he believes the next generation of mobile gaming will enable users to own parts of their favorite games on the blockchain.

"More than anything we're investing in where gaming is going, so we're making huge investments right now in augmented reality and cryptocurrency," Yguado said during the summit's fireside chat Thursday evening. "We've talked about the metaverse a bit today, but we're really thinking about where gaming is going to be two to three years from now."

Read more >>

What to Expect at This Year's In-Person Summit

dot.LA SummitThe Annual dot.LA Summit Kicks Off in Santa Monica

The two-day conference will begin with a pitch showcase competition for early-stage startup companies that have raised less than $1 million in funding. Judges for the event include Boba Guys and Tea People USA co-founder and CEO Andrew Chau, Worklife Venture Capital founder Brianne Kimmel and Plug and Play Ventures Associate Kiswana Browne. The winner will receive a prize package from Fenwick, Coda Search and TriNet.

The pitch competition will be followed by a fireside chat and podcast taping with Jam City co-founder & President Josh Yguado. Jam City isa leader in mobile entertainment and Yguado has proven himself a mastermind behind it, leading the company's operations, growth strategies and game portfolio.

While this event will be in person, the panels will be covered by dot.LA and those interested are still able to register for the conference here. Last year, the event drew over 500 guests virtually. This year's summit expects over 300 in-person guests. There is no livestream this year.

On Friday, the activities will begin at 9 a.m. An L.A. tech and startup town hall will focus on the tech and startup landscape as the effects of COVID-19 retreat. There will also be panels on the future of cryptocurrency and storytelling at this hour.

The afternoon's speakers will include United Talent Agency Chief Innovation Officer Brent Weinstein, BallerTV Chief Technology Officer Kavodel "Kav" Ohiomoba, KraveBeauty founder & CEO Liah Yoo, Makelane founder and CEO Dulma Altan and many other CEOs, technologists, founders and innovators.

Join us here and on Twitter and Instagram for updates from the summit. And let us know your thoughts using the hashtag #DOTLASUMMIT.

Forget Rockets, This Long Beach Startup Spins Satellites Into Orbit

🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles!

It may be scorching this weekend, but the real heat is coming out of Long Beach, where SpinLaunch just raised $30 million to accelerate its Meridian Space satellite constellation. If you’ve heard of SpinLaunch before, it’s probably because of its wild approach: instead of burning tons of rocket fuel, the company literally spins payloads in a giant centrifuge before releasing them into the sky. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s one of the boldest bets on making access to orbit cheaper, faster, and more sustainable.

Image Source: SpinLaunch

The new funding will go toward advancing Meridian Space, a low Earth orbit broadband network that aims to deliver flexible, affordable global connectivity. With its first customer links expected in 2026, the project has the potential to do more than beam internet. It could reshape how enterprises, defense networks, and communities around the world connect. For Los Angeles, it’s a reminder that our region isn’t just about building the next social app or entertainment platform. We’re also home to the companies trying to redefine the very infrastructure of the digital age.

And while space tech often feels far away, SpinLaunch keeps its roots planted firmly here. Its headquarters and orbital accelerator facility sit right in Long Beach, reinforcing Southern California’s reputation as a launchpad for both aerospace and climate conscious innovation. After all, swapping fuel heavy rockets for a ground based launch system isn’t just cost effective, it’s far greener.

So while you’re cranking the A/C this weekend, remember SpinLaunch is busy cranking satellites into orbit, proving once again that in Los Angeles we don’t just chase the stars, we spin new ways to reach them.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

    • Wellth, a Los Angeles–based digital health company focused on daily care motivation and behavior change strategies, has closed an oversubscribed $36M Series C round led by Mercato Partners. The funds will be used to expand access to its platform across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, D SNP, and other high-need populations, while also accelerating product innovation including introducing generative AI capabilities to personalize engagement, backed by strong performance metrics like 90 percent care plan adherence, a 51 percent drop in inpatient admissions, and a 16 percent boost in medication adherence. - learn more

      LA Venture Funds

        • Presight Capital participated in General Fusion’s oversubscribed $22M financing round, helping the Canadian fusion energy company push forward with its LM26 demonstration program. The fresh capital will drive progress toward key scientific milestones in Magnetized Target Fusion technology such as high temperature plasma generation and renew momentum on the path to commercializing clean fusion energy. The round also brings new board members onboard to fortify leadership as General Fusion advances toward a zero carbon energy future. - learn more
        • B Capital led a new Series C strategic growth investment in CompanyCam. The construction tech platform, known for its AI-powered job site documentation and workflow tools, will use the funding to expand globally, deepen AI integration, and enhance product features. WndrCo also participated in the round, backing CompanyCam’s push to transform contractor productivity. - learn more
        • Clocktower Ventures participated in Relcu’s latest funding round. Relcu provides an AI powered “system of action” for financial services that helps institutions streamline workflows, improve customer engagement, and drive growth. The company will use the new capital to extend its CRM and AI Agent Co Pilot beyond mortgage into deposits, lending, and other areas by enhancing AI integration, expanding APIs, and embedding intelligent automation to boost conversion, retention, and cross sell. - learn more
        • UP Partners participated in Loft Dynamics’ latest $24M Series B funding round. The Swiss based VR flight training company will use the investment to expand its revolutionary pilot training solutions, built on FAA and EASA qualified VR simulators, into commercial aviation, launching full motion Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 systems alongside cloud connected, AI enhanced tools and immersive at home training kits. - learn more
        • Upfront Ventures led the $5.6M Series A funding for Agenda Hero. The San Francisco based AI platform helps users eliminate manual calendar work by transforming text, images, and PDFs into fully structured, shareable events and schedules. The new capital will accelerate AI features, expand calendar integrations, and scale adoption across individuals, teams, and organizations. - learn more
        • Thiel Capital participated in Stark’s latest $62M funding round, which was led by Sequoia Capital and brings the German startup's valuation to around $500 million. Stark, founded in 2024, specializes in AI powered loitering munitions and command and control systems for battlefield drones, and plans to use the fresh capital to enhance its autonomous navigation, swarming capabilities, and expand production into new markets like the UK. Doepfner Capital also joined the round, backing Stark’s push to scale its defense technology. - learn more
        • Crosscut Ventures and Vamos Ventures joined Aalo Atomics’ $100M Series B funding round, supporting the Austin‑based company’s mission to deploy modular nuclear reactors tailored for AI data centers. Aalo plans to build its first full-scale reactor, dubbed Aalo‑X, by next summer, co‑locating it with an experimental data center to showcase how factory‑produced nuclear plants can deliver clean, reliable power rapidly. This latest capital infusion accelerates Aalo’s deployment timeline and reinforces its strategy of mass manufacturing scalable nuclear infrastructure for the AI era. - learn more
        • Overture VC co-led a $7M seed round in ChemFinity Technologies to boost its deployment of modular, sorbent-based systems that recover over 20 critical minerals from waste streams at low cost. The funds will help the company pilot and scale its high-performance technology, enabling domestic recovery of valuable metals like rare earth elements and platinum, while reducing reliance on imports and lowering environmental impact. - learn more
        • Muse Capital led a high profile strategic investment in Ohai.ai, the AI powered household assistant founded by Care.com veteran Sheila Lirio Marcelo, joining a star studded lineup of backers including Olivia Munn, Mindy Kaling, and Abby Wambach. The new funding will accelerate Ohai.ai’s mission to relieve parental mental load, launching a back to school feature that lets families automatically sync school calendars by ZIP code or flyer, making household planning significantly smoother. - learn more
        • Navitas Capital, alongside other investors, participated in EliseAI’s $250M Series E funding round. The New York-based AI company automating complex systems in healthcare and housing, will use the new capital to rapidly scale its team, enhance product innovation, and accelerate deployment of its AI-powered automation platform across front-desk operations, resident services, and beyond. The company has already doubled its workforce since its Series D, surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, and aims to expand its impact across multiple stressful sectors. - learn more
        • Bedrock participated in TensorZero’s $7.3M seed round to advance its open source infrastructure for building industrial grade LLM applications. TensorZero offers an integrated stack covering LLM gateways, observability, optimization, evaluation, and experimentation, all designed to create a data driven “learning flywheel” that turns feedback into smarter, faster model performance and is rapidly gaining traction with developers and enterprises alike. - learn more
        • Calibrate Ventures co-led a $6M seed round in Grid Aero, backing the aerospace startup’s debut of its Lifter Lite drone, an autonomous heavy lift aircraft designed to deliver thousands of pounds over long distances in challenging environments. The seed funding will drive testing and scaling efforts as Grid Aero readies for ground trials and positions the “pickup truck of the skies” as a low cost, modular logistics solution for military and future commercial use. - learn more
        • Chapter One participated in Hyperbeat’s oversubscribed $5.2M seed round. Hyperbeat will use the new capital to expand its suite of on-chain tools such as staking tokens, high yield vaults, credit layers, and portfolio tracking aimed at simplifying and enhancing DeFi yield generation for traders, protocols, and institutions. The round underscores growing institutional confidence in Hyperliquid’s expanding ecosystem, which recently surpassed $2.1 billion in total value locked. - learn more
            LA Exits
            • SpectrumAi has been acquired by CentralReach, a leading provider of autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities care software, alongside fellow acquisition AI.Measures. The deals expand CentralReach’s Care360 platform with advanced tools including predictive analytics, real time decision support, and individualized assessment capabilities that help providers deliver outcomes based care. Leadership from both acquired companies will join CentralReach, further strengthening its ability to empower providers, payors, and families with intelligent, results driven therapy solutions. - learn more

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                      The Legal System Just Got Its AI Upgrade

                      🔦 Spotlight

                      Hello Los Angeles!

                      We talk a lot about AI in L.A., usually in the context of streaming platforms that “recommend” a movie you regret watching or apps that let you swap your face onto a Marvel poster. But the most interesting AI stories here aren’t gimmicks; they’re rewiring the hidden machinery of massive, slow moving industries. And this week, that spotlight falls on…lawyers.

                      LawPro.ai, a Los Angeles based legal tech startup, just closed a priced seed round led by Scopus Ventures to bring AI deeper into the world of injury claims. Their new “Case Assistant” isn’t about flashy automation, it’s about instantly surfacing case insights, cutting down endless hours of drafting, and helping law firms run with the precision of a Formula 1 pit crew.

                      Here’s why this matters: the legal industry has been one of the last holdouts when it comes to adopting tech that actually speeds things up. Now, with AI making its way from the red carpet to the courtroom, we’re watching the early stages of a shift that could change how justice is delivered in real time. In L.A., we’ve already seen AI startups shaking up entertainment, aerospace, and healthcare. Legal might be next.

                      And if LawPro.ai pulls it off, you might not just get a faster verdict, you might see the ripple effect across an industry that has spent decades charging by the hour. In other words, the billable clock might finally start running in our favor.


                      🤝 Venture Deals

                      LA Companies

                        • Equatic, a company using a patented seawater electrolysis process to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide while producing green hydrogen, has raised $11.6M in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) and Singapore-based Kibo Invest, and the capital will support the engineering, commercialization, and construction of its first 100‑kilotonne carbon removal facility, as well as broader manufacturing and technological development. - learn more
                        • SetPoint Medical has secured $140M in private financing, comprising a $25M second tranche of its Series C round and a $115M Series D round co-led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Ally Bridge Group. The funds will be used to launch and scale commercialization of the FDA approved SetPoint System, a pioneering neuroimmune modulation implant that targets the vagus nerve to treat moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, as well as to advance development of therapies for other autoimmune conditions. - learn more

                        LA Venture Funds

                          • Bonfire Ventures participated in Topline Pro’s $27M Series B funding round to help the company scale its AI driven platform for local home service businesses. Topline Pro provides tools for plumbers, landscapers, painters, and other service providers to manage websites, marketing, CRM, payments, and more, enabling them to operate as scalable, autonomous enterprises. The new funding will be used to enhance its AI agent suite and expand onboarding, customer success, and product development capabilities to deliver greater ROI for small businesses. - learn more
                          • B Capital participated in Isaac Health’s $10.5M Series A funding round, backing the company’s mission to expand access to brain health and dementia care. Isaac Health provides virtual and in-home services nationwide and will use the funds to enhance its AI-driven screening tools, strengthen its technology platform, and grow partnerships with health systems and payers. - learn more
                          • Bold Capital Partners joined a $44M Series C financing round for Gameto, a clinical stage biotech company developing stem cell derived reproductive therapies. The new funding, which brings Gameto’s total capital raised to approximately $127M, will support completion of its pivotal Phase 3 trial of Fertilo, an iPSC derived egg maturation therapy, and the company’s global regulatory filings and commercialization efforts. - learn more
                          • M13 led a seed round that raised $8.5M for Mako, a New York based AI startup focused on automating GPU code optimization. Mako’s platform lets developers write in familiar high level languages while its AI intelligently generates and continuously tunes low level GPU kernels, yielding faster performance, cost savings, and compatibility across hardware like NVIDIA, AMD, and Tenstorrent. The fresh funding will be used to expand the engineering team, deepen hardware support, and bring Mako’s performance tools to a broader audience in AI, graphics, simulation, and scientific computing. - learn more
                          • Rebel Fund participated in a $9M Series A round for Chowdeck, a profitable Nigerian food delivery startup aiming to build Africa’s next super app for food, groceries, and essentials. With this capital, Chowdeck plans to roll out its quick commerce strategy, powered by a network of dark stores and hyper local logistics, to speed up delivery across Nigeria and Ghana. - learn more
                            LA Exits
                            • Mayweather Boxing + Fitness has been acquired by Giant Ideas, LLC, alongside KickHouse, and will be combined with the company’s flagship brand Legends Boxing to form the largest skill based boutique fitness network with more than 70 studios worldwide. Rather than focusing solely on rapid expansion, the unified brands will prioritize operational excellence, franchisee success, and community driven skill development. - learn more

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                                      Locket, Disney, Instagram and the Battle for Your Attention

                                      🔦 Spotlight

                                      Happy Friday, Los Angeles!

                                      This week, LA’s biggest tech and media players made one thing clear: they want to own the relationship. Whether it’s a celebrity sending selfies straight to your home screen or a content giant rewriting the rules of sports broadcasting, the power shift toward more curated, direct experiences is unmistakable, and it’s being engineered right here.

                                      Image Source : Locket

                                      📸 Locket Doubles Down on Star Power

                                      Venice-based Locket, the viral photo sharing app that made homescreen widgets cool, is now leaning into what LA does best: celebrity. Its new feature, Celebrity Lockets, allows artists to send exclusive photos directly to fans’ home screens. Early adopters include Suki Waterhouse and JVKE, with creators curating limited fan access to maintain intimacy and exclusivity. As Locket evolves from a casual social tool into a direct fan engagement platform, it’s becoming an increasingly relevant player in LA’s creator tech ecosystem.

                                      🏈 Disney’s ESPN Plays Offense

                                      Disney made a trio of bold moves this week that solidify ESPN’s future and its dominance in sports media. It’s buying out the NFL’s stake in ESPN, securing exclusive NFL Draft and behind the scenes content through 2033, and finally giving its standalone ESPN streaming service a launch date: August 21, 2025. That’s a power play straight out of Burbank. At the same time, Disney announced it will no longer report individual subscriber numbers for Disney Plus and Hulu, signaling a shift in how it wants investors and maybe consumers to measure success.

                                      🗞️ The New York Post Bets on LA

                                      In a sign of LA’s growing national influence not just in entertainment, but in news, the New York Post is launching a West Coast vertical called The California Post. With an editorial mission to cover the state’s cultural and political pulse, this move reflects a broader trend of major media brands planting roots in LA to chase both readers and relevance. For local media startups, content creators, and civic tech players, it’s yet another sign that the competition and the opportunity is growing.

                                      Image Source: Meta

                                      📱 Instagram Wants Your Inner Circle

                                      Instagram rolled out a new set of features this week that prioritize connection with close friends. Users can now share what they’re doing, watching, or feeling with a smaller group, clearly borrowing from the intimacy playbooks of apps like BeReal, Snapchat, and yes, Locket. As social platforms shift from mass broadcast to curated circles, LA-based creators and consumer startups should take note: the next frontier might not be going viral, it might be going personal.

                                      From star-powered lockets to streaming shakeups and platform reinventions, this week’s stories highlight how LA’s tech and media companies are rewriting the rules on connection and control.

                                      Now onto this week’s venture deals 👇

                                      🤝 Venture Deals

                                      LA Venture Funds

                                        • Starburst co-invested in Madrid-based SpaceTech startup Orbital Paradigm’s €470,000 raise, part of an ongoing €2M funding round led by Akka. The company is developing reusable orbital re-entry capsules aimed at reducing costs and increasing sustainability for space missions. Starburst’s participation underscores its focus on backing innovative aerospace technologies with commercial and defense applications. - learn more
                                        • Rebel Fund participated in Orbital Operations’ $8.8M seed round, which came shortly after the company graduated from Y Combinator. The funding will support development of the company’s high-thrust orbital transfer vehicle, designed to maneuver satellites and other payloads in space more efficiently. - learn more
                                        • Fourth Revolution Capital participated in SuperGaming’s $15M Series B round, which valued the company at $100M, five times its previous valuation. The funds will help expand titles like Indus Battle Royale internationally and scale SuperGaming’s tools for developers in emerging markets. - learn more
                                        • Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures participated in Elion’s $9.3M seed round, joining NEA and others in backing the AI-powered healthcare research and intelligence platform. Elion helps over 60% of U.S. health systems evaluate emerging technologies through its structured vendor marketplace. The funds will support platform development, new product launches, market expansion, and team growth. - learn more
                                        • M13 led the $10M seed round for Kontext, an AI-powered contextual advertising startup emerging from stealth mode. Kontext’s platform enables real-time ads inside chatbot responses using large language models, and the funding will help expand its engineering team and develop image-based ad formats. - learn more
                                        • STORY3 Capital Partners made a significant minority investment in U.K.-based activewear brand Adanola, valuing the company at approximately $530 million. This strategic partnership brings STORY3’s deep experience in consumer brand scaling to support Adanola’s global expansion, particularly across the U.K. and U.S. markets. - learn more
                                        • Walkabout Ventures participated in OLarry’s $10M Series A round, which was led by TTV Capital and included Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures. The funding brings OLarry’s total capital raised to $14.5M and will be used to scale its AI-powered tax advisory platform for high-net-worth individuals and to acquire regional CPA firms as part of its growth strategy. - learn more
                                        • Glendon Capital Management participated in Grasshopper’s $46.6M funding round, which was led by Patriot Financial Partners, to support the bank’s merger with Auto Club Trust in April 2025. Their investment reflects confidence in Grasshopper’s ability to scale its digital banking platform and expand its suite of business and consumer financial products. Growth metrics as of June 30, 2025 showed a 53% increase in assets, an 81% surge in deposits, and a 49% rise in loans, all backed by this strategic capital infusion. - learn more
                                        • Mucker Capital participated in beatBread’s $124M capital raise, alongside Citi’s SPRINT team, Deciens Capital, and Advantage Capital. Their involvement supports beatBread’s strategy to expand sales, marketing, and technology operations, while enabling greater funding flexibility for independent artists, songwriters, and labels through its AI-powered platform. - learn more
                                        • B Capital co-led Positive Development’s $51.5M Series C funding round alongside aMoon and Flare Capital Partners, helping to fuel expansion of its developmental therapy model for autistic children. Their involvement underscores confidence in the company’s family-centered, play-based approach—which lowers costs by about 50% compared to traditional ABA therapy—and supports growth through new Medicaid partnerships and technology enhancements. - learn more
                                        • Clocktower Ventures participated in Creditop’s latest $3.7M funding round, which was led by Collide Capital and also included Alaya Capital, Amador Holdings, Newtopia, and Driven VC. Their involvement supports Creditop’s mission to enable credit access at the point of sale, without a credit card, and will help fintech deepen its footprint in Colombia while exploring expansion across Central America and Peru. - learn more
                                        • Thiel Capital participated in Pilgrim’s $4.3 million seed funding round, backing the biotech startup founded by 21-year-old Jake Adler after he demonstrated its hemostatic dressing, Kingsfoil, on himself. Their support underscores confidence in Pilgrim’s aggressive R&D and dual-use medical platform targeting both military and civilian emergency care. - learn more
                                        LA Exits
                                        • ElectroMagnetic Systems, Inc., a California-based specialist in AI and machine learning-powered target recognition software for space-based radar, has been acquired by Voyager. The deal strengthens Voyager’s AI-native surveillance and intelligence capabilities, enabling real-time monitoring across ground, air, and space domains to meet evolving defense and commercial demands. - learn more
                                        • Daring Foods is being acquired by Australia’s leading plant-based meat company, v2food, in a move that strengthens v2food’s push into the U.S. market. Daring will continue operating under its own brand and will serve as a platform to introduce v2food’s own products across the States. The deal, paired with a strategic partnership with Japanese food giant Ajinomoto, aims to accelerate innovation in clean-label protein and expand global reach. - learn more
                                        • Irwin Naturals is being acquired by FitLife Brands in an all-cash transaction valued at $42.5M, which includes approximately $16M in net working capital. The deal, expected to close around August 8, 2025, will nearly double FitLife’s scale, with projected combined annual revenue of over $120M and adjusted EBITDA between $20–25M. It will be funded with cash on hand, a new term loan, and a revolving credit facility, and is expected to generate synergies through complementary product lines, broader mass-market distribution, and improved operational efficiencies. - learn more
                                        • Solsniper, a Solana-focused trading and analytics platform known for high-speed memecoin execution, has been acquired by Phantom as part of its strategy to expand beyond wallets into full-service on-chain finance. The Solsniper team will join Phantom to enhance its advanced trading features, while the platform will continue operating independently. The move underscores Phantom’s ambition to offer seamless, integrated trading tools within the Solana ecosystem. - learn more
                                        • Cinelease is being acquired by Zello, a private investment platform dedicated to scaling businesses across the entertainment industry, in a strategic move to bolster production infrastructure and amplify its presence across North America. Under Zello’s ownership, Cinelease will continue operating as a standalone company led by its veteran team, enhancing its lighting, grip, and studio offerings for film, TV, and commercial productions. This acquisition sets the stage for disciplined growth and stronger relationships within the film and television production ecosystem. - learn more

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