Stem Helps Musicians Get Paid. It Just Scored a Big Payday Itself.

Sam Blake

Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake

Stem Helps Musicians Get Paid. It Just Scored a Big Payday Itself.
  • Stem, an L.A. music-fintech company that counts Zac Brown Band, Foster the People and Toro Y Moi as clients, announced a $10 million raise.
  • The pandemic has hurt the music industry but has made Stem's tools and artist loan program 'more relevant than ever.'
  • Stem has distributed over $100 million in royalty payments since its launch in 2016.

With so many musicians out of work, the pandemic has been about as useful to the music industry as a broken guitar string. But, Stem Disintermedia's co-founder Milana Rabkin says it has made her company — and the technology to help artists manage their business affairs — more relevant than ever.


"With the opportunity to slow things down and look under the hood, they're trying to understand where their opportunities are for growth and saving," Rabkin, who is also Stem's CEO, told dot.LA. "Artists have really started to pay more attention to the details of their business."

The demand for its services helped L.A.-based Stem – whose clients include notable acts like Zac Brown Band, Foster the People, and Toro Y Moi – seal a $10 million raise, which it announced on Wednesday.

Stem Helps Musicians Get Paid. It Just Scored a Big Payday Itself. assets.rebelmouse.io

Rabkin, a former agent at United Talent Agency who comes from a musical family, formed the company after seeing how frequently artists would give up trying to monetize their work because of the sheer administrative hassle and complexity it involves. Record labels often supply these back-office services, but Rabkin wanted to target what she called an underserved market of indie artists and their teams who aren't on a traditional path.

"Small- to medium-sized businesses are our customers," she said. "We provide the same function that AWS (Amazon Web Services) does to a startup: the plumbing and infrastructure."

Stem simplifies the confounding tangle of rights management for independent artists using technology. As of this month, the company has distributed over $100 million in royalty payments since its launch in 2016.

Stem co-founder and CEO Milana Rabkin Lewis

The most common way Stem helps artists capture more cash is to audit their tracks on platforms like Facebook and YouTube to ensure payouts are appropriately distributed. Sometimes, as with the case of Childish Gambino, Stem can also help to create new revenue streams by clearing rights around older projects and mixtapes.

Stem's new financing round will accelerate product development, including adding technological tools for artists to access its $100 million debt-financing arm, called Scale. The company launched it earlier this year. Access to capital is especially important for artists right now as touring and performance revenue has dried up, Rabkin said.

Scale is a capital partnership with New York-based CoVenture. Artists can take out advances against their catalogs and future earnings. Unlike similar deals with record labels, Rabkin said, borrowers have substantial say in how much of their future income they put toward paying down the advance. Rabkin added that artists who've tapped into the Scale funds have used the money to buy property for building a recording studio, market their work or simply cover daily living expenses.


Stem employs around 40 people and has raised $22 million to date.

The funding round was led by SF-based Slow Ventures, with participation from Aspect Ventures and L.A.-based Upfront Ventures. Stem's advisors and investors include Adam Nash, former CEO of fintech firm Wealthfront and board member of Acorns, another fintech company; Mark Gillespie, manager of DJ Calvin Harris; former NBA all-star Baron Davis; and holding company WndrCo.

Nash said in a statement that "the music industry has been extremely slow to bring the transparency and capabilities of modern software to creators."

"That's one thing we want to solve," said Rabkin. "Not just (for) organizing information, but really giving artists as business owners the tools to take control of their business and be smarter about what they do with it."

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From Rocket Motors to Consumer AI

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday,

This week, one company moved deeper into rocket propulsion while another pushed further into consumer AI. Different industries, different stakes, same underlying shift: technology is moving further into the infrastructure of defense and entertainment.

In defense, Mach Industries acquired Exquadrum, a 24-year-old rocket and propulsion company based in Victorville. The deal was worth $50M in cash and equity and brings Exquadrum’s IP, facilities, business lines and 85 employees into Mach’s operation.

Mach, based in Huntington Beach, has raised nearly $200M and is building autonomous aircraft and weapons systems. Exquadrum gives the company deeper control over solid rocket motors, propulsion testing and one of the more constrained parts of the defense supply chain. The company will now operate as Mach Energetics.

For companies building unmanned systems, hypersonics and missile-defense technology, the hard parts are still very physical: propulsion, testing, manufacturing and production capacity. Mach’s deal shows how much of the defense tech race now depends on owning more of that stack.

In entertainment, Paramount brought in former Google executive Barak Turovsky as EVP and Head of Consumer AI. In his LinkedIn post announcing the move, Turovsky said AI is beginning to reshape how consumers discover, engage with and experience content, especially across platforms like Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

The hire comes as Paramount pushes deeper into AI, product and streaming technology under David Ellison. It also reflects a broader shift in Hollywood: studios are no longer just competing on content libraries. They are competing on discovery, personalization, engagement and the consumer experience around that content.

The common thread is infrastructure. In defense, that means propulsion, testing and supply chain control. In entertainment, it means AI, product leadership and smarter consumer platforms. Both stories show how quickly traditional industries are becoming more technical, more integrated and more dependent on teams that can modernize the systems underneath them.

Now onto this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions.

🤝 Venture Deals

    LA Companies

    • Clouted raised a $7M seed round led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Gold House Ventures, Weekend Fund, LINE-Yahoo’s Z VC, Gondor Capital, Iterative, AppWorks, Peak XV’s Surge and a16z Speedrun. The company is building a “Distribution Intelligence” platform that uses AI agents to help consumer and entertainment brands plan, execute and optimize viral marketing campaigns across UGC, clipping, fan pages, influencer seeding, paid ads and social platforms. Clouted says the new funding will support its AI infrastructure, creator network growth and expansion into gaming and streaming. - learn more
    • El Segundo-based Amca raised a $300M Series B led by Caffeinated Capital, with major participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and continued backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Lux Capital, Construct Capital and House Capital, valuing the aerospace and defense manufacturer at more than $1B. The company builds critical aerospace and defense components by combining engineering, qualification testing, technical data and certified manufacturing into one platform, and plans to use the funding to expand its AI-powered RAPID system, acquire and build more factories nationwide and increase production capacity for major defense and aviation customers. - learn more
    • Kin Health raised a $9M seed round led by Maveron, with participation from Town Hall Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Flex Capital, Foundry Square Capital, Pear VC, The Family Fund and several individual investors, including GoodRx co-founders Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek. The company is building a free AI-powered notetaker for healthcare visits that records appointments and turns them into plain-language summaries, next steps and shareable context for patients and caregivers. - learn more

    LA Venture Funds
    • Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Robbin’s $8M seed round, which was co-led by Canary, Atlântico and Caravela, with additional backing from AB Seed, Norte Ventures and Tomorrow Capital. Brazil-based Robbin is building an AI-native B2B payments and credit platform that lets large industrial companies offer co-branded virtual cards and credit products to retailer networks, using Pix rails instead of traditional card networks. The company also structured a separate $100M FIDC credit facility with Augme, an XP Investimentos asset manager, to finance retailer purchases through the platform. - learn more
    • Upfront Ventures led CVRD Health’s $5M seed round, joined by Waterline Ventures and Distributed Ventures. CVRD helps government contractors manage employee benefits, fringe-dollar compliance and audit readiness under Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon requirements, with the funding going toward platform development, compliance and member advocacy teams, and national expansion across federal contractors. - learn more
    • Sum VC participated in Hellbender’s $12.5M seed round, which was co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with additional backing from Mana Ventures, Gaingels and the Active Angels Network. Pittsburgh-based Hellbender builds physical AI infrastructure and edge computer vision systems for autonomous and industrial applications, with the new funding going toward launching its on-edge AI camera line, expanding product and growth teams, and scaling domestic hardware manufacturing. - learn more
    • Rebel Ventures participated in Leadbay’s $4.2M seed round, alongside Y Combinator, Roosh Ventures, Inovexus Ventures, TS Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bright Ventures, Transpose Platform, Deel Ventures and founders and executives from Deel, Gusto and Pennylane. San Francisco-based Leadbay is building an AI-powered sales intelligence platform that helps sales teams discover and qualify small and mid-sized businesses with little or no digital footprint, especially in data-scarce sectors like construction, hospitality, manufacturing, retail and B2B services. The funding will support its U.S. go-to-market expansion in San Francisco, AI research partnership with Sorbonne University and engineering growth. - learn more
    • Overture Ventures participated in Recheck’s $2M pre-seed round, alongside ReGen Ventures, Jetstream and MCJ. Recheck is a trust and compliance platform for residential solar that verifies sales reps, assigns portable Recheck IDs and has now launched Recheck Certified, a credential that combines ethical sales training, a code of conduct, background checks and ongoing monitoring to help installers and finance companies identify trustworthy sales professionals. Since launching, the company says it has verified more than 50,000 sales reps and 700 installers and dealers. - learn more
    • CIV co-led Calibre’s $3.3M pre-seed round alongside Vicus Ventures, with participation from I2BF Global Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Jigeum and angel investors including Nikesh Arora. London-based Calibre is building AI infrastructure for the testing, inspection and certification industry, helping automate certification workflows that still depend heavily on manual audits and document review across regulated sectors. - learn more

    LA Exits

    • 32 Flavors, the production company founded by Alex Baskin and known for unscripted franchises including Vanderpump Rules, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Real Housewives of Orange County and The Valley, was acquired by Sony Pictures Television, which took a majority stake in the company. Baskin will remain CEO, and the deal expands Sony’s premium nonfiction portfolio while keeping 32 Flavors’ existing leadership team in place. - learn more

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      Heaviside Raises $28M for Autonomous Precision Munitions

      🔦 Spotlight

      Hey Los Angeles,

      For years, Southern California’s defense tech story has largely been told through satellites, rockets, drones and software. This week, another category stepped into the frame: autonomous precision munitions.

      Los Angeles-based Heaviside Industries emerged from stealth with a $28M Series A led by Interlagos, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos, Anorak Ventures and several individual defense and technology investors. The company, founded in 2024, is building autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied special operations and conventional forces.

      The round will help Heaviside accelerate development, production and delivery of its multi-domain munitions platforms, including its first aerial and underwater systems. According to the company, its products are designed to operate in jammed and GPS-denied environments, where legacy systems can degrade or fail.

      That detail matters. Modern warfare has been reshaped by unmanned systems, contested communications and the growing need for weapons that are not only precise, but affordable enough to be produced and deployed at scale. In other words, the defense tech race is not just about building more advanced systems. It is about building systems that can actually survive the battlefield they are designed for.

      Heaviside has been operating in stealth for more than two years and says it has built a team of more than 50 engineers and operators across Los Angeles and Oslo, Norway. The company also says it already has a roster of U.S. and allied customers, with the new funding going toward expanding production and accelerating deliveries domestically and abroad.

      For LA’s hard tech ecosystem, Heaviside adds to a growing defense-tech cluster that is less about splashy software and more about applied engineering. The company’s work sits at the intersection of autonomy, manufacturing and national security, where Southern California’s aerospace and robotics talent has become increasingly relevant.

      Now onto this week’s LA venture deals and fund announcements.


      🤝 Venture Deals

        LA Companies

        • Furientis emerged from stealth with a $5M pre-seed led by Silent Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, SV Angel and other investors. Founded in 2025, the defense technology startup is developing cost-effective, ship-based interceptor systems designed for scalable production, with the funding going toward initial production, expanded testing and hiring across engineering, manufacturing and operations. - learn more
        • Rogue raised a $2.5M pre-seed led by Science Inc., with participation from Uncommon VC, Simple Food Ventures and strategic investors, to accelerate its national retail and digital commerce strategy. Built by the team behind Dollar Shave Club and Liquid Death, Rogue makes high-protein chips and puffs with active probiotics, no seed oils and no artificial ingredients, and will launch in 2,800 Walmart stores nationwide in July. - learn more
        • Develo raised $14M led by Blueprint Equity, with participation from Villain Capital, Z21 Ventures and Bienville Capital, to grow its AI-native operating system for pediatric practices. The platform unifies clinical, billing and family engagement workflows beyond the traditional EMR, with the new capital going toward R&D and customer success as Develo expands across pediatric providers nationwide. - learn more
        LA Venture Funds
        • Kinship Ventures participated in Nectar Social’s $30M Series A, which was led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, with participation from True Ventures and GV. Nectar Social is building an agentic social operating system for modern marketing, helping brands manage social intelligence, community engagement, creator workflows and conversational commerce across platforms like Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit and X. The new funding will support engineering and applied AI hiring, deepen platform partnerships and expand Nectar Agent into more brand workflows. - learn more
        • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in CREATE Medicines’ $122M Series B, which was co-led by existing investors Newpath Partners, ARCH Venture Partners and Hatteras Venture Partners. The Cambridge-based biotech is developing in vivo CAR therapies for autoimmune disease and oncology using an mRNA-LNP platform that engineers immune cells directly inside the body, with the funding going toward advancing its CD19-targeted autoimmune program into the clinic, expanding its dual CAR CD19 x BCMA program and continuing work across its oncology pipeline. - learn more
        • Overture Ventures participated in GridCARE’s $64M Series A, which was led by Sutter Hill Ventures with backing from John Doerr, National Grid Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, Stanford University and other existing investors. Redwood City-based GridCARE is building a physics-based AI platform that helps identify underused grid capacity and accelerate power delivery for AI data centers, compressing interconnection timelines from years to months. The company says it is already engaged in projects across more than a dozen markets representing more than 2 GW of new AI compute capacity. - learn more
        • Taste Tomorrow Ventures invested in Harken Sweets’ seed round, joining Selva and GRTSHT as the early-stage VC firm continues backing better-for-you snack brands. Founded by Katie Lefkowitz, Harken Sweets makes cleaner-label chocolate bars sweetened with whole-food dates instead of refined sugar or synthetic alternatives, and is already sold through retailers including Sprouts, Whole Foods, Kroger, Costco, Walmart, Albertsons and Wegmans. - learn more
        • Bonfire Ventures led Ranger AI’s $8.4M seed round, with participation from 25madison, Inovia Capital and Panache Ventures. Ranger AI is building an agentic revenue operations platform for industrial tendering, helping industrial, manufacturing and supply chain companies automate complex RFP, bid and project workflows. The company says its platform is already being used across more than 1,000 projects and can cut industrial tendering time by up to 50%. - learn more
        • Fika Ventures participated in Outmarket AI’s $17M Series A, which was led by Permanent Capital Ventures, with participation from SignalFire, TTV Capital, Dash Fund and senior insurance industry executives. Outmarket AI builds AI workflow software for insurance agencies and brokers, helping teams automate policy reviews, quote comparisons, renewals, coverage gap analysis, proposal building and other core workflows. The round brings the company’s total funding to $21.7M. - learn more
        • Wedbush Ventures participated in Secludy’s $4M seed round, which was led by Impression Ventures and also included LAUNCH, The Syndicate, Precursor Ventures, Hustle Fund, Script Capital, Mana Ventures and Chispa VC. San Francisco-based Secludy helps banks, payments firms and fintech companies safely use proprietary customer data to train and evaluate GenAI models by generating privacy-protected synthetic data, with the funding going toward hiring, go-to-market growth and expanding its platform across more enterprise AI workflows. - learn more
        • Sound Ventures led a new $17M funding round for Anomaly Insights, joined by Alumni Ventures and existing investors Link Ventures, Redesign Health and RRE Ventures. The New York-based company uses AI to help health systems analyze payer behavior, identify denials, underpayments and contract issues, and strengthen how providers engage with insurers across claims management and managed care negotiations. The new funding brings Anomaly’s total raised to $34M. - learn more
        • B Capital and UP.Partners participated in Havoc’s $100M Series A, backing the company’s push to scale its all-domain autonomous systems for defense operations. Havoc’s autonomy stack is designed to operate across air, sea and land platforms, and the new funding brings its total capital raised to nearly $200M as it expands deployment capacity, engineering and partnerships with defense manufacturers. - learn more
        • B Capital led Star Catcher’s oversubscribed $65M Series A, with the round co-led by Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures. The Florida-based company is building what it calls the first power grid in space, using optical power beaming to deliver electricity on demand to satellites and other spacecraft, with the funding going toward orbital demonstrations, engineering and commercial expansion. The round brings Star Catcher’s total funding to $88M. - learn more
        • Interlagos participated in Cowboy Space Corporation’s $275M Series B, which was led by Index Ventures and valued the company at $2B. Formerly known as Aetherflux, the San Carlos-based company is building vertically integrated orbital infrastructure for the AI era, including low-Earth orbit satellites, purpose-built launch vehicles and in-orbit data centers designed to help meet rising demand for AI compute. - learn more

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          The LA Startup Taking on One of Parenting’s Most Frustrating Problems

          🔦 Spotlight

          Hello Los Angeles,

          Every parent knows the feeling of becoming an overnight expert in something they never wanted to learn.

          For families navigating developmental delays, behavioral health needs, autism, speech therapy, occupational therapy or pediatric mental health support, that learning curve can become a full-time job. Finding the right specialist is hard enough. Getting those specialists, pediatricians, insurers and families to actually coordinate with each other? That’s often where the system breaks.

          That’s the problem Los Angeles-based Village is trying to solve.

          The specialty pediatrics startup raised $9.5 million in seed funding this week, led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Bling Capital, GTMFund and Perceptive Ventures.

          Its AI-powered platform is designed to bring families, providers, pediatricians and payers into one coordinated care system for children with developmental, behavioral and mental health needs.

          The company was born out of co-founder Brandon Terry’s personal experience navigating care for his daughter after she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition. Like many parents, his family faced long waitlists, high out-of-pocket costs and a fragmented web of specialists who were not necessarily working from the same playbook.

          The pitch is not simply “find a provider faster.” Village wants to coordinate the entire team around a child, including occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, behavioral therapists and pediatricians. Its AI agent, Vera, is designed to help with the administrative drag that often slows pediatric practices down: scheduling, documentation, billing and care coordination.

          The company’s raise also points to a less flashy, but deeply consequential corner of health tech: making complex care easier to navigate. In specialty pediatrics, the pain point is not always the quality of care itself. It is the space between appointments, referrals, insurance approvals and provider communication where families are often left to connect the dots themselves.

          So far, Village says it has built a network of more than 400 independent pediatric specialty providers in Southern California and has contracts with major commercial insurers including Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare. The new funding will help the company expand across Southern California, into other parts of California and eventually into new states.

          In other words, the next wave of healthcare infrastructure may not look like one giant hospital system. It may look more like a connected network built around the people who have been holding the system together all along: families.

          And yes, in this case, it really does take a Village.

          Venture deals follow below.👇


          🤝 Venture Deals

            LA Companies

            • MOSH, the brain health nutrition brand co-founded by Maria Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger, raised a $13M Series A led by Main Street Advisors to expand nationally across grocery retailers and accelerate product innovation. The Los Angeles-based company plans to use the funding to grow its retail footprint, including an upcoming Target launch, while expanding its lineup of brain-focused nutrition products with new high-protein bars designed to support both cognitive and physical performance. - learn more
            • Spring Labs raised $5M to expand its AI-native compliance platform for banks and fintechs, with the funding led by BankTech Ventures and Haymaker Ventures. The Marina del Rey-based company is building AI agents that automate complaint handling, dispute resolution, and other compliance workflows, helping regulated financial institutions scale operations more efficiently while maintaining oversight and auditability. - learn more
            • FlowPrompt.ai secured a strategic seed investment from ART Fund SP, part of ChainBLX SPC, as the company expands its AI orchestration platform designed to help developers build and manage complex AI workflows through a visual interface. Alongside the investment, the companies also launched a global AI hackathon and builder program that will give selected founders access to funding opportunities, platform tools, and a live investor pitch event in Los Angeles later this summer. - learn more
            • Chance Studios raised $3.2M to build a unified platform for trading card game collectors, aiming to bring inventory management, marketplace activity, and community features into a single ecosystem. The round was co-led by Makers Fund and Hashed, with participation from Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, GAM3GIRL VC, and others, as the company looks to modernize how collectors buy, track, and interact around physical and digital TCG assets. - learn more

            LA Venture Funds
            • Rebel Fund participated in Moritz’s $9M seed round, backing the AI-native law firm as it looks to automate large portions of routine corporate legal work. The company combines software with experienced attorneys to speed up contract drafting and review, and says it has already handled more than $2 billion worth of contracts across over 100 companies since launching earlier this year. - learn more
            • Rebel Fund participated in Corvera’s $4.2M seed round, backing the AI-native supply chain platform as it automates back-office operations for consumer packaged goods brands. The Y Combinator-backed startup is building AI agents that can handle workflows like order processing, invoicing, and demand planning across fragmented enterprise systems, helping brands scale operations without significantly increasing headcount. - learn more
            • Chaac Ventures participated in Astrocade’s $5.6M funding round, backing the gaming startup as it builds a social gaming platform centered around community-created interactive experiences. The company is focused on blending gaming, streaming, and creator tools into a more collaborative entertainment platform, and plans to use the funding to expand development and grow its creator ecosystem. - learn more
            • Fusion VC participated in MSICS Pharma’s $3.6M funding round, backing the biotech company as it advances psilocybin-based treatments for PTSD, depression, and OCD. The company is developing medical-grade psychedelic compounds and plans to use the funding to expand production, accelerate clinical trials, and prepare for broader commercialization as interest in psychedelic therapies continues to grow. - learn more
            • JAM Fund participated in Fun’s $72M Series A, backing the payments infrastructure startup as it scales its platform for moving money across fintech and digital asset applications. The round was co-led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire, and the company plans to use the funding to expand internationally, pursue acquisitions, and deepen its infrastructure stack as demand grows for faster global payment systems. - learn more

            LA Exits

            • Tapin2 was acquired by Greater Sum Ventures, joining MyVenue as part of GSV’s expanded point-of-sale technology platform for stadiums, arenas and live entertainment venues. Tapin2 provides self-service, suite catering and mobile ordering technology for high-volume sports and entertainment venues, while MyVenue offers cloud-native POS software across concessions, premium seating, retail, in-seat ordering and other venue operations. Together, the companies say their technology is used in more than 70% of MLB and NFL stadiums. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. - learn more
            • Motiv Space Systems signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Rocket Lab, bringing its space robotics, motion control systems and precision spacecraft mechanisms into Rocket Lab’s growing space systems business. Motiv’s technology has supported major missions including NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and lunar rover programs, and the company will be rebranded as Rocket Lab Robotics after the deal closes, which is expected in the second quarter of 2026. - learn more
            • Robyn was acquired by Los Angeles-based Tot Squad, bringing its AI-powered doula tool into Tot Squad’s broader support platform for expecting and new moms. Robyn’s AI was trained on more than 70,000 de-identified messages between parents and doulas, and the acquisition will help Tot Squad offer free, around-the-clock pregnancy and early motherhood guidance alongside access to human experts like doulas, lactation consultants and sleep coaches. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. - learn more

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