socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Kevin sold his last company, Santa Barbara-based Graphiq, in July of 2017 to Amazon, but has a long history of successful companies, including founding DoubleClick.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund.

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Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

Los Angeles-based 3Rodeo , a brand venture capital investment firm led by former Hulu executive Noah Heller, says it is targeting investments in startups in Los Angeles. Size of the new fund was not announced. 2017 has been a banner year for new startup funds in Los Angeles as well as Southern California as a whole.

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Venture Capital Capital Hulu Southern California 124

TechCrunch LA

JULY 3, 2019

Upfront Ventures , a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise its third growth-stage investment fund. Though the firm typically invests at the seed and Series A, capital from Upfront Growth III will be used for follow-on or late-stage deals.

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Venture Capital Funding Los Angeles Invest 193

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 26, 2017

While a good idea can thrust you into the limelight and the right connections can boost your chances of success, startups need funding to survive. Fortunately, there are thousands of options for raising capital, from angel funds and VC firms to crowdfunding campaigns and looking through your couch cushions.

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Funding Equity News Platform 70

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 16, 2021

Squarespace has raised $300 million in a round of funding that values the company at a staggering $10 billion valuation. New backers include Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Spruce House.

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SEM Commerce Los Angeles Funding 340

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 16, 2020

Milken is taking the plunge into institutional investing, joining Norton as a partner in Watertower Ventures just as the firm prepares to close on a $50 million new fund. We’re seeing a lot more companies that are starting up now as a result of a [the pandemic],” said Norton. “I see two things happen.

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Funding Southern California Los Angeles Invest 230

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Los Angeles-based Bonfire Ventures has closed its second fund, Bonfire Ventures II , at $100M. According to the firm, the new fund was oversubscribed. The fund is a boost from the firm's last fund, which closed in January of 2017 at $63M. READ MORE>>.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

Santa Monica-based Quid , which offers up a way for private company employees to gain liquidity even before their startups are purchased or have an initial public offering, said on Monday that it has raised $320M in a second fund. Quid is managed by Josh Berman, Anthony Tucker, and Samit Varma.

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socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2020

Los Angeles-based Upfront Ventures has just kicked off an effort to raise a new, $280M venture capital fund, Upfront VII, L.P. According to the filing, there have not been any commitments to the fund yet. Upfront--as is expected--has not announced any details on the new fund yet. READ MORE>>.

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GRP Partners Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 19, 2017

Saturday, March 25, 2017 -- Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum - Funding. The Snapchat Effect: How the company’s mega IPO may enhance the odds of your startup getting funded. Will we witness more venture funding and increased company valuations in the region? See [link] (more)

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CalTech Entrepreneur Funding Snapchat 100

socalTECH

JULY 1, 2019

Santa Monica-based Upfront Ventures has launched an effort to raise a new fund, worth $250M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. According to that filing, Upfront's new fund, Upfront Growth III, L.P. Upfront has not detailed any information about the fund, as is usual for venture investors in the midst of fundraising.

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Funding Santa Monica Capital Company 124

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

One startup that aims to help make the process simpler, cheaper and less stressful by helping people manage the home renovation process has raised $6 million to help it grow even faster. Construction tech startups are poised to shake up a $1.3-trillion-dollar Renovating a home is an exciting, yet often fraught-filled, endeavor.

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Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

L.A. Business Journal

APRIL 20, 2017

While venture capital investment in L.A. startups rose slightly in the first quarter of 2017, seed-stage investments went in the other direction.

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Invest 150

socalTECH

JULY 11, 2018

Pegasus Solar , the startup developing rooftop mounting systems for solar installations which is backed by Orange County's Okapi Ventures, has raised new funding, bringing its total raised to $10M in its Series A. The company announced the additional funding on Tuesday. Okapi has been an investor in Pegasus Solar since 2017.

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Orange County Funding Capital Startup 100

socalTECH

APRIL 19, 2017

Venice, California-based startup accelerator Amplify.LA reports that seed funding in Q1 of 2017 dropped precipitously, falling 42.2 percent from Q4 of 2016, and 43.8 percent, Year-over-Year. raised, from $2.8M in the prior quarter. raised, from $2.8M in the prior quarter.

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Seed Funding Funding Venice Venture Capital 124

Xconomy

JANUARY 9, 2018

Venture capital activity ended the year with a strong finish in San Diego, as investors poured $498.4 million into 61 companies during the last three months of 2017, according to Venture Monitor data released Tuesday. billion into 231 startups in the greater San Diego region, according to Venture. billion in 215 deals last year.

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San Diego Venture Capital Activity Funding 64

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 10, 2020

Team up with Black firms already doing the work. HBCUvc, which we first wrote about in 2017, currently holds a number of programs to help Black and Hispanic students enter the world of tech, from fellowships to micro-grants. Among the strategies? The program is expanding to Chicago in 2021, the blog post notes.

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Equity Technical Review Venture Capital Blogging 220

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2017

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Thus investing in startups should always be approached as a low odds game.

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Startup Angel Funding .Net 76

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Marcus has a long background in angel investing and company creation.

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Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

TechCrunch LA

MAY 14, 2020

Ettitude , the Los Angeles-based, direct-to-consumer startup making sustainable bedding and sleepwear from bamboo fibers, has raised a sustainably sized round that should keep the company going even in the face of an economic recession. she relocated and took her company with her. So Yu turned to AngelList, which is where she found Dey.

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Sample Startup Los Angeles Sales 184

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

Venice, California-based early stage, pre-seed investment fund and accelerator Amplify.LA pointed at all of the companies in Los Angeles that came out of the demise of MySpace, and argues that the growth of Snap is about to trigger another wave of startups in the market. In the report, Amplify.LA For its own part, Amplify.LA

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Snapchat Venice Los Angeles Report 100

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based online ordering software developer ChowNow has raised $21M more in funding, in its Series C funding, according to the company. The funding came from 3L Capital and Catalyst Investors, and brings the company's total raised to $60M. Chowow is led by co-founder and CEO Chris Webb.

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Los Angeles Funding Software Development Capital 113

TechCrunch LA

JULY 23, 2019

Now the five-year-old firm, with newly found significant capital in the bank , is attempting to replicate its success in international markets. On Tuesday, Haptik announced it has acqui-hired Convrg, a Los Angeles-based startup that develops chatbots, to serve customers in North America. We have done some business in the U.S.

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Los Angeles Angel Startup Google 209

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 12, 2018

seems like an unlikely place to grow one of the next billion-dollar startups in the booming Los Angeles tech ecosystem. But it’s here in the (other) Valley’s southernmost edge that investors have found a startup they consider to be the next potential billion-dollar “unicorn” that will come out of Los Angeles.

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Glendale Los Angeles Startup Technical Review 271

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 18, 2022

Things have already plunged so quickly at the signal of a recession that insiders fear a lengthy bear market could hit crypto far more brutally than expected — tearing tokens to lows far below the highs of the 2017 bull run. NFT infrastructure startup NFTPort raised a $26 million Series A round led by Atomico. follow the money.

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Newsletter Platform Capital Marketing 278

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

million in capital to build out its operations in 4 cities: New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago and Washington D.C. So how did a company that provides storage grow so fast (we’ll exit 2017 with 10’s of millions in recurring revenue), why is it so defensible and is it really a tech startup?

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Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Xconomy

JANUARY 8, 2018

In China, 2017 was the year of the rooster. But in the United States, it was the year of the unicorn—at least according to the Venture Monitor report released today by Seattle-based PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. venture funding to a total of $84.2 venture funding to a total of $84.2

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Venture Capital Activity Report Funding 59

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

On Lafayette Street in SoHo, young, fashionable women lined up around the block to enter a minimalist, millennial oasis, the most perfect Instagram feed brought to life. allocate 98% of their funding to startups helmed by men. It’s no wonder, then, how we’ve ended up with the paradox of the “girlboss.” .

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Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Last year at this time, SpotOn was on the brink of announcing a $60 million Series C funding round at a $625 million valuation. Fast forward to almost exactly one year later, and a lot has changed for the payments and software startup. With the new capital, SpotOn has raised $628 million since its inception.

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Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

TechCrunch LA

MAY 15, 2019

Furniture subscription rental service, Feather , is heading to Los Angeles and Orange County, California with $12 million in new funding and “thousands” of customers in New York and San Francisco. Feather launches a high-end furniture rental service for liminal living.

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Los Angeles Orange County Services Angel 126

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2018

San Diego-based Raken , a startup developing mobile software to manage construction projects, has raised $10M in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by U.S. Venture Partners, and also included Tao Capital Partners, plus earlier investors Eniac Ventures, Rincon Venture Partners and Spider Capital.

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Seed Funding San Diego Mobile Software 100

Xconomy

APRIL 10, 2018

Venture capital investors sank $547.2 million into 37 startup companies throughout San Diego County during the first three months of 2018, maintaining roughly the same level of venture funding seen in recent quarters, according to the Venture Monitor Report. It was almost 4 percent higher than the $526.7

San Diego 66

San Diego Venture Capital Funding Report 66

socalTECH

MAY 24, 2018

Los Angeles-based real estate loan marketplace PeerStreet the startup founded by Brew Johnson, Brett Crosby and Alex Perelman, said on Wednesday that it has just topped one billion in total loans on its platform. funding in April. funding in April.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Platform Capital Funding 100

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 15, 2021

Another travel startup that found itself scrambling to pivot as the COVID-19 pandemic took off is now announcing a huge round of funding after finding its feet and proving that it can grow, even under adverse circumstances. Los Angeles-based AvantStay has been around since 2017 and had only raised $25 million in the last four years.

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Platform Invest Los Angeles Funding 139

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2020

Homebound , a startup which rebuilds homes after disasters--and which has offices in Malibu--has raised $35M in a Series B funding, the company disclosed this week, bringing its total raised to $53M.

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Malibu Google Los Angeles Design 113