Unarmed
When Tony Rice II was 17, he was pulled over by the police, who pointed a gun at his head. He said his first reaction was to look over at his younger brother in the passenger's seat, terrified.
Years later, he was pulled over again and this time the officer asked him if he was on parole.
"Unfortunately, situations like this happen too often to people that look like me," Rice, who is Black, said. "And a part of me thinks I'm lucky because others weren't."
Rice told his story about what led him to found a company that developed a platform for government agencies to file and track complaints or compliments about police officers during dot.LA's most recent Startup Pitch Showcase Thursday that highlighted startups that have diverse and underrepresented leaders. Rice was joined by executives from three other startups, Kilo, Gleam Network and StartupStarter.
The startups were offered advice from judges Redonna Carpenter Woods, senior vice president and market executive at Bank of America, Ajay Relan, partner at Slauson & Co. and Camden McRae, co-founder and investor at Industrious Ventures about how to develop their pitch in the hope of getting funding. But the stars of the show was the startups themselves.
Rice said government entities, including police oversight agencies, can use the Unarmed platform on their websites for citizens to file complaints or compliments about police officers. The cases then enter into a dashboard where officials manage the case. Citizens are also able to track their case through the system.
"This is the real deal not just for people that look like you and I, but this is for the safety and wellness for everyone," Carpenter Woods said.
Rice is seeking $500,000 in funding to hire full-time employees.
Kilo
Amanda Bender, founder of Kilo, said it was her experience as a therapist and her relationships with male friends that led her to develop an app for men to track their emotional fitness. While she said the market is flooded with apps that focus on physical fitness, there is a lack of apps focused on mental health for men that speak directly to them.
"We've specifically designed Kilo for its core audience," Bender said. "We've created an app to transform men into happier and healthier humans."
The app, which is still in development, uses nine markers, like sleep, motivation, mood, workout and libido, where a user rates each marker to increase their own self-awareness and to receive personalized insights.
The company is seeking $600,000 in funding to hire full-time staff.
The judges were interested in how Kilo would market to men who might not be open to improving their mental health.
GLEAM Network
GLEAM Network is a nonprofit, volunteer organization that mentors and offers leadership training to underserved communities in the restaurant and foodservice industry.
Founded nine months ago by Sanjiv Razdan, former COO of Sweetgreen, GLEAM has ambitions to scale quickly and grow globally.
"The demand for our services is even greater than we anticipated and what's stopping us from global growth is funding," GLEAM's Rosemary Staltare said.
GLEAM is seeking $150,000 to fund a new technology platform that will help match mentors with mentees. With that money, it hopes to expand the number of mentees it works with to 500.
StartupStarter
Jose Barrera, founder and CEO of StartupStarter, sees opportunity with his social network for startups. All businesses are now internet businesses, he said.
"This is true whether you're trying to launch a mining company or a high-tech startup, the same principles apply that is you have to attract customers, convert customers, pay your employees, basically you have to open your computer, enter the grid," Barerra added.
The network has different membership levels for founders, service providers and investors.
Its goal is to democratize entrepreneurship through efficiency and convenience.
StartupStarter has begun working with startups because there is a single model, however Barrera also sees the business expanding to other verticals like restaurants because every business needs to know how to build a better website, for example.
Barrera is seeking $1.3 million in funding to develop a mobile app to expand to millions of users and to hire marketing staff.
About the Companies:
Unarmed is a technology company serving the public sector. Our mission is to create a safer world for all civilians. Our vision is to be the global leader in civilian-focused solutions. Our subscription-based, software as a service (SaaS) platform consists of an online portal where civilians can prepare, file and track their compliments and complaints ("cases") about law enforcement. Those cases then seamlessly flow into a dashboard, where oversight officials are able to manage the case until it is closed.
StartupStarter is a professional network for startups and the communities that support them. We are a collective of founders, investors, subject matter experts and service providers on a mission to make launching and scaling a successful business accessible to anyone. We're united by the idea that every business is now an internet business, and we strive to give the most user-centric and efficient experience by providing our members with the innovative resources, products, services or connections that best meet their needs.
GLEAM Network is a volunteer network whose purpose is to provide mentorship and leadership development to the underserved and underrepresented community in the restaurant and foodservice industry. With a bold vision to be a truly global and the most effective mentoring network in the industry, our organization provides low / no cost access to all programs, including executive leadership training, 1:1 mentoring and biweekly learning circles helmed by the industry's most inspiring leaders. At GLEAM we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn from engaging with others and to build expertise in leading effectively.
Kilo is an app for men who want to be their best selves, an app to track emotional fitness with powerful data like quality of mood, energy, libido, relationships and sleep on a daily basis to unlock actionable insights and cultivate growth in order to improve happiness and mental health. Building better hu[man]s.
About the Judges:
Redonna Carpenter Woods, senior vice president and market executive at Bank of America
Redonna Carpenter Woods, Senior Vice President & Market Executive at Bank of America
As the SVP & market executive for the L.A. coastal market of commercial business banking, Redonna leads a team of financial professionals who deliver strategic, integrated financial guidance and solutions to companies with $5 million to $50 million in annual revenue.
Redonna has enjoyed a career in banking that spans over 35 years. She joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2011. Prior to that time she held key leadership positions in SBA Lending, Consumer and Commercial Banking.
Redonna is the Executive Sponsor for Greater LA LEAD for Women and Multicultural Women Ready to Lead. She is also a member of the Black Professional Group (BPG), Power of 10, and the Black Executive Leadership Team (BELT). Redonna is an active volunteer in her community and has served inmany leadership roles and as a member of several nonprofit boards. A few of these organizations include: The Wellness Community – Valley/Ventura, Moorpark College Foundation, Conejo/Las Virgeness Future Foundation, and United Way of Ventura County, Big Brother/Big Sister - Ventura County and YMCA, Thousand Oaks/Conejo Valley. Redonna is a current board member for Discovery Cube, LA and Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Ajay Relan, partner at Slauson & Co.
Ajay Relan, Partner at Slauson & Co.
Ajay is an investor, entrepreneur, and community builder. Prior to Slauson & Co., Ajay was a founding partner at Queensbridge Venture Partners. With a keen focus on brand building and storytelling, Ajay's passion lies in identifying trends and engineering culturally relevant brands.
A lifelong Angeleno, Ajay has established a business portfolio grounded in community. His most recent collaboration, Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, has become a staple, facilitating productivity and collaboration in diverse neighborhoods across Los Angeles.
In 2012, Ajay founded #HashtagLunchbag, a nonprofit program who's supporting feeding 150-plus cities around the globe. He went on to establish the Living Through Giving Foundation, a platform empowering the creation of programs engaging diverse groups of people to contribute to various causes in their local communities.
Camden McRae , co-founder and investor at Industrious Ventures
Camden McRae, Co-Founder and Investor at Industrious Ventures
Camden McRae is a co-founder and investor at Industrious Ventures, an early-stage fund focused on industry transformation. He currently serves on the Executive Committee for BLCK VC, as well as the Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs of Southern California. Camden co-founded a company that led him to become a Fellow at Lightspeed Venture Partners and he later worked as a Fellow at Alchemist Accelerator. Most recently, Camden was a principal at Noname Ventures. He received a BA in psychology from Harvard University and a JD from Stanford Law School.
- Our Startup Pitch Showcase Events - dot.LA ›
- Watch: Our Startup Pitch Showcase on Real Estate Tech - dot.LA ›
- Unarmed CEO Tony Rice II Developed His Startup - dot.LA ›
- Urban Tech LA To Host 4th Annual Diversity Conference - dot.LA ›
- Event: StartupBrite Pitch Event - dot.LA ›
- Event: StartupBrite Online Pitching Event - dot.LA ›
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
Similar programs are common in the startup world and in the creator economy. For example, social media companies can use accelerator programs not only to support rising stars but to lure those creators—and their audiences—to the company’s platforms. Genies believes avatars will be a crucial part of the internet’s future and is similarly using its program to encourage creators to launch brands using Genies’ platform.
“I think us being able to work hands on with this next era—this next generation of designers and entrepreneurs—not only gets us a chance to understand how people want to use our platform and tools, but also allows us to nurture those types of creators that are going to exist and continue to build within our ecosystem,” said Allison Sturges, Genies’ head of strategic partnerships.
DIY Collective’s initial cohort will include roughly 15 people, Sturges said. They will spend three weeks at the Genies headquarters, participating in workshops and hearing from CEOs, fashion designers, tattoo artists and speakers from other industries, she added. Genies will provide creatives with funding to build brands and audiences, though Sturges declined to share how much. By the end of the program, participants will be able to sell digital goods through the company’s NFT marketplace, The Warehouse. There, people can buy, sell and trade avatar creations, such as wearable items.
Genies will accept applications for the debut program until Aug. 1. It will kick off on Aug. 8, and previous experience in digital fashion and 3D art development is not required.
Sturges said that the program will teach people “about the tools and capabilities that they will have” through Genies’ platform, as well as “how to think about building their own avatar ecosystem brands and even their own audience.”
Image courtesy of Genies
Founded in 2017, Genies established itself by making avatars for celebrities from Rihanna to Russell Westbrook, who have used the online lookalikes for social media and sponsorship opportunities. The 150-person company, which has raised at least $250 million to date, has secured partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to make avatars for each music label’s entire roster of artists. Former Disney boss Bob Iger joined the company’s board in March.
The company wants to extend avatars to everyone else. Avatars—digital figures that represent an individual—may be the way people interact with each other in the 3D virtual worlds of the metaverse, the much-hyped iteration of the internet where users may one day work, shop and socialize. A company spokesperson previously told dot.LA that Genies has been beta testing avatar creator tools with invite-only users and gives creators “full ownership and commercialization rights” over their creations collecting a 5% transaction fee each time an avatar NFT is sold.
“It's an opportunity for people to build their most expressive and authentic self within this digital era,” Sturges said of avatars.
The company’s call for creators could be a sign that Genies is close to rolling out the Warehouse and its tools publicly. Asked what these avatar tools might look like, the startup went somewhat quiet again.
Allison Sturges said, “I think that's probably something that I'll hold off on sharing. We will be rolling some of this out soon.”
- Bob Iger, Former Disney CEO, Joins Avatar Startup Genies - dot.LA ›
- Genies Raises $150 Million To Make Avatars For The Metaverse ... ›
It’s not exactly easy to understand what ProducePay does, so let’s get that out of the way first.
The Los Angeles-based fintech company essentially functions as a digital marketplace for produce that connects farmers to distributors and sellers.
“We go to your farm. We understand what your production capability is. If you need capital to achieve that, we help get that set up for you,” explains CEO Pablo Schwarzbeck. “Ultimately, we help you find the buyers—or for the buyers, help them find the sellers.”
Farmers (and distributors and wholesalers and shippers and retailers) only dot com!
To enable the trade of perishable goods like fruits and vegetables, ProducePay has had to become an underwriter for more than 1,500 farms across the Americas. Those farms can range in size from a few acres all the way up to multinational giants that supply hundreds or thousands of grocery stores. And the only way to figure out who to trust and how to lend money is by getting boots in the dirt. Schwarzbeck, who grew up on a fourth-generation farm in Northwest Mexico, spent nearly 100 days visiting farms during the pandemic last year.
“Do these people know what they're doing? Do they have any experience farming? Do they have the infrastructure to support it? Do they have accountants? Do they have a proper staff of people beyond farming that will ultimately be able to run this like a business? Do they have the partners to buy produce? Do we trust their partners?” asks Schwarzbeck.
ProducePay makes its money by taking a small percentage of each transaction completed on their site. It also lends capital to farmers and distributors it feels will be able to pay it back . And of course they’re also collecting and selling data on the cost and distribution of crops, among other industry insights.
“Our job really is to create transparency and trust that allows both parties to feel comfortable,” says Schwarzbeck.
The amount the company charges per transaction ranges from .5% to 10% and depends on the amount of value that ProducePay can generate for the client.
“We try to take about no more than one out of every four points that we get back,” says Schwarzbeck, meaning if ProducePay can help a farmer sell 40% more produce, it’ll take 10%. If it can only help them sell 2% more, the company takes 0.5%.
This sort of clinical approach to fintech underwriting has remained the core of ProducePay’s strategy since its inception. But this summer the company added a new pillar to their underwriting model: climate pricing.
With consumer demand for sustainably grown, low-carbon foods increasing, ProducePay is adding economic incentives to its platform to encourage farmers to lower their carbon footprint.
Through a partnership with ALLCOT, a company specializing in greenhouse gas emission offsetting, the fintech company is offering a way for farmers to access the carbon market.
Schwarzbeck says that many of the growers he works with were already practicing a variety of sustainable farming techniques. With ProducePay, they can now sell carbon credits on voluntary carbon markets, meaning they get paid to grow more sustainably. The specifics of how this plays out and which carbon markets are used can vary, but the idea is that ProducePay evaluates a farm, establishes how much carbon it’s using, and then recommends Climate-Smart Agriculture practices as outlined by the United Nations. Farmers can then practice strategies like crop rotation, minimum tillage and cover crops usage to reduce their carbon footprint. Once the carbon savings are calculated and confirmed by an external audit, they can be converted into credits and sold.
When used as a way for corporations to buy their way out of causing climate damage, carbon offsets remain dubious for a large variety of legitimate reasons. However, following sustainable farming practices can actually make a difference in the Earth’s carbon budget: Rather than buying a bandage for the damage a company is doing, selling credits incentivize farmers to do less damage to begin with. And Schwarzbeck says with consumer demand for sustainable produce constantly rising, adding the environmental pillar to their underwriting model has fundamentally changed how the company is doing business.
“Consumers are really starting to vote with their wallets,” he says. “That has been such a palpable movement in the market that has literally shifted how we underwrite the farmers right now.”
