Column: Five Reasons Why Space Matters (Hint: It's Not Tourism)

Krisztina 'Z' Holly
Krisztina "Z" Holly is a venture partner with Good Growth Capital and an advisor to leaders harnessing untapped innovation and novel business models for scale. Z is an MIT-trained engineer and serial tech entrepreneur who has been scouting, advising and investing in early-stage deep tech innovators for more than two decades.
Column: Five Reasons Why Space Matters (Hint: It's Not Tourism)

Last night, Rocket Lab made a big comeback from its failed launch last May. The Long Beach startup's Electron rocket launched a satellite for the U.S. Space Force, bringing their total to 105.


This capped a busy month for space, with Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos making their space dreams come true in the weeks prior. But with all the attention on the billionaire's exploits, are we missing the bigger picture?

The lack of coverage for Rocket Lab's rebound is just as telling as the fanfare around Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin's flights. Space tourism is distracting us from why we should actually care about space.

The Biggest Space News of the Year

While the public has debated the merits of this month's sub-orbital joyrides, the media missed the biggest aerospace event of the year a month ago, when Hawthorne-based SpaceX launched their Transporter‐2 mission on June 30.

What was so revolutionary about last month's launch? Nothing. And that's partly the point. Launches are becoming routine thanks to reusable launch vehicles.

But the Transporter‐2 mission was significant, because the rideshare mission launched 88 different satellites for customers into orbit, enabling innovation for scores of organizations.

The launch was the first for Santa Barbara startup Umbra, which has developed technology capable of seeing at night and through dense clouds; it has since been added to a joint $950M Air Force contract. The payload also included a competing satellite from Iceye, manufactured in Irvine, and two cubesats from San Diego-based General Atomics to test optical communications between satellites and from satellites to drones.

As a preeminent hub for aerospace, Southern California stands to gain greatly as launches become more frequent and the industry re-emerges from its post-'80s slumber. But other hubs are rapidly catching up.

As a venture capitalist and advisor to space—and other—startups, I've seen the sector evolve into something barely recognizable from the time I started my career as an engineer on the Space Shuttle Main Engine decades ago. Here are five reasons we should care.

1. Space Improves Our Quality of Life

If you looked at your phone this morning to get the weather forecast or check the route to your first meeting, you can thank satellites for the help.

"The blue dot on your phone is possible due to billions of dollars of space infrastructure," says Van Espahbodi, managing partner and co‐founder of Starburst, a company that catalyzes connections in the aerospace industry. "Sure it results in food delivery, dating apps and so many innovations in daily life, but none of this would be possible without the boundaries of exploration into space."

A SpaceX Starlink satellite

Space isn't just delivering convenience, it's democratizing access to data and technology, too.

"There are four billion people unconnected in this world," says Akash Systems CEO and founder Felix Ejeckam, who aims to expand global access to broadband. "Unless you're still going to run expensive fiber optic cables all over the Earth, you have no choice but to drop internet beams from space."

Programs like OneWeb and SpaceX's Starlink are bringing broadband connectivity to every corner of the globe, and Akash has developed advanced materials that will help reduce the cost and increase speeds of such Internet satellites, aiming to make these services more accessible and ubiquitous.

On the flip side—those times we claim we're "off the grid" from work for a week? Those days might be numbered.

2. Space Lets Us Understand Our World and Adapt to Climate Change

With all this talk of Mars missions as our "Plan B," you might ask, "Why not invest in the planet we have?" The aerospace industry is doing that, too.

Satellites are critical for sensing our world—tracking changes in infrastructure, weather and the environment over time. Satellites can measure the height of entire oceans within an accuracy of about an inch, and NASA's first TROPICS cubesat, launched on Transporter-2, will use microwaves to predict hurricanes.

"Our space endeavors have been instrumental to understanding the extent of climate change on Earth using satellite data from NASA and NOAA," says Jessica Rousset, Deputy director of the Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative.

Government efforts are complemented by an ever‐expanding collection of private constellations with new capabilities. With these expanding capabilities we can sense new things—and sense them more often. Inexpensive infrared and hyperspectral imaging of crops can help farmers make better decisions and make agriculture more productive and resource‐ efficient. Soon, we'll even be able to see underground, thanks to companies like Lunasonde.

Granted, the carbon emissions from rocket launches can have their own negative impact on the environment. Fortunately, some launch services—including Blue Origin—are shifting to less‐ polluting fuels like hydrogen.

3. Space Enables Things We Could Never Do Before

The unique environment of space unlocks new opportunities in science and industry that would be worthy of science fiction movies.

Companies like Varda plan to set up self‐assembling, automated factories on orbit to manufacture things. Production of semiconductors, protein crystals, polymers, new drugs or optical fibers might benefit from the zero‐gravity, near‐vacuum conditions of space.

Some have proposed setting up 24/7 solar farms in space and beaming the energy down to Earth using lasers or microwaves.

And 21st‐century prospectors have set their sights skyward, with dreams of mining asteroids for precious materials. Last year, Japan hosted the first successful asteroid sample recovery mission, landing their loot in the Australian outback.

Not everyone believes space production will be practical anytime soon, but research in space has already led to discoveries in material science, plasma physics and biology.

The publicly‐funded International Space Station has been a productive early laboratory. Now, space infrastructure developer Axiom Space is working towards a 2024 launch of their initial components for the next generation commercial space station, partially funded by a $140M NASA grant.

4. Space Has Created a Burgeoning New Industry

Space has another very practical benefit; it has created an entirely new sector of the economy. Early governmental funding and discoveries has set the stage for an entirely new ecosystem of startups, suppliers and service companies sustained by private dollars. Morgan Stanley estimates that the global space industry—$350B as of 2016—will expand to over $1 trillion by 2040.

These companies are driving innovation, fueling economic growth, and creating new jobs in an industry where the United States still maintains a manufacturing edge.

Satellites in space means the need for infrastructure, being built now. Orbit Fab, the "Gas Stations in Space" company, launched the world's first satellite fuel tanker on Transporter‐2. They are building a materials supply chain to support a space economy that CEO Daniel Faber predicts will ultimately lead to permanent jobs in orbit. (Full disclosure: I'm an investor.)

"Fuel is now available for purchase and delivery in space," says Faber, "And we don't have to keep throwing away perfectly good satellites when they run out of fuel."

In the past NASA has justified their funding by pointing at thousands of technologies spun out of the space program—memory foam, cochlear implants, freeze dried food, CMOS image sensors and powdered lubricants — to name a few.

"But today, it's almost like the reverse is happening," says Jonathan Fentzke, the newest managing director of the Techstars Space accelerator. Space is driving demand for technology. "Unique challenges on orbit, like petabytes of image data streamed daily or the lack of heat dissipation in a vacuum, means the industry is always looking for new technologies and suppliers to solve their challenges." The June 30 launch of three SAR satellites alone will add 30-40 terabytes of data per day to the cloud.

Which is why his 2021 cohort includes startups like Pixspan, an image compression company with roots in Hollywood, and Thermexit, whose carbon nanomaterials were originally designed for supercomputers. These companies are finding a new thirst for their technologies thanks to the space industry.

5. Space Inspires Discovery

And finally, space still holds a special place by being the final frontier. While there aren't many places left on Earth that haven't appeared in a selfie, endless discoveries await us beyond our atmosphere.

The James Webb Space Telescope

Southern California has a long history of space adventures, including Chuck Yeager's historic sound barrier-busting flight in 1947. From NASA-JPL's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers to SpaceX's dreams of colonizing Mars, we continue to be the epicenter of big-idea space exploration

And our discoveries aren't just for adventure, either. By exploring beyond our planet, we can prepare for interplanetary human settlement, learn about the origins of life or better understand the beginning of the universe.

In El Segundo, Northrop Grumman is assembling the much awaited James Webb Space Telescope, soon headed a million miles away to "L2," a cold, stable perch past the moon. From there it will peer deep into space, providing views of faraway exoplanets and glimpses of light from 13.6 billion years ago, when the earliest stars and galaxies were just forming in the universe.

Our Future in Space is Inevitable

Things have changed for the better in aerospace over the last decade.

Back when I was a young engineer working at Rocketdyne, my work was funded by NASA. I remember how we depended on the largess of government dollars and lived by the whims of public sentiment. Risk and new ideas weren't readily accepted, and failure wasn't an option.

Today, aerospace is more iterative, entrepreneurial, and largely driven by commercial interests. "There's so much money and interest out there, and there is more of a culture of innovation," says Carrie Hernandez, formerly of SpaceX and now CEO and Co‐Founder of Rebel Space Technologies in Long Beach.

And private space investments have never been higher. "In 2021, private capital will invest more money in the space industry than NASA will spend on everything," NASA-JPL physicist and local angel investor Shanti Rao quipped recently on Twitter.

And with a few exceptions, we're exploring at relatively bargain‐basement prices. Reusable rockets, space servicing, robotics and other technologies make space more affordable than ever.

"In the 60s, we went at great expense—often around 4% of GDP. But today, we're doing twenty times more at one‐tenth the price," says a colleague who asked to remain anonymous because he doesn't have permission to speak on behalf of his government employer. "And this time we're not just stopping by to say hello, we're setting up a permanent base."

Private industry is taking the lead, but Southern California needs to keep its eye on the ball. These days space companies can be almost anywhere, and Colorado, Texas and Northern California have become major hubs of space innovation, too.

NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle programs were as much a PR effort as they were science expeditions. And those educational efforts have paid dividends by inspiring more public funding for research and development and a whole generation of kids to pursue science and math.

Will Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic succeed at filling this inspirational role? I hope so. But it's time for us to celebrate and support all the entrepreneurs exploring the boundaries of space.

Because it turns out, you don't need to be a billionaire to pursue your space dreams. And with or without public support, the space industry is now inevitable.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisztinaholly/
$160M Tugboats and Undersea Drones: LA Startups Are Raising the Stakes

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday LA,

This week’s headlines take us from the ocean floor to the docks of Long Beach, with LA companies leading the charge.

Image Source: Anduril

Let’s start with Anduril Industries, which rolled out three major announcements that underline just how quickly it is expanding its footprint across defense tech. The biggest milestone came from Ghost Shark, an extra large undersea drone developed in partnership with the Australian Navy. After just three years, it has moved from prototype to an official program of record, an unusually fast turnaround in an industry where procurement often takes decades. It marks a significant step for autonomous systems under the sea, an area where defense agencies have long struggled to innovate.

Image Source: Anduril

The company also revealed Menace I, a ruggedized system designed to bring petabyte scale processing power directly to the battlefield. Think of it as cloud computing without the cloud, giving troops the ability to process massive amounts of sensor data and video on site rather than relying on faraway servers. And finally, Anduril landed a contract to create mixed reality training tools, using immersive simulations to prepare service members for missions more effectively. Training has always been one of the costliest and most logistically challenging aspects of defense, and bringing advanced MR into the mix could transform how quickly and safely soldiers can get mission ready. Together, these updates show an LA company moving fast across land, sea and even into the training ground.

Image Source: Arc

Meanwhile, Arc is proving that electrification is not just for cars and yachts, it is now heading into some of the hardest working vessels on the water. The Venice based startup announced a $160 million deal with Long Beach’s Curtin Maritime to deliver eight hybrid electric tugboats. Tugboats are the muscle of the harbor, guiding massive cargo ships in and out of ports, and they usually burn through enormous amounts of diesel. Arc’s push into this space signals more than just a big contract. It is a pivot from building high performance electric speedboats for early adopters to tackling one of the most carbon heavy corners of maritime work.

The scale of this deal shows how far Arc has come since launching just a few years ago. Building hybrid electric tugboats is not a side project, it is a sign that the company wants to play a role in reshaping the future of port operations. And if LA’s own clean tech boat builder can make a dent in one of the dirtiest industries on the water, the ripple effects could stretch far beyond the coastline.

🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

      • Apex Space closed a $200M Series D round led by Interlagos, with participation from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures and 8VC, pushing its valuation past $1 billion. The Los Angeles based company builds satellite buses, the standardized spacecraft platforms that carry and power payloads ranging from Earth imaging sensors to missile early warning systems. With the new funding, Apex plans to increase production capacity by 50 percent and more than double its manufacturing facility as demand for space defense systems continues to grow. - learn more
      • Sapphire Technologies has raised an $18M Series C round, including investment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries along with existing backers such as Equinor Ventures, Cooper and Company and Energy Capital Ventures. The funds will be used to scale up production at Sapphire’s manufacturing facility in Cypress, California, expand global deployments of its FreeSpin In-line Turboexpanders in regions like Japan and enter new markets. Sapphire’s technology converts otherwise wasted pressure energy, often from natural gas, into clean and emissions free electricity, playing a growing role in the global energy transition. - learn more
      • LocalExpress has raised $6.2M in a venture round led by OXZ Capital to expand its AI data capabilities into the grocery industry. The Glendale based platform, already serving independent grocery and food retailers across the US, Canada and Latin America, is transitioning from supporting internal operations to becoming a premier data syndication hub in the sector. This round will fuel further development of its unified commerce solutions and help scale its AI-powered systems for harmonizing transaction and inventory data. - learn more
      • ProRata.AI closed a $40M Series B financing round led by Touring Capital with participation from Bold Capital Partners and others, to launch Gist Answers, a new AI-as-a-service tool for publishers. Gist Answers lets publishers embed custom AI search, summarization, and recommendation features directly on their sites while maintaining control over their content. The move is designed to help publishers increase engagement, protect their content, and unlock new revenue streams in the AI era. - learn more

      LA Venture Funds

      • Upfront Ventures joined a group of investors in backing Sophont’s $9.22M seed round, led by Kindred Ventures. Sophont is building multimodal medical foundation models that combine data from pathology slides, brain scans, clinical notes, and lab results to enable functionalities like symptom triage, biomarker discovery, and clinical trial cohort selection. The funding will go toward increasing compute capacity, expanding data partnerships, and recruiting researchers to accelerate the development and release of model backbones and open science infrastructure. - learn more
      • Presight Capital participated in the $24M Series A round raised by TERN Group, which was led by Notion Capital. The funding will help TERN scale its AI powered infrastructure for global healthcare worker recruitment, credentialing and mobility, especially helping caregivers and nurses in places like India gain access to international job opportunities. TERN plans to use the investment to expand into new geographies, deepen training programs, and further build tools that make migration, compliance and placement faster, fairer and more transparent. - learn more
      • Emmeline Ventures joined a strong syndicate in Lōvu Health’s $8M Series A round, led by SJF Ventures. The funding will support Lōvu in scaling its AI-powered maternal health platform, enhancing remote monitoring, curated specialist services, and ongoing care from pre-conception through the first two years postpartum. With this investment, Lōvu aims to close gaps in maternal healthcare access and outcomes, especially for underserved populations. - learn more
      • Integrity Growth Partners led a $28M Series A round in Pest Share, joined by existing investors including MetaProp, Capital Eleven and RE Angels. Pest Share is an on-demand pest control platform tailored for residential property managers, operating in all 48 states and serving 300,000 residential units. The capital will fuel expansion in single-family and multifamily rental markets, enhance product innovation, and deepen integrations with property management systems. - learn more
      • Mantis VC joined Forerunner Ventures, Neo, Abstract and several angel investors in backing Hero Assistant’s $3.5M seed round at a $30M valuation. Hero Assistant is building a “Daily Assistant” super-app that consolidates things like calendars, weather, tasks, habits, goals, grocery ordering, notes and news, already replacing up to eight separate apps for its more than 300,000 users. The funds will help the company enhance features, scale growth, and deepen its reach in productivity. - learn more
      • Wedbush Healthcare Partners took part in Odyssey Therapeutics’ oversubscribed $213M Series D financing round alongside both new and existing investors. The funding will be used to push forward Odyssey’s pipeline of clinical and preclinical therapies focused on treating complex autoimmune diseases. With this capital raise, Odyssey aims to make progress toward key clinical milestones and bring precision immunomodulation treatments closer to patients in need. - learn more
      • BroadLight Capital participated in Higgsfield’s $50M Series A round, which was led by GFT Ventures and also backed by firms like Menlo Ventures and NextEquity Partners. Higgsfield is pushing its “click-to-video” AI platform, which lets users turn curated presets into cinematic clips with a single click rather than wrestling with complex prompts. In only five months since launch, the company has already drawn over 11 million users and more than 1.2 billion social media impressions, signaling strong momentum in the creator video space. - learn more
      • Impatient VC participated in Sphinx’s $9.5M Seed round, which was led by Lightspeed and also included investors like Bessemer Venture Partners, Box Group, and K5. Sphinx is launching an AI copilot built especially for data scientists, one that thinks in statistics and patterns to turn raw data into actionable insights without skipping rigor. The funds will go toward refining tools that integrate into workflows like Jupyter notebooks and VSCode so data teams can explore, model, and make decisions faster. - learn more
      • WME Group led a $20M Series B round in Palm Tree Crew, valuing the company at $215 million. The funding will power expansion across its hospitality venues, live events, and lifestyle ventures while leaning into WME’s entertainment, licensing, and brand network. Palm Tree Crew plans to scale its properties, deepen its festival footprint globally, and continue growing its portfolio of consumer brands as part of the next chapter. - learn more
      • Blue Bear Capital participated in Nuclearn’s $10.5M Series A round that helps the company deepen its AI-capabilities for nuclear operations. Nuclearn, founded by engineers who've worked inside power plants, builds specialized tools like CAP AI to automate safety-critical, documentation-heavy tasks and ensure regulatory compliance. The funding will support product expansion, talent hiring, and scaling its platform to more reactors worldwide. - learn more
      • Amplify was one of the investors joining Endurance28 and others in Cascade Bio’s $6M raise, which includes $2.8M in equity and $3.2M in nondilutive funding. Cascade Bio is advancing its enzyme-immobilization technology to help industrial partners transition from petrochemical processes to greener, biomanufacturing workflows. The funding will enable Cascade to scale its high-stability biocatalysts for use across chemicals, food ingredients, fragrances, and pharmaceuticals. - learn more

      LA Exits

      • Northstar has been acquired by Nayya, combining Northstar’s financial wellness tools with Nayya’s health, compensation and actuarial data platform. The unified offering introduces a “SuperAgent,” an AI adviser that not only helps employees understand benefits but, with their permission, can take actions like auto enrolling in wellness programs or appealing denied claims. The goal is to make health and wealth benefits simpler, more transparent and more useful year round rather than just during open enrollment. - learn more
      • Integrated Rental Systems has been acquired by VitalEdge Technologies, a major provider of dealer management software for heavy equipment. Integrated Rental’s platform is considered one of the most advanced in its field, and this deal allows VitalEdge to offer more fully integrated solutions covering rental, parts, and service revenue streams for equipment dealers. Alise Moncure, CEO of Integrated Rental, will join VitalEdge’s leadership team as President of Expansion Markets, leading rental and other high-growth segments. - learn more
      • VideoVerse has been acquired by Minute Media, bringing its AI-powered sports video platform Magnifi into the company’s portfolio. Magnifi helps leagues, teams and publishers automatically detect key moments, create instant highlights and distribute short-form video content more efficiently. With the acquisition, Minute Media is expanding beyond publishing to offer a more complete solution for video creation, distribution and monetization. - learn more
      • Bespoke Treatment has been acquired by Stella Mental Health, expanding the company’s services in Los Angeles. Known for its integrative approach, Bespoke offers treatments such as stellate ganglion block for trauma, IV ketamine, Spravato® and intensive outpatient programming. Through the acquisition, Stella is broadening its footprint and strengthening its ability to deliver personalized behavioral health care. - learn more

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      Snap’s AI, Paramount’s RTO, and NeueHouse’s Exit: LA’s Wild Week

      🔦 Spotlight

      Good Morning LA,

      If you blinked this week, you might’ve missed Snap unveiling new AI-powered Lenses, NeueHouse announcing its closure, and Paramount rolling out a five-day return to office mandate. Let’s get into it.

      First up: Snap. The company introduced its new “Imagine” Lenses powered by generative AI. Instead of the playful filters we all know, these tools feel closer to an on-demand art studio, letting people turn imagination into visuals instantly. It shows Snap leaning into what it does best: pushing the boundaries of how we express ourselves through the camera.

      Meanwhile, NeueHouse announced it will be closing. Known for blending hospitality, community and high-design workspaces, it attracted a mix of entertainment, design and tech professionals who wanted something beyond the typical co-working setup. Its exit comes as Paramount is moving in the opposite direction, requiring employees to return to the office full time starting in January. Together, these moves highlight the different paths workplaces are taking in a post-hybrid world, from phasing out to doubling down.

      On the global stage, the world’s eyes are on Berlin, where IFA 2025 is underway. The trade show is buzzing with foldable devices, wearables and AI-powered appliances that are blurring the line between tool and companion. The innovations debuting there are setting the tone for what consumers and startups everywhere will soon be building with, competing against and dreaming beyond. For those following along, The Verge is running live coverage with updates on the biggest reveals.

      And finally, OpenAI announced a new jobs platform, aimed at connecting workers with opportunities in an AI-driven economy. It is positioned as a way to broaden access and help talent navigate shifting industries. For engineers, creatives and founders alike, it is another signal that collaborating with AI is not a future skill, it is a present-day requirement.

      🤝 Venture Deals

          LA Venture Funds

          • FirstLook Partners participated in Hello Patient’s $22.5M Series A round, which backs the Austin based conversational AI platform transforming patient intake and communications. Hello Patient’s technology, handling voice, text, and chat conversations, helps healthcare providers streamline appointments, reduce missed calls, and improve patient access. The fresh funding will accelerate enhancements to its AI driven platform and support expansion to healthcare organizations nationwide. - learn more
          • Hyperlink Ventures joined Mojo Vision’s $75M Series B Prime funding round to support the expansion of its high performance micro LED platform. Mojo Vision plans to leverage the investment to accelerate commercialization of its wafers in, wafers out micro LED technology, which merges advanced silicon architecture, GaN on silicon emitters, quantum dots, and micro lens arrays to power next generation AI devices and infrastructure. - learn more
          • Fika Ventures joined Dispatch’s $18M Series A round, helping to bring its total funding to $30M. Dispatch provides AI powered, automated data orchestration for wealth management firms, eliminating repetitive tasks, streamlining client onboarding, and ensuring real time, connected client data. The new capital will fuel the expansion of its agentic workflows and further development of its AI ready infrastructure for advisors. - learn more
          • TenOneTen Ventures participated in Elysian’s $6M seed round to support the company’s AI native third party administration platform for commercial insurance claims. Elysian’s technology automates the complex, document heavy middle of claim handling by surfacing coverage insights and drafting communications so adjusters can focus on making strategic decisions. The funding will help accelerate go to market efforts, enhance customer onboarding, and scale both delivery operations and the underlying AI platform. - learn more
          • M13 participated in Allocate’s $30.5M Series B round, backing the company’s platform that helps wealth advisors and family offices access and manage private market investments. The new funding will support expansion of its AI-powered infrastructure and workflow automation, as well as broaden its reach beyond venture capital into private equity and credit. - learn more
          • Walkabout Ventures took the lead in Advisor.com’s $9M seed round. Advisor.com operates an AI-powered platform that pairs investors, especially those with under $500,000 in investable assets, with vetted fiduciary financial advisors. The funds will be used to accelerate customer acquisition, enhance its advisor matching technology, and expand its network of top-tier advisors. - learn more
          • Ares Management participated in ID.me’s latest funding, where the company raised a total of $340M in a Series E round combined with a credit facility, pushing its valuation above $2 billion. ID.me, a digital identity wallet trusted by more than 152 million users, will use the capital to scale access to secure, reusable digital identities and bolster its defenses against increasingly AI-driven fraud. - learn more
          • Core Innovation Capital participated in Flex’s $15M Series A funding round. Flex is a payments infrastructure platform that enables health and wellness retailers to accept Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds at checkout. With this investment, Flex plans to scale its enterprise reach, enhance its core technology, and grow its team to help merchants tap into more than $150 billion in underutilized pre‑tax health spending. - learn more
          • F4 Fund joined Camera Intelligence’s $2M seed funding round. The company is developing an AI-powered camera system that embeds a large language model (LLM) directly into a Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera, simplifying content creation through voice-activated controls and in-camera editing. The new capital will accelerate the build-out of this integrated AI-native camera and content editing solution, with an LLM feature set to launch on iOS in fall 2025. - learn more

          LA Exits

          • Air Lease Corporation has entered into a merger agreement to be acquired by a consortium including Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo-managed funds, and Brookfield in an all cash deal expected to close in the first half of 2026. Shareholders will receive $65 per share, valuing the company at about $7.4 billion or $28.2 billion including debt, and the company will be rebranded as Sumisho Air Lease with SMBC set to manage its fleet and order book. - learn more

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          LA Startup Powering Immigrant Workforce Secures $7.5M

          🔦 Spotlight

          Happy Friday, Los Angeles,

          It’s Labor Day weekend, which means most of us are thinking about a little time off. But one LA startup is laser focused on work, specifically on the millions of immigrant workers who keep the U.S. economy running.

          This week, Welcome Tech raised $7.5 million to expand its AI powered platform that connects immigrant communities with U.S. employers. If you’re not familiar, Welcome Tech has quietly become one of the most important bridges between immigrant workers and the American labor market. The company offers a suite of services, from job matching and financial tools to healthcare and education, built specifically for immigrant families navigating systems that weren’t designed with them in mind.

          The scale is staggering. Welcome Tech already supports more than 4.5 million registered members, and its enterprise partnerships have tripled in the last year. Revenue is up more than 200 percent year over year. With this new funding, the company plans to double down on AI, personalizing onboarding, automating job matching, and expanding multilingual support so workers can find opportunities faster and employers can access a motivated workforce with fewer barriers.

          Welcome Tech’s growth also underscores something very LA: this city runs on immigrant talent, and the systems that support them often lag behind. By building infrastructure tailored to this workforce, Welcome Tech isn’t just scaling a business, it’s tackling a gap that traditional employers and institutions have ignored for decades.

          As Labor Day weekend rolls in, it’s a reminder that the real labor story isn’t just about time off, it’s about how companies like Welcome Tech are reshaping access to opportunity in one of the country’s most essential workforces.

          And with that, let’s get into this week’s venture deals across LA.

          🤝 Venture Deals

          LA Companies

          • Payment Labs, a Los Angeles based fintech specializing in seamless payment workflows for industries like sports, esports, and the creator economy, has closed an oversubscribed $3.25M seed funding round led by Aperture Venture Capital. The company’s API powered SaaS platform, already trusted by Microsoft, SEGA, X Games, and more, simplifies complex global pay ins and payouts across 150+ currencies and 180+ countries while integrating tax compliance, royalty distributions, and reporting. This new capital will accelerate expansion of tailored payment solutions and bolster operations to support high growth verticals. - learn more

            LA Venture Funds

            • Clocktower Technology Ventures, participated in Momento Seguros’ $10.25M Series A round. The Mexico City based digital auto insurer is leveraging the capital to expand its full-stack platform, offering flexible, mobile-first coverage tailored to underserved drivers. By modernizing payments, underwriting, and claims processing, Momento aims to disrupt a traditionally rigid insurance market with transparent, user-centric solutions. - learn more
            • Dangerous Ventures participated in Copper’s $28M funding round aimed at scaling the world’s first battery equipped induction range. The Berkeley based company builds plug and play induction stoves with built in batteries that run on standard 120 volt outlets, simplifying electrification of cooking while offering backup power during outages. Copper plans to use the new funds to expand production, develop new appliances, and leverage its grid friendly design, already under contract to deliver 10,000 units to public housing, to drive broader adoption of clean, efficient cooking solutions. - learn more
            • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in Leal Therapeutics’ $30M Series A round, joining a syndicate that includes SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund, OrbiMed, Newpath Partners, Chugai Venture Fund, Euclidean Capital, and PhiFund. Leal is advancing its neuro metabolic pipeline with lead programs LTX 001 moving into clinical trials for schizophrenia and LTX 002 progressing toward initial clinical data in ALS. This funding will also support the advancement of additional pipeline candidates and technologies aimed at delivering transformative treatments for CNS disorders. - learn more
            • Impatient Ventures and Riot Ventures participated in Blue Water Autonomy’s $50M Series A funding round to accelerate development of autonomous, long range ships designed for the U.S. Navy. The capital will be used to build and deploy the firm's first full sized autonomous ship by next year and support rapid scaling, as the team has already quadrupled since its seed round while completing engineering tests and securing materials from over 50 suppliers. This funding brings the company’s total raised to $64 million and underscores growing momentum around U.S. maritime innovation. - learn more
            • TenOneTen Ventures joined a $3.5M seed round in Loman AI, supporting the Austin based startup’s efforts to transform restaurant operations using voice AI. Loman’s AI phone agent handles call volume by taking orders, booking reservations, answering FAQs, and integrating smoothly with POS systems, helping restaurants boost revenue by up to 22% while cutting labor costs by as much as 17%. This new funding will accelerate product development and team expansion as demand for Loman’s platform grows nationwide. - learn more
            • CIV participated in AiGent’s $6M seed round, backing the AI driven startup’s mission to transform idle backup generators into a powerful decentralized grid resource. AiGent’s platform aggregates and orchestrates distributed generation assets including those at commercial, industrial, and mission critical facilities like AI data centers, turning them into rapidly dispatchable “distributed power plants.” This innovative approach not only enhances grid reliability and reduces costs but also opens up new revenue streams for asset owners without the time, cost, or disruption of building additional infrastructure. - learn more
            • Blue Bear Capital led a $12.4M SAFE funding round in Splight, supporting the San Francisco-based grid technology company’s mission to dramatically expand transmission capacity using machine-learning. The new capital will fuel deployment of Splight’s flagship Dynamic Congestion Management™ across U.S. and European grids—helping alleviate long interconnection delays and renewables curtailment by intelligently leveraging existing infrastructure. This round also secures Splight’s ability to scale both its commercial and technical teams amid surging demand from AI data centers and utilities. - learn more
            • Amboy Street Ventures participated in Nest Health’s $12.5M Series A round to support the expansion of its whole family, in home care model for Medicaid populations. Nest Health leverages AI powered clinical services, from medical to behavioral and social support, to deliver care at home while cutting churn and improving outcomes, including reduced ER visits and higher vaccination rates. The company will use the funding to scale its AI enabled care offerings into new regions and enhance partnerships with payors. - learn more
            • VamosVentures participated in Kira’s $6.7M seed funding round, supporting the AI driven fintech infrastructure platform as it emerges from stealth. The capital will enable Kira to expand across Latin America, especially South America, scale its technical team, and accelerate development of new embedded financial products powered by stablecoins, AI agents, and enterprise grade APIs. Kira aims to streamline financial services in markets with large underbanked populations and has already generated $3 million in revenue in its first year. - learn more

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