Illustration by Ian Hurley
What Are LA’s Hottest Startups of 2022? See Who VCs Picked in dot.LA’s Annual Survey
In Los Angeles—like the startup environment at large—venture funding and valuations skyrocketed in 2021, even as the coronavirus pandemic continued to surge and supply chain issues rattled the economy. The result was a startup ecosystem that continued to build on its momentum, with no shortage of companies raising private capital at billion-dollar-plus unicorn valuations.
In order to gauge the local startup scene and who’s leading the proverbial pack, we asked more than 30 leading L.A.-based investors for their take on the hottest firms in the region. They responded with more than two dozen venture-backed companies; three startups, in particular, rose above the rest as repeat nominees, while we've organized the rest by their amount of capital raised as of January, according to data from PitchBook. (We also asked VCs not to pick any of their own portfolio companies, and vetted the list to ensure they stuck to that rule.)
Without further ado, here are the 26 L.A. startups that VCs have their eyes on in 2022.
1. Whatnot ($225.4 million raised)
Whatnot was the name most often on the minds of L.A. venture investors—understandably, given its prolific fundraising year. Whatnot raised some $220 million across three separate funding rounds in 2021, on the way to a $1.5 billion valuation.
The Marina del Rey-based livestream shopping platform was founded by former GOAT product manager Logan Head and ex-Googler Grant LaFontaine. The startup made its name by providing a live auction platform for buying and selling collectables like rare Pokémon cards, and has since expanded into sports memorabilia, sneakers and apparel.
2. Boulevard ($40.3 million raised)
Boulevard’s backers include Santa Monica-based early-stage VC firm Bonfire Ventures, which focuses on B2B software startups. The Downtown-based company fits nicely within that thesis; Boulevard builds booking and payment software for salons and spas. The firm has worked with prominent brands such as Toni & Guy and HeyDay.
3. GOAT ($492.7 million)
GOAT launched in 2015 as a marketplace to help sneakerheads authenticate used Air Jordans and other collectible shoes. It has since grown at a prolific rate, expanding into apparel and accessories and exceeding $2 billion in merchandise sales in 2020. The startup sealed a $195 million funding round last summer that more than doubled its valuation, to $3.7 billion.
The Best of the Rest
VideoAmp ($578.6 raised)
Nielsen competitor VideoAmp gathers data on who's watching what across streaming services, traditional TV and social apps like YouTube. The company positions itself as an alternative to so-called "legacy" systems like Nielsen, which it says are "fragmented, riddled with complexity and inaccurate." In addition to venture funding, its total funding figure includes more than $165 million in debt financing.
Mythical Games ($269.4 million raised)
Seizing on the NFT craze, Mythical Games is building a platform that powers the growing realm of “play-to-earn games.” Backed by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Andreessen Horowitz, the Sherman Oaks-based startup’s partners include game publishers Abstraction, Creative Mobile and CCG Lab.
FloQast ($202 million raised)
FloQast founder Michael Whitmire says he got a “no” from more than 100 investors in the process of raising a seed round. Today, the accounting software company is considered a unicorn.
Nacelle ($70.8 million raised)
Nacelle produces docuseries, books, comedy albums and podcasts. The media company’s efforts include the Netflix travel series “Down To Earth with Zac Efron.”
Wave ($66 million raised)
A platform for virtual concerts, Wave has hosted performances by artists including Justin Bieber, Tinashe and The Weeknd. The company says it has raised $66 million to date from the likes of Warner Music and Tencent.
Papaya ($65.2 million raised)
Sherman Oaks-based Papaya looks to make it easier to pay “any” bill—from hospital bills to parking tickets—via its mobile app.
LeaseLock ($63.2 million raised)
Based in Marina del Rey, LeaseLock says it’s on a mission to eliminate security deposits for apartment renters.
Emotive ($58.1 million raised)
Emotive sells text message-focused marketing tools to ecommerce firms like underwear brand Parade and men's grooming company Beardbrand.
Dray Alliance ($55 million raised)
Based in Long Beach, Dray says its mission is to “modernize the logistics and trucking industry.” Its partners include Danish shipping company Maersk and toy maker Mattel.
Coco ($43 million raised)
Coco makes small pink robots on wheels (you may have seen them around town) that deliver food via a remote pilot. Its investors include Y Combinator and Silicon Valley Bank.
HiveWatch ($25 million raised)
HiveWatch develops physical security software. Its investors include former Twitter executive Dick Costollo and NBA star Steph Curry’s Penny Jar Capital.
Popshop ($24.5 million raised)
Whatnot competitor Popshop is betting that live-shopping is the future of ecommerce. The West Hollywood-based firm focuses on collectables such as trading cards and anime merchandise.
First Resonance ($19.4 million raised)
Founded by former SpaceX engineer Karan Talati, First Resonance runs a software platform for makers of electric cars and aerospace technology. Its clients include Santa Cruz-based air taxi company Joby Aviation and Alameda-based rocket company Astra.
Open Raven ($19 million raised)
Founded by Crowdstrike and Microsoft alums, Open Raven aims to protect user data. The cybersecurity firm’s investors include Kleiner Perkins and Upfront Ventures.
Fourthwall ($17 million raised)
When an actor faces the camera and speaks directly to the audience, it’s known as “breaking the fourth wall.” Named after the trope, Venice-based Fourthwall offers a website builder that’s designed for content creators.
The Non Fungible Token Company ($15 million raised)
The Non Fungible Token Company creates NFTs for musicians under the name Unblocked. Its investors include Jay Z’s Marcy Venture Partners and Shawn Mendez.
Safe Health Systems ($15 million raised)
Backed by Mayo Clinic Ventures, Safe Health develops telehealth software and offers tools for enterprises to launch their own health care apps.
Intro ($11.6 million raised)
Intro’s app lets you book video calls with experts—from celebrity stylists, to astrologists, to investors.
DASH Systems ($8.5 million raised)
With the tagline “Land the package, not the plane,” DASH Systems is a Hawthorne-based shipping company that builds hardware and software for automated airdrops.
Ettitude ($3.5 million raised)
With a focus on sustainability, Ettitude is a direct-to-consumer brand that sells bedding, bathroom textiles and sleepwear.
Afterparty ($3 million raised)
Along similar lines as Unblocked, Afterparty creates NFTs for artists and content creators such as Clay Perry and Tropix.
Heart to Heart ($0.75 million raised)
Heart to Heart is an audio-focused dating app that “lets you listen to the story behind the pictures in a profile.” Precursor Ventures led the pre-seed funding round.
Frigg (undisclosed)
Frigg makes hair and beauty products that contain cannabinoids such as CBD. The Valley Village-based company raised an undisclosed seed round in August.
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So it felt fitting that Tinder chose the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, a venue known for reinvention, to make its case that the category is far from over.
Walking into the El Rey, it was clear Tinder wanted this to feel less like a tech launch and more like a cultural moment. Music was bumping, the room buzzed with chatter and excited energy, red light beams cut through the room, and chandeliers glowed overhead.
At Tinder Sparks 2026: Start Something New, Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff took the stage to outline what the company calls the biggest evolution of the app in years. Tinder remains the largest dating app in the world, used by tens of millions of people across more than 185 countries and responsible for billions of matches every year.
Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff
Rascoff framed the shift around a broader cultural reality. In a world where people increasingly interact with machines, technology and AI, the need for real human connection has not gone away. If anything, Tinder believes it has only grown stronger.
To respond to that shift, Tinder says it’s focusing on what it calls “sparks,” the moments when a match actually turns into a real conversation.
As Rascoff put it on stage:
“We are not optimizing for swipes or likes. We are optimizing for sparks.”
That philosophy is shaping a wave of new features discussed throughout the keynote by Tinder’s leadership team, including Mark Kantor, SVP and Head of Product, Yoel Roth, SVP of Trust & Safety, and product leaders Claire Watanabe and Hillary Paine.
Image Source: Tinder
Among the updates are Music Mode, which lets users connect through shared songs and artists, and a new Astrology Mode that highlights compatibility between zodiac signs. Tinder is also leaning further into social dating with Double Date, a feature that lets friends match with other pairs together. The feature is already gaining traction with Gen Z users, reflecting a broader shift toward more social and lower-pressure ways to meet people.
Image Source: Tinder
Tinder is also redesigning profiles to help users express more personality. New tools can surface stronger photos from a user’s camera roll, improve lighting, and highlight interests more visually, while integrations with platforms like Spotify, Duolingo and the restaurant app Belly bring more of a person’s real life into their profile.
Image Source: Tinder
But the most interesting experiment might be happening right here in LA. Tinder is launching IRL Events in the city, letting users browse and RSVP to real-world meetups directly through the app. Think coffee shop raves, trivia nights and pickleball tournaments. The idea is simple. Dating works better when it feels like a social activity instead of an interview.
Image Source: Tinder
Under the hood, Tinder is also leaning more heavily on AI to improve recommendations. New tools like Learning Mode and Chemistry aim to better understand what users are actually looking for and surface stronger matches faster. At the same time, the company is investing heavily in safety, expanding Face Check, a facial verification system designed to reduce bots and impersonation accounts.
Closing out the presentation, Melissa Hobley, Tinder’s Chief Marketing Officer, zoomed out from the product roadmap to the brand’s cultural footprint, noting that Tinder is mentioned in billions of TikTok videos and has become shorthand for how younger generations talk about dating.
Taken together, the updates represent Tinder’s most significant evolution in years. And judging by the energy inside the El Rey this week, the company believes the next chapter of dating will be more social, more expressive and more intentional. It’s a shift being shaped right here in Los Angeles, and one that could redefine how the next generation meets.
Now onto this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Hurray’s GIRL BEER raised a $5M seed round led by Lakehouse Ventures, with participation from Spice Capital plus CPG insiders and entertainment executives, as it accelerates national expansion. The LA-based flavored light beer brand says it has already landed retail placements at Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, and Whole Foods, and plans to use the new capital to deepen distribution, enter new markets, and ramp up marketing, alongside a rollout of seven new flavors. - learn more
- Freestyle closed a $10M Series A led by Silas Capital, with significant participation from ECP Growth. The company also noted continued backing from existing investors including Mucker Capital, Adapt Ventures, and Superangel, as it scales its premium diapers and wipes business following nationwide launches at Walmart and Target. - learn more
- MAX BioPharma announced a new investment and partnership with Technomark Life Sciences to advance Oxy210, its oxysterol-based, orally available drug candidate for MASH. Technomark is joining as a strategic lead investor by participating in MAX BioPharma’s $13M Series A to fund a Phase 1a/1b first-in-human study, and the companies say the collaboration will pair MAX’s therapeutic platform with Technomark’s drug development experience. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- B Capital participated in ORO Labs’ $100M Series C, which was led by Brighton Park Capital and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, as the company pushes deeper into what it calls agentic procurement orchestration. ORO said the new funding follows 300% revenue growth over the past year and will be used to speed up product development, expand go-to-market and customer teams globally, and broaden enterprise use cases across procurement, finance, legal, and supply chain workflows. - learn more
- Aliment Capital participated in Tropic’s oversubscribed $105M Series C, which was co-led by Forbion’s Bioeconomy Fund and Corteva as the company scales the commercial rollout of its gene-edited tropical crops. Tropic said the funding will help expand production of its banana portfolio, accelerate its banana and rice pipelines, and support entry into additional climate-resilient crops, following the 2025 launch of its first new banana varieties in more than 75 years and demand that is already outpacing supply. - learn more
- B Capital doubled down in Axiom’s $200M Series A, which valued the company at more than $1.6 billion and was led by Menlo Ventures. Axiom said the new funding will help it extend its lead from formal mathematics into what it calls “Verified AI,” with plans to apply its technology beyond mathematical discovery into software and hardware verification. - learn more
- WndrCo participated in Quince’s $500M Series E, a round led by ICONIQ that values the manufacturer-to-consumer retail platform at $10.1B post-money. Quince says it will use the fresh capital to accelerate growth and global expansion of its proprietary M2C operating system, which uses AI-driven demand forecasting and direct factory partnerships to cut traditional retail markups. Other investors in the round included Basis Set Ventures, Wellington Management, MarcyPen Capital Partners, Baillie Gifford, Notable Capital, and DST Global. - learn more
- Matter Venture Partners co-led Eridu’s oversubscribed Series A, part of $200M+ raised as the AI networking startup emerges from stealth to tackle what it calls the “network wall” bottleneck in AI data centers. - learn more
- Matter Venture Partners participated in Rhoda AI’s $450M Series A, backing the startup as it comes out of 18 months in stealth with FutureVision, a video-predictive control platform aimed at helping robots operate reliably in messy, real-world industrial environments. The round included a large syndicate of investors, including Capricorn Investment Group, Khosla Ventures, Leitmotif, Mayfield, Premji Invest, Prelude Ventures, Temasek, Xora, and John Doerr, and the company says the funding will accelerate development and industrial deployments. - learn more
- Halogen Ventures participated in Rasa Legal’s $5M late-seed round, backing the company’s push to scale its tech-enabled criminal record sealing and expungement service nationwide. The round was led by Rethink Education with participation from Social Finance and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and Rasa says the funding will help it expand leadership, speed product development, and grow beyond its current footprint (Utah, Arizona, and Pennsylvania). - learn more
- Halogen Ventures participated in Nyad’s $1.3M oversubscribed pre-seed round, backing the Birmingham-based startup as it launches an AI decision-support tool for wastewater treatment operators. The round was led by Boost VC with participation from Draper Associates, Ollin Ventures, Apprentis, First Avenue Ventures, and strategic angel Troy Wallwork, and Nyad says it will use the funding to hire, grow customers, and keep building the product as retirements thin the wastewater workforce. - learn more
- MANTIS VC participated in Scanner’s $22M Series A, which was led by Sequoia Capital and also included CRV, as the company builds a high-speed security data layer for AI-driven threat investigation. Scanner said the funding comes as security teams at companies like Notion, Ramp, and BeyondTrust use its platform to search years of log data quickly and power agentic workflows that help hunt threats, triage alerts, and investigate incidents more efficiently. - learn more
- Chapter One participated in Zcash Open Development Lab’s $25M+ seed round, joining a syndicate that included Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, and Maelstrom. The new company, formed by former Electric Coin Company team members, said the funding will support continued development of privacy-focused infrastructure for the Zcash ecosystem, including its self-custodial wallet and broader shielded payments tooling. - learn more
- CIV participated in Isembard’s $50M Series A, which was led by Union Square Ventures and also included Tamarack Global, IQ Capital, and existing backer Notion Capital. Isembard said the new funding will help it open 25 AI-powered factories by the end of 2026, expand its engineering team, and enter Germany, France, and Ukraine as it scales software-driven component manufacturing for aerospace and defense customers. - learn more
- WndrCo participated in Crafting’s $5.5M seed round, which was led by Mischief as the startup launched general availability for Crafting for Agents. The company said the new capital will support its push to become core infrastructure for AI-driven engineering teams, giving agents secure access to production-like environments so they can validate, test, and ship code inside complex enterprise systems used by customers including Brex, Faire, and Webflow. - learn more
LA Exits
- Hireguide has been acquired by HireVue, which is buying Hireguide’s underlying technology and bringing the Hireguide team into HireVue’s product org. HireVue says the deal accelerates its agentic AI roadmap, starting with a voice-based AI interviewer designed to help employers qualify candidates earlier and run smarter, more conversational hiring workflows. - learn more
- Ultracor has been acquired by Applied Aerospace & Defense, bringing the California-based maker of specialized honeycomb core materials into Applied’s advanced composites platform. Applied says the deal supports its selective vertical integration strategy by strengthening supply chain control and boosting speed and capacity for space and defense programs, from satellites and missiles to antennas, radomes, and next-gen aircraft. - learn more
Andria Moore courtesy of GrayMatter
At first look, the company’s manufacturing setup in Gardena looks like an unassuming warehouse. It’s sterile, with minimal decoration except a massive American flag on one shop wall. It’s reminiscent of an engineering lab, but still has the feel of a startup since, well, it’s literally in a garage for now.
GrayMatter employee programming a robot Courtesy of Samson Amore
Ironically, my arrival comes shortly before the headquarters will drastically change its look. Co-founder and CEO Ariyan Kabir has big plans for his modest space, and is planning a remodel in coming months that will add some flair to the currently minimalist, efficient setup.
On one wall, boxes of guitar bodies, still in their skeletal state, await sanding and finishing. GrayMatter co-founder and CTO Brual Shah points out that musical instruments are just one of the products his company’s robots are being enlisted to work on. Additionally, there’s faux marble sinks, a metal lamp post, and parts of a Metro bus: all parts GrayMatter’s either sourced itself or been given by clients to test sanding on.
“A single robot [is] typically two to four times faster than a single human,” Kabir says, noting that most of GrayMatter’s clients use multiple robots at a time. He and Shah both say their enterprise is building “brains for robots” and said that while their robots don’t have an official name, some customers have been calling it – of course – Sandy.
The robot arms can take care of an array of tasks, from sanding to buffing, polishing or spraying. Kabir said the robotic cells vary in size from under a foot to up to about three feet tall. The larger arms are busy practicing sanding techniques on sizable projects – including a bathtub and the hull of a boat.
Typically, it takes a human being an hour to finish sanding one of the large bathtubs GrayMatter's robot is diligently scrubbing away at. But at max capacity the bot is able to sand the surface in less than half the time.
CTO Brual Shah (left) and CEO Ariyan Kabir of GrayMatter
Photo by Samson Amore
Kabir notes two key factors have helped GrayMatter’s business grow – first, the cost of sensors like the ones used in its robots has been steadily falling since 2016; Microsoft noted in a 2019 report that the price of a sensor plunged to an affordable $.44 each. Second, high labor turnover is prompting manufacturers to rethink using robots.
Which helps explain how GrayMatter has been able to raise roughly $24 million, most recently $20 million Series A last month. It also aims to expand its workforce from 17 to 40 people, Kabir said.
In the back of the shop, Shah points to a football helmet the robots have been practicing on. He says one of GrayMatter’s clients is a manufacturer that reconditions and restores helmets for re-use.
“High school up to the NFL, all teams send their helmets to this one [original equipment manufacturer], and the robot sands them or cleans them, polishes them, puts the decal [on] for the next year. It’s recession-proof,” Shah continues.
Shah and Kabir were adamant that their technology isn’t trying to put humans out of work. The idea being that instead of risking carpal tunnel syndrome or inhaling potentially toxic dust and residue from the finishing process, people who usually work the production line are trained to oversee the robots. Shah says once a human is trained on the software, they’re equipped to manage up to 10 robots at a time.
To that end, many industries are pushing to add automation to their factories. One Manufacturer’s Alliance’s 2021 manufacturing workforce trends survey found that 30% of plant managers were implementing some kind of automation.
“For humans, it's a life changer,” Shah says. “At one of our customer sites, the guy who used to sand by hand before, after introducing the robot, he now became the robot operator.”
But there’s likely going to be hurdles in training these workers. A study published in Oxford University Press last year found that low-skilled workers in these types of factory jobs often faced difficulty in using new technology due to lack of training.
“With the increased prominence of job automation and technological advances in the workforce, low-skilled workers are at risk for fewer opportunities within the labor market,” the study’s authors noted, and emphasized the importance of continuing adult education.
In his 2020 paper on robots replacing humans in the workforce, MIT professor of economics Daron Acemoglu wrote that adding one robot replaces 3.3 human jobs.
GrayMatter robot sanding courtesy of Samson Amore
While GrayMatter’s software at first glance seems pretty point-and-click, workers still will need comprehensive training on how to operate, troubleshoot and oversee the robots safely. It’s possible then that the barrier to entry is unlikely to be as straightforward as Shah and Kabir suggest.
Worse still, research suggests that companies that are quick to add robots also tend to ask more of their human workforce. Another MIT study conducted by Acemoglu found that from 2010 to 2015 firms that brought on robots saw employee hours also increase by nearly 11%.
Still, the same study found that a 20% rise in industrial robot use during that same time period led to a 3.2% decline in overall employment.
When asked about this, Kabir told dot.LA, "we design the systems for the shop floor workers with a very simple [interface]. Our [user interface] for the shop floor operator has only three buttons and the system runs pretty autonomously." He added that GrayMatter also trains factory managers to troubleshoot common hardware and software issues.
For manufacturers, however, the draw of being able to get more done by using robots is an obvious one. Kabir wouldn’t disclose how much clients pay to access the subscription that gives them access to GrayMatter’s robots (which are pre-built and sourced from Japan), software, and any necessary updates or maintenance. He referred to one customer that in a single year, “lost $5 million in a single production line, just for scrap, repair and rework costs for human mistakes.”
Adding that, “The robots are consistent in quality. They're good for humans.” Which humans he’s referring to, however, remains to be seen.
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