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XHopSkipDrive Wins Startup of the Year at dot.LA's Second Annual Startup Awards
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him

Downtown Los Angeles-based HopSkipDrive, a mobility startup that aims to be a kid-friendly Uber service for school-age students, won startup of the year at dot.LA's second annual startup awards.
Winners were announced at the dot.LA Summit. Judges voted for their picks for the most-deserving companies and individuals in six categories, including rising entrepreneur, top rising startup and entrepreneur of the year.
"It's such an honor to be included among all the impressive companies nominated for this award," Katrina Kardassakis, HopSkipDrive's vice president of business operations, said during her acceptance speech. "We are a youth transportation solution on a mission to create opportunity for all through mobility, and so we're focused on serving vulnerable populations, including kids in the foster care system, kids experiencing homelessness and kids with special needs or anyone who needs a little extra care to get where they need to go."
Kardassakis added that HopSkipDrive is currently focused on providing a potential solution to the ongoing shortage of bus drivers across the country, which is leading to backlogs in getting kids to and from school as the transportation industry struggles to retain workers and rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.
Finalists for the 2021 Startup of the Year Award included Universal Hydrogen, a company that's working to make planes that run on clean energy; Long Beach-based Rocket Lab, a reusable rocket manufacturer and small satellite launcher that looks to compete with SpaceX; ChowNow, a commission-free online ordering platform for restaurants and Crexi, a platform for streamlining commercial real estate transactions.
Check out the full list of nominees and winners for dot.LA's 2021 Startup Awards below.
Pivot of the Year: Potion
This award celebrates a startup's ability to revamp by changing its business model and strategy in the face of adversity.
Finalists:
- Triller
- Behold
- GiveSum
- Potion — Winner
- Struct Club
Social Justice Award: Grid110
This award recognizes a company or individual who has made the biggest impact on driving social justice to create a positive, significant and sustainable impact.
Finalists:
- All Voices
- Cheese
- SoLa Impact
- Hacker Fund
- Grid110 — Winner
Rising Entrepreneur: Krista Berlincourt
This entrepreneur is new in the LA startup scene and has emerged as a forward thinking innovator and leader. Despite his/her age, the Entrepreneur of the year has a pioneering spirit and a promising future.
Finalists:
- Clash App, Brandon McNerney
- Lolly, Marc Baghadjian and Sacha Schermerhorn
- Kona, Sid Pandiya
- Kensho Health, Krista Berlincourt — Winner
- Seed, Ara Katz
Rising Startup: Invisible Universe
Sponsored by TriNet
This startup is less than two years of age from incorporation and has shown major development based on market growth, innovation and impact of products and services. This newcomer has the greatest potential to disrupt its market and global tech community.
Finalists:
- Elude
- Returnmates
- Dogdrop
- Invisible Universe — Winner
- Launch House
Entrepreneur of the Year: Alex Israel
This entrepreneur has a fearless spirit while their partners, teammates and clients are inspired by their vision on a daily basis. They have made notable achievements this past year in regards to funds raised, sales, impact of product and leadership in the tech ecosystem.
Finalists:
- Heather Hasson and Trina Spear, FIGS
- Cathy Zoi, EVgo
- Alex Israel, Metropolis — Winner
- Dakota Semler, Xos Truck
- Jason Wilk, Dave
Startup of the Year: HopSkipDrive
This company has shown the greatest development over the past year based on innovation and impact with goods and services. This startup has the most promising potential for an exit and potential to reach unicorn status.
Finalists:
- HopSkipDrive — Winner
- Universal Hydrogen
- Rocket Lab
- ChowNow
- Crexi
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
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Lime Piloting New Electric Motorbike in Long Beach
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Lime is piloting a new electric motorbike in Long Beach.
The San Francisco-based micromobility company is testing its latest lightweight electric vehicle, known as the Citra, on the streets of Long Beach, The Verge reported Tuesday. Lime plans to pilot several hundred of the motorbikes throughout the city and could potentially roll out up to 500 of the vehicles if rider demand is strong, a spokesperson told the tech news outlet.
The Citra, which is designed and built by Lime’s existing manufacturing partners, can hit a top speed of 20 miles per hour and travel up to 30 miles on a single charge. Its swappable batteries are interchangeable with the rest of Lime’s fleet of electric scooters and e-bikes, which will make the motorbikes easier to service while also saving the company on maintenance costs. The vehicle, which features large padded seats, can carry a maximum payload of 330 pounds.
The Citra will only be available in Long Beach for the time being, as Lime has no currently plans to deploy the vehicle in other markets, the company told The Verge. The new product arrives as Lime and other micromobility providers are betting that soaring gas prices drive more riders away from cars and toward their shared electric vehicles.
Lime debuted its new, more eco-friendly Gen4 e-scooter in Los Angeles this spring, with plans to replace its entire L.A. fleet with the new model. The company also quietly raised the costs of its low-income rider program in the city, as dot.LA reported in May, catching local community advocates off-guard.
Last week saw Santa Monica-based Bird, one of Lime’s primary micromobility competitors, lay off nearly a quarter of its staff in an effort to cut costs.
- E-Bike Manufacturers Are Rethinking Los Angeles. Here's What ... ›
- Lime Is Bringing Its New, More Eco-Friendly Scooters to LA - dot.LA ›
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Invoca Hits Unicorn Status With $83M Silver Lake-Led Funding Round
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.
The startup announced an $83 million Series F funding round on Tuesday that values it at $1.1 billion. Silver Lake Waterman led the round, which takes Invoca’s total private financing to $184 million. New investors Hollyport Capital, Kingfisher Investment Advisors and Fenwick & West also participated, as did existing backers Upfront Ventures, Accel, H.I.G. Capital and Industry Ventures.
Founded in 2008, Invoca’s platform uses artificial intelligence to help customer service call centers better address inquiries and complaints. The company provides its clients with data from those conversations that provide insight into how calls were handled and the outcomes of those interactions.
Invoca’s clients include notable consumer brands such as AutoNation, DirecTV, Orkin and Rogers Communications. The startup, which employs around 400 people, recently reported 70% annual revenue growth and says it surpassed $100 million in annual run-rate revenue.
Invoca said it will use the new funding to “accelerate product innovation” both internally and through acquisitions like its May 2021 purchase of call tracking and analytics company DialogTech. It also plans to “broaden its geographic coverage” beyond its core U.S. and Canada markets and into Mexico, South America and Europe.
The Series F funding follows Invoca’s $56 million Series E round in 2019, which was led by Santa Monica-based Upfront Ventures. Prior to that, the company raised a $30 million Series D in 2016, led by Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and a $20 million Series C in 2014, led by Accel.
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.
JLL Spark’s Laurent Grill on Investing in Proptech’s Evolution
On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, JLL Spark’s Laurent Grill talks about the world of proptech, COVID’s impact on the office and lowering buildings’ emissions.
Grill joined JLL Spark, the investment arm of global commercial real estate company JLL, over a year ago. The firm focuses on Series A and B investments of between $2 million and $10 million in a wide range of areas in real estate technology, including smart buildings, construction tech and tenant experience platforms — all of which have become more relevant in a post-pandemic world.
As employees filter back into offices, Grill said the purpose and experiences of those spaces will likely change for a world in which more companies adopt a hybrid or remote work model. The challenge, he thinks, will be in creating an environment that doesn’t promote employees’ isolation.
“I don't necessarily believe that the future of the office looks like a bunch of cubicles,” said Grill. “There's definitely going to be a need to create an environment where people can come back together, where we're giving them the tools to do it in a way that is exciting so that people want to be back.”
Office space is one issue, there’s also the problem of building emissions. For example, Grill said 70% of New York City’s carbon emissions come from steel and concrete. That will need to change as cities become more serious about cutting their impact on the environment.
“One of the largest emitters is steal and concrete. If we can remove that from the supply chain and build, there's a lot of ways that we can actually lower emissions. And we just saw there was a skyscraper that was built purely on mass timber, which is really, really cool,” said Grill.
Grill added that we’re likely to see a flurry of mandates in the coming years aimed at reducing emissions from properties.
“These mandates will inspire companies to experiment with tons of new technologies,” he said. “And so as compliance deadlines draw closer, we're likely to see a wave of adoption [of] we'll call it ‘smart’ buildings, which really encompasses a variety of things.”
They include rental, data and internet-of-things infrastructure technologies that can track how buildings are being used, and squeeze new efficiencies out of them.
Grill sees proptech evolving much as fintech did five years ago.
“You're gonna have tons of innovation,” he said. “And you're gonna have tons of adoption across previously antiquated industries that will allow for some really, really big players.”
Click the link above to hear the full episode, and subscribe to LA Venture on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
dot.LA Engagement Fellow Joshua Letona contributed to this post.