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

The gaming industry is poised for further growth, even after lockdowns ease, but insiders expect its future will look far different as companies add more social and interactive features and expand their worlds beyond a single platform.
That was the consensus from a panel at dot.LA's recent summit, where four heavy hitters from L.A.'s gaming industry traded thoughts on what they're preparing for. Panelists included Ophir Lupu, head of video games at talent agency UTA; Lisa Anderson, SVP of studio operations at Jam City; Rob Ricca, VP of corporate development at Scopely; and Gregory Milken, managing partner at March Capital, where he focuses on gaming investments.
Here are four key takeaways:
Gaming Less About Winning, More About Partnering
Already, games like Fortnite and Animal Crossing are providing users with virtual experiences that one would be hard-pressed to call a "game." Fortnite has hosted virtual concerts attended by millions, while Animal Crossing has provided a virtual venue for weddings, graduations and funerals.
"What's come to the fore in the pandemic is really that gaming is social," said Milken.
More than that, Anderson noted that COVID has underscored players desire to find meaningful connections through their consoles and apps. As a result, Jam City is exploring ways for players to find their friends more easily and join social groups, whether with IRL friends or ones they meet online.
Similarly, Ricca noted that many players of Scopely's "Star Trek Fleet Command" have turned the game's "Alliances" feature into "their core experience in the game," opting to partner up with others to game on an ongoing basis rather than linking up with an ad hoc group or going it alone.
As to how this trend will shape Milken's investment strategy, he said he'll be looking to place bets on cooperative gameplay experiences in the future.
Gaming Will Be Everywhere
As Anderson put it, "the ultimate goal is that players can experience their favorite game on the device of their preference. Looking to other mediums (like streaming services), consumers can already do this (PC, TV, Mobile, tablet, etc.) and it feels like gaming is a natural extension of that conceit."
This sort of "cross-play" already exists to an extent, but the industry is evolving further away from the closed ecosystems that rely on a single console. That reality won't fly with younger generations, who've grown up with a more open ecosystem that has shaped their expectations.
"They will expect all game environments to be open for all of their friends and other players to join and experience rich social interaction with each other, regardless of where they are physically located and the number of other players they want to interact with," Ricca said.
Lupu surmised that as more game-streaming services come on the market to rival incumbents like Playstation Now or Google Stadia – which give console and PC gamers near-instant access to titles without requiring downloads – the industry may see large platforms build better access for players to move across different platforms and interact.
As a hypothetical example, Lupu said: "You could imagine how Amazon's new streaming game service Luna could connect with Twitch and allow viewers to 'jump in' or somehow interact with their favorite streamers playing games. (Same with Stadia and YouTube, etc.)."
Esports Will See More Cooperation and, Possibly, Consolidation
For all the hype that esports generates, it's a rather small business, generating just north of $1 billion per year – a fraction of the $150 billion-plus gaming market. Its function often appears to be more of a marketing tool than anything, whether for the game titles themselves or for teams that leverage their roster's followings to sell other items like merchandise.
Unlike a traditional sport, games have an owner – Riot Games owns League of Legends, for instance, but nobody owns soccer. This potentially weighs the scales of influence in favor of game developers and publishers, and away from esports teams. But as the teams grow more famous and build more brand equity of their own, their leverage will continue to grow.
This leads Milken to conclude: "I think we'll see further development between teams that operate and game developers and publishers and thinking about how they jointly work together to create value."
Fans Mix with Celebrities in the Metaverse
Although it's still anyone's guess what will be the ultimate version of the metaverse – a parallel virtual world, kind of like a more immersive version of the internet – what appears unambiguous is that the metaverse offers a unique opportunity for IRL stars to engage with their fans.
"It creates incredible touch points for non-gaming clients – certainly mostly in the music space," said Lupu. "It provides a really unique and interesting opportunity for talent of all types to interact with their fans." Expect these to continue, in other words.
But such interactions won't be exclusively between fans and stars. Milken said he sees the metaverse introducing a new level to in-game interactivity that is an increasingly important component of what gaming offers consumers.
"The metaverse as a hangout place, where you're experiencing things together, is really interesting to me," he said.
When asked to place their bets on what consumers are most likely to see in the industry, the panelists unanimously chose the concert of the metaverse, agreeing that in their various lines of business it is a future that has to be taken seriously. That nobody has much idea of what exactly it will entail suggests that the metaverse will emerge over a prolonged period, with a series of incremental changes that eventually transform gaming. See you there.
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Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
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Regard Raises $15M for AI-Powered Software That Help Doctors Diagnose Patients
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
Culver City-based health care startup Regard, which uses AI-driven software to help physicians accurately diagnose patients, has raised $15.3 million in Series A funding.
Pasadena-based Calibrate Ventures and Colorado-based Foundry Group led the investment in Regard, formerly known as HealthTensor. Other investors that participated in the round include TenOneTen Ventures, Susa Ventures, Brook Byers of Byers Capital and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. The new funding will be used to grow Regard’s team and customer base, the company said in a press release.
At a time when the clinical health care workforce is suffering from burnout and attrition in the wake of the pandemic, Regard’s technology looks to alleviate some of the pressure on health care workers. The startup’s AI-enabled software is integrated directly into a provider’s system and uses an algorithm to analyze patients’ medical records, allowing physicians to more easily diagnose them.
Since launching its flagship product in 2020, Regard’s technology has been used on more than 30,000 patients, according to the company. The startup charges health care providers around $500 to $700 per month for access, co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Joseph told dot.LA, with its customers including Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and roughly a dozen other hospitals across the U.S.
“We’re building something that’s a game-changer for doctors,” Ben-Joseph said. “It’s helping them catch medical conditions that they would have missed. So regardless of market conditions, we’re able to have value and I think investors saw that and got excited.”
Co-founders from left to right: CEO Eli Ben-Joseph, CTO Thomas Moulia, and COO Nate Wilson. Courtesy of Regard
Founded by pre-med students Ben-Joseph, Nate Wilson and Thomas Moulia in 2017, Regard got its start through Cedars Sinai’s Techstars-backed accelerator program. It was at the accelerator program that Ben-Joseph observed physicians’ workflows and saw the need for a product like Regard’s; he recalled noticing how doctors would constantly pop in and out of a patient’s room, shuttling between the patient and a computer where they could enter data and notes.
“I think that’s why so many doctors are burning out now, as they just don’t have software that really enables them,” Joseph said.
Ben-Joseph—who coupled a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from MIT with a master’s in computer science from Stanford—noted that Regard’s technology can automatically detect up to 50 of the most common medical conditions, including heart failure, diabetes, obesity, depression and anxiety.
“We have a 90% accuracy rate at the minimum,” he said. “Physicians will look at our software and accept it, but it’s not perfect. We tell physicians to treat it like the relationship [with a] medical student.”
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This Week in 'Raises': Regard Secures $15M, MaC Venture Capital Raises $203M for Second Fund
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This week in “Raises”: A local healthcare startup secured funding to help grow the team and deploy its software to more physicians and hospitals, while Black-led, seed-stage venture capital firm surpassed its goal for its second fund.
Venture Capital
Regard, a Culver City-based healthcare startup using AI software to help physicians diagnose patients, raised a $15.3 million Series A funding round co-led by Calibrate Ventures and Foundry Group.
Homelister, the Santa Monica-based digital brokerage and real estate startup, raised a $10M Series A funding round co-led by M13 and Homebrew.
L.A.-based cybersecurity firm Inspectiv raised an $8.6 million Series A funding round led by StepStone Group.
Foresite Technology Solutions, a Costa Mesa-based technology platform that offers IP management to the construction industry, raised $8 million in funding led by Gallant Capital.
L.A.-based virtual dressing room StyleScan, which uses AI and augmented reality for its virtual dressing room fashion SaaS, raised $1 million in new funding led by Clearbrook Capital.
Santa Ana-based online health care provider platform Sensible Care, raised a $13 million Series A funding round led by Volition Capital.
Funds
MaC Venture Capital, an L.A.-based, Black-led, seed-stage venture capital firm, raised $203 million for its second fund from repeat investors like Goldman Sachs, ICG Advisors, StepStone, the University of Michigan, the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
Braid Theory's Plan to Foster the Next Generation of Ocean Tech Startups
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
San Pedro-based Braid Theory is one of the growing number of accelerators in the country looking to grow the so-called blue economy, which spans a range of ocean-related industries and is estimated at $2.5 trillion a year.
The accelerator is accepting online applications until July 18, with its second-ever program kicking off in August.
This year’s focus will be different from the typical accelerator: Startups in this group will test their products directly with companies active in the ocean economy for four months, collecting data on what works, what doesn’t and further developing proof of concept. Braid Theory will help these startups come up with their business plan and pitches, and connect them to investors and potential partners in the field. In return, it takes an equity warrant that can be converted after three years.
The startups joining Braid Theory typically span industries like port logistics, aquaculture and energy, all of them aiming to test their technologies and untapped opportunities of the burgeoning industry. The accelerator’s goal is to bring those companies from pre-revenue into commercialization.
And all of them are looking to solve challenges within the blue economy ecosystem, many of which have also been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With 31% of all goods floating across the ocean to and from the U.S. pass through the Port of L.A. and the Port of Long Beach, COVID-19 strangled supply chains and increased the volume of goods handled at L.A. 's premiere dock by nearly 16% between 2020 and 2021. This created numerous logistical challenges for the dwindling workforce at the nation’s busiest ports while increasing emissions.
“The thing that we're trying to think about are ways in which we can leverage biological systems and software to make more immediate changes in markets that have a low barrier to entry,” Braid Theory co-founder Jim Cooper said of accelerator’s approach to addressing a wide range of climate and logistical issues.
Cooper founded Braid Theory with his colleague Ann Carpenter after the pair left PortTechLA, a maritime and logistics incubator that shuttered in 2016. The two wanted to create an accelerator for port and ocean startups that went beyond logistics and took into account other promising sectors of the ocean economy, including sustainable fish and plant cultivation as well as tools to make the shipping sector more efficient.
Jim Cooper co-founded Braid Theory with his former colleague from PortTechLA, Ann Carpenter.Image courtesy of Braid Theory
Accelerators like Braid Theory are attempting to fill a void in the blue economy ecosystem. Despite being home to several universities with robust maritime research centers and a giant port infrastructure that could be better optimized, few startups survive in Los Angeles due to a lack of early stage funding, according to a 2020 report from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. The accelerator provides funds and lab space and investor connections to nascent startups tackling a wide range of ocean-related problems.
The same report found that ocean startups, particularly early-stage ones, have a difficult time getting funding to accommodate the need for expensive lab equipment like centrifuges, chillers and pipettes. Startups in the blue economy space are primarily funded through federal and state dollars, NGOs and philanthropies, and competitions. But while angel funding has historically been slow to trickle into blue economy startups, some are starting to take note of the size of the market. In the first cohort, eight out of 12 startups received federal funding and investor funding with the help of Braid Theory.
The accelerator’s first graduating class included Florida-based Tampa DeepSea Xplorers, which makes seafaring autonomous vehicles that can scrape the bottom of the ocean and collect data faster for researchers to use as they study climate change impact or source for different medicines. Irvine-based ReCreate Energy is another graduate, which sources algae to create a more sustainable bio-crude oil that can be used at gas and oil refineries. While FlashQ, a Canada-based AI platform, is trying to reduce truck congestion and the emissions caused by them at the port by creating a scheduling platform that optimizes waiting and shipment times.
“The key is the opportunity, the opportunity was there,” Mimi Carter, a biotech investor with the Pasadena Angels, said of the business opportunities in the ocean market. “We saw a market that was unaddressed and is still an emerging market.”
A cluster of cranes at the Port of Long Beach.Photo by DJANA 575/ Shutterstock
To Carter’s credit, L.A. County boasts 75 miles of coastline that the LAEDC expects by 2023 will produce more than $80 billion in regional output, make roughly $50 billion in gross county product, and create over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a 2020 report. And, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, economic and job growth in this sector relies heavily on the creation and implementation of new technologies, making angel investors necessary players in bolstering the ocean economy.
“Not only do we want to be investing in a sustainable product, but someone we count as a first mover,” Carter said of her investment approach. Already, groups like the Pasadena Angels and Techstars L.A. have made investments in the space. Reece Pacheco, a blue economy angel investor, is quietly working on a new venture fund around the blue tech space that hasn’t been announced yet.
“What we're starting to see is there are entrepreneurs who are either coming up through these research firms, or there are entrepreneurs who have cut their teeth elsewhere but care about the ocean,” Pacheco said.
There’s also Braid Theory’s neighbor (and landlord), AltaSea, the nonprofit research hub that has facilitated a number of partnerships with companies across the world.
“We do want to become the leading destination for the blue economy in terms of technology, finance, the education pathways it takes for students to get into these jobs in the future, and then the actual workforce development for the jobs of the future,” said Terry Tamminen, the new CEO of AltaSea.
Braid Theory’s makeshift shipping container-turned-lab is next door to a slew of other startups and projects in the blue economy space. USC researchers are incubating bubbling cauldrons of kelp that could create biofuels and alternative food sources. While Oceanographer Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic wreckage in 1985, set up a sea exploration program a few doors down.
“The ocean is more than a destination for tourists and a place for Jacques Cousteau and David Attenborough to go diving,” Tamminen said. “It's actually something right at our doorstep that we need to protect for our own survival, but it’s also an economic opportunity.”
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Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.