Montgomery Summit Updates: Zynga Hunting Gaming Acquisitions; Moxie the Robot Looks to Partner with Schools

Pat Maio
Pat Maio has held various reporting and editorial management positions over the past 25 years, having specialized in business and government reporting. He has held reporting jobs with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Dow Jones News and other newspapers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Montgomery Summit Updates: Zynga Hunting Gaming Acquisitions; Moxie the Robot Looks to Partner with Schools
Photo by Joseph Ngabo on Unsplash

This year's Montgomery Summit – held online this year for the first time - features Eric Yuan, CEO & founder of Zoom, author Deepak Chopra, Darius Adamczyk, CEO of Honeywell, and Jim Whitehurst, president of IBM.

There will be about 100 hours of content available exclusive to those who have paid and registered, but, for the first time, 12 hours of plenary sessions will be free for anyone to stream on YouTube, opening panels to a much bigger audience around the world.

See the full agenda here. We'll be watching, and will keep you up to date with takeaways from the conference. Follow updates from the event below and check our Twitter account for more.

Day 2:

Day 1:


Video Game-Maker Zynga Is Hunting Acquisitions

Zynga Bernard Kim

Video game-maker Zynga's president, Bernard Kim, said the cash-rich company is on the hunt for acquisitions.

"We have a pretty healthy balance sheet," said Kim, pointing to the $1.5 billion on the books. "We're heavy in the hunt for acquisitions."

San Francisco-based Zynga, which has an office of 20 employees in Culver City, announced earlier this week that it had acquired Echtra Games Inc., a San Francisco-based video game developer. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition is the latest in a string of seven in the past five years, according to Kim. The Echtra purchase continues the company's strategy of growing through deals.

Last month, Zynga pushed further into PCs and consoles with the announcement of its "Star Wars: Hunters" game. The studio is working with developer NaturalMotion Games to release "Star Wars: Hunters" this year for Nintendo Switch, which is a handheld gaming console.

"I guess you can consider us as a consolidator, but it's not really like that. It's really just around expanding the family," said Kim, adding that Zynga has done three acquisitions in the past year during the pandemic.

Zynga has always been in the driver's seat in the video gaming world.

"A lot of companies had counted us out, the industry counted us out, and we sat in a proverbial engine room, and just grinded out questions and like just solved problems," Kim recalled of the game maker's tough times.

Back in 2013, Zynga laid off more than 500 employees — roughly a fifth of its workforce -- and closed offices in Dallas, New York and Los Angeles..

"It all starts snowballing, and we kind of had those moments like, 'Wow, we can't do anything right.' We won this award, —like, the worst company in America — two years in a row, but we emerged from that," he said. "We had these dark moments as a company and now things are kind of snowballing into this positive momentum story."

Kim didn't discuss any potential targets while speaking on a video gaming panel at Thursday's virtually held Montgomery Summit.

"You know, we aren't going to slow down. And that's the really exciting time when things start really moving in the right direction. It could be a really great moment to double down and have more fun."

Maker of Moxie Robot Looks to Raise $50M, Partner with Schools

Paolo Pirjanian, co-founder and CEO of Pasadena-based Embodied Inc

Paolo Pirjanian, co-founder and CEO of Pasadena-based Embodied Inc., disclosed plans on Thursday that his privately held robot maker business began talks this week to raise an additional $50 million in venture funding.

His company, which makes a robot companion to help kids learn, has raised a total of $44 million from investors including Amazon, Intel, Sony and Toyota.


Pirjanian, a former chief technology officer of iRobot Corp., a Bedford, Mass.-based technology company that designs and builds consumer robots, such as vacuum cleaners and mops, launched Embodied back in 2016.

Embodied's robot companion, called Moxie, can have conversations with kids to help them learn. It is designed to interact with kids and help with social, emotional and cognitive development, while parents connect via an app.

"It's a physical robot that interacts with children in the 5- to 10-year old range, that have been diagnosed with disorders like autism, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and so on," said Pirjanian.

ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a chronic condition including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

Pirjanian said that his company plans to explore the use of Moxie with pediatric hospitals, or clinical care facilities for coping with pain and stress. Discussions also are underway with one of the nation's largest school districts to put Moxie in the classroom, Pirjanian said.

"The next big wave is going to be driven by social machine interfaces," said Pirjanian, who made the comments at a panel discussion on innovation in Southern California at the virtually held Montgomery Summit.

Thanks to Pandemic, Incoming Qualcomm CEO Sees 'Golden Era' for Telecom

Cristiano Amon, president and CEO-elect of Qualcomm Inc

Cristiano Amon, president and CEO-elect of Qualcomm Inc., a San Diego-based maker of chips and software for wireless technology, thinks we're entering a "new golden era of telecom," fueled partially by a coronavirus pandemic that could accelerate 5G rollouts.

"Telecom kept the world working," said Amon, who is expected to take the helm of Qualcomm in June.


"Without a 5G network, without a 5G infrastructure, none of this is possible. And especially as governments emerge from the pandemic, the importance of prioritizing crucial infrastructure that will be part of the future digital economy of many nations, it is very important for 5G's success," the executive said.

Amon made his comments Thursday at the virtually held Montgomery Summit tech conference.

In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019. It is the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones.

"It is indeed one of the largest opportunities we ever had," said Amon, who noted the resilience of the company's workforce to work remotely during the pandemic, and keep its business humming.

Amon, who climbed the ladder within Qualcomm's chip side of the business, noted that at the height of the pandemic that shut down large chunks of the world last year, roughly 90% of its own workers were at home connected computers on its far-flung tech empire.

"So, we were able to connect all of our labs and people," he said. "What would take the broader society, and I'm speaking from our experience in dealing with 3G or 4G [technology], sometimes it will take about five to 10 years to recognize the benefit and the potential technology that was accomplished in two quarters [of 2020]."

Anon also noted that Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm, continues to invest in technologies that transform industries.

"We just put our money where our mouth is, and we look in investing in areas that are going to benefit some of the technology transitions we're very focused on, or also create new industries," he said.

In total, Qualcomm Ventures has invested $1.5 billion and made 360 investments since its launch in 2000. Some of the investments include unicorns like San Jose-based video conferencing firm Zoom, San Francisco-based website security firm Cloudflare, China-based online chat firm Xiaomi and Fitbit, a San Francisco-based consumer electronics and fitness company.

Glitches: Audio Static Disrupts Cox Enterprise CEO Presentation

audio glitch

The Montgomery Summit, one of Southern California's most anticipated tech conferences, got a reminder on Thursday that going virtual isn't as simple as it sounds.

The audio for the fireside chat with Cox Enterprises CEO Alex Taylor went dead after 15 minutes into a half-hour presentation. Technicians attempted to deal with a loud static noise that interrupted the interview.


Several attendees commented on a message board that the static interference was so loud that the conversation was inaudible. Another poster noted that Apple earbuds worn by Tom Giles, Bloomberg executive editor of technology, could have been the culprit.

After the audio was turned off after about 15 minutes into the Taylor chat, operators of the website broadcasting the summit posted a note on the session.

"Due to an audio malfunction, we will share the interview between Alex Taylor and Tom Giles on The Montgomery Summit YouTube page after the conference," the statement read.

Before the audio went silent, Taylor had been discussing a broad number of topics, including Cox's move into cable – its biggest revenue generator – automotive services, and the importance of newspapers, although Cox has shed all of its paper properties.

"I still believe that a newspaper, for whatever the political slant of its editorial pages, is the best source of actual facts, because you have so many levels of editorial judgment going on in that process, and it's hard to get inaccuracies," Taylor observed.

'We Got Punched in the Face': How Peek.com Is Recovering From COVID

Peek.com

Ruzwana Bashir, co-founder and CEO of Peek.com, got off to a good start with her trip-booking company, which is backed by heavyweights Eric Schmidt of Google and Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square.

A year ago, Peek.com was flying high with $1 billion in bookings. The service lets travelers and locals find and book activities online of via cell phones, including tours, wine tastings, kayaking, helicopter tours, ziplining, horseback riding and lessons of all sorts.

Then COVID-19 hit. Stay-at-home restrictions were imposed throughout the world and domestic travel came to a virtual halt as people sought safety from the pandemic.

"We got punched in the face," Bashir said. "It was a pretty scary time... We did a small layoff. We laid off 30% of our team."

Based in San Francisco, the eight-year-old company has raised roughly $50 million in venture capital funding. But it wasn't certain it would get through the hard times.

Then the summer came, and Peek began seeing a surge in bookings. People were tired of staying indoors and wanted to get out, Bashir explained.

"We are the backbone of these businesses," she added. "It took a level head to get through this, make tough changes. It took a lot of resilience and persistence to get through this."

With the federal government now saying that it could vaccinate all adults by the end of May, Peek.com's Bashir is beginning to see a resurgence in business bookings again this summer. "When we look at the travel space, there is a need," she said. "Campgrounds and RV parks are now even coming in and saying they need our software."

'We've Got to Be Paranoid': ​Zoom's Founder Offers Leadership Advice to Startup Execs

Zoom CEO Eric Yuanmacbook pro displaying group of peoplePhoto by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Eric Yuan, president and chairman of Silicon Valley-based Zoom Video Communications, took a break Wednesday from his company's highly touted video conferencing business to deliver some nut-and-bolt tips on executive success and leadership.

Answering questions from former Cisco chief John Chambers, who now runs San Jose-based JC2 Ventures, Yuan noted that his bedside reading has yielded profound success and helped him develop as a leader.

He cited two management and self-help books as key.

They are "Crossing the Chasm," a marketing book written by Geoffrey A. Moore that focuses on the specifics of marketing high tech products during the early start up period; and "Speed of Trust," written by Stephen M.R. Covey that serves as "a guide to business leaders, public figures and their organizations towards unprecedented productivity and satisfaction.

"I read Geoff's book twice," said Yuan, who agreed with Chambers' suggestion that anyone in a startup role should read the book.

But "Speed of Trust," said Yuan, gives startups like Zoom a strong foundation to build on. "At Zoom, a lot of [our employees] work from home, so how do you build trust? It's really hard."

In building a business, founders need to think about the company's "value," he said, as a key facet.

"It's hard to build trust. You need social interaction, but you do that with eye contact. Video is really hard."

Yuan said that building a company takes a lot of time speaking with customers, because they could change their buying decisions quickly. "We've got to be paranoid."

Yuan, who moved from China to the Silicon Valley in the late 1990s, founded Zoom in 2011.

Prior to Zoom, Yuan was corporate vice president of engineering at Cisco, where he was responsible for Cisco's collaboration software development. He was also one of the founding engineers and vice president of engineering at Webex, a video conferencing application.

"My story is pretty straightforward," Yuan said.

Yuan made his comments on the first day of the virtually held Montgomery Summit, one of Southern California's largest gatherings of tech investors and executives of the year.

San Jose-based Zoom, which just two days ago reported profits and revenues for its January quarter that beat Wall Street estimates, raised 2022 guidance to $3.77 billion in revenue, up from $3.53 billion.

Zoom became a household name as the COVID-19 pandemic forced lockdowns across the globe. A steep rise in coronavirus cases during and after the holidays intensified business restrictions and forced many workplaces to reconsider reopening in 2021.

Honeywell CEO Bullish on 2021, M&A Not Slowing Down

Germ

Honeywell inked a deal to produce Long Beach-based Dimer's GermFalcon last year.

The pandemic limited some of Honeywell's typical tire-kicking while cutting deals, but the global conglomerate still saw a flurry of recent acquisitions and its CEO Darius Adamczykis is optimistic about a resurgent economy in 2021.

"2021 will be a transitional year, and 2020 was a crisis year," he said.

Among the deals made last year, Honeywell inked a licensing partnership with Long Beach-based Dimer to produce a UV-C light machine, the GermFalcon, that sanitizes airplane cabinets.


"Conditions generally are positive," said Adamczyk, noting that the uptick in "normal" business is expected to swing back noticeably in the second half of the year, coincidentally timed to when Honeywell is expected to open a new corporate headquarters in North Carolina.

Adamczyk said one of his bigger concerns is whether there will be "enough capacity to handle the surge" in growth.

Notably, the $145-billion market-capitalization corporation has made a handful of acquisitions at a time when COVID-19 has limited some of the typical due diligence processes. In fact, M&A activity slowed somewhat last year – though not for Honeywell.

"Acquisitions are more difficult in this environment," he said. "You can't go to facilities and meet with people."

In the case of its Sparta Systems acquisition last month, said Adamczyk, "We knew so much about it. We did a comprehensive due diligence, but we had comfort in buying it."

In December, Honeywell agreed to pay $1.3 billion for New Jersey-based Sparta, an industrial software provider that specializes in life sciences. The deal was the largest acquisition engineered by Adamczyk since he took the helm nearly four years ago. The deal strengthens Honeywell's leadership in industrial automation, digital transformation solutions and enterprise performance management software.

Roughly a week before this deal, Honeywell acquired Sine Group, an Adelaide, Australia-based technology and "software as a service" – or SaaS company -- that provides visitor management, workplace and supply chain solutions that are readily accessible with mobile devices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company also snapped up several smaller companies last year, including the unit of Ballard Power Systems that makes fuel cells for drones.

"We are building organically, and building inorganically as well," Adamczyk said. "The more digital you are, the better you weather the storm."

Another long-term concern: "What I miss is the water cooler conversation."

Adamczyk said that Honeywell is trying to reach out with connectivity. "It's really important to stay connected."

Cybersecurity Spending Is Likely to Grow Amid High-Profile Hacks: Snyk CEO

Snyk

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The headline-grabbing security breaches uncovered in the past year will likely lead to an acceleration of cybersecurity spending, said Peter McKay, CEO of London-based developer security company Snyk.

The lifecycle in cybersecurity spending is at a very early stage, McKay observed during the first day of the virtually held Montgomery Summit, one of Southern California's largest gatherings of tech investors and executives.


"We are maybe two outs in the (bottom of the) second inning," he said. "We are very early on. If talking security, and not thinking shifting left into security development, we'll walk away and come back to talk in six months. We know where they are in their journey," said McKay of the value of waiting for clients to catch up.

McKay cited two high-profile breaches as the catalyst for more cybersecurity spending: Austin-based SolarWinds, which develops security software to monitor databases, and China's Mintegral, which develops mobile operations system applications offered in the Apple app store.

In the Mintegral case, Snyk researchers identified malicious behavior in a software development kit that was present in more than 1,200 iOS mobile operation system applications offered in the Apple App Store.

Snyk estimated that the Mintegral attack – dubbed "SourMint" involved the 1,200 iOS apps that it estimates are downloaded about 300 million times every month. The concern was that the IOS software could harvest URLs accessed through the kit and steal highly sensitive information.

"Once we understood the exposure, we talked to Apple," McKay said. "We automate as much as you can to fix vulnerabilities."

In the other case, SolarWinds provides software to monitor many features of on-premises infrastructure, including network performance, log files, configuration data, storage and servers. SolarWinds sends out regular updates and patches. Hackers were able to infiltrate the update and "trojanize" the software — meaning when customers installed the updates, the malware just went along for the ride.

"This was a paradigm-shifting event," MacKay said. "It brought a lot of attention of building security features into the lifecycle and supply chain."

Snyk's work in the security developer field has been an evolutionary one since it was founded in 2015. Two years ago, SNYK began with technology companies, then financial ones, and then health care and the media fields.

"What you are seeing now are airline or packaging companies, or very low-tech companies, which are in the process of doing a transformation of their business in a secure way. We are bringing best practices to help them make this transformation."

'We Were All Quite Naive': How the Montgomery Summit Has Changed for 2021

Montgomery Summit 2020

When one of Southern California's largest gatherings of tech investors and executives of the year in Southern California begins Wednesday it will be held virtually, just like every other event is these days.

What a difference a year makes.

Last year's Montgomery Summit, also held during the first week of March, brought together hundreds of tech titans to the upscale Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, just as the seriousness of COVID was becoming abundantly clearer every day.

It was the last time many people saw each other in the flesh. Read more >>

- Ben Bergman

El Segundo Startup Turns Tax Credits into Big Business

🔦 Spotlight

Hello LA,

Step into the world of Incentify, the El Segundo-based innovator turning the headache of managing tax credits and incentives into a walk in the park. Founded in 2019, this trailblazing company is reshaping how businesses approach what was once a daunting bureaucratic challenge.

Incentify’s platform is revolutionizing the industry by helping businesses discover and effectively manage a share of the estimated $1.2 trillion in tax credits and incentives that often go unclaimed each year. This critical service not only simplifies the process but also ensures that companies can more easily access and leverage these financial opportunities to fuel their growth and sustainability initiatives.

Recently, Incentify reached a new milestone by securing $9.5 million Series A funding led by Innovent Capital Group. This significant investment underscores the market’s confidence in their innovative approach and supports their mission to expand their technological capabilities and market reach.

As Incentify gears up for this expansion, their efforts are set to make tax incentives more accessible to a broader spectrum of businesses. This is especially vital in today’s economy, where optimizing financial strategies is crucial for business resilience and growth.

Incentify's success story from El Segundo is not just about financial gains but also about empowering companies with the tools to turn complex financial engagements into strategic advantages.

Stay tuned for more from LA’s vibrant tech scene. Let’s continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Enjoy your weekend, and keep innovating, LA!

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • TOGETHXR, a pioneering women's sports media and commerce brand co-founded by athletes Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird, has achieved profitability and significant growth, including tripling its year-over-year revenue and increasing its social media following by 17% year-to-date. The company has secured additional growth capital in a funding round led by Alex Morgan's Trybe Ventures. The funds will be used to expand TOGETHXR's presence in the women's sports marketplace. Additionally, media executive Nancy Dubuc has joined the company as Executive Chair, bringing her extensive experience to support TOGETHXR's mission of elevating women's sports and culture. - learn more
  • Airvet, a Los Angeles-based pet telehealth platform, has secured $11M in an oversubscribed Series B-2 funding round led by HighlandX. This investment follows a year of significant growth, including a 4x increase in year-over-year revenue and a tripling of its client base. Airvet partners with leading employers across various industries, such as PepsiCo, Adobe, and Lyft, to provide employees with 24/7 access to veterinary care via video or chat. The platform's services include online pharmacy, e-prescriptions, discounted pet insurance, wellness programs, and specialty care, with recent expansions into Spanish and French language support. The funds will be used to further enhance Airvet's platform and expand its reach, aiming to make veterinary care more accessible and affordable for pet families globally. - learn more
          LA Venture Funds
          • Interlagos co-led a $50M Series A funding round for Aetherflux, a San Carlos, California-based startup developing satellites to collect and transmit solar energy from space to Earth. The funds will be used to expand Aetherflux's engineering team and advance the technology for its planned low Earth orbit demonstration mission in 2026. - learn more
          • Bungalow Capital Management co-led a $2M seed funding round for Juno, a Denver-based startup specializing in corporate guest travel management. Juno offers an integrated platform that streamlines booking, logistics, payments, reimbursements, and support for non-employee travelers such as job candidates, contractors, and customers. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and expand partnerships, including a collaboration with ALTOUR as their first travel management company partner. - learn more
          • Veridical Ventures co-led a $3.75M seed funding round for Flagship, a Sydney, Australia-based retail technology company specializing in visual merchandising solutions. Flagship's platform creates digital twins of retail stores, enabling data-driven optimization of product placement and store layouts to enhance sales performance. The funds will be used to expand Flagship's presence in the U.S. market and further develop its product offerings. - learn more
          • Miroma Ventures participated in a £6.5M Series A funding round for Limitless Travel, a Birmingham, UK-based company specializing in accessible holidays for individuals with disabilities. Founded in 2015 by Angus Drummond, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 22, Limitless Travel offers curated group holidays with trained carers, ensuring accommodations and excursions meet specific accessibility needs. The investment will enable the company to enhance its technology, expand its range of destinations, and lay the groundwork for international growth, aiming to transform the lives of disabled individuals through travel. - learn more
          • B Capital participated in a $20M Series A funding round for Gable, a Seattle-based company specializing in data management solutions. Gable's platform focuses on "shifting left" in data management by enabling software and data developers to collaboratively build and manage high-quality data assets through API-based data contracts. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and expand Gable's team to meet the growing demand for data collaboration tools. - learn more
          • Rebel Fund participated in a $3.8M funding round for Sohar Health, a health technology company. Sohar Health is developing an AI-powered platform designed to streamline patient intake and triage, aiming to enhance access to healthcare services. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and expand the company's reach within the healthcare industry. - learn more

              LA Exits

              • Tixologi, a next-generation ticketing platform, has been acquired by Punchup Live, a New York-based comedy platform. This strategic move integrates Tixologi's advanced ticketing technology into Punchup Live's ecosystem, enabling seamless, direct-to-fan ticket sales for comedians and venues. The acquisition aims to enhance the ticket purchasing experience by providing features such as fast checkout, unified outreach tools, and advanced anti-scalping solutions, thereby empowering comedians to connect more effectively with their audiences. - learn more
              • InVisit, a Calabasas, California-based provider of cloud-based visitor management solutions, has been acquired by Motorola Solutions. InVisit's platform streamlines visitor registration, access, and host notifications across sectors such as commercial offices, education, and healthcare, enhancing security through features like blocklist screening and real-time guest activity insights. This acquisition aims to integrate InVisit's capabilities into Motorola Solutions' Avigilon Alta security suite, offering enterprise customers a unified, cloud-native approach to managing security threats and improving operational efficiency. - learn more

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                          $207M Later, Napster is Back and Ready for the Metaverse

                          🔦 Spotlight

                          Happy Friday, Los Angeles!

                          This week, we’re rewinding the clock and fast-forwarding into the future at the same time. Napster, yes, that Napster, just got acquired for $207 million byInfinite Reality, a metaverse and immersive tech company that’s aiming to bring the iconic music platform into the next generation.

                          For anyone who came of age in the early 2000s, Napster was either your musical awakening or the reason your dial-up connection crashed. Launched in 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, it was the face of peer-to-peer file sharing and a lightning rod in the music industry’s first wave of digital disruption. After its legal battles and shutdown in 2001, Napster bounced between owners like Roxio and Best Buy, before eventually merging with Rhapsody and evolving into a legitimate streaming service.

                          Now, Infinite Reality is giving Napster a fresh remix. The company says it plans to turn Napster into a social-first music platform that emphasizes artist-fan interaction over passive listening. We’re talking virtual 3D concert experiences, listening parties, fan communities, and merch drops… essentially, a metaverse-native platform built for music superfans.

                          According to Infinite Reality CEO John Acunto, this aligns with the company’s bigger vision: moving the internet away from “a flat 2D clickable web” into “a 3D conversational one.” They’re betting that a brand like Napster, which already carries cultural weight, can thrive in a world where fans want deeper connections and creators want modern monetization tools.

                          It’s a bold move, but maybe a smart one. Nostalgia is a powerful asset, and in an era where legacy brands keep getting digital reboots, Napster has a chance to go from early disruptor to comeback story.

                          Will today’s listeners hit play? We’ll see. But as far as tech comebacks go, we’re here for this remix.

                          🤝 Venture Deals

                          LA Companies

                          • Topanga, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in AI-driven waste reduction solutions for commercial kitchens, has raised an $8M Series A funding round led by Blue Bear Capital, with participation from Struck Capital, Amasia, and Wonder Ventures. This investment brings Topanga's total funding to $12.2M. The company plans to use the proceeds to expand its food waste tracking platform into the senior living, health care, and hospitality sectors, accelerate the growth of its ReusePass system beyond universities into enterprise food service, and enhance integration with major food-service platforms like Grubhub and Jamix. - learn more
                          • Flight Science, an aviation tech startup focused on AI-powered flight optimization, raised $1.5M in pre-seed funding led by Outsiders Fund. The company helps airlines reduce fuel costs, emissions, and turbulence impact, and will use the funds to grow its team and expand product rollout by summer 2025. - learn more
                                LA Venture Funds
                                  • Second Sight Ventures participated in a $14.2M Series A1 funding round for Lucky Energy, an Austin, Texas-based energy drink company. Lucky Energy offers a line of zero-sugar, zero-calorie beverages in six flavors, formulated with ingredients like maca and beta-alanine. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate distribution, introduce new products, support strategic partnerships, and recruit in key business areas. - learn more
                                  • M13 led a $5.5M funding round for Chord Commerce, with participation from Act One Ventures and others. The New York-based company provides an AI-powered customer data platform (CDP) that helps commerce brands unify customer data, generate real-time insights, and automate marketing decisions. The funding will be used to further develop the platform and support brands in scaling their data-driven marketing efforts. - learn more
                                  • Upfront Ventures led a $4M Seed funding round for Arlo Health, a New York City-based AI-powered health insurance underwriter focused on small and mid-sized businesses. Arlo offers level-funded health plans designed to improve preventive care and cost transparency through value-based care and AI-driven underwriting. The funds will be used to expand its broker network, grow its engineering and sales teams, and scale operations. - learn more
                                  • Bonfire Ventures co-led a $5M Seed funding round for VoiceOps, with participation from Village Global and others. Based in New York City, VoiceOps uses generative AI to analyze phone calls and surface insights that boost sales performance, ensure compliance, and optimize marketing. The funding will support product development, team expansion, and broader market adoption. - learn more
                                  • MANTIS Venture Capital participated in a $17.2M Seed funding round for EDGE Markets, a fintech company building banking tools tailored to the gaming industry. EDGE’s flagship product, EDGE Boost, offers a debit card and bank account specifically designed for betting, with features like spending limits, financial transparency, and cash-back rewards. The funds will be used to further develop the platform and expand its presence within the gaming market. - learn more

                                      LA Exits

                                      • SmartDepo, a leading provider of AI-powered deposition summaries for the legal industry, has been acquired by Rev, a prominent speech-to-text technology company. Founded in 2023 by civil rights attorney Isaac Manoff, SmartDepo delivers comprehensive deposition summaries featuring 100% accurate page-line citations, hyperlinked tables of contents, key admissions analyses, and deposition memos highlighting essential themes. This strategic acquisition combines Rev's highly accurate transcription services with SmartDepo's advanced summarization capabilities, aiming to enhance productivity for attorneys and court reporters by reducing manual review time and improving client outcomes. - learn more
                                      • Stem, a platform offering personalized distribution and digital strategy services for independent artists and labels, has been acquired by Concord, a leading independent music company. Stem will operate as a separate division within Concord Label Group, with CEO Milana Lewis and President Kristin Graziani continuing in their roles. This acquisition provides Stem with the capital and resources to invest in new technology, expand its suite of label services, and accelerate global growth, while maintaining its mission to empower independent artists with autonomy and support. - learn more

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                                                  $100M in Wheels and Wings: Startups Changing How We Move

                                                  🔦 Spotlight

                                                  Happy Friday, LA —

                                                  LA’s mobility scene is shifting gears — fast.

                                                  We’ve got movement on the ground and in the skies this week.

                                                  Image Source: Upway

                                                  Let’s start on two wheels. Sequoia-backed startup Upway just launched its new 30,000 square-foot flagship facility in Redondo Beach, and it’s not your average bike shop. The UpCenter, as they’re calling it, is the largest e-bike refurbishment center in California — and it’s a big bet on LA becoming a leader in urban micromobility.

                                                  If you haven’t heard of Upway yet, you will soon. The company refurbishes e-bikes at scale, with $70 million in funding and operations in both the U.S. and Europe. Their mission? Make high-quality e-bikes more affordable and accessible, especially in cities where traffic is, well… legendary.

                                                  With California’s new e-bike rebate in effect and Angelenos increasingly looking for car-free ways to move around town, Upway’s timing couldn’t be better. Whether you’re commuting, cruising the Strand, or just sick of spending half your life on the 405, a refurbished ride might be the smoothest move you make all year.

                                                  Now — from bikes to drones.

                                                  Image Source: Neros

                                                  Neros, a young LA-based startup focused on American-made autonomous drones, just announced a $35 million Series A to ramp up manufacturing. In a market long dominated by overseas players, Neros is building drone tech domestically — and it’s not just for hobbyists. Their AI-powered drones are designed to be rugged, adaptable, and mission-ready, with applications across defense, public safety, and infrastructure.

                                                  The round was led by Vy Capital, with participation from Interlagos Capital, D3, Sequoia, and Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, the CEO of Zipline. Neros’ co-founder and CEO, Soren Monroe-Anderson, summed it up well: this is about “freedom through autonomy.”

                                                  Now, on to this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements, and acquisitions…

                                                  🤝 Venture Deals

                                                  LA Companies

                                                  • BuildOps, a Los Angeles-based provider of a unified cloud-based platform for commercial contractors, has raised a $127M Series C funding round led by Meritech Capital Partners, with participation from B Capital, Fika Ventures and others. This investment elevates BuildOps to unicorn status with a valuation of $1 billion. The company plans to use the funds to enhance product capabilities, improve customer support, and scale operations to meet the growing demand from commercial contractors nationwide. - learn more
                                                  • Proteus Space, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in rapid custom satellite bus solutions, has raised an oversubscribed $6.1M Seed-2 funding round, led by Lavrock Ventures with participation from Crosscut Ventures and others. The funds will be used to accelerate the development and deployment of MERCURY™, Proteus’ automated computational engineering system, which aims to revolutionize custom satellite bus design by significantly reducing development time and costs. - learn more
                                                  • Occuspace, a Westlake Village, California-based company specializing in occupancy intelligence technology, has secured a $6M Series A funding round led by Lewis & Clark Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate its growth across higher education, corporate, and government facilities, aiming to make space utilization data the source of truth for understanding and managing the built environment. - learn more
                                                  • Qolab, a company specializing in quantum computing hardware, has secured Series A funding from Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials. The investment will be used to advance the development and scalable manufacturing of superconducting qubits, a critical component for large-scale quantum computing. As part of the collaboration, Qolab and Applied Materials have also co-authored a technical roadmap outlining strategies to scale quantum computing from hundreds to millions of qubits. - learn more
                                                      LA Venture Funds
                                                        • Wasserman participated in a $56M funding round for Carbon Arc, a New York City-based AI data utility company. Carbon Arc specializes in transforming raw data from various industries into structured, standardized intelligence suitable for AI models and business applications. The funds will be used to accelerate the growth of Carbon Arc's Insights Exchange platform, enhancing its data utility services for businesses and the AI community. - learn more
                                                        • Trousdale Ventures participated in a $24M funding round for Coreshell, a San Leandro, California-based battery technology company. Coreshell specializes in developing low-cost, high-performance silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries, aiming to enhance energy density and reduce costs. The funds will be used to scale production at their 4 MWh manufacturing facility and to plan a new 100 MWh facility, with the goal of delivering next-generation electric vehicle batteries to global automakers this year. - learn more
                                                        • Talino Venture Studios has participated in a $2.8M seed funding round for Higala, a Philippine-based instant payment system startup. Higala aims to enhance financial inclusion by connecting rural banks, thrift banks, commercial banks, and electronic money issuers through an open payments infrastructure, thereby lowering the cost of real-time payments and reducing entry barriers. The funds will be used to expand Higala's services, including the launch of platform banking in the second quarter, enabling smaller financial institutions to offer digital payment services. - learn more
                                                        • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $150M Series B funding round for Latigo Biotherapeutics, a Thousand Oaks, California-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing non-opioid pain treatments. The funds will support the advancement of Latigo's selective Nav1.8 inhibitors, currently in clinical development, and the expansion of its broader therapeutic pipeline. - learn more
                                                        • Thiel Capital led a $3.25M funding round for Pilgrim, a biotech startup focused on enhancing human performance and defending against biological threats. The funds will be used to advance its Voyager platform, which is developing cutting-edge biotechnology with potential applications ranging from creating ‘supersoldiers’ to mitigating emerging biothreats. - learn more
                                                        • Alt-Capital and WndrCo participated in an $18M seed funding round for Town, a startup specializing in small business tax solutions. Town offers an AI-powered platform that automates tasks such as document processing and data collection, providing each client with a dedicated tax advisor. The funds will be used to scale Town's services across the U.S. and expand their team. - learn more

                                                          LA Exits

                                                            • Dieta Health, a Los Angeles-based company known for its AI-powered stool imaging technology, has been acquired by Cylinder. Dieta’s clinically validated app, shown to outperform traditional patient-reported outcomes, will be integrated into Cylinder’s platform to improve digestive health diagnostics and enable earlier, more personalized treatment. As part of the deal, Dieta’s founder and key team members will join Cylinder to support ongoing development and clinical research. - learn more

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