🔦 Spotlight

LA-based Riot Games, celebrated for its popular League of Legends game and the award-winning animated series Arcane, has announced a significant workforce reduction, laying off approximately 11% of its global staff, totaling 530 employees. While CEO Dylan Jadeja described this difficult decision as a necessity, there is a recognition that the broader video game industry has faced challenges with over 10,000 global layoffs since January 2023.

Acknowledging the need for strategic adjustments due to rising costs and limited room for experimentation, Riot Games has decided to shutter its Riot Forge publishing arm, which collaborated with external studios for smaller-scale games. Despite these changes, there is optimism in the commitment to providing affected employees with at least six months of severance pay and eligibility for cash bonuses. Jadeja expressed the company's dedication to its workforce, emphasizing that this decision aims to ensure the long-term sustainability and creativity of Riot Games.

For the broader gaming industry in Los Angeles, this development may indicate a need for companies to adapt to evolving market dynamics. While Riot Games remains an indomitable player with its popular titles like League of Legends, Valorant, the industry as a whole may be reassessing strategies to ensure sustainability and innovation. The workforce reduction may prompt other gaming companies in the region to evaluate their own structures and business models in response to the changing landscape, with a focus on balancing growth, cost management, and creative exploration.

🤝 Venture Deals

Just Announced

• Captura, a startup focused on open-ocean carbon capture, raised $21.5M Series A expansion round led by Future Planet Captial. - learn more
• Acre Venture Partners participated in a $10M Series A for Farm-ng, a startup that has developed a robot that uses AI to help small- and mid-size farms with repetitive tasks like weeding. - learn more
•  M13 Ventures participated in a $11.1M Seed Round for Norm Ai, a startup that is using AI to automate some regulatory tasks for chief compliance officers. - learn more

Actively Raising

• ReelCall, Inc., an entertainment technology company focused on powerful apps and platforms that help build and maintain the professional network of connections vital to career growth, is raising a $850K Pre-Seed Round. - learn more
• CZero, a startup building software to decarbonize logistics for logistics businesses and goods business through a vetted marketplace and optimization software. - learn more
• Couri, a technology startup addressing last-mile delivery issues, is raising a $450K Pre-Seed Round at a $2.2M post money valuation. - learn more 
• Sweetie, a marketplace to help people plan date nights, is raising a $1.5M Pre Seed Round. - learn more
• StartupStarter, an investment platform that provides real-time data and analytics on startups, is raising an $850K Angel Round. - learn more

If you’re a founder raising money in Los Angeles, give us a shout, and we’d love to include you in the newsletter!

✨ Featured Partner

The WeAreLATech 'Experience' Club is for individuals working in LA tech; you can work at a startup or seasoned tech company.

We're engineers, investors, founders, designers, growth marketers, app developers, product managers and more... who do in person activities together 1-2 times a month. The concept is based on the saying 'More business gets done at the bar than in a boardroom.' That said, there's no panels or mixers. We have enough of those.

WeAreLATech was created by me, Espree Devora, back in 2012. I consider myself to be "an artist of human connection". Each event is my piece of art.

Activities include horseback rides, clay pigeon shooting, hiking, Price is Right gameshow, rooftop cocktails, surfing, escape rooms, food tastings, go karts, luxury beach picnics, drone flying, and the list goes on. We've done 100s of Experiences. Some events are curated by industry and others by role. The goal is to save you time making quality connections. Maintaining a strong culture and keeping the gatherings small, connective and curated is top priority.

Interested in more details about the Club? Check it out here.

And to listen to the WeAreLATech Podcast, click here 

📅 LA Tech Calendar

Wednesday, January 31st

• BioSync AI Mixer - Venture into the cutting-edge crossroads of AI and Biotech at the inaugural BioSync AI Mixer in Culver City! This is a brand-new initiative, a collaboration between AI LA, Bioscience LA, BitsinBio, and Nucleate.
• Climate Circuit’s Casual Meetup at Broxton Brewery - Come join Climate Circuit to talk shop on climate tech! All are welcome no matter if you're dipping your toe into this world or have been building in climate tech for a while.

Thursday, February 1st

• Music in the Era of AI- Listen to a conversation between some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence policymakers, scholars, and artists to discuss actions the entertainment industry can take to protect the rights of human creators.

Friday, Feb 2nd

• Pitch and Run LA: Friday Runs - Join Founders and VCs for Pitch and Run Fridays! 7:30am near 17th St & San Vincente for a ~3.5 mile loop at an easy-conversational pace. Pitch and Run is designed to help you connect with others on ideas, passions, and life while enjoying a casual run. They started with a focus on people in tech/startups, but are open to everyone.

📙 What We’re Reading

• Amazon MGM Studios Division Cuts Deal For Esports Content. - learn more
• Will the IPO Market Spring Back in 2024? The First Big Debut Offers Clues. - learn more
• MovieTok Meets Sundance As Creators Hit Park City. - learn more

Happy Friday Los Angeles!

🔦 Spotlight

Two companies are surging forward in Los Angeles’ most prominent tech industries, aerospace and gaming.

Long Beach-based Relativity Space, known for launching the first 3D-printed rocket, is reportedly securing additional funding to maintain its valuation at $4.2 billion. The funding round is led by existing investors Bond Cap and Social Capital, indicating ongoing confidence in Relativity Space's approach to aerospace manufacturing. The company's success highlights the transformative potential of 3D printing in the space industry, symbolizing a dynamic and rapidly evolving era in private space exploration.

Irvine-based game development studio Second Dinner, not to be confused with second breakfast from Lord of the Rings, known for the massive success of Marvel Snap secured a $100M Series B investment led by LA-based, Griffin Gaming Partners. With 22 million+ downloads and $200 million+ in revenue since its 2022 launch, MARVEL SNAP continues to thrive, and Second Dinner plans to use the investment to develop new titles, incubate original IP, further expand globally, and “buy a lot of boba".

🤝 Venture Deals

Just Announced

• Second Dinner, a five-year-old gaming studio based in Irvine, behind Marvel Snap, a digital card game, raised a $100M Series B round led by Griffin Gaming Partners. - learn more
• Sway (formerly Returnmates), a technology company enabling a customer-centric delivery and return experience, raised a $19.5M Series A led by 7GC. - learn more
• Halogen Ventures participated in a $5M Series A for WTHN, a wellness startup that offers products based on traditional Chinese medicine. - learn more
• Fika Ventures participated in an $8M Seed Round for Dispatch (formerly OneAdvisory), a wealth technology company that enables effortless client data management for registered investment advisors. - learn more

LA Exits

• TTM, an El Segundo, Calif.-based provider of thermoformed and flexible packaging solutions for foodservice, food production, and grocery was acquired by AmerCareRoyal. - learn more

Actively Raising

• ReelCall, Inc., an entertainment technology company focused on powerful apps and platforms that help build and maintain the professional network of connections vital to career growth, is raising a $850K Pre-Seed Round. - learn more
• CZero, a hard-tech startup that is developing a technology for decarbonizing natural gas, is raising a $1.5M Seed Round. - learn more
• Couri, a technology startup addressing last-mile delivery issues, is raising a $450K Pre-Seed Round at a $2.2M post money valuation. - learn more 
• Sweetie, a marketplace to help people plan date nights, is raising a $250K Angel Round. - learn more
• StartupStarter, an investment platform that provides real-time data and analytics on startups, is raising an $850K Angel Round. - learn more

If you’re a founder raising money in Los Angeles, give us a shout, and we’d love to include you in the newsletter!

📅 LA Tech Calendar

Sunday, January 14th

• VR Creators Hackathon hosted by DeoVR - A day of skill-building activities on VR filming and editing. The event will feature speakers covering hardware, editing methodologies, and immersive filming concepts.

Wednesday, January 17th

• LA Founders & Investors - AI LA's first event of 2024 to bring together founders and investors in AI. The night will start with networking followed by a fireside chat with two special guests.

Thursday, January 18th

• Los Angeles Startup Arena - An afternoon in Santa Monica filled with startup pitches, an investor panel and presentation, and investor and founder networking.
• Panel + Happy Hour: Raising Capital in 2024 - This event, hosted by the Greater Los Angeles Tech and Entrepreneurship Group, is about preparing entrepreneurs for 2024. In it they will talk about the current fundraising environment, and what to expect going into Q1.
• S*xTech Mixer @XBIZ LA - Come meet the S*xTech community in the heart of Los Angeles! Romance, dating, sexual wellness, intimacy, privacy, communication, safety - all of it is being innovated today across the $100B+ industry.

Saturday, January 20th

• The Future of Gaming: Opportunities in Connected Ecosystems - Join gaming enthusiasts and hear from speakers touch on the three foundations shaping the next phase of gaming technology: game transactions, privacy and security; authorship, generative AI, and new IP models; and decentralization, distribution, and extended gameplay. After the panel discussion there will be audience Q&A along with networking afterward.

Wednesday, January 24th

• The Female Funders Club - Join this monthly networking event Wednesday evening in Santa Monica and connect with other tech-oriented investors, wealth managers, asset managers and women who are interested in starting their tech investment journey.

Have an awesome event coming up? Reach out to be featured on next week’s Newsletter!

📙 What We’re Reading

• California is looking to reduce traffic with the help of AI. - learn more
• Netflix Games gains traction with installs up 180% year-over-year in 2023, thanks to GTA and others. - learn more

🔦 Spotlight

🎮💥🔫 “USA, USA, USA!” If you wandered into the Kia Forum this past Saturday and listened to the cheers, you might have thought you had stumbled into a secret Olympic Games, and honestly you’d kind of be right.

That not-so-secret Olympics was the Valorant Champions Tour Grand Final, hosted by LA-based gaming giant Riot Games.

I was lucky enough to attend, and, as I sat in the sold-out crowd of 11,500 screaming fans, watching (real) fire erupt from the stage and (CGI) explosions and gunshots flash on the jumbotrons, I felt like a kid on his first day at a new school. Everyone around me seemed to know exactly what to do, and I was just sitting there, confused and overwhelmed, looking exactly like this emoji → 😮

For those of you not familiar with Valorant, it’s a first person shooter game (á la Call of Duty) where two teams of five compete to shoot each other or finish various tasks while avoiding being shot by the other team (sorry to all of the Valorant fans out there for butchering this description). Last month, more than 20 million people played the game, and over a million fans tuned in online to watch the Championship Finals live, according to Riot. While those numbers are obviously huge, Valorant is tiny compared to Riot’s flagship game League of Legends, which counted over 150 million players last month.

So why the “USA, USA, USA!” chant? For the same reason traditional pro sports teams are built around cities. People love cheering for the home team. Riot has organized the professional Valorant league (Valorant Champions Tour or VCT) into regional teams. Saturday’s eventual champion was the North American team, Evil Geniuses - an underdog who triumphed against the heavily favored Southeast Asian Paper Rex team. Fans couldn’t get enough of both sides, though “EG” was the definitely a little more hometown love.

These fans didn’t just come for the 3+ hour actual competition, though. Attendees started showing up more than four hours before the Grand Finals started, hanging out in the baking hot parking lot at the Riot-organized “Fan Fest” before watching the wildly impressive opening musical acts performing Riot-created music from the Valorant game. It was, dare I say it? A Riot of a good time.

So what does this all mean…

This competition is living proof of how gaming is now the largest category in entertainment, and it’s not even close. The industry’s estimated $192B in 2022 revenue is double the size of the TV and movie businesses, and more than 7x the size of the music industry.

It also demonstrates the strength of gaming as one of LA’s core tech sectors. Riot is an LA company, through and through. It was born out of founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill’s USC dorm room, opened its first office in Santa Monica in 2006, and maintains its headquarters on Olympic Blvd in West LA to this day. For more evidence of LA’s gaming prowess, look no further than our Around the Internet section below. 😎

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Startups

• LA-based Trellis, a provider of state trial court data, raised $15m in Series B funding led by Top Tier Capital Partners, with participation from Okapi Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Craft Ventures, Revel Partners and Sky Dayton - learn more

LA VCs

• MFast, a financial services distribution network, raised a $6M Series A led by LA-based Wavemaker Partners, with participation from Krungsri Innovate, Headline Asia and insiders Do Ventures, JAFCO Asia and Ascend Vietnam Ventures - learn more
• Pi-xcels, a startup that manufactures an NFC-enabled point of sale device that can issue interactive e-receipts, raised a $1.7M Seed Round led by LA-based Wavemaker Partners, and joined by Hustle Fund, Amand Ventures, and Black Kite Capital - learn more 
• TeamSense, a platform that helps manufacturers manage the attendance of their deskless workers, raised a $4M Seed Round led by LA-based Bonfire Ventures, with additional funds provided by Operator Collective - learn more

New LA Funds

• Black Ostrich Ventures, an LA-based venture capital firm, has launched a $20 million pre-seed and seed stage fund to support African founders to grow their businesses in the cleantech, supply chain, ag-tech, and edtech sectors. The newly created firm says it will mainly support startups in Tanzania, Zambia, Morocco and Uganda, with check sizes ranging from $50,000 to $200,000. - learn more

⚒️ Open Roles

Operations Associate @ Techstars Space Accelerator

Techstars Space Accelerator is hiring a Los Angeles based Operations Associate. This role is responsible for the administrative duties and operational execution throughout the duration of the accelerator program. Logistics experience as well as familiarity with the early stage venture backed company ecosystem is preferred. A willingness to learn and comfort tackling new problems is a must.

It’s a chance to get amazing experience, broaden your network in ways you could never imagine, get exposure to some of the greatest up and coming companies and teams in the country. Historically, most associates end up being employed by one of the teams or by someone they met during the span of the three months. Many also go on to build their own companies. Apply directly here.

✨Featured Event✨

Plug In South LA is hosing its Accelerator Cohort 4 Founder Showcase on September 14th.

Hosted by our friends at Plug In, this event will showcase Early Stage Black and Brown Founders rolling out new service and platform solutions in Digital Health/Healthcare Tech, FinTech, Digital Media, PropTech, and EdTech.

🚀 For Early Stage Investors looking to diversify their portfolios with high-potential companies led by Black and Brown Entrepreneurs, this showcase is a must-attend. We also extend a warm welcome to the LA Tech community, including LPs, Corporate Executives & Foundations, and Family Offices.

🎟️ Secure your spot now and immerse yourself in a night of innovation, inspiration, and boundless opportunities. Register for the Plug In Accelerator Cohort 4 Founder Showcase here.

📅 LA Tech Calendar

Tuesday, September 5th

• Tacos and Tech 🗽 - ScaleHealth’s monthly happy hour for tech and healthcare innovators.

Thursday, September 7th

• JFE Startup and Tech Mixer - JFE Networking mixers bring together LA's top startup founders, technologists, and business professionals in the Jewish community.
• Opus Research Happy Hour at Gridspace: The ROI of AI - Join Opus Research for a free, happy hour discussion about the "ROI of AI in the Enterprise.”

Other events to add to the calendar

🗽 - Free

🌍 Around The Internet

Over the past few years, there has been a shift in startup dynamics that has resulted in a dispersion of funding across the country. This geographical redistribution of seed investments mirrors the evolving landscape of venture capital, propelled by trends such as remote work and the strength of emerging startup ecosystems.

Unsurprisingly the Bay Area stands as the preeminent force in startup funding taking the top spot for capital invested in 7 of the 10 verticals listed below. That being said Los Angeles had a strong showing in the first half of 2023 and dominated the gaming vertical. Total capital raised by gaming companies based in Los Angeles during in the first half of 2023 was nearly $85M, more than 4X the next leading market, Dallas/Fort Worth. 🎮👾🕹️

Read More

📙 What We’re Reading

• SEC Settles First NFT Enforcement Action, Against Media Company Impact Theory. - read more
• Completion of the $2 billion automated people mover project at Los Angeles International Airport has been pushed back to fall of next year. - read more