LA Venture Podcast: Tracy Gray And Why Exports Are The Untapped Opportunity for the US

Minnie Ingersoll
Minnie Ingersoll is a partner at TenOneTen and host of the LA Venture podcast. Prior to TenOneTen, Minnie was the COO and co-founder of $100M+ Shift.com, an online marketplace for used cars. Minnie started her career as an early product manager at Google. Minnie studied Computer Science at Stanford and has an MBA from HBS. She recently moved back to L.A. after 20+ years in the Bay Area and is excited to be a part of the growing tech ecosystem of Southern California. In her space time, Minnie surfs baby waves and raises baby people.
LA Venture Podcast: Tracy Gray And Why Exports Are The Untapped Opportunity for the US
Tracy Gray

On this week's episode of the LA Venture podcast, hear from Tracy Gray, founder and managing partner at The 22 Fund, a growth venture capital and advisory firm focused on increasing the export capacity of Southern California companies, positioning these companies to accelerate growth and scale via international sales. She shares insights for how manufacturers should think about exports, industry 4.0 and the state of diversity in venture today.


Key Takeaways:

  • Gray says culturally the United States is domestic oriented and has an economy based on consumerism. Whereas, other countries around the world have economies based on exporting, which is advantageous for creating jobs, amongst other things. She says the U.S. exports very little due to fear — for example, fear of not speaking the language, fear of not knowing the laws and fear of not understanding regulations on both sides of the arrangement.
  • Capital at The 22 Fund is used to support its companies to do market research and analysis, because many of their companies are nonprofit and government, and there's little marketing out there to make companies aware of services that can help them export more confidently.
  • U.S. manufacturing is old-school manufacturing, and The 22 Fund helps to "uptech" and "upskill" the workers and processes at the companies they invest in.
  • The 22 Fund invests equity — some debt with warrants and revenue share — whatever works for the companies and where they are.
  • The 22 Fund is most interested in investing in innovative, sustainable and clean manufacturing companies that can grow jobs.

"Women and people of color, we're...always seen as the victims of some of this stuff (climate change, racial justice, economic change), but we are the ones that come up with the solutions. We are the innovators behind this because we know what's happening very closely in our communities." — Tracy Gray

Tracy Gray is managing partner at The 22 Fund.


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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.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
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.

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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.

Raises
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.

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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.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\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.

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