los angeles tech news

LA Tech Week 2026: Tuesday’s Event Lineup

Grace Lee
LA Tech Week 2026: Tuesday’s Event Lineup

🔦 Spotlight

Day 2 of LA Tech Week 2026 brings another full schedule of panels, founder gatherings, workshops and networking events across Los Angeles. We have grouped Tuesday’s lineup by neighborhood so you can quickly find what is happening nearby and build a schedule that keeps unnecessary cross-city travel to a minimum.

ARTS DISTRICT

6:30 PM

  • Off the Record: A dinner for LA ecommerce leaders, six weeks before Black Friday: See Details Here
    eLLMo AI, Inc.

7:00 PM

  • Design, Aerospace, and Storytelling: How Fiction Hardens Into Infrastructure: See Details Here
    Fuser

BEL AIR

6:00 PM

  • Tech x Hollywood Icons Gala x Civil Launch Party (hosts:Star Wars Writer, Rotten Tomatoes founder): See Details Here
    Civil News

BEVERLY HILLS

7:00 AM

9:00 AM

2:30 PM

  • The Road to 2028: Experiences & Innovations Connecting London, Los Angeles and the World: See Details Here
    London & Partners, United Talent Agency, Virgin Atlantic

4:30 PM

  • Building the Enterprise AI Stack: Sovereignty, Safety & Accountability Quantec + Kindo +Meter: See Details Here
    Quantec, Kindo.ai, Meter

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

7:00 PM

CENTURY CITY

2:30 PM

  • The New Hollywood Stack: AI, Creators and the Future of Media: See Details Here
    Manatt, Connect Ventures

4:00 PM

  • Put Your Money in the Room: See Details Here
    GCWC Capital, Berstein, SoCal Women's Health Collective

CULVER CITY

8:00 AM

9:00 AM

11:00 AM

12:00 PM

3:00 PM

  • HubSpot & Blackbird Collective's Hands-on AI Agent Lab for Real Work: See Details Here
    HubSpot

5:00 PM

  • Startup Spotlight: The Future of Aerospace & Defense: See Details Here
    La French Tech San Diego, Safran Corporate Ventures, Techstars Space Accelerator

5:30 PM

6:00 PM

  • Culver Cluster: Meet all the AI media companies in Culver City: See Details Here
    AI on the Lot, TrueShort

8:00 PM

DOWNTOWN

6:15 AM

9:00 AM

12:00 PM

1:00 PM

  • Beauty, Culture & Code: Building the Future of Beauty Discovery: See Details Here
    WaxPrint Media

1:30 PM

2:00 PM

  • Meet Your Future Self : An AI-Powered Mental Wellness Experience by NISSI✨: See Details Here
    NISSI Inc.

2:30 PM

3:00 PM

4:00 PM

  • B2B Bo$es #LATechWeek (GTM x Building Community For Top Execs): See Details Here
    Kamp

5:00 PM

  • How Women Invest x WMNfintech by BMO & 1871: Investor x Founder Dinner: See Details Here
    How Women Invest, 1871

6:00 PM

  • Connecting the Agentic Web for consumers B2C: See Details Here
    Foundation for Agentic Networks

6:30 PM

  • THE PITCH ROOM Live. Interactive. Built for Founders.: See Details Here
    Speech & Mind

7:00 PM

  • The Intersect of Beauty & Tech: The Future Is Phygital: See Details Here
    Loo-Sha Inc

ECHO PARK

10:00 AM

EL SEGUNDO

8:30 AM

2:00 PM

3:30 PM

4:30 PM

5:00 PM

  • Chloe & Cocktails Presented by Ayana Foundation & JP Morgan: See Details Here
    Ayana Foundation

6:00 PM

7:00 PM

HOLLYWOOD

7:00 PM

  • FROM AUDIENCE TO UNIVERSE Creators, Fans and Technology: See Details Here
    FUMORO.com, PCB Productions, Business of Creating Institute
  • FUTURE OF THE FUTURE: LA TECH WEEK DINNER: *Full*
    Digital Mind State

HOLLYWOOD HILLS

7:00 PM

INGLEWOOD

5:00 PM

  • How Chiefs of Staff Make the Invisible Visible: See Details Here
    Ask a Chief of Staff

KOREATOWN

6:30 PM

LONG BEACH

5:00 PM

  • Seed2Table – Pitch+Dinner for AI, Web3 & Deep Tech Investors: See Details Here
    Seed2Table

6:00 PM

  • From Local to Global: A Wine Tasting on Scaling Your Team Everywhere: See Details Here
    Deel

MARINA DEL RAY

7:00 AM

10:00 AM

  • Self-Improving Agents Hackathon: See Details Here
    USC Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California (USC)

2:30 PM

  • The Future of Commerce in the AI Era: See Details Here
    GrowthSync, Capitalize VC, DNAM Brands

4:00 PM

  • Full Sphere: Going Global with a16z’s Brian Roberts: See Details Here
    a16z, Sphere

6:00 PM

  • Human-in-the-loop for AI agents and automated workflows: See Details Here
    Workflow Builder

7:00 PM

MID CITY

8:00 AM

5:00 PM

5:30 PM

PASADENA

12:00 PM

  • The Healthcare Executive AI Agenda: What Leaders Are Doing Now: See Details Here
    Innovate Pasadena, Huntington Medical Research Institutes

3:00 PM

4:00 PM

5:00 PM

PLAYA DEL RAY

4:00 PM

  • Space Cities: A Gathering of Founders, Builders, and Investors: See Details Here
    LifeShip Ventures

PLAYA VISTA

10:00 AM

  • Building Consumer Brands That Last - A DTC Brand Showcase and Expert Panel: See Details Here
    Sunstone Management, Inc, SHOPLINE, Well Network

OTHER

11:00 AM

  • Wrapping up the Raise Luncheon - Deep Tech Investors & Closing Founders: See Details Here

Actuate Ventures, Strativ

12:00 PM

  • SoCal Black Tech Express - Entrepreneur's Playground Convening.: See Details Here
    The Daraja Collective, Consulate General of Canada – Los Angeles

6:00 PM

  • Prompt vs. Proof: The Future of Thinking in a Vibe-Coded World: See Details Here
    Black Doctor's Creative
  • GTM101: Influencer Hiring & Brand Partnerships: See Details Here
    Luvira Consulting

6:15 PM

6:30 PM

  • AI-Powered Site Selection for RE Developers & Investors: See Details Here
    ArchiWise AIr
  • WEARABLES: The Future of Health/HAPPY HOUR (Free Food + Drinks): See Details Here
    Lenn AI

7:00 PM

  • Matchmaking the Future: AI's Role in Building the Next Sports & Entertainment Economy: See Details Here
    Duets Network

SANTA MONICA

8:00 AM

8:30 AM

  • Rise and Rally: Pickleball with Catalyze + Bonfire Ventures: See Details Here
    Gunderson Dettmer

9:00 AM

  • The Influencer Tech Breakfast: Turning Followers Into Revenue With Supplements: See Details Here
    Sunrise Integration and Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce
  • Critical Industries Brunch — Riot × Stifel Venture Banking: See Details Here
    Riot Ventures, Stifel

9:30 AM

  • Early-Stage B2B Tech Founders & Funders Breakfast: See Details Here
    Forum Ventures

10:00 AM

  • AI Got Faster? We Audited our own PRs & Tickets - it wasn’t pretty! Yours Probably Won't Be Either: See Details Here
    CXAI

10:30 AM

11:00 AM

  • Software founder’s go to market strategies and networking: See Details Here
    Aim-Hi, Mojave cloud

12:00 PM

  • BEYOND THE COUNTER : How Beauty, Technology, and Community Are Reshaping the Customer Journey.: See Details Here
    Triple Eight Creative
  • Build-A-Bachelor Workshop: Bring AI characters to life: See Details Here
    CG Pro, Fermata, Machine Cinema

12:30 PM

  • Launch Your Observability Mission with Dynatrace & AWS: See Details Here
    Dynatrace, AWS

1:00 PM

2:00 PM

2:30 PM

  • Your Next Growth Move: Founder Session: See Details Here
    Product Market Pro, Worldpay

3:00 PM

3:30 PM

4:00 PM

  • Adobe & Greycroft Present: Who owns creativity now?: See Details Here
    Adobe, Greycroft
  • Where the Physical Future is Gettting Built: AI, Infra, and Deep Tech: See Details Here
    HSBC, a16z Speedrun

5:00 PM

  • a16z Perennial - Founders Financial Future Collective: See Details Here
    a16z Perennial
  • Pitch on Tap: Happy Hour with VCs and their AI personas - #LA TechWeek: See Details Here
    Casuro.ai, Agora
  • Baltic Startups Networking: See Details Here
    Baltic Way LLC, Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA)
  • Sweat Equity: The Intersection of Sports, Tech, and Capital - #LATechWeeky: See Details Here
    Mayer Brown LLP, 726 Capital, A2X Foundry, Musa Capital
  • NachoTuesday SaaS & AI Founder + Investor Rooftop Happy Hour: See Details Here
    NachoNacho

5:15 PM

5:30 PM

  • J.P. Morgan Sunset Social with the Innovation Economy: See Details Here
    J.P. Morgan
  • F**kup Night: AI-Native Across 150 Engineers. Here's What Broke: See Details Here
    Ardas
  • Why Bidirectional EVs Will Dominate Our Energy Future: See Details Here
    Relay Industries

6:00 PM

  • $@!L $tr8 n2 the $toRm: Q&A with Terrence Sims: See Details Here
    Customer Story Studio
  • Hardware Renaissance & American Dynamism by Imagining Forward: See Details Here
    Imagining Forward
  • The Impact of AI: Exploring a Sustainable Path Forward: See Details Here
    Women in Cleantech & Sustainability
  • Beyond The Prototype: Building Voice and Consumer-Facing AI That Wins: See Details Here
    Agora

6:30 PM

VENICE

8:00 AM

  • The Scaling Transition: Modern Commerce — Founders Breakfast: See Details Here
    The Growin Lab

9:00 AM

9:30 AM

  • Next Stop Europe – International Tech Breakfast: See Details Here
    NRW.Global Business, CMS

10:00 AM

  • Athletes x Founders x Investors: The New Ownership Economy by Airship in Santa Monica: See Details Here
    Airship Capital

10:45 AM

11:00 AM

  • Midday Refuel: Founders Lunch, Hosted by Entrepreneur Ventures: See Details Here
    Entrepreneur Ventures
  • EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): Automating CI/CD Compliance with AI: See Details Here
    Entrepreneur Ventures

11:30 AM

  • Industry Lunch and Learn: Intersection of Gaming & Entertainment: See Details Here
    Xsolla

1:00 PM

2:00 PM

  • The Death of Marketing: AI Hallucinations, Sycophancy, and the Fix: See Details Here
    GrowTal

3:00 PM

  • The New Front Door to Health · Creator Wellness Mixer: See Details Here
    +Care, Creatorland, Proudly Serving

5:00 PM

  • Rooftop Party at Kassi: Hollywood x DeepTech | by Cake Equity, Voice Capital, Pilot, & Fenwick: See Details Here
    Cake Equity, Fenwick

5:30 PM

  • Idea Space Launch: Group Meditation + Mindful Networking: See Details Here
    Idea Space

6:00 PM

  • Dinner with the author of The Variational Book: See Details Here
    Variational Meida
  • The Wealth Salons Presents: OGs & LPs.: See Details Here
    DVRGNT Ventures, Musa Capital

7:00 PM

VIRTUAL

8:00 AM

  • Amplifying Scientific Innovation: AI and the Future of Workforce Development: See Details Here
    The Sophia Consulting Firm

10:00 AM

10:30 AM

11:00 AM

  • Q4 2026 State of AI + AE (Autonomous Economy) & Investment Opportunities: See Details Here
    Untapped Ventures
  • Pitch Presence: Use Style & Physicality to Win Pitches: See Details Here
    Evan Weiner

11:30 AM

  • The GTM Wall Nobody Warns You About (Pt 1) - Getting Paid in HealthTech: See Details Here
    Rise of Us

12:30 PM

1:00 PM

2:00 PM

  • What did our AI Agent do?! The Missing Runtime Authorization Layer for Agents and Physical AI: See Details Here
    OtisLabs.ai

WEST ADAMS

6:00 PM

  • USC Troy Labs x Pareto Holdings x Rho Founder Dinner: See Details Here
    Rho, Pareto20, Troy Labs, USC

WEST HOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM

11:00 AM

12:00 PM

  • LAGLCC Skills Series: Unlocking AI in Your Business: See Details Here
    The Landing Pad

4:00 PM

  • LA's Hard Tech Renaissance: Robotics & Physical AI: See Details Here
    About My Eyes

WEST SIDE

6:30 PM

  • The Skeleton IS Your Operating System: See Details Here
    Osteostrong x ConciergeMD, Osteostrong

WESTWOOD

1:30 PM

5:00 PM

  • Carta and Holland & Knight Present: Startups, Capital & Connections with UCLA Ventures: See Details Here
    Holland & Knight, Carta, UCLA Technology Development Group

6:00 PM

  • Vitals: Consumer Health in the AI Era: See Details Here
    Kin Health, OpenEvidence, Upfront Ventures

7:00 PM

WINDSOR HILLS

8:00 AM

12:00 PM

Each session provides unique opportunities to gain insights, network, and explore various fields of tech innovation. For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.

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Anduril Built Fighter Jets. Now It’s Making a Laptop.

Grace Lee
Anduril Built Fighter Jets. Now It’s Making a Laptop.
Anduril

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday, Los Angeles.

Anduril has built autonomous drones, underwater vehicles and fighter aircraft. Its newest product is considerably more familiar.

A laptop.

The Costa Mesa-based defense technology company announced this week that it is partnering with San Diego-based Qualcomm Technologies to launch BlueChip, a new line of computers designed in California and manufactured in the United States.

The first product will be a rugged laptop powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Series platform and built for customers in government, defense, public safety and other critical industries. Anduril has already produced working prototypes and plans to begin accepting orders in 2027.

At first glance, a laptop may seem like a modest addition to a company known for developing autonomous military systems. But BlueChip is less about entering the crowded consumer-electronics market and more about rebuilding the industrial foundation behind the machines Americans use every day.

The United States remains a leader in designing advanced technology, but much of the physical production required to turn those designs into finished computers has moved overseas. That includes not only semiconductor manufacturing, but also circuit boards, displays, batteries, enclosures and the network of specialized suppliers that connects them.

For most consumers, that dependency is largely invisible. For the government and military, it represents a potential vulnerability.

BlueChip is Anduril’s attempt to close that gap.

Components sourced from the United States and allied countries already account for more than 90% of the prototype laptop’s procurement cost. Circuit-board assembly is planned for Anduril’s Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio, while the company develops domestic production capabilities for enclosures, batteries and other hardware.

The goal is to gradually replace remaining foreign dependencies and create an end-to-end American computer supply chain that can support additional products beyond the first laptop.

That process requires more than moving an existing design into an American factory. Anduril is redesigning the computer around what domestic manufacturers can realistically produce at scale. The work includes selecting machinable American metals, adapting power systems to available battery technology and developing a bonding process for domestically made display glass.

In other words, Anduril is not simply assembling a laptop in America. It is working backward through the supply chain to make American assembly possible.

Qualcomm will supply the computing foundation. Its Snapdragon X platform will handle processing, graphics and on-device artificial intelligence, giving BlueChip users the ability to run certain AI models locally rather than sending sensitive information to the cloud.

That is particularly valuable for government and defense customers operating in secure environments, but it also reflects a broader shift in computing. As AI becomes embedded in everyday workflows, the location where information is processed may become nearly as important as the model doing the processing.

The partnership also reinforces Southern California’s growing role in the effort to rebuild American advanced manufacturing.

Anduril remains headquartered in Orange County, but its regional footprint is expanding. The company is investing $1B in a new campus spanning Long Beach and Lakewood that is expected to support approximately 5,500 jobs and include engineering, laboratory and prototype-manufacturing space.

Qualcomm, meanwhile, has spent decades building San Diego into a center for wireless technology and semiconductor design.

BlueChip brings those two Southern California strengths together: Anduril’s ability to move quickly from engineering concept to physical product and Qualcomm’s expertise in efficient, high-performance computing.

The first BlueChip laptop is not intended to compete for space in every backpack or coffee shop. Its early customers will likely be institutions that care deeply about security, reliability and control over their technology supply chains.

But the larger ambition reaches far beyond a single device.

If BlueChip succeeds, Anduril and Qualcomm will have created more than an American-made computer. They will have helped restore the suppliers, production knowledge and technical workforce required to build the next one.

For a company accustomed to tackling difficult national-security problems, the laptop may be one of Anduril’s most practical ideas yet.

Sometimes rebuilding an industry begins with reopening the machine.

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

🤝 Venture Deals

    LA Companies

    • StimCardio raised an oversubscribed $30M Series A led by Metis MedTech, with participation from Catalyst Health Ventures and other investors. The Los Angeles medical device company will use the funding to advance a pivotal study of Rhyvive, its investigational wrist-worn therapy designed to reduce recurring atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation, and prepare for an FDA submission. - learn more
    • Gardena-based Neuron Industries raised an oversubscribed $10M seed round co-led by FCVC and Obvious Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, Thin Line Capital, Zee Prime Capital and Founder Factor. The company will use the funding to develop and launch its AI-powered industrial control platform, expand its product line and establish domestic production as it works to help engineers automate new factories and machinery more quickly. - learn more
    • Offe Market raised a $3M seed round led by Slauson & Co., bringing the off-price retail marketplace’s total funding to $4.3M. The company will use the capital to expand its commerce platform with AI-powered pricing and inventory tools, personalized recommendations and live shopping features designed to help brands sell excess merchandise without sacrificing control over presentation or pricing. - learn more
    • Loamy raised a $6M seed round led by Zeal Capital Partners, with participation from LA investors Slauson & Co., Supply Change Capital and Amplify.LA, bringing its total funding to $10M. The company will use the capital to expand its engineering and sales teams, advance its AI platform and enter additional food categories as it helps growers, packers and distributors reduce waste and prevent rejected shipments. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds
    • MaC Venture Capital co-led Rendezvous Robotics’ oversubscribed $20M seed round alongside Toyota Ventures, marking the space startup’s first priced financing. The company will use the funding to develop its next-generation modular spacecraft, expand its team and prepare for flight demonstrations of technology that allows spacecraft components to assemble and reconfigure autonomously in orbit. - learn more
    • BOLD Capital Partners participated in General Compute’s $100M Series A, which was co-led by Blackbird and Abstract. The company will use the funding to scale its AI inference cloud, which deploys specialized chips from companies including Cerebras, SambaNova and Positron AI to help customers run AI workloads faster without managing the underlying infrastructure. - learn more
    • Mantis Venture Capital participated in Vera Health’s $28.5M Series A, which was led by Threshold Ventures and brought the clinical AI company’s total funding to $32M. Vera will use the capital to strengthen its medical-evidence infrastructure, enter new healthcare markets and expand partnerships with medical societies, publishers and health systems. - learn more

    LA Exits

    • Breastfeeding platform Swehl was acquired by Willow Innovations alongside infant-feeding technology company Momtech, with financial terms undisclosed. Swehl’s educational resources and community programs will anchor Willow World, a new platform designed to expand Willow’s business beyond wearable breast pumps and support mothers across more of the postpartum journey. - learn more
    • SmartLess Mobile was acquired by Noble Mobile and will transition to the Noble brand as the companies combine their efforts to offer simpler, more affordable wireless service. Existing customers will retain their plans, prices, phone numbers and T-Mobile 5G coverage, while gaining the ability to use their data in Mexico and Canada at no additional cost; financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more

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      Your Bank Wants to Cancel Your Subscriptions

      Grace Lee
      Your Bank Wants to Cancel Your Subscriptions

      🔦 Spotlight

      Hello, LA.

      Somewhere between the streaming service you still use and the free trial you forgot to cancel, recurring payments have become a surprisingly complicated part of modern financial life.

      Los Angeles-based ScribeUp believes your bank should help manage them.

      The fintech company raised a $13M Series A led by Curql, with participation from Mucker Capital and Service Ventures. The financing includes $10M in equity and a $3M venture debt facility, bringing ScribeUp new capital to expand its team, accelerate sales and further develop its AI-powered bill-management technology.

      The product is designed to live directly within the apps of banks, credit unions, fintechs and neobanks. Instead of simply showing customers that a recurring charge occurred, ScribeUp gives them tools to do something about it.

      That could mean canceling a forgotten subscription, changing a payment method, accessing an advance or exploring refinancing options for an outside loan, all without leaving the financial institution’s app.

      It sounds like a useful feature. It is also part of a much larger contest over who gets to manage the consumer’s financial life.

      For years, banks have held customers’ money while third-party apps have increasingly helped them understand and manage it. Budgeting platforms organize spending. Subscription services identify recurring charges. Fintech apps recommend ways to save, borrow or invest.

      Now AI assistants are beginning to combine those functions into a single interface capable of not only analyzing financial information, but acting on it.

      That creates a risk for traditional financial institutions. If consumers begin turning to an outside app whenever they need to cancel a service, manage a bill or make a financial decision, their bank could become little more than the infrastructure beneath someone else’s customer experience.

      ScribeUp offers banks a way to compete without building that technology themselves.

      Its platform combines recurring-payment information with the financial context a bank already has, including balances, cash flow and payment timing. That allows a financial institution to do more than flag an upcoming charge. It can potentially recommend and execute an action based on the customer’s broader financial position.

      ScribeUp says its technology is already used by more than 60 banks, credit unions, fintechs and neobanks. It can be added through an API, software development kit or embedded interface, allowing institutions to introduce bill-management features without creating the underlying infrastructure from scratch.

      The new funding will support more advanced AI capabilities that can take action across different billers. That distinction matters. The first generation of personal finance software helped people see where their money was going. The next generation wants permission to do something about it.

      For banks, the opportunity is straightforward: become more useful before another app takes their place.

      For consumers, the appeal may be even simpler. Most people do not want another financial dashboard. They want the unwanted charge to stop.

      The next battle in banking may not be over who holds your money.

      It may be over who gets to press cancel.

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

      🤝 Venture Deals

        LA Companies

        • International Dance League raised a $15M Series A led by Elysian Park Ventures, with participation from Sony, KB Partners, APEX, Yamaha Music Innovations Fund and October Ventures. Following a debut season that sold out all six events and generated 2B views, IDL will use the funding to expand its tour, strengthen team and dancer operations, improve broadcast production and develop new fan experiences for 2027. - learn more
        • Santa Fe Springs-based DrizzleX raised a $6.8M Series A-2 led by Israel Investment Fund Group, with several of the water-management platform’s own customers also investing. The company will use the funding to expand sales, streamline hardware manufacturing, build partnerships and develop new products that help property owners detect leaks, reduce water use and lower operating costs. - learn more
        • POV Beauty raised an undisclosed Series A led by Silas Capital, with participation from RÉDO Capital and existing investor Imaginary Ventures. The skin-prep brand will use the funding to build on its nationwide Sephora launch, expand its team and TikTok Shop presence, and develop more skincare-makeup hybrid products. - learn more

        LA Venture Funds
        • Chapter One participated in Warp Sciences’ $215M Series A, which was led by Lightspeed and included a large group of venture firms and angel investors. The company is building AI-powered, increasingly automated laboratories that will manufacture and test molecules for drug developers, aiming to accelerate preclinical research while expanding scientific infrastructure in the U.S. - learn more
        • Capital Group participated in Legora’s $550M Series E, which was led by Atreides Management and valued the legal AI company at $8.8B. Legora will use the funding to expand across the U.S. and international markets while developing new capabilities for its agentic operating system, which is used by more than 140,000 legal professionals. - learn more
        • Group 11 participated in CapitalOS’ $21.9M Series A, which was led by LGVP and included WEX Venture Capital, Great North Ventures and Night Capital. CapitalOS will use the funding to scale its infrastructure, which enables B2B software platforms to quickly offer financial products while outsourcing functions such as compliance, risk management and underwriting. - learn more
        • Starshot Capital participated in IMIO’s $12M funding round, which was led by Sofinnova Partners and included Chipotle’s Cultivate Next, Grow Together Salinas, Earth Foundry and Serra Ventures. The agricultural biotechnology company will use the capital to build a Chicago headquarters, laboratory and manufacturing facility for its freeze-dried microbial products, which are designed to improve soil health and crop yields. - learn more
        • SUM Ventures participated in Vectorial’s $3M seed round, which was co-led by Smilegate and SenseAI Ventures and included several investors connected to UC Berkeley and Stanford. The startup will use the funding to scale its AI-powered consumer research platform, which lets companies test products, marketing campaigns and AI agents against simulated audiences before launching them publicly. - learn more
        • Wave Function Ventures participated in Stellios Technologies’ oversubscribed $5M pre-seed round alongside Sofreh Capital, Cubit Capital, Mana Ventures, Atoms & Bits and other investors. The Austin-based company will use the funding to deliver its first high-power microwave systems, establish domestic research and manufacturing facilities, grow its team and advance technologies spanning directed energy, compact fusion and next-generation propulsion. - learn more
        • Upfront Ventures participated in Daytona’s $60M Series B, marking the Santa Monica firm’s third investment round with the company. Led by FirstMark Growth, the financing valued Daytona at $1B and will help the startup expand sales and engineering for its cloud infrastructure, which provides secure virtual computers where AI agents can execute tasks. - learn more
        • Core Innovation Capital participated in Delegance Brokerage’s $3.1M pre-seed round, which was led by Grit Capital Partners and included Gilgamesh Ventures and Outside VC. The AI-powered commercial insurance brokerage will use the funding to hire licensed brokers and engineers and expand partnerships as it promotes a flat 5% fee model in place of traditional commissions. - learn more
        • Core Innovation Capital participated in Prism Data’s $20M Series A, which was led by Story Ventures and included FINTOP Capital, Obvious Ventures, 1st & Main Growth Partners and Mana Ventures. Prism will use the funding to expand its cash-flow underwriting technology, AI infrastructure and data science team while growing across the U.S. and Canada and preparing for international expansion. - learn more

        LA Exits

        • Sanctuary has been acquired by WSG Brands, adding the contemporary women’s label to a portfolio that includes Von Dutch, Nasty Gal and Allbirds. The purchase price was not officially disclosed, though earlier documents placed it at $67M; WSG plans to expand Sanctuary internationally and into new categories, while founders Ken and Debra Polanco will remain involved. - learn more
        • SecureNet Solutions was acquired by CompassMSP, expanding the managed IT and cybersecurity provider’s presence on the West Coast. The deal gives SecureNet’s real estate, healthcare and professional services clients access to CompassMSP’s national cybersecurity, compliance and advisory resources while retaining their existing service team; financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more

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          Hello Sunshine Sold for More Than $900M. Now Reese Witherspoon Is Buying It Back.

          Grace Lee
          Hello Sunshine Sold for More Than $900M. Now Reese Witherspoon Is Buying It Back.
          Image Source: Hello Sunshine

          🔦 Spotlight

          Hey there, LA.

          In Hollywood, every successful story eventually gets a sequel. This one brings Reese Witherspoon back to the company she built.

          Five years after selling control of Hello Sunshine in a deal worth more than $900M, Witherspoon is partnering with French production group Mediawan to buy back the Los Angeles media company.

          The reported purchase price is in the low-to-mid eight figures, significantly below Hello Sunshine’s valuation when Candle Media acquired a controlling stake in 2021.

          That difference tells a larger story than any single Hollywood transaction.

          Hello Sunshine was one of the most prominent acquisitions made during the streaming boom, when platforms were spending aggressively and investors placed enormous value on production companies with recognizable founders, established audiences and libraries of intellectual property.

          Witherspoon had built all three.

          Founded in 2016, Hello Sunshine developed its business around stories centered on women, producing projects including “Big Little Lies,” “The Morning Show,” “Little Fires Everywhere” and “Daisy Jones & The Six.” It also turned Reese’s Book Club into an influential audience and discovery platform that now reaches 6.2 million readers and drives approximately $900M in annual U.S. book sales, according to the company.

          By 2021, that combination of talent, intellectual property and direct audience access looked like the foundation of a next-generation media empire.

          Candle Media, backed by capital from Blackstone, acquired Hello Sunshine as part of a broader effort to assemble a portfolio of entertainment brands. The company also purchased businesses including Moonbug Entertainment, ATTN: and Faraway Road Productions.

          Then the streaming market changed.

          Entertainment companies became more disciplined about content spending. The race to accumulate subscribers gave way to pressure for profitability. Production budgets tightened, consolidation slowed and some of the valuations assigned during the streaming boom became difficult to maintain.

          Hello Sunshine’s return to founder-led ownership reflects how dramatically the media landscape has changed since 2021. It also gives Witherspoon an opportunity to regain greater influence over the company at a moment when its core assets may matter more than its former valuation suggests.

          Under the new ownership structure, Hello Sunshine plans to refocus on premium film and television, Reese’s Book Club and new storytelling and distribution formats. Mediawan brings an international production network, while Witherspoon brings something harder to manufacture: a trusted personal brand and an audience willing to follow her recommendations from books to screens.

          That relationship with consumers is increasingly valuable in a fragmented media market. Studios can finance productions. Streaming services can distribute them. Far fewer companies can reliably convince millions of people to care before a project is even released.

          For Los Angeles, the deal reflects the increasingly fluid boundary between entertainment company, consumer brand and technology-enabled audience platform. The most resilient media businesses may not be those producing the greatest volume of content, but those that own a direct relationship with a specific community.

          The first Hello Sunshine deal captured the optimism of the streaming era.

          The second may offer a more focused model for what comes next, with the company once again guided by the founder who understood its audience from the beginning.

          Hollywood loves a comeback story.

          This time, the company is making one too.

          LA Tech Week’s Final Stretch

          Still making the most of LA Tech Week? We have organized the remaining events by location to make planning the weekend a little easier:

          Event schedules may change, so confirm the latest details with the organizer before heading out.

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

          🤝 Venture Deals

            LA Companies

            • Goodweek raised a $12M seed round led by Adara Ventures to expand its AI management platform for small and midsize businesses. The company brings tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Mistral into one governed workspace and will use the capital to accelerate sales and expand into Latin America and Asia. - learn more

            LA Venture Funds
            • Fika Ventures co-led Otter Health’s $8M seed round alongside Evidenced Capital, with participation from Slow Ventures, Metrodora, CoFound Partners, Patient Capital, SemperVirens and Layout Ventures. The startup will use the funding to scale its AI-powered platform, which helps healthcare payers and providers reduce unnecessary care and manage quality without relying as heavily on traditional prior authorization. - learn more
            • Nant Capital co-led Prolific Machines’ $50M Series B2 alongside Atoms & Bits, bringing the biotechnology company’s total funding to more than $100M. Prolific will use the capital to scale its light-controlled biomanufacturing platform, expand pharmaceutical and biotech programs and begin early work on tissue and organ fabrication. - learn more
            • Family Fund participated in Allara’s $30M funding round alongside new investors Camino Partners and Foreground Capital, while existing backers including Index Ventures and GV increased their commitments. The women’s healthcare company will use the capital to expand AI-enabled care, grow its provider and enterprise partnerships and advance research into hormonal, metabolic and reproductive conditions. - learn more
            • Vida Ventures participated in Soufflé Therapeutics’ oversubscribed $135M Series B, which was led by Juvia Group. The biotech will use the funding to move three lead programs into clinical trials for muscular dystrophy, heart failure and muscle and metabolic disorders while advancing its broader pipeline of targeted RNA therapies. - learn more
            • FJOR participated in LightSprint’s $6.1M seed round, which was led by 645 Ventures. The AI software platform will use the funding to expand its enterprise product and grow its engineering and go-to-market teams as it helps employees across departments make changes to company codebases while keeping engineers in control. - learn more
            • Muse Capital participated in Collective X Health’s oversubscribed $3.2M pre-seed round, which was co-led by Council Capital and Anthemis Female Innovators Lab Fund. The women’s health intelligence startup will use the funding to expand its female-focused research and data platform, meet growing enterprise demand and support new research aimed at closing the women’s health data gap. - learn more
            • Act One Ventures participated in Intake AI’s $2.5M pre-seed round, which was led by Kapor Capital. The startup is building AI agents that automate clinical-trial setup and operations, helping research teams turn protocols into documents, search study materials and transfer approved forms into existing systems. - learn more
            • M13 participated in Ultra’s $62M financing, which included a $50M Series A led by Framework Ventures. The Brooklyn-based robotics startup will use the capital to expand deployment of its AI-powered warehouse robots, which handle packing, sorting and other fulfillment tasks and have already processed more than 500,000 orders. - learn more

            LA Exits

            • Farcaster is being acquired by Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School from Neynar, marking the decentralized social network’s second change in ownership this year. The deal includes Farcaster’s app, protocol repositories and related products, with its new owner planning to introduce a rules-based “social smart contract” governing full participation on the platform; financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more
            • Creator Authority has been acquired by Billion Dollar Boy Group, bringing the agency’s B2B influencer marketing expertise and LinkedIn specialization into BDB’s global creator business. The deal will help Creator Authority scale its work with enterprise brands while strengthening BDB’s presence on the U.S. West Coast and expanding its B2B creator marketing capabilities; financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more
            • Burbank-based CareerArc was acquired by AI hiring platform Humanly, with financial terms undisclosed. The deal combines CareerArc’s recruitment marketing and social recruiting tools with Humanly’s AI-powered candidate engagement, screening and interviewing platform, creating a more connected system for employers managing high-volume hiring. - learn more
            • Ethiqly was acquired by Carnegie Learning from Owl Ventures and the company’s management, with financial terms undisclosed. Carnegie Learning plans to integrate Ethiqly’s AI-powered writing platform into its literacy offerings, helping students improve their writing while giving teachers greater visibility into the drafting, revision and learning process. - learn more

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