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LA's Top Startups for 2023, According to Area VCs
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.
Los Angeles, like the rest of the startup world, saw a dip in global venture funding. As of November 2022, funding reached $22 billion, which is 69% lower than the previous year.
Despite the massive downturn in funding due to the decline in technology stocks at the end of 2021 combined with concerns about rising inflation, it did not stop the startups on this list from raising funding. We asked more than 30 leading L.A.-based investors for their take on the hottest firms in the region. (We also asked VCs not to pick any of their own portfolio companies, and vetted the list to ensure they stuck to that rule.)
They selected a few live-shopping platforms, space startups and payment software companies and we've organized the list based on the amount of capital raised as of January, according to data from PitchBook.
Here are the eight L.A. startups VCs have their eyes on as they look ahead to 2023.
Anduril ($2.32B raised)
Anduril Industries Is Getting Hundreds of Millions to Build Border Surveillance Tech Image by Ian Hurley
Given how much the company has raised to date, it was no surprise that Costa Mesa-based defense technology startup and U.S. military contractor Anduril was the name that most often came up among L.A. venture investors.
Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens, ex-Palantir executives Matt Grimm and Brian Schimpf founded Anduril in 2017. The startup is most known for its core software product, an operating system called Lattice, which is used to detect potential security threats.
To date, the startup has received investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and venture capitalist Elad Gil.
ServiceTitan ($1.1B raised)
Earlier this year, the Glendale-based firm filed for an initial public offering. Since its founding in 2012, the company’s co-founders, Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan built its software for a wide range of service industries, from plumbing and landscaping to pest control and HVAC.
The company’s growth is largely driven by its ability to acquire other businesses, including landscaping software provider Aspire and pest control-focused platforms ServicePro and, earlier this month, FieldRoutes.
Whatnot ($484.41M raised)
The Marina del Rey-based livestream shopping platform makes the ‘Hottest Startups’ list for a second year in a row. The online marketplace was founded by former GOAT product manager Logan Head and ex-Googler Grant LaFontaine and made its name by providing a live auction platform for buying and selling collectables like rare Pokémon cards, and has since expanded into sports memorabilia, sneakers and apparel.
It’s no secret that its success is in part, due to the partnerships Whatnot inked this year, like UFC fighter Jorge Masdival to sell sports collectibles on the platform. Along with science fiction/fantasy comics publisher Heavy Metal to bring out original content for the Whatnot community.
Boulevard ($110.35M raised)
Los Angeles-based salon booking app Boulevard attracted backers including Santa Monica-based early-stage VC firm Bonfire Ventures, which focuses on B2B software startups. The startup builds booking and payment software for salons and spas and now it now serves 25,000 professionals across 2,000 salons. Boulevard has also worked with prominent brands such as Toni & Guy and HeyDay.
Varda Space ($53M raised)
Space manufacturing startup Varda focuses on designing, developing, and manufacturing products that benefit from low gravity. The products that the El segundo-based company manufactures in space are intended to be brought back down with the hope that it will improve life on earth. The forward-thinking company was founded by Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov and former SpaceX officer Will Bruey.
Papaya (65.2 million)
Sherman Oaks-based Papaya was founded by Patrick Kann and Jason Metzler. The company was built to make it easier for consumers to pay “any” bills — whether it's a hospital bill or a parking ticket — all on the mobile app. To pay, users take a picture of their bill and type in the amount they want to send as long as the end user has a mailing address or an online payment portal. Papaya utilizes optical character recognition, a software that enables the app to look at every bill — no matter what the format is — and recognize each piece of information.
Impulse Space ($30 million raised)
Based in El Segundo, Impulse Space creates orbital maneuvering vehicles capable of delivering multiple payloads to unique orbits from a single launch. Founded in 2021 by former SpaceX exec Tom Mueller built his company as a last-mile delivery partner for future inter-space missions, like servicing space stations. In July, the space startup inked a deal with Long Beach-based reusable rocket maker Relativity Space to accelerate the entry of its rover into Mars.
Popshop Live (24.5 million raised)
Whatnot competitor Popshop Live is betting that live-shopping is the future of ecommerce. The West Hollywood-based company primarily focuses on selling collectables such as trading cards and anime merchandise.
In the summer of 2021, the company bolstered its team by hiring former Instagram and Instacart executive Bangaly Kaba to lead platform growth and former head of Uber Eats Jason Droege to lead expansion.
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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.
Ex-Athira Pharma CEO Leen Kawas Starts $150M Fund With Key Investors From Former Company
12:38 PM | March 18, 2022
Photo by Drew Hays on Unsplash
Leen Kawas, the Seattle biotech exec who resigned as CEO of Athira Pharma after an investigation found she had altered doctoral research images that helped to form the initial basis for the company, re-emerged Friday as co-founder and managing general partner of a new investment firm called Propel Bio Partners LP.
Co-founded with Richard Kayne, a prominent Los Angeles-based asset manager who was an early Athira investor, Propel Bio Partners also has support from several other Athira investors. Among them: John Fluke Jr., who remains on Athira’s board as the publicly traded company pursues therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Propel Bio is seeking to raise a pooled investment fund of $150 million, according to a filing Friday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The investment firm’s team includes senior associate Dasom (Christine) Yoo, former Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center business development manager.
Propel says it plans to invest in life sciences companies at various stages of development, seeking “to help founders and management teams fulfill the urgent mission to advance human health with disruptive therapies and technologies.”
The firm’s advisory board includes Ronald Lee Krall, former GlaxoSmithKline chief medical officer and current NIH Foundation director, and other industry veterans.
“My involvement in Propel is a testament to my confidence in Leen,” Krall said in a statement. “I believe she has the skills and ability to help promising entrepreneurs commercialize groundbreaking new therapies and technologies, and look forward to working with her and the rest of the team in our shared pursuit of advancing human health.”
Kawas, a Jordanian immigrant, was inspired to pursue biomedical research after her grandmother died of cancer.
“I am looking forward to providing promising and passionate entrepreneurs the same opportunity that Ric Kayne and others gave to me when I started Athira,” Kawas said in a press release announcing Propel’s formation.
Kawas co-founded Athira (originally M3 Biotechnology) in 2011. Named Startup CEO of the Year at the 2019 GeekWire Awards, she took Athira public in 2020, as the first woman to lead a company to an IPO in Washington state in more than two decades.
Shares of Athira fell by more than 50% in June 2021 after Kawas was initially placed on leave from Athira as questions emerged about her research at Washington State University. Athira stock continues to trade at half its prior peak.
In findings released in October 2021, a special committee of Athira’s board determined that Kawas altered images in her 2011 dissertation and at least four scientific research papers. However, the company said the papers containing altered images were not cited in its patent filing for its lead development candidate, ATH-1017.
Athira Pharma CEO Leen Kawas accepts the award for Startup CEO of the Year at the 2019 GeekWire Awards.GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota
“I regret that mistakes I made as a graduate student many years ago caused any distraction to Athira today,” Kawas wrote in an internal memo at the time, obtained by GeekWire. “At the time, I was navigating an unfamiliar environment and did not fully comprehend the significance of my decision to enhance the images I used in my research. I want to make clear that the enhancement to images was not a change to or manipulation of the underlying data.”
The company investigators concluded that Kawas had “altered” — not enhanced — the data-containing images.
Papers with altered image were cited in an earlier patent licensed by the company from WSU. The university initiated an investigation into Kawas’ research in June 2021 but has yet to announce any findings.
Editorial “expressions of concern” have been registered about the data in four studies co-authored by Kawas, published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics between 2011 and 2014. Editors of the journal have said they are waiting for WSU to complete its review.
GeekWire contacted WSU for comment Friday morning. A spokesperson responded, “Washington State University does not comment on pending research misconduct actions and has no further information to provide at this time.”
The WSU spokesperson added, “The university expects its researchers to adhere to the highest ethical standards in their conduct of research activities. WSU takes allegations of research misconduct very seriously. The process is being conducted in accordance with the university’s Executive Policy 33, which governs how the institution responds to allegations of research misconduct.”
Through a spokesperson, Athira declined to comment in response to GeekWire’s inquiry about Propel Bio.
A representative of Propel Bio said Kawas wasn’t conducting interviews in conjunction with the announcement.
In statements coinciding with the Propel Bio launch, several of those advising the firm or investing in the new fund made it clear that their involvement was an endorsement of Kawas as an entrepreneur, leader and scientist.
Fluke, the Athira board member, was effusive in response to GeekWire’s inquiry about his decision to invest.
“I am investing in Propel for the same reason I invested in Athira: I have the extensive tangible evidence that Leen will lead Propel to identify and fund the most promising medical technology enterprises that will, in turn, deliver astounding improvements in human healthcare — and deliver consistently superior returns to investors,” Fluke said via email.
The involvement of early Athira investors in Propel points to an undercurrent of dissatisfaction about the outcome of Kawas’ tenure as Athira CEO among her supporters, countered by a desire to see Athira reach its potential.
Mike Flynn Sr., former publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal in Seattle, summed up the sentiment in his Flynn’s Harp newsletter in October, explaining that he and other supporters of Kawas “have decided together not to raise a fuss with the company lest any negative expressions from such prominent people toward the Athira board have an adverse effect on the company or its progress.”
Kayne, the Propel co-founder and general partner, is a former Cantor Fitzgerald principal who founded Kayne Anderson Venture Partners. He said in the announcement that he’s proud to be partnering with Kawas in the new firm.
“Leen is a visionary entrepreneur with a unique blend of drive, intelligence and demonstrated business acumen. In six short years, she built a company from the ground up, taking it through the early stages of drug development, through its public offering and into the final stages of developing its potentially game-changing therapy,” Kayne said.
He added, “Under Leen’s leadership, I believe Propel is uniquely positioned to identify excellent opportunities to assist entrepreneurs along the path to success.”
Strategy and operations expert Carol Criner, an early Athira investor who was introduced to Kawas by Flynn, is one of eight members of the Propel Bio medical and investment advisory board. Criner said she also plans to invest. Throughout the entire journey, Criner said, “I’ve only grown more confident in Leen.”
In addition to Krall and Criner, other members of the Propel Bio advisory board are:
- Ronald Farkas, a former FDA clinical team leader;
- Mike Gibbs, a former AstraZeneca executive;
- Suzanne Hendrix, CEO of Pentara Corp.;
- Erik D. Laursen, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive;
- Sylvia S. McBrinn, former Pfizer global vice president of marketing;
- and Richard Sudek, a tech entrepreneur and angel investor.
This post first appeared on GeekWire. Reporter Charlotte Schubert contributed to this report.
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Todd Bishop, GeekWire
Todd Bishop is GeekWire's co-founder and editor, a longtime technology journalist who covers subjects including cloud tech, e-commerce, virtual reality, devices, apps and tech giants such as Amazon.com, Apple, Microsoft and Google. Follow him @toddbishop, email todd@geekwire.com, or call (206) 294-6255.
Digital Avatar and Influencer Lil Miquela Releases a NFT Collection
04:24 PM | April 07, 2021
The virtual influencer Miquela Sousa, aka Lil Miquela, whose rise has garnered equal parts uproar and admiration, continued her foray into NFTs on Wednesday with part two of a five-part series that promises to "tell a special story over time."
Brud, the L.A. startup behind Miquela and a handful of other characters with fully fledged digital identities across social media, is doing the free drop to hype up their superstar avatar and expand her narrative. An announcement from the company said the underlying artwork, called "Unseen by eyes but forged in stone," can exist as a standalone piece or as part of a collection that will roll out over the next several months.
Brud appears to be gamifying the collection of tokens to unlock a unique, surprise reward.
"This NFT is part of a larger series featuring Miquela," the company wrote in a Google doc linked in Miquela's tweet announcing the drop. "Each NFT in this series serves as a piece to a larger puzzle. Each piece will work together to tell a special story over time. The only way to access the story before anyone else is to own each NFT and connect them together along the way."
New NFT drops NOW! First 1500 people to reply to THIS TWEET with their wallet address will BE BLESSED and the FULL… https://t.co/7XZdblfZbd— lil miquela (@lil miquela) 1617814863
Users could claim one of the available 1,500 NFTs by replying to Lil Miquela's tweet with the address to their crypto wallet.
Brud, valued at $144 million, said it will deliver the tokens within 24 hours. Users had to agree to let the company contact them in the future for marketing purposes.
Within three hours the post had received nearly 4,000 comments and been retweeted over 1,600 times.
Upon validation of users' addresses, Miquela's Twitter would post a response.
"Obsessed with u, there's 1481 left!"
"We're making history, TYYY!! there's 1377 left!"
"We're making history, TYYY!! there's 1203 left!"
And so on.
Since debuting on Instagram in 2016, Lil Miquela has picked up three million followers and sponsorship deals from the likes of Supreme and Barney's. Her curated digital identity ostensibly makes her less of a risk than human influencers for brands.
Last year, the digital teenager was estimated to have earned more than $12 million. She's repped by CAA, alongside many real celebrities, and has appeared on a billboard in Times Square.
In November, Brud released her first NFT, tied to a digital artwork entitled "Rebirth of Venus" that sold via SuperRare for 159.5 Ether. At the time, that was worth about $82,000; Ether's value has since nearly quadrupled. The winning bidder of that token appears to be linked to crypto investment fund Divergence Ventures, based on the link in the buyer's SuperRare profile.
It has been a common refrain as NFTs have gone mainstream: the investor behind last month's headline-grabbing $69 million NFT tied to a digital artwork by Beeple also had a financial interest in propping up the legitimacy of cryptocurrency.
The latest Miquela offering is part of an ongoing spree of creative NFT offerings that provide buyers more than just a certificate of digital ownership tied to the blockchain. It also expands the storyline of a 19-year-old who blurs the lines between fantasy and reality as a racially ambiguous, socially conscious teenager.
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Read moreShow less
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
https://twitter.com/hisamblake
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