Get in the KNOW
on LA Startups & Tech
X
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
Decerry Donato
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
May 26 2023
LA Tech ‘Moves’:
“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
***
Mapp, a digital marketing tools developer named Eric Lubow as chief product and technology officer. Lubow was most recently vice president of engineering at Thrasio, and previously was a founder and CTO at HealthHive, Mymee, and SimpleReach.
Former Sitecore chief marketing officer Paige O’Neill joined sales enablement platform Seismic as CMO.
Security and compliance automation platform Drata welcomed Matt Hillary as vice president security and chief information security officer (CISO) and Conor Nolen as chief customer officer. Hillary most recently served as SVP, systems and security and CISO at Lumio, while Nolen served as SVP of Customers for Life at Clari.
Cineverse, a streaming and entertainment company, promoted Erick Opeka to president of cineverse, Tony Huidor to chief operating Officer and chief technology officer and appointed Mark Torres as chief people officer. Opeka currently serves as the company’s CSO, Huidor previously served as SVP of product and technology, while Torres worked at companies such as Sony Pictures, Ticketmaster and Variety.
Employee visibility and productivity intelligence software Prodoscore hired veteran technologistRaghu Kopalle as vice president of product and engineering. Most recently, Kopalle served as Boeing’s product leader of airborne software systems.
Wiliot, an IoT platform tapped Antony Yousefian as vice president of climate and circularity. Yousefian held various executive positions at climate technology startups and impact investment funds.
EVgo, a fast charging network for electric vehicles (EVs) added Paul Segal and Jonathan Seelig to its board of directors. Prior to joining, Segal served as Chief Executive Officer of LS Power since 2011, while Seelig co-founded Ridge, a cloud computing platform and Akamai Technologies, Inc., a content delivery network, cybersecurity and cloud service company.
YOOM, a generative AI 3D technology company, appointed Nir David as head of gaming. Prior to this role, David was director of strategic partnerships at Playtika and led key relationships with major platforms such as Meta, Apple, Google, Windows and Amazon.
From Your Site Articles
- LA Tech ‘Moves’: Community Hires New CEO, Bento Box Welcomes President ›
- LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mahmee Welcomes New VP, NINJIO Stacks Exec Team ›
- LA Tech ‘Moves’: SpaceX Taps Former NASA Human Spaceflight Official ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read moreShow less
Decerry Donato
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M
Decerry Donato
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
May 26 2023
Image by Joshua Letona
A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.
***
Venture Capital
GITAI, a Torrance-based space robotics startup raised a $30 million Series B extension round of funding from its existing investors.
Per an SEC filing, Beverly Hills-based developer of a pet care application designed to connect pet owners with a veterinarian airVet, Inc. raised $15.1 million in funding.
Los Angeles-based remote litigation platform Steno raised a $15 million Series B funding round led by Left Lane Capital.
Super League Gaming Inc., a Santa Monica-based gaming platform creating innovative and immersive entertainment experiences raised $12.6 million in funding, per an SEC filing.
Lifeforce, a Santa Monica-based digital fitness platform, raised a $12 million Series A funding round co-led by M13 and Peterson Ventures.
Los Angeles-based short term rental host operator HostGPO raised a $6 million funding round co-led by Navitas Capital and OMNIA Partners.
Voice AI Inc., a Santa Monica-based AI voice changer platform raised $5.9 million in funding, per an SEC filing.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
From Your Site Articles
- The Robotics Company Building Construction Bots for Space ›
- This Week in ‘Raises’: Mangomint Secures $13M, Automotus Sweeps up $9M ›
- Steno Agency Brings Deferred Payment Services For Lawyers ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read moreShow less
Decerry Donato
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
May 25 2023
\u200bPhoto: Gitai
Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.
The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.
Gitai’s main products include an autonomous robotic arm, which was tested on the International Space Station in October 2021. It also developed a lunar rover called the R1, which it tested on Earth in March.
Funding for this tranche of the Series B came from a handful of existing investors in the company, and many of the backers are based in Japan. This included Mitsubishi’s VC arm, JGC Holdings’ Mirai Innovation Fund, Yamato Holdings’ investment vehicle KURONEKO Innovation Fund, and the KDDI Open Innovation Fund. Other investors including the Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Electric Power Development, and Daiwa’s DCI Venture Growth Fund joined the follow-on round.
In a May 25 statement, KDDI’s fund said it expects Gitai’s technology to help “assist in the construction and maintenance of artificial satellites, space stations, lunar bases, and Martian cities.”
This is Gitai’s overarching goal – CEO Sho Nakanose told dot.LA in April that “now is the time to expand our presence, expand our habitat” on other planets because “the conflict between the U.S. and China may escalate because of space resources on the moon.”
Gitai’s plan is to develop and sell robots at scale to reduce the cost of labor for building structures that allow humans to inhabit distant worlds. Nakanose also said that he views in-space habitability as impossible without an infrastructure of robots to build solar panels on faraway planets to produce power for the eventual outposts there.
In a statement Wednesday Nakanose said he was “thrilled to further expand our operations in the U.S.”
Nakanose added, “while SpaceX and BlueOrigin are reducing the cost of transportation to space by 100 times, we at GITAI are taking on the challenge of reducing labor costs by 100 times. We will provide the most labor for the Moon and Mars and build infrastructure such as solar panels, communication antennas, fuel generators, and habitation modules.”
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read moreShow less
Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
Trending