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MAY 27, 2021

Los Angeles-based Topia, a startup which is developing video chat tools that work inside what it says are "fully customizable virtual worlds", has raised $5M in a seed funding round, the company said late Wednesday. The funding was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund run b Alex Ohanian, and also included Bonfire Ventures. The company said it will use the funding to build out its team and invest in its "creator economy.

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MARCH 9, 2021

Encinitas-based Ventyx Biosciences, a developer of immune modulators to treat inflammatory diseases and autoimmune disorders, said this morning that it has raised $114M in an equity funding round. The funding was led by venBio Partners, and also included Third Point, RTW Investments, LP, Janus Henderson Investors, Wellington Management, OrbiMed, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Farallon Capital, Vivo Capital, Logos Capital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Cormorant Asset Management, plus New S

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MARCH 9, 2021

Los Angeles-based in-home healthcare provider Heal has shuffled its CEO, saying last week that it has appointed Scott Vertrees as CEO of the company, replacing co-founder Nick Desai. Heal did provide reasons for the shuffle. Vertrees has been an advisor to Heal, and previously served as CEO of EasyPay Finance, where he still sits on the board; he also was president of healthcare technology company BidShift.

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FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has completed raising $850M in new funding, boosting the valuation of the company to an astounding $74 billion, according to CNBC. The funding--which has not been announced by SpaceX--apparently valued SpaceX at $419.99 per share, and is a steep rise from its previous round in August, which valued SpaceX at $46 billion.

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JANUARY 29, 2021

Santa Barbara-based HG Insights, which offers up information on technology and IT adoption to technology vendors, said this week that it has named Mark Richards as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Richards was most recently CRO at Nintex, a provider of process management and workflow automation tools. He also previously served as Vice President of Mid-Market, Inside Sales & Renewals at Symantec.

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JANUARY 29, 2021

Oxnard-based energy storage equipment developer SimpliPhi Power announced this week that it is extending something that it ihas been doing for the last ten years--committing 1% of its annual revenue every year to help provide energy access to communities. The company said the new effort, which it is calling IDEA, challenges its partners and other companies to work with nonprofit partners to provide electrification worldwide.

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JANUARY 29, 2021

San Diego-based Encodia, a biotech company which is focused on proteomics research, has raised $75M in a Series C funding round, the company said this week. The funding was led by Northpond Ventures and Deerfield Management, and also included GV, Alexandria Venture Investments, plus ARCH Venture Partners, Biomatics Capital, Decheng Capital, Tao Capital Partners, and Nan Fung Life Sciences.

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DECEMBER 9, 2020

Elon Musk , the CEO of Hawthorne-based rocket launch company SpaceX , has officially moved out of California and to Texas, he said on Tuesday. Musk has spent much of his time in Los Angeles, since founding SpaceX, in addition to Silicon Valley. The move comes after Musk threatened to move Tesla out of California as a result of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, and after he defied local health orders from the Alameda County Public Health Department to close Tesla's factories.

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DECEMBER 9, 2020

Los Angeles-based Aglet , which is developing a mobile game centered around "Sneakerhead" culture--the buying and trading of popular sneaker models--has raised $4.5M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Sapphire Sports, and also included Lakestar Ventures, Forecast Ventures, as well as angels att Miesnieks (6D.ai, Niantic Labs), Nate Mitchell (co-founder Oculus, Mountaintop Studios) and Greg Castle (Anorak Ventures).

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AUGUST 17, 2020

Santa Barbara-based Sonos announced this morning that it has named a current Microsoft executive-- Panos Panay , the Chief Product Officer at Microsoft--to the company's board of directors. Panay has been Chief Product Officer at Microsoft since April of 2018, also was corporate vice president, Microsoft Devices from July 2015 to April 2018, corporate vice president, Surface & PC Hardware from February 2013 to July 2015, and general manager, Surface & PC Hardware from January 2008 to Feb

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AUGUST 17, 2020

Logically , a developer of artificial intelligence software and a team of experts focused on news and fact checking, says it is expanding its news checking service to the U.S., and is looking to open up an office in the U.S. The company did not say where its office will be located, but made its announcement from Los Angeles. Logically says it is using artificial intelligence and a team of "expert fact checkers" to work with government bodies, social platforms and consumers to ensure safer electi

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JUNE 17, 2020

San Diego-based startup Trust & Will , which offers up online estate planning, says it has hit 100,000 members to its service. According to the company, the recent pandemic doubled the volume of individuals seeking its estate planning services. The company was founded in 2017, but only raised its Series A in December of 2019, when it raised $6M in funding.

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JUNE 17, 2020

Los Angeles-based Allset , a startup which allows users to book a table and pre-order food at restaurants, said it has launched a new app and website. The company said the upgraded app and website will make it easier for its users to find and gte food they want from local restaurants. The new app works on both iOS and Android. Allset also said it recently raised $8.35M in new funding, and has now raised $16.6M in total; details on the timing and source of those funds were not outlined, however,

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FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Irvine-based NGD Systems , a company developing "computational storage" devices which can run AI, machine learning, and analytics functions within data storage devices, has raised $20M in a Series C funding, the company said this morning. The funding was led by MIG Capital, and also included Western Digital Capital Global, Ltd. (the strategic investment fund of Western Digital Corp.), along with Orange Digital Ventures, Partech, BGV, and Plug-N-Play.

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DECEMBER 18, 2019

Michael Lynton , the LA-based angel who is Chairman and CEO at Sony Pictures, and also chairman of Snap, Inc., is one of the backers in a new startup focused on workforce diversity. According to Jumpstart , it raised $8.5M in a Series A funding round, which was led by Sequoia Capital, and also included Lynton and Joshua Steiner (Castleton Commodities International).

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OCTOBER 21, 2019

Calabasas-based GreenPark Sports --a new startup founded by Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube; Nick Swinmurn, founder of Zappos; and Ken Martin, co-founder of Blitz--has raised $8.5M in a seed funding round. GreenPark Sports says it is a publisher and developer of "fan-forward", digital experiences and mobile games for the new generation of sports and eSports fans.

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OCTOBER 4, 2019

Santa Monica-based Vertical Networks , a "mobile-first" content studio which was backed by Snap , has been acquired by New York-based entertainment and sports media company Whistle. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Vertical Networks was founded by Elisabeth Murdoch. According to Whistle, the acquisition will help its expand its lifestyle video content efforts.

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OCTOBER 3, 2019

Pasadena-based e-discovery software developer X1 has raised $5.1M more in a Series B funding round, the company said Wednesday, in a round led by Palisades Growth Capital. The round also included angel investor George Kadifa, the former head of HP Software. According to X1, the new funding will go to hire aggressively in development and sales. X1 is led by CEO Craig Carpenter and CTO Brent Botta.

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

FandangoNOW , the video-on-demand service run by Los Angeles-based movie ticketing and information site Fandango , has launched a new movie and TV store on Oculus Go and Quest , the company said o Wednesday. According to Fandango, the new store provides access to its catalog of over 90,000 movies and TV shows. Fandango said that FandangoNOW is available now on both the Oculur Go VR headset and Oculus Quest, the all-in-one gaming headset from Oculus.

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

El Segundo-based online postage provider Stamps.com said late Thursday that it has launched a new, international shipping service with GlobalPost, which will help ease its customer's uncertainty about possible international shipping disruptions due to the possibility of the United States leaving the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The United States--barring any last minute agreements--is due to leave the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the international body which governs the exchange of mail and pa

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Santa Barbara-based Sonos , the developer of user-friendly, whole home speakers, has rolled out its first outdoor speaker, a battery powered speaker called the Sonos Move. Sonos said the new portable speaker, which costs $399, will be available globally starting September 24th. According to Sonos, the new speaker is rated for falls, bumps, rain and moisture, dust and dirt, UV and extreme temperatures and features a rating of IP56.

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AUGUST 27, 2019

The University of California San Diego and engine and powertrain developer Cummins are in an effort to develop ways to reuse and repurpose electric vehicle batteries, Cummins said this morning. According to Cummins, the multi-year partnership with UC San Diego and its battery validation lab, will analyze viable business and technical approaches to effectively reuse and repurpose electric vehicle batteries.

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MAY 30, 2019

Is the future of flying vehicles finally here? We spoke with Steve Hanvey, CEO of Alaka'i (www.alakai.com) about the launch of the company's futuristic, hydrogen powered air vehicle, the Skai, on Wednesday. Hanvey told us how the company decided on the use of hydrogen for powering its multi-rotor craft, how soon he hopes the Skai will actually take to the air, and how long it will take to actually get the aircraft certified for flight.

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MAY 29, 2019

San Diego-based outsourced R&D services marketplace Scientist.com , and venture investor 5AM Ventures said this mroning that the two have tied together to create a new, R&D marketplace for biotech startups associated with 5AM Ventures. According to the companies, over 70 companies associated with 5AM now have access to a 5AM-branded R&D marketplace for resaerch outsourcing.

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MAY 29, 2019

Carlsbad-based Lumos Diagnostics , a developer of point-of-care medical diagnostic equipment, which is a spinoff of Australian company Planet Innovation and Florida-based RPS Diagnostics , says it has merged back into its parent firm, to create a new company. The new company will be called Lumos Diagnostics. Financial details of the merger were not announced.

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MAY 3, 2019

Thousand Oaks-based biotechnology giant Amgen has entered into a new collaboration effort, with precision medicine developer Syapse. According to the two companies, they will develop observational research analytics to assess treatment outcomes for areas of unmet need in oncology. The two said the joint effort will identify existing patients within the Syapse Learning Health Network that could be eligible for Amgen-sponsored clinical trials and seek to bring these trials to community health syst

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MAY 3, 2019

Santa Monica-based customer relationship management software developer Nimble is further enhancing its integration with the suite of products from Microsoft, saying on Thursday that it has added automated data synchronization and "data enrichment" for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, as well as Office 365. Nimble said its synchronization tool helps provide a complete view of business relationship within the company, gathering contact data from Business Central, Office 365, and other sour

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MAY 3, 2019

Santa Monica-based private equity investor Clearlake Capital has acquired a Cary, North Carolina-based developer of operations management software, Dude Solutions. According to Clearlake Capital, it acquired Dude Solutions from its prior, private equity investor, Warburg Pincus. Financial details of the transaction were not announced. Dude Solutions develops cloud-based, operations management software, which handles suh things as work order, inventory, energy, capital planning, facility scheduli

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APRIL 15, 2019

The core of the Falcon Heavy rocket--which was successfully landed on a drone ship last week, in the first commercial Falcon Heavy launch by Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX , has been lost in the Atlantic, according to SpaceX. Apparently, the Falcon Heavy's center core was lost due to eight to ten foot swells in the oceans off Cape Canaveral. SpaceX had landed the center core at sea, and two booster rockets on land in its launch of the Arabsat-6A high capacity telecommunications satellite.

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MARCH 29, 2019

MiLA Capital , the venture capital firm that is behind the Make In LA hardware accelerator, says it has raised its first official venture capital fund, officially closing its first fundraise. Size of the fund was not announced. The fund--led by Carmen Palafox, Noramay Cadena, and Shaun Arora--says it has so far made investments into 16 companies since 2015.

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JANUARY 16, 2019

Venice-based Snap , the parent firm of Snapchat , said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that Tim Stone, its CFO and principal financial officer, has resigned. According to Snapchat, Stone has decided to "resign to pursue other opportunities", saying that the departure is "not related to any disagreement with us on any matter relating to our accounting, strategy, management, operations, policies, regulatory matters, or practices".

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JANUARY 16, 2019

Redlands-based Renovis Surgical , a manufacturer of orthopedic and spinal medical devices, has been acquired by Japanese company Kyocera Corporation , Kyocera said very late Tuesday evening. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. According to Kyocera, it agreed to purchase the major assets of Renovis, relating to its artificial joint and spinal products.

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DECEMBER 12, 2018

Los Angeles-based Happiest Baby , the developer of a "smart" crib which automatically soothes babies to sleep, depending on their activity level and fussiness, has raised $23M in Series B funding, the company said this morning. The funding was led by Greycroft Partners, and also included Sallfort Bank and GV; the startup is also backed by Google Ventures, Greycroft, Lux, Obvious Ventures, Felecis Ventures plus Justin Timberlake and Scarlett Johansson.

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OCTOBER 29, 2018

Santa Barbara-based property management software developer Yardi has signed up Canadian property owner Mainstreet Equity Corp., the company said last week, to help Mainstreet Equity manage its multifamily properties across Western Canada. Financial details of the win were not announced. According to Yardi, Mainstreet Equity Corp. will use Yardi Voyager for property management and accounting, and its Yardi Multifamily Suite for marketing, leasing, maintenance, procurement and invoice and payment

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OCTOBER 29, 2018

Los Angeles-based car sharing marketplace HyreCar , which focuses on providing vehicles to drivers in the on-demand transportation and rideshare market, announced this morning that it has named a new COO. According to the company, it has named Henry Park as its Chief Operating Officer, focused on improving its end-to-end user funnel, streamlinining its rideshare insurance claims process and optimize customer service.

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OCTOBER 29, 2018

Irvine-based environmental services company Montrose Environmental Group said Friday that it has received an investment from private equity investor Oaktree Capital Management. Size of the investment was not disclosed by the company. According to Montrose Environmental, Oaktree will provide the company with strategic support and capital, to expand its footprint.

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OCTOBER 29, 2018

Los Angeles-based subscription box service Loot Crate has inked a deal to bring a new subscription box to Amazon's Subscription Box Store , the company said last week. According to Loot Crate, it will debut a new subscription box for pop culture fans on Amazon, beginning in November. Amazon said its curated collection of "fan-favorite TV shows, movies, and games" will feature more than four items, and has over a $45 value.

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