Lennar's Stuart Miller: ‘Evolve or Die’ as Homes Go High-Tech

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Lennar's Stuart Miller: ‘Evolve or Die’ as Homes Go High-Tech

In this episode of Office Hours, Miller discusses how technology will impact homebuilding and design — and how he helped create a culture that embraces innovation at the 60-plus-year-old company.


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Press Play to hear the full conversation or check out the transcript below. You can also subscribe to Office Hours on Apple Podcasts and PodcastOne.

Spencer Rascoff: Thanks for the tour we just completed. Stuart just walked me around the building, and we saw the innovation center, we talked about the digital marketing initiatives that you have, the in-house content creation, including video production. And it was really interesting learning how Lennar — which is a, gosh, 60-year-old company now, I think?

Stuart Miller: Sixty-plus.

Rascoff: Sixty-plus. Firstly, for listeners — so, I learned that Lennar is actually a portmanteau, a combination of Leonard Miller — your father — and Arnold Rosen. And Leonard and Arnold became “Lennar." [Laughs]

Miller: That's correct.

Rascoff: You very rarely see 60-year-old family businesses that have become publicly traded, $20 billion market companies. So, why do you think Lennar has been able to not be disrupted over the last 60 years? I mean, that's quite a legacy. What is it about the culture of the company that has allowed it to stay competitive through time?

Miller: Well, we have a really good combination. The foundation that was laid from those early days is a strong foundation of integrity, of value, of excellence, that creates a backbone that has stayed very much central to the way that the company has been built over years. Through its beginning years, the evolution of the company has stayed true to its values, and those core values have held us in good stead. Now, even with that kind of stodgy old background of starting from so many years ago, there's also been a culture — and, you know, maybe that's been my contribution of coming in from the outside, not as a pioneer but instead as a next-generation — we've developed a culture of saying, “We're gonna be on our front foot, we're gonna be evolutionary, we're gonna stay with the times."

We live by a mantra of “evolve or die," and inherent in that mantra is almost an envy for today's innovative platforms, new technology companies that are not saddled with yesterday's past. But a different way to look at that is, we, the dinosaur companies — the companies that come from years and years of evolution — do have the benefit of having these very, very strong root systems. And if we can constantly go back and revisit those root systems, there's a lot of virtue in those root systems — we certainly benefit from it.

Rascoff: I like that, thinking about the company's root systems and how it provides strength. So, let's talk about those chasms that you've had to cross over the last, say, 10 years. You know, one of the things that you just showed me was how the company has really pivoted its marketing strategy away from traditional marketing — by which I think you mean primarily newspaper advertising and maybe direct mail, TV, radio —

Miller: Newspaper, radio, TV, right.

Rascoff: — to digital advertising. And, I guess, describe how that, you know, what was that evolution like? How did you become a company that primarily focuses on digital marketing and not legacy, traditional marketing?

Miller: So, the starting point is, you know, structure of the company is we have a strong corporate office, but our geographic divisions really operate as small independent companies. And as you might imagine, getting 33, right now, small independent divisions — not small; some of them actually quite large — to actually pivot away from their comfort zone and towards something that is new and evolutionary is not something that one snaps their fingers and it just happens. We came up with a concept that we have to become part of this digital age. We created a challenge to our divisions, to think about making that migration. One division actually effectuated the change — migrated from all conventional forms, away from all conventional forms and towards all digital forms of marketing — found that cost went down by about 50 percent, found that traffic went down, but qualified traffic went way up, and this was very interesting.

Rascoff: So, let me understand it. I guess what I'm hearing is, many companies have a challenge of trying to sort of change dogma — and it was accepted dogma, internally, that traditional marketing had always worked for the last 40-odd years, you know, therefore, we should continue. Challenge number one is changing at the corporate office, that mindset, at the executive level, at the board-of-directors level. But then your unique challenge was that you have a pretty decentralized company, where these different divisions control their own marketing budgets. So, you could've just issued a fiat and said, “Hey, local divisional marketers, you will now be digital." Or perhaps you did issue that fiat, and maybe it was ignored. So, I guess, help listeners who run decentralized organizations learn from your experience. How did you pull this off? [Laughter]

Miller: So, your characterization is actually right on: I did issue a fiat, and everybody applauded it and nodded their head yes, and then went about their business and went back to their comfort zone of saying, “Hey, conventional marketing has always worked. That's what we're gonna continue to do. That's how we make our numbers, and we are bottom-line responsible." One division actually took the challenge, and they made the migration. Once we saw what happened with their costs and with their opportunity set, it became an interesting challenge for us to get one division to actually teach another. We could prove a concept, then we could test the concept and educate on the concept, and once we made that leap, we had one division teach another. We had a set of opportunities that we could articulate across the platform. From there, we articulated what we thought the opportunity set was, and we gamified it. We actually got our divisions to compete against each other along KPIs, to compete along the lines of making the migration from conventional towards digital — driving costs down, driving qualified leads up and maintaining growth rate.

Rascoff: Reflecting on it now, does making it through that shift to a digital marketing company — did that represent an existential threat to the company? In other words, let's say you hadn't. Let's say you hadn't woken up that day, seven years ago, whenever it was, and said, “You know what, we're gonna go digital first for marketing." What would the company be like today?

Miller: I think that story is still to be written. I think that we are advantaged for having made the step because where we sit today is — I believe we're in the first inning of understanding digital marketing. All of our marketing across our platform — I would say 95 percent of it — is digitally focused today. We have driven our costs down, across the platform, 50 percent. But the targeting that we are able to do with digital marketing, and the enhancement of that targeting with digital or video kind of content, and delivering to our customer information and inspiration about our product, our company, and an affiliation with us, is just at its very beginning stages. So, I think we'd be way behind our potential — I don't think we would've been disintermediated yet, but I think the potential to be disintermediated is out there for those who don't get on board.

Rascoff: So, one of the ways that you've created a culture of innovation is by changing your office space. In fact, the office that you're in is the office that your father was in when he was CEO.

Miller: That's right.

Rascoff: And yet, just over the last year or so, you've changed the office space quite significantly on some of the floors. Describe why you did that and what impact you think that's having.

Miller: Yeah, so, we actually gutted our third floor (we're a four-floor building). We gutted our third floor, and we redesigned it and created an innovation center. It's an open floor plan; it was really developed under the thought process that innovation is a contact sport. Innovation happens where ideas collide — sometimes purposefully and sometimes by accident. Many of the initiatives that we have on our third floor were taking place in various silos around the company; we've brought them together in one place, where concepts, ideas, programs can collide, people can intersect and interact in ways that were not initially thought of. We didn't go quite the full direction — [crosstalk]

Rascoff: Not full dot-com, but — [Laughs]

Miller: Not full dot-com: We don't have a foosball table and we don't have a Ping-Pong table. But what we do have is an open floor plan with a lot of technology for people to interact with each other and with technologies to evolve our business. And the mantra is to think outside the box and to think together with people who you don't necessarily work with all the time.

Rascoff: In another episode with Mike Corbat, the CEO of Citigroup, he talks a lot about this as well — how he removed offices from their New York headquarters to encourage innovation, get people to literally break down barriers between divisions and the importance of office space to drive innovation.

Miller: Now, we did this right here in the heart of the dinosaur. I mean, this is our corporate office, this is the 60-plus-year company. We can be considered yesterday's company in technology, but we did it right here in the heart of the corporate office so that it activated all of the artery systems through the company.

Rascoff: So, you are making a potentially company-changing transaction. You're currently, I think, the second-largest homebuilder buying the fifth-largest homebuilder. Together, you will be the largest homebuilder in the country — it's an almost, I think, an almost $10 billion acquisition of CalAtlantic. Describe for me what that thought process was like around the acquisition. Firstly, have you done a lot of acquisitions before? And when you were thinking about buying CalAtlantic, what are the things that went through your head?

Miller: So, first of all, we've done many acquisitions before. We've made some of our biggest, most strategic steps forward on the pivot point of acquisitions. It's been a rich tradition within our company of using strategic combinations and acquisitions to elevate our game. The CalAtlantic acquisition is — or, really, it's not an acquisition; it is a strategic combination — was about looking at a terrific group of people, terrific group of land assets, and finding markets that we know and products that we know combined in geographic locations to create scale. Scale, in our opinion — in local geographic markets, 20 to 40 percent market share in many of these markets — enables us to up our game in terms of the innovation that you've seen here in this office. But also innovation strategies as it relates to things that we might do in the field, the construction part of our business.

Rascoff: So, the scale synergies in your business come from reducing construction costs and marketing efficiencies. Are those the two general categories?

Miller: So, reducing construction costs is a little bit too aggressive and draconian. It's all about creating better relationships with subcontractor bases. All of our subcontractor bases are generally local in nature; manufacturing or distribution might be more national, but our subcontractors are primarily local. Having the market share and the ability to develop better partnerships with our subcontractor base enables us to be a better version of ourselves. It enables us to explore how we can reduce costs while making better profitability for the subcontractor and for us as well. It enables us to start looking at different building systems — cooperative systems that we can work with our subcontractors to develop. All of these things are evolutionary tracks that will define the way forward for the homebuilders of the future.

Rascoff: So, let's close with a brief discussion about the future of homebuilding. Your company has been at the top of its field for more than 50 years. I won't ask you to prognosticate 50 years out, 'cause who knows what the world will look like, but even over the next 10 or 15 years, what trends do you think will impact your industry and your company?

Miller: Interesting question. It's very hard to look around the corner — it's always hard to look around the corner, but we're very respectful of the world that we're in. I think that we all recognize that today we are witnessing the slowest rate of change that we will ever see in our life from today going forward. It is accelerating at a blinding speed, and what that means for our business is that all parts of our business are going to evolve. The way that people look for homes, the way that people find their homes, even the kind of homes that they're looking for are going to evolve. We have to think about the uberization of the homebuilding world — how are we going to better utilize the assets that people have? We have a lot of people who are empty nesters, who have three empty bedrooms where their children used to reside. What is that going to do and how will that impact the housing market in the future? The points of intersection between customer-homebuilder or customer and realtor are going to change. It is going to happen more and more on digital platforms. How are we going to ignite, excite and inspire people to think about the products that we have, and, to the extent that we engage them digitally, how can that conversation leading up to sale help define the products that people are actually looking for?

One last thought is: I've always wondered when we would see obsolescence filter into the homebuilding world. Spencer, you would never buy a car, today, that has rolldown windows unless you really wanted vintage. And so, obsolescence, natural and technological obsolescence, has made its way into the automobile industry and every other industry we've seen. To the extent that, whether it's Wi-Fi distribution in the home, home automation, energy efficiency or a myriad of other things, the home will give way to technology innovation that makes older homes more obsolete. And people will be looking for new styles, new technologies and new ways to live, and I think that will benefit the homebuilding industry, as long as we're able to adapt.

Rascoff: So, at a very high level, I think the era of home automation should be a huge boon to homebuilders, because it's going to seem a lot easier, cheaper, more reliable to buy a new wired home than to retrofit a used home. Would you agree with that?

Miller: Yeah, well, absolutely the case — it starts with Wi-Fi distribution. We've developed a concept called “Wi-Fi certified." A Wi-Fi certified home is something you can do with a new home; it's very hard to do with an existing.

Rascoff: It drives me crazy that my old brick house has bad Wi-Fi in certain spots, and I've had countless experts come and try to improve it, from Zillow and other companies, and it can't be done. [Laughs]

Miller: So, that's a big benefit to the new home market because we can distribute Wi-Fi seamlessly, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling. And here's the thing: With retrofit, you're always gonna have dark spots, and more importantly, you're gonna have speed loss or speed variation through the home. We can evenly distribute, without dead spots, evenly distribute Wi-Fi through the home if we think about it while we're building the home.

Rascoff: What about innovations on building itself? I mean, on what timescale, when will I see, you know, robots on construction sites — I mean, literally, like, robots — or more prefab-built, kind of modularized homes? Such that, is there an innovation coming that might bring construction costs down so significantly that the cost of a new home could be a fantastic value? Or is that not likely? [Laughs]

Miller: So, part of that is that “Terminator" stuff that you're asking about, and I'm not ready to get out on those soft limbs quite yet. There will be innovations in homebuilding. They're not here yet. The cost structures don't — and we spend a lot of time looking at these and thinking about these things — and you will see innovations around the edges, whether it's truss plants or wall plants or some manufacturing components. But ultimately, cost structures, and shortages of labor, and labor costs will mitigate in favor of finding new ways to build homes. People have asked about 3D printing of homes, because there are some podcasts and some dream-oriented videos on the —

Rascoff: Yeah, I've seen them.

Miller: Right, most people have. You know, I've tested some of these questions. We wear a name badge every day; it's really almost a two-dimensional piece of plastic. I have tried to find out how easy it is to 3D print this small piece of plastic. We're not there yet. When we can digitally print the name badge, then I'll start thinking about how we digitally [laughs] print the home. And in the meantime, we'll be taking steps, innovative steps, to rethink the building process — driving down cycle time, driving down cost structures and building a better mousetrap as we go forward.

Rascoff: And, of course, self-driving cars might also change our whole approach to urban planning and consumer preferences.

Miller: Absolutely.

Rascoff: I mean, we at Zillow Group are just starting to do research on this to figure out what impact it might have on real estate, but it's possible that if your hour-commute is suddenly productive because you're not driving that people will be willing to commute longer. We don't really know yet what impact it will have. Do you have a theory on this? [Laughs]

Miller: I think we're gonna have to wait and see, and, I mean, we could sit here all day and think about some of the innovations that are out there, that are going to affect the way that we live. To me, that innovation center that you and I toured a little while ago is all about having a cork in the water of a fast-moving stream, and making sure that we're sensitive, aware of the things that are happening that are going to affect the industry. And maybe we won't see around the corner, but maybe as we get to the corner we'll be tuned-in and ready to react. That's how we're thinking about it.

Rascoff: Stuart, congratulations on the success of Lennar through the decades. What I've heard today makes me feel quite confident that it will be successful for decades to come. Thank you for the conversation.

Miller: Thank you.

The post Lennar's Stuart Miller: 'Evolve or Die' appeared first on Office Hours.

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🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles,

This week, LA proved it can scale in silence and shine in the spotlight, sometimes in the same breath.

Let’s start with the quiet powerhouse.

Culver City-based Silvus Technologies is being acquired by Motorola Solutions for $4.4 billion in up-front consideration, with the potential for an additional $600 million in earnout payments, bringing the total deal value to $5 billion. Silvus builds tactical mesh radios, rugged high-bandwidth systems used by militaries, emergency responders, and defense contractors in more than 40 countries. These aren’t just walkie-talkies. They are engineered to deliver secure, uninterrupted communications in places where cell service and Wi-Fi don't stand a chance. Think natural disasters, war zones, and remote terrains. The tech spun out of DARPA-funded research at UCLA, and this deal is a reminder that LA isn’t just cranking out consumer apps and AI models. We’re exporting national security infrastructure too.

But while Silvus was locking down defense contracts, another LA startup was breaking the internet.

e.l.f. Beauty Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin and Rhode Founder Hailey BieberImage Source: e.l.f. Beauty

Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand, is being acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in a deal valued at up to $1 billion. The structure includes $600 million in cash, $200 million in stock at closing, and up to $200 million in earnout payments tied to Rhode’s performance over the next three years. Not bad for a brand that launched in June 2022 and built a cult following off just a handful of products and a crystal-clear brand identity.

Yes, it’s celebrity-founded. But Rhode didn’t just ride a name. It built a movement. The brand cut through a saturated beauty market by doing less: launching with a few standout hero products, keeping the aesthetic clean and consistent, and using community-first marketing that turned product drops into cultural events. The results speak for themselves. $100 million in net sales over the past year and a loyal fanbase that treats peptide lip treatments like limited-edition merch.

Bieber wasn’t just the face of the brand. She helped shape the strategy, led product development, and drove creative decisions from day one. Following the acquisition, she’ll continue as Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, while also stepping into a new role as strategic advisor to e.l.f. Beauty. Rhode will continue to operate independently, with its headquarters remaining right here in LA.

This isn’t just a win for Rhode. It’s another clear signal that LA is where culture, commerce, and execution come together and scale fast.

Keep reading for the latest LA venture rounds, acquisitions, and fund moves making headlines this week.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Bezel, a luxury watch marketplace, recently secured a $670K investment from Hyperspace Ventures as part of a broader $6.8M funding initiative. This investment aims to support Bezel's growth and enhance its platform for authenticated luxury watch trading. - learn more

        LA Venture Funds

        • Sound Ventures participated in the Series A funding round for General Counsel AI, a startup using artificial intelligence to streamline in-house legal work. The platform helps legal teams draft documents faster, stay compliant, and eliminate repetitive tasks by embedding company knowledge directly into its AI workflows. With Sound Ventures' backing, GC AI plans to scale its team and expand the platform’s capabilities to serve more enterprise legal departments. - learn more
        • Kairos Ventures participated in Vivodyne’s $40M Series A funding round, reaffirming its commitment to advancing human-relevant drug development technologies. Vivodyne, a biotech company based in Philadelphia and San Francisco, is pioneering the use of AI and robotics to grow and test thousands of lab-grown human tissues, aiming to replace traditional animal testing in drug development. This approach addresses the high failure rate of clinical trials by providing more predictive human data, potentially accelerating the development of effective therapies. The new funding will support the expansion of Vivodyne's operations, including the opening of a 23,000-square-foot fully robotic laboratory in South San Francisco, to meet the growing demand from pharmaceutical clients. - learn more
        • Fifth Wall co-led Wander’s $50M Series B funding round, joining QED Investors and others to support the company’s mission of redefining luxury vacation rentals through technology and consistency. Wander operates a vertically integrated platform that combines premium vacation homes with hotel-grade service, powered by its proprietary AI system, WanderOS. With over 1,000 properties already live and a Net Promoter Score of 85, Wander aims to scale toward 300,000 homes globally, offering a trusted and seamless experience for travelers and property owners alike. - learn more
        • Clocktower Technology Ventures and Overture VC participated in GridCARE’s $13.5M seed funding round, supporting the company's mission to address the growing power demands of AI infrastructure. GridCARE utilizes advanced AI to identify and unlock underutilized grid capacity, significantly reducing the time required to power data centers from several years to just 6–12 months. By bridging the gap between AI developers and utility providers, GridCARE aims to accelerate the deployment of AI technologies while enhancing energy resilience. - learn more
        • Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Monarch Money’s $75M Series B funding round, reaffirming its support for the personal finance platform's mission to enhance financial wellness for households. Monarch offers tools for aggregating financial accounts, visualizing net worth, tracking budgets, and collaborating with partners or advisors. The new funding will enable Monarch to expand its team and further develop its platform to better serve its growing user base. - learn more

          LA Exits

          • TinyWins, the LA-based digital creative studio known for blending emotional storytelling with performance-driven content, has been acquired by marketing consultancy The Shipyard.Best known for its work with brands like Disney, Netflix, and Google, TinyWins will continue to operate under its own name and leadership in Los Angeles. The acquisition gives TinyWins access to deeper strategic and media resources, while The Shipyard expands its creative firepower and strengthens its presence on the West Coast. - learn more
          • Churchill Management Group has been acquired by Focus Partners Wealth, marking the firm’s first external acquisition since its January rebrand. The Los Angeles-based investment advisor manages $9.4 billion in assets and will expand Focus’s national footprint in wealth management. - learn more
          • Dolby Theatre, renowned for hosting the Academy Awards, has been acquired by Master Investment Group in partnership with Jebs Hollywood. The new ownership plans to introduce a series of events celebrating Middle Eastern culture, aiming to showcase the region's rich heritage, music, and traditions. This initiative seeks to foster community engagement and promote cultural exchange by bringing diverse artistic expressions from the Middle East to a global audience. - learn more

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                VC Giants Back LA Defense Tech Startup

                🔦 Spotlight

                Hello Los Angeles, and happy Friday!

                Memorial Day Weekend is finally here, and it seems even PCH got the memo, just in time for those coastal drives to kick off summer, traffic jams included. Speaking of navigation, El Segundo based startup CX2 has charted its own impressive course this week, securing $31 million in a Series A round led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, and Pax Ventures, to boost its mission in electronic warfare.

                Electronic warfare (EW), for those of us who aren't regulars at the Pentagon, involves the tactical use of electromagnetic energy to control the spectrum, essentially jamming or confusing enemy communications and radar systems. CX2 was founded by a diverse and experienced group: Nathan Mintz, who brings deep expertise in defense technology from previous ventures such as Epirus and Spartan; Mark Trefgarne, a software entrepreneur known for a successful acquisition by Meta; Lee Thompson, an expert RF engineer previously with SpaceX; and Porter Smith, whose practical insights stem from his background as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and subsequent experience as an investor.

                The new funds will help CX2 scale its team and accelerate the development of advanced tools, including autonomous drones and specialized signals-intelligence systems. These innovations promise precision interference without collateral disruptions, addressing critical defense capability gaps identified by industry experts.

                With tensions escalating globally, there's big demand for next-gen defense solutions, and CX2’s technology positions them as a major player in shaping future electronic battlespaces.

                Dive deeper into the details and check out this week's roundup of LA’s venture deals and acquisitions below.

                Here's to a weekend filled with sunshine, clear roads (fingers crossed), and tech that keeps pushing boundaries!

                🤝 Venture Deals

                LA Companies

                • Axle Health, founded by former Uber execs, raised $10M in Gaa Series A round led by F-Prime Capital to expand its AI-powered logistics platform for home healthcare. The software streamlines scheduling, routing, and patient engagement, and is now used by major health systems and agencies across all 50 states. The company has seen 10x revenue growth over the past year. - learn more
                • Promise, a generative AI studio based in Venice, California, has secured a strategic investment from Google's AI Futures Fund, alongside contributions from The North Road Company, and others. This funding will support Promise's integration of advanced AI technologies into its proprietary production platform, MUSE, and facilitate collaborations with Google's DeepMind researchers to push the boundaries of AI-driven storytelling. The studio plans to commence production on its first feature-length film this year, marking a significant step in its mission to blend human creativity with cutting-edge AI tools in filmmaking. - learn more
                • Final Boss Sour, a Los Angeles-based snack brand blending gaming nostalgia with sour fruit treats, raised $4M in a Seed 2 round. The funds will go toward expanding distribution, product innovation, and creator partnerships. The company also launched a new tropical sampler box featuring real fruit flavors like mango, pineapple, and kiwi. - learn more
                • VUZ, a UAE-based immersive media platform, raised $12M in a pre-Series C round led by the International Finance Corporation with participation from CrossWork.us, among others, to fuel global expansion and enhance its AI-powered streaming experiences. The funding brings its total raised to over $35M and will support growth across the U.S., Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. VUZ, now EBITDA positive, hosts 30,000+ hours of immersive content and has exclusive deals with leagues like LaLiga and Serie A. - learn more

                    LA Venture Funds

                    • B Capital co-led Data Sutram's $9M Series A funding round, supporting the company's expansion of its AI-driven fraud detection platform into sectors like cryptocurrency, gaming, and insurance. The investment will also aid in strengthening Data Sutram's AI capabilities and facilitating its international growth into markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia. - learn more
                    • Upfront Ventures led Clair's $23.2M Series B funding round, reinforcing its commitment to the fintech startup it initially backed during the seed stage. Clair provides embedded earned wage access (EWA) solutions, allowing employees to access their earnings instantly through integrations with payroll and workforce management platforms like Gusto and TriNet. The new funding will support Clair's expansion across more than 29,000 business locations and enhance its partnerships with additional HR and payroll providers. - learn more
                    • Rebel Fund participated in Keep's recent C$108M funding round, supporting the Toronto-based fintech's mission to modernize small business banking in Canada. Keep offers an all-in-one financial platform tailored to Canadian small businesses, addressing challenges like outdated systems and limited access to credit. The funding will help Keep expand its services, which include business credit cards, expense tracking, and multi-currency accounts, to more entrepreneurs across the country. - learn more
                    • MarcyPen Capital Partners participated in SparkCharge's $30.5M funding round, supporting the expansion of its mobile, off-grid EV charging services across North America. This investment will help SparkCharge scale its Charging-as-a-Service model, enabling fleets to adopt electric vehicles without the need for permanent infrastructure. - learn more
                    • Matter Venture Partners participated in Biostate AI's $12M Series A funding round, supporting the Houston-based startup's mission to revolutionize molecular diagnostics through affordable RNA sequencing and generative AI. Biostate AI aims to build a comprehensive RNA sequencing dataset to train AI models capable of predicting disease progression and treatment responses, thereby advancing precision medicine. - learn more
                    • Prototype Capital participated in Sensmore's €6.5M funding round, supporting the German robotics startup's mission to retrofit heavy machinery with AI-driven automation. Sensmore's technology enables real-time automation of complex tasks in industries like construction and mining. The investment will help expand Sensmore's Physical AI platform, enhancing productivity and safety in industrial operations. - learn more

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                          Forget Traffic: Air Taxis Are Coming to LA28

                          🔦 Spotlight

                          Hello Los Angeles,

                          The future just got a flight plan, and it includes skipping traffic for the 2028 Olympics.

                          Image Source: Archer

                          This week, Santa Clara-based Archer Aviation made headlines (and history) by being named the official air taxi provider for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. Yes, that means electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will be soaring above the gridlocked freeways, whisking athletes, officials, and perhaps a few lucky spectators through LA’s famously congested skies.

                          This isn’t just a flashy PR stunt (although, let’s be honest, it is peak LA). It’s a strategic move to redefine how we move around the city, especially during one of the largest global events ever to hit Southern California. In partnership with the LA28 Organizing Committee, Archer plans to deploy its Midnight aircraft, an all-electric air taxi that promises ultra-quiet, zero-emission rides from point A to point OMG-I’m-not-in-traffic.

                          While Archer is headquartered in Santa Clara, it has deep ties to the LA tech ecosystem. United Airlines, one of its major partners, has previously announced plans to establish eVTOL routes between downtown and LAX. Pair that with this new Olympic milestone and we’re looking at LA as ground zero for what could become the world’s first large-scale urban air mobility network.

                          Of course, there are still regulatory hurdles, infrastructure needs, and airspace coordination issues to iron out before we can book our sky ride to the Coliseum. But make no mistake, this announcement is a moonshot moment for LA tech, mobility, and the future of Olympic-scale transportation.

                          We’ll be keeping our feet on the ground (for now), but we’ll definitely be watching the skies.

                          Catch you next week ✈️✨

                          🤝 Venture Deals

                          LA Companies

                          • Akido, a Los Angeles-based health tech company, has raised $60M in Series B funding led by Oak HC/FT to expand the reach of its AI-powered clinical tool, ScopeAI. The platform assists physicians by generating clinical questions, documenting patient responses, and drafting care plans in real time. The funding will help Akido scale its technology across its provider network and expand into new markets like New York City. - learn more
                          • Reflect Orbital, a startup developing satellite-based sunlight delivery systems, has raised $20M in a Series A round led by Lux Capital. The company plans to use the funding to expand its team, scale operations, and prepare for its first satellite launch in Spring 2026. Reflect Orbital’s technology aims to reflect sunlight from space to Earth, enabling nighttime illumination for energy, remote operations, and civil infrastructure. - learn more
                          • Rolli, an AI-powered platform designed to support fact-based journalism, has received an investment from the NYU Impact Investment Fund (NIIF). This marks NIIF's first investment in a media company, underscoring its commitment to backing ventures that enhance democratic institutions through innovation. Rolli's platform connects journalists with a diverse range of vetted experts, aiming to streamline news production and promote equitable representation in media. The funding will help Rolli expand its reach and further develop tools that empower journalists to produce accurate and impactful reporting. - learn more

                            LA Venture Funds

                            • CIV and Wonder Ventures participated in The Nuclear Company’s $46.3M Series A round to support its plan to develop large-scale nuclear reactor sites across the U.S. CIV co-founder Patrick Maloney also co-founded the company, which is taking a “design-once, build-many” approach to modernize nuclear construction. The funding will help meet rising energy demands from sectors like AI and data centers. - learn more
                            • WndrCo participated in Cartwheel's recent $10M funding round. Cartwheel is an AI-driven 3D animation startup that enables creators to generate rigged animations from text prompts and videos. The funding will support Cartwheel's efforts to simplify and democratize 3D animation production. - learn more
                            • Crosscut Ventures participated in Solestial's $17M Series A funding round, which aims to scale the company's production of radiation-hardened, self-healing silicon solar panels for space applications. Solestial plans to increase its manufacturing capacity to 1 megawatt per year, matching the combined annual output of all U.S. and EU III-V space solar companies. This investment supports the growing demand for cost-effective, high-performance power systems in the expanding space industry. - learn more
                            • Upfront Ventures participated in Tern's $13M Series A funding round, adding to its earlier $4M seed investment in the travel tech startup. Tern offers an all-in-one platform for travel advisors, streamlining itinerary building, CRM, and commission tracking. The new funding will help Tern enhance its product offerings and expand support for its growing user base. - learn more
                            • Dangerous Ventures participated in Verdi's $6.5M seed funding round, supporting the Vancouver-based agtech startup's mission to modernize farm irrigation systems through AI-powered automation. Verdi's technology retrofits existing infrastructure, enabling precise, row-level control of irrigation, which helps farmers reduce water usage and labor costs. The investment aligns with Dangerous Ventures' focus on climate resilience and sustainable food systems. - learn more
                            • Pinegrove Capital Partners participated in Saildrone's recent $60M funding round, supporting the company's expansion of its autonomous maritime surveillance technology into Europe. The investment will aid in deploying Saildrone's uncrewed surface vehicles for enhanced maritime security and defense applications across European waters. - learn more
                            • Starburst Ventures participated in a €2 million seed funding round for French defense tech startup Alta Ares, which specializes in embedded AI and MLOps solutions for military applications. Alta Ares' technologies, including the Gamma platform for real-time video analysis and the Ulixes platform for managing operational data lifecycles, operate autonomously without the need for internet or cloud connectivity. This funding will support the industrialization of these solutions and expand their deployment across European armed forces and NATO allies. - learn more
                            • Nomad Ventures participated in Stackpack’s recent $6.3M seed funding round, supporting the company's mission to streamline vendor management for modern businesses. Stackpack offers an AI-driven platform that provides finance and IT teams with a centralized system to oversee third-party vendors, manage renewals, and mitigate compliance risks. The investment will enable Stackpack to expand its operations, enhance its platform, and introduce new features like the "Requests & Approvals" tool, aimed at simplifying vendor onboarding and procurement processes. - learn more
                            • Tachyon Ventures participated in Stylus Medicine's $85M Series A funding round, supporting the biotech company's development of in vivo genetic medicines. Stylus aims to simplify gene editing by enabling precise, durable CAR-T therapies delivered directly inside the body, potentially transforming treatment for various diseases. - learn more
                            • Up.Partners led a $28M Series A funding round for WakeCap, a construction tech startup that uses sensor-powered platforms to deliver real-time workforce visibility and site intelligence. WakeCap’s system tracks labor hours, safety, and productivity across large-scale projects, with over 150 million labor hours already monitored. The new funding will help the company expand globally, enhance product features, and grow its engineering and customer success teams. - learn more


                              LA Exits

                              • MediaPlatform, a leading provider of enterprise video solutions, has been acquired by Brandlive, a company renowned for bringing the magic of television to business communications. This strategic acquisition aims to enhance Brandlive's capabilities in delivering high-scale, reliable CEO town halls and global corporate broadcasts. By integrating MediaPlatform's robust infrastructure with Brandlive's creative video tools and production services, the combined entity seeks to offer more engaging and authentic internal content experiences for enterprise clients. - learn more
                              • RHQ Creative, a studio renowned for its competitive Fortnite training maps, has been acquired by JOGO, the game development company founded by popular creator Typical Gamer (Andre Rebelo). This acquisition aims to bolster JOGO's expansion into the competitive gaming arena by integrating RHQ's expertise in skill-building and training map design. RHQ Creative, co-founded by Fortnite pro Quinn Gannon (RichHomieQuinn) and Sean Lugo, has achieved over 20 million map visits and 200 million hours of playtime. The deal includes full ownership of RHQ's map catalog and the addition of its team to JOGO, enhancing the company's capabilities in developing high-quality, competitive gaming experiences. - learn more

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