M13 Venture Studio Launchpad Opens up First Cohort with PepsiCo

Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

M13 Venture Studio Launchpad Opens up First Cohort with PepsiCo

In one of Anna Barber's first moves since taking over M13's year-old venture studio Launchpad, the former Techstars managing director is opening up applications for its first founders-in-residence program.

Funded by PepsiCo, one of the world's largest beverage companies, the 12-week program is aimed at founders and entrepreneurs with backgrounds in food, nutrition or consumer products.

Unlike traditional VC funds that invest in other founders, the venture studio starts companies of its own. The model has become increasingly popular.

Barber says she wants to cultivate wellness companies that are accessible to most consumers and envisions a range of applicants, from serial founders to health and wellness experts without startup experience.

"It could open up the opportunity to people that might not have previously considered it," Barber said. "There's always a gap between when you decide to start something and when you raise capital and can pay yourself. This will allow you to begin the founder journey immediately."

Barber, who joined M13 two weeks ago, said Launchpad is looking to build companies like Rae, the women's wellness brand that stocks supplements in Target, Athropologie and Urban Outfitters. It was the first startup to be internally incubated at M13.

Since the studio began last year, three companies have launched in partnership with Procter and Gamble Ventures — skincare companies OPTE and Bodewell along with menopause supplement brand Kindra.

"It's not enough to invest capital in companies," Barber said. "We really need to help them grow faster by asking and answering the right questions, and to give them unfair advantages in the form of knowledge and access and platform."

The program, which begins in March, provides $10,000 monthly stipends to 12 individuals. Applications are slated to close Jan. 4.

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Starships Were Meant To Fly: Astrolab's New Jeep-Sized Rover Gets a Lift from SpaceX

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
Starships Were Meant To Fly: Astrolab's New Jeep-Sized Rover Gets a Lift from SpaceX
Photo by Samson Amore

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Local Los Angeles-area startup Astrolab Inc. has designed a new lunar vehicle called FLEX, short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration Rover. About the size of a Jeep Wrangler, FLEX is designed to move cargo around the surface of the moon on assignment. It’s a bit larger than NASA’s Mars rovers, like Perseverance, but as it’s designed for transport and mobility rather than precision measurement, it can travel much faster, at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour across the lunar surface.

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Meet the Creator Economy’s Version of LinkedIn

Kristin Snyder

Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

Meet the Creator Economy’s Version of LinkedIn
Creatorland

This is the web version of dot.LA’s daily newsletter. Sign up to get the latest news on Southern California’s tech, startup and venture capital scene.

LinkedIn hasn’t caught on with Gen Z—in fact, 96% rarely use their existing account.

Considering 25% of young people want to be full-time content creators and most influencers aren’t active on LinkedIn, traditional networking sites aren’t likely to meet these needs.

Enter CreatorLand.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: Total Network Services Gains $9M, Autio Secures $5.9M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Total Network Services Gains $9M, Autio Secures $5.9M
This Week in ‘Raises’:

It has been a slow week in funding, but a local decentralized computing network managed to land $9 million to accelerate deployment of its new product called Universal Communication Identifier (UCID™). Another local company that secured capital included Kevin Costner’s location-based audio storytelling platform and the funding will go toward expanding the app’s content library and expanding into additional regions in the United States.

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