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XWest LA-Based Biotech ImmixBio - Maker of Cancer Treatments - Files for an IPO
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.

ImmixBio, a West L.A.-based startup developing cancer therapies, announced on Friday it submitted a confidential filing to go public.
Ilya Rachman, chief executive of the nine-year-old company which has developed a combination therapy meant to prevent cancers from resisting treatments and evolving, would not specify how many shares will be offered or the price range.
ImmixBio CEO Dr. Ilya Rachman/ Courtesy of ImmixBio
The company's therapy has shown promising results in treating glioblastoma, ovarian tumors and multiple myeloma in preclinical studies
Rachman said he wants to take the company public so he can further the development of the cancer drug and expand it to treat colon cancer. He also hopes to continue Immix's work on inflammatory bowel disease treatment that is in preclinical stages.
"This company truly benefits the ultimate consumer, which is the massive patient population, as well as investors who want to back worthwhile clinical innovation that bring meaningful improvement to standards of care in oncology," said Rachman.
The therapy is currently undergoing clinical trials to treat ovarian cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and solid tumors to determine what dose is appropriate for patients. The first U.S. patient was dosed in 2020.
Early clinical trials showed promising results for patients dealing with soft-tissue sarcoma, a rare type of cancer. Using Immix therapy, patients' cancers were controlled for roughly four months, which allows doctors to continue experimenting with different treatments before the cancer either grows or evolves.
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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.
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Genies Wants To Help Creators Build ‘Avatar Ecosystems’
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
When avatar startup Genies raised $150 million in April, the company released an unusual message to the public: “Farewell.”
The Marina del Rey-based unicorn, which makes cartoon-like avatars for celebrities and aims to “build an avatar for every single person on Earth,” didn’t go under. Rather, Genies announced it would stay quiet for a while to focus on building avatar-creation products.
Genies representatives told dot.LA that the firm is now seeking more creators to try its creation tools for 3D avatars, digital fashion items and virtual experiences. On Thursday, the startup launched a three-week program called DIY Collective, which will mentor and financially support up-and-coming creatives.
Similar programs are common in the startup world and in the creator economy. For example, social media companies can use accelerator programs not only to support rising stars but to lure those creators—and their audiences—to the company’s platforms. Genies believes avatars will be a crucial part of the internet’s future and is similarly using its program to encourage creators to launch brands using Genies’ platform.
“I think us being able to work hands on with this next era—this next generation of designers and entrepreneurs—not only gets us a chance to understand how people want to use our platform and tools, but also allows us to nurture those types of creators that are going to exist and continue to build within our ecosystem,” said Allison Sturges, Genies’ head of strategic partnerships.
DIY Collective’s initial cohort will include roughly 15 people, Sturges said. They will spend three weeks at the Genies headquarters, participating in workshops and hearing from CEOs, fashion designers, tattoo artists and speakers from other industries, she added. Genies will provide creatives with funding to build brands and audiences, though Sturges declined to share how much. By the end of the program, participants will be able to sell digital goods through the company’s NFT marketplace, The Warehouse. There, people can buy, sell and trade avatar creations, such as wearable items.
Genies will accept applications for the debut program until Aug. 1. It will kick off on Aug. 8, and previous experience in digital fashion and 3D art development is not required.
Sturges said that the program will teach people “about the tools and capabilities that they will have” through Genies’ platform, as well as “how to think about building their own avatar ecosystem brands and even their own audience.”
Image courtesy of Genies
Founded in 2017, Genies established itself by making avatars for celebrities from Rihanna to Russell Westbrook, who have used the online lookalikes for social media and sponsorship opportunities. The 150-person company, which has raised at least $250 million to date, has secured partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to make avatars for each music label’s entire roster of artists. Former Disney boss Bob Iger joined the company’s board in March.
The company wants to extend avatars to everyone else. Avatars—digital figures that represent an individual—may be the way people interact with each other in the 3D virtual worlds of the metaverse, the much-hyped iteration of the internet where users may one day work, shop and socialize. A company spokesperson previously told dot.LA that Genies has been beta testing avatar creator tools with invite-only users and gives creators “full ownership and commercialization rights” over their creations collecting a 5% transaction fee each time an avatar NFT is sold.
“It's an opportunity for people to build their most expressive and authentic self within this digital era,” Sturges said of avatars.
The company’s call for creators could be a sign that Genies is close to rolling out the Warehouse and its tools publicly. Asked what these avatar tools might look like, the startup went somewhat quiet again.
Allison Sturges said, “I think that's probably something that I'll hold off on sharing. We will be rolling some of this out soon.”
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Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Here's What To Expect At LA Tech Week
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
LA Tech Week—a weeklong showcase of the region’s growing startup ecosystem—is coming this August.
The seven-day series of events, from Aug. 15 through Aug. 21, is a chance for the Los Angeles startup community to network, share insights and pitch themselves to investors. It comes a year after hundreds of people gathered for a similar event that allowed the L.A. tech community—often in the shadow of Silicon Valley—to flex its muscles.
From fireside chats with prominent founders to a panel on aerospace, here are some highlights from the roughly 30 events happening during LA Tech Week, including one hosted by dot.LA.
DoorDash’s Founding Story: Stanley Tang, a cofounder and chief product officer of delivery giant DoorDash, speaks with Pear VC's founding managing partner, Pejman Nozad. They'll discuss how to grow a tech company from seed stage all the way to an initial public offering. Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Santa Monica.
The Founders Guide to LA: A presentation from dot.LA cofounder and executive chairman Spencer Rascoff, who co-founded Zillow and served as the real estate marketplace firm’s CEO. Aug. 16 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Brentwood.
Time To Build: Los Angeles: Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) hosts a discussion on how L.A. can maintain its momentum as one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the U.S. Featured speakers include a16z general partners Connie Chan and Andrew Chen, as well as Grant Lafontaine, the cofounder and CEO of shopping marketplace Whatnot. Aug. 19 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Santa Monica.
How to Build Successful Startups in Difficult Industries: Leaders from Southern California’s healthcare and aerospace startups gather for panels and networking opportunities. Hosted by TechStars, the event includes speakers from the U.S. Space Force, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Applied VR and University of California Irvine. Aug. 15 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Culver City.
LA Tech Week Demo Day: Early stage startups from the L.A. area pitch a panel of judges including a16z’s Andrew Chen and Nikita Bier, who co-founded the Facebook-acquired social media app tbh. Inside a room of 100 tech leaders in a Beverly Hills mansion, the pitch contest is run by demo day events platform Stonks and live-in accelerator Launch House. Aug. 17 from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Beverly Hills.
Registration information and a full list of LA Tech Week events can be found here.
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Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Cameo Adds a Bored Ape to Its Celebrity Video Platform
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
If you’re still wondering what a Bored Ape is and why someone would spend six figures to buy one, you can now ask one of the cartoon chimps yourself. Celebrity video platform Cameo is offering personalized messages from Bored Ape Yacht Club #9132. Or more precisely, from Adam Draper, the venture capitalist who owns the NFT artwork.
Draper, a UCLA grad and the founder and managing director of Boost VC, is a Web3 enthusiast who made early bets on Coinbase and Etherscan, among other crypto investments. This week, Draper joined Cameo to sell pre-recorded videos of himself as a 3D animated Bored Ape, starting at $25. The videos are aimed at Web3 startup founders, who may seek motivation or feedback on their pitches, Draper told dot.LA.
“As an investor, any way that you can open access through new distribution to see deals, you should do that,” Draper said. “I thought, ‘Hey, no one else is really doing this. I might be able to attract great founders through this.’”
Draper described his foray into Cameo as a bit of an experiment. Blockchain firms like Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, have attached broad commercialization rights to NFTs, which are unique digital assets verified using blockchain technology. That means NFT holders can slap their ape on a t-shirt and sell it—or license them as characters for novels and movies—to make money from their intellectual property. Draper is using the likeness of a Bored Ape he bought for his Cameo, with help from a Texas startup called Aquifer to create the videos. His Boost VC firm is an investor in Aquifer, which helps people and brands make “instant animated videos with their IP.”
“If we are moving forward with the advent of NFTs and communities building out open source, intellectual property—like becoming a Disney sort of thing—we need to experiment and see what other tools need to be created in order to make this a real movement,” Draper said.
Blockchain boosters believe NFTs, cryptocurrencies and related technologies will give us a better, decentralized internet that is free of middlemen and gatekeepers. Until then, we have videos of VCs rendered as animated simians. Many consumers are still leery of NFTs due to a rollercoaster crypto market, environmental harms of crypto mining and headline-grabbing scams—including one involving Cameo’s CEO, Steve Galanis, whose Bored Ape was stolen.
Draper acknowledged that some people will find his Cameo silly. In fact, he’s counting on it. He expects to receive requests to send videos—as a joke—to people who hate crypto. He said his Bored Ape is the first NFT avatar on Cameo, putting him on the frontier of such potential use cases. Draper is donating all proceeds from the videos to Mission Blue, a group working to protect the oceans.
“I love being in industries where there are haters,” Draper said. “That means when they realize the value, they become impassioned lovers of the craft. And so it's just all about changing everyone's mind over a period of time.”
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.