Catch Up With This Week's Startup News With Our Video Recap
Lots happened in the L.A. tech and startup community this week as the city continues to reopen. In a rundown of the top headlines, Chief Host and Correspondent Kelly O'Grady takes you through the key stories:
- NWA Founding Member Launches Covitech to Help Small Businesses Reopen Safely
- GermFalcon Strikes a Deal with Honeywell for Anti-Viral 'Drink Cart'
- Media: 'More Stars' NBA-Focused App Aims to Score in China, Wave Raises $30M to Serve Next Gen Concerts
- dot.LA Dives In: Actionable Steps to Fight Racism with Dr. Cheryl Ingram
Weekly Recap: NWA Founder Launches Covitech, GermFalcon vs COVID, and Wave Tackles Next-Gen Concerts www.youtube.com
Watch to stay smart on what is happening, and follow us on Instagram for exclusive daily video content.
From Your Site Articles
- Los Angeles' Tech and Startup Scene is Growing. - dot.LA ›
- Catch Up With This Week's Startup News in Our Weekly Video Recap ›
- Los Angeles Tech and Startup Week in Review - dot.LA ›
- Catch Up With This Week's Startup News in Our Weekly Video Recap ›
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On Thursday, July 9th, dot.LA entertainment reporter Sam Blake hosted a one-on-one video interview with Steven Galanis, founder and CEO of Cameo, the thriving video platform featuring celebrities and influencers.
"From our estimation we believe that there are two million people in the world that are qualified influencers," said Cameo Founder and CEO Steven Galanis in a conversation with dot.LA's Sam Blake. "And probably more than in any other city on Earth, those people are in Los Angeles."
<p>The website allows celebrities to send personalized video messages to paying fans. Cameo recruits big names, usually through social media. Other times, celebrities are referred by their friends — like the time Snoop Dogg popped in on Ice T's video.</p><p>"He ended up Face-timing me later that day and joining the platform," Galanis said. Later, he said, Snoop Dogg became an investor. These scenarios, where celebrities join by referral, make up about 55% of all Cameo bookings. To date, the company has collected over 40,000 influencers. </p><p>But how? What's in it for the celebrity? The platform acts almost as a marketplace for talent. Mainstream and niche performers alike can build their following. </p><p>"The value prop of the Cameo is that talent is getting paid to become more popular," Galanis said. "The person who receives a Cameo from you literally becomes a bigger fan of you than they ever were."</p><p>Right before Mother's Day, one customer wrote to Galanis on LinkedIn to tell him the video he bought for his wife was "the best Cameo that's ever been made." Naturally, Galanis was intrigued; the four-year-old startup has churned out over a million of these videos. </p><p>Galanis confirmed: it was the best Cameo he'd ever seen. He booked the same artist, Michael Fronti, to make one for his mom. She became an instant fan of a singer she'd never heard of. Her Facebook friends love him now, too.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9de63d4657faafed9d4d2d1b12585c6e"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/prXO59TdZGo?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Virtual Fireside Chat with Cameo Founder & CEO Steven Galanis</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXO59TdZGo&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwODEzNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTI5MjEyNH0.Rz4OBSxgOLoCe0x9zeTJGx8sNmxbLWRcveyRkvj5I6I/img.png?width=980" id="137f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0f00b423b2d935145d0cada8fc225d69" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="" />
Cameo CEO Steven Galanis
<p><a href="https://www.cameo.com/" target="_blank"><br>Cameo</a> has emerged as the world's leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts recently cementing roots in Los Angeles. Cameo has raised over $65 million to date; most recently a mid-2019 $50 million Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Playa Vista-based The Chernin Group.</p><p>dot.LA entertainment reporter Sam Blake will host an in depth video discussion with Cameo's CEO on how he plans to <a href="https://dot.la/cameo-ceo-on-his-move-to-l-a-and-his-companys-future-2646225672.html" target="_self">disrupt the entertainment world</a> and more!</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Join Us for a Virtual Fireside Chat with Cameo Founder and CEO ... ›
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Here are the latest updates on news affecting Los Angeles' startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for more.
Today:
- Open Raven Adds Three Cloud and Security Veterans to its Team
- Tinder Tests Video Feature for Pandemic Dating
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Open Raven Adds Three Cloud and Security Veterans to its Team
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5ODY1Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDcxMjM5NX0.xQkGkfQGXF98L06L8AGjttxsMAYYSOfVlFxjgPo6fIA/image.png?width=980" id="e485c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ec1c76ab18e8234992ef7bc99899994a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Open Raven, a Los Angeles-based company that offers a cloud data security platform, said Thursday that it has expanded its leadership team to include three new cloud and security industry veterans. The move comes weeks after the company announced its second major round of funding.</p><p>Rob Markovich joins the company as its new chief marketing officer from his prior role as chief marketing officer at Wavefront. Alan Buckley has been hired as the senior vice president of sales, finance and operations, from his prior role as the business operations lead at Tanium. Bill Hau will be the new vice president of customer success. Hau has more than 20 years of offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations experience and previously worked at companies including Cylance, Mandiant/FireEye, IBM and McAfee.</p><p>Their hire follows <a href="https://dot.la/cloud-data-security-2646187838.html" target="_self">Open Raven's raise of a $15 million Series A round this June</a> — four months <a href="https://dot.la/open-raven-data-security-2645111465.html" target="_self">after it emerged from stealth to announce seed funding</a>. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins as well as existing investors like Upfront Ventures, bringing its total capital raised to $19.1 million.<img alt="" src="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20200709005277r1&sid=web01&distro=nx&lang=en"><em>__</em></p><p><em></em><em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><em>@latams</em></a><em>. You can also </em><em>email me at tami(at)dot.la</em><em></em><em>, or ask for my Signal.</em></p>Tinder Tests Video Feature for Pandemic Dating
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjY1Njc5NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTgwMjc4M30.77K73_L-avsg-F23cDrsbpaatY6opyXUnhd7KLz-3QE/img.jpg?width=980" id="15305" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="500459f03dada1f31bdae9f4fe09131d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p><span style="background-color: initial;">As COVID puts a pause on dating for many singles, Tinder has rolled out a new video chat feature. The dating app </span><a href="https://www.tinderpressroom.com/Tinder-Begins-Testing-Face-to-Face-Video" target="_blank">announced</a> Wednesday that users in 13 countries, including four U.S. states, can now try out "Face to Face."<br></p><p>This is part of Tinder's big sell on a feature Bumble launched last year that has become popular. The video calls "prioritize control and comfort" by prompting users to agree to a set of<a href="https://www.gotinder.com/community-guidelines" target="_blank"> ground rules</a> (keeping the interaction PG) and letting them disable the video feature at any point. You're also able to leave a report once the video ends.</p><p>"We're looking to better understand how video chat fits in with the overall journey of getting to know someone new," Tinder spokesperson Evan Bonnstetter explained in an email.</p><p>Users in Virginia, Illinois, Georgia and Colorado can meet their matches face-to-face. But the feeling has to be mutual — both parties need to opt-in before the chat switches to a split-screen video call.</p><p>Like Snapchat, the appeal of talking on dating apps lies in anonymity, for some. Plus, chatting on an app relieves the stress of giving out personal information.</p><p>As stay-at-home orders remain in place, virtual dates have become default. Will this last? A Tinder survey of users found that over half of its U.S. users have used the video date function with a match in the past month. Plus, 40% of Gen Z members surveyed who tried video dating said they'd continue using the feature "as a way to decide whether to meet IRL (in real life) in the future — even once their favorite date spot is open again."</p><p>Launched in 2012, Tinder, now boasting over 60 million subscribers, is available in 190 countries and over 40 languages.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Kernel, a bioscience company aiming to make the inner workings of the human brain easy to read, announced Thursday it's raised $53 million in a Series C round led by General Catalyst.
Other investors include Khosla Ventures, Eldridge, Manta Ray Ventures, Tiny Blue Dot and Kernel founder and CEO Bryan Johnson, who himself has invested $54 million in the company to date.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0NTYyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODA1MjgzNn0.6ycC5ltktHd0S7TPTK4C28uGHlxR6Cls7-rRJzUVGjo/img.jpg?width=980" id="59520" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3877f0fc7885b6b7055792b7384ca509" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Kernel founder and CEO Bryan Johnson has invested $54 million in the company.
<p>Founded by Johnson, Kernel makes technology used to record brain waves and other mind functions inexpensive, opening up the frontier of the human mind to researchers and scientists that previously didn't have access. The company calls the interface with the brain "neuroscience as a service" or NaaS, a take on tech companies selling SaaS (software as a service) technology.</p><p><span></span>It has already conducted experiments that allow individuals to spell out words using brain signals alone.</p><p>"We live in a data-illuminated world, but the user manuals for our brains have no diagnostic or useful numbers, leaving us with no option but to describe and characterize cognition using hunches." Johnson said in an announcement. "Imagine a cardiologist asking you how your heart is doing based upon your hunches, without cholesterol or blood pressure."</p><p>"If we can quantify thoughts and emotions, conscious and subconscious, a new era of understanding, wellness and human improvement will emerge," Johnson concluded.<br></p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">Johnson likens the endeavor to the genome project that broke open new frontier in biological study and set the table for new discoveries. </span><br/></p><p>"Mainframes became PCs and then smartphones. The $1B genome became the $1,000 genome. The brain and mind are next," Johnson said in a company statement. </p><p>Kernel is among a small list of companies trying to hack the human brain, once an idea isolated to science fiction. Last year, Space X founder Elon Musk unveiled Neuralink's design to the public. The secretive company is developing brain-machine interfaces that it hopes will eventually give paraplegics and others more control. He announced on Thursday, he would give an update on the company Aug. 28.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Progress update August 28<br/>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1281123131281666048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><p>Kernel is already generating revenue and said earlier this year it would be available for commercial use. It was featured in <a href="https://www.iamhumanfilm.com/" target="_blank" title="https://www.iamhumanfilm.com/">I Am Human</a>, a 2020 documentary about scientists trying to unlock the human brain.<br/></p><p>Kernel hopes its brain-recording device will spur a new era of discovery in neuroscience, psychiatry and health with an eye toward breakthroughs in the biomakers for cognition and brain health and improving artificial intelligence for difficult tasks such as computer vision. <br/></p><p>The funds will be directed towards further technology development and customer success. </p><p>"The vision fueling Kernel is one of the most audacious imaginable." said Quentin Clark, general partner, General Catalyst in a company announcement. "Kernel's engineering accomplishments have the potential to enable more neuroscience progress in the next few years than has been accomplished in the last few decades."</p>Related Articles Around the Web
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