socalTECH

MAY 31, 2012

Venice-based Grubwithus , which operates a service which helps connect people in real life with others over meals and food, said this week that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by GRP Partners, and also included Michel Daher, a Lebanese entrepreneur. Grubwithus previously raised $1.6M

GRP Partners 150

GRP Partners Seed Funding Venice Funding 150

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Despite the increase in startup activity in Southern California, local venture capital funds are still few and far between, and a large chunk of the funding here is still from Sand Hill Road. The firm just announced that new fund, and a new name, Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com). Tell us about the new fund?

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2012

textPlus , the maker of the popular texting application by the same name, said today that it has raised $18M in a new funding round, led by The Raine Group. Prior investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Matrix Partners and GRP Partners also participated in the funding.

Marina Del Rey 234

Marina Del Rey Gogii GRP Partners Mobile 234

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2010

Los Angeles-based venture firm GRP Partners is backing a prepaid card firm, Wave Crest Holdings Limited , based in Gibraltar. in a Series B funding round led by GRP Partners, which also included Park Ventures. As part of the funding, Brian McLoughlin of GRP Partners joins the firm's board of directors.

GRP Partners 140

GRP Partners Monrovia Venture Capital Los Angeles 140

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2009

Santa Monica-based Zag , which has developed an automobile configuration and buying service for affinity organizations like credit unions and automobile organizations, has a funding round of undisclosed size. Tags: automobile venture auto capital funding. READ MORE>>.

Zag 100

Zag Funding Tech Coast Angels Arcturus 100

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2009

Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online car buying software firm headed by Scott Painter, announced this morning that it has inked a deal with the AAA, to power a new service called AAA Automaker. Zag is venture backed by Anthem Venture Partners, USAA, GRP Partners, Arcturus Capital, Callaway Cars and the Skoll Fund.

Zag 100

Zag Services Arcturus GRP Partners 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Health Data Vision , a new startup based in Burbank, said this week that it has raised a Series A funding round, to go towards its software-as-a-service platform for medical records analysis. Size of the funding was not announced, however, a regulatory filing indicates the funding was worth $2.8M.

Software 159

Software GRP Partners Burbank Platform 159

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

A Silicon Valley startup is looking to take on Pop Up Pantry in its home market of Los Angeles, saying today that it has raised a funding round which will go towards expanding in Los Angeles, as well as Seattle and New York City. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 208

GRP Partners Los Angeles Course Services 208

socalTECH

OCTOBER 5, 2010

San Diego-based Kyriba , a provider of software-as-a-service used for cash management by companies, said today that it has raised $10.6M The funding came from Iris Capital, along with prior investor BRED Banque Populaire. According to Kyriba, the new funding will go towards growth in both the U.S. and Europe. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 124

GRP Partners SaaS San Diego Venture Capital 124

socalTECH

DECEMBER 14, 2010

Beverly Hills-based Snowball Factory , the startup behind awe.sm , the url shortener and analytics service, tweetpo.st , which updates Facebook from Twitter, and other tools, has raised $500,000 more, according to a recent regulatory filing by the firm. It's unclear if Suster's involvement is a personal investment or an investment of GRP.

Beverly Hills 162

Beverly Hills GRP Partners Yahoo Invest 162

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2013

In the latest roundup of fundings (big few weeks for San Diego, apparently): PatientSafe Solutions ($20M, San Diego, mobile health). Surf Air ($2.6M, Los Angeles, subscription aircraft service). LaunchpadLA Opens Up Spring Applications. Broadcom Powering New Mac Wireless. Surf Air Gets First Aircraft. Comment below! READ MORE>>.

Southern California 168

Southern California Technical Review SoCal San Diego 168

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that we have added Greg Bettinelli as a partner at GRP Partners. This is exactly the brand that GRP Partners wants to embody. So I began talking to him about joining the fund. So is that it for change at GRP for the next 6 years? Approachable.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2009

Santa Monica-based Zag , which has developed an automobile configuration and buying service for affinity organizations like credit unions and automobile organizations, has raised around $32.4M in a funding round. Tags: automobile auto venture funding capital. READ MORE>>.

Zag 100

Zag Tech Coast Angels Arcturus GRP Partners 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

Santa Monica-based Zag has finally revealed the total invested in its latest, strategic round of funding, saying Thursday that it raised $37.4M. The round came from USAA, and included Capricorn Investment Group, LLC, GRP Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. Tags: venture software capital automotive. READ MORE>>.

Zag 100

Zag GRP Partners Anthem Santa Monica 100

socalTECH

JUNE 10, 2009

Zag's technology provides a level of customization and detail on "fleet" style, pre-negotiated sales of autos, down to the accessory level; the firm has deals with USAA, Capital One, Overstock.com, AAA groups, and others to provide its service. Painter is the former CEO of CarsDirect.com. READ MORE>>.

Zag 100

Zag GRP Partners Anthem Santa Monica 100

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2010

Investments by venture capitalists in Southern California were up, both in terms of deals and dollars in Q2, according to the latest numbers from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Tags: venture capital pricewaterhousecoopers nvca finance moneytree thomson reuters.

Southern California 174

Southern California Orange County Rustic Canyon SoCal 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund. Greycroft is an early-stage VC.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

And we’re lucky because they deliver many of the great products, services and content that we consume in our lives every day. If your idea is so amazing that it warrants my hard-earned angel money or the money of my LP investors from our fund then why should I take a risk on you if you won’t take a risk on yourself? It was May.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. They’ve been a long-term investor in our fund – GRP Partners – and it was important to me to spend time with them in their home market and meet the people with whom they deal locally. Or a Skype.

Press 364

Press Course Startup Email 364

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

He said, “They need an unbiased view of the fund raising environment because there is too much misinformation and everything seems to be changing fast.&#. I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

I know of at least 2 deals from that cohort that are either funded ( Backupify ) or nearly funded (can’t really disclose, I’m not sure if it’s yet closed and/or announced. Jason & Tyler brought forward 5 high quality companies and super high quality ones rose to the top and quickly got funded.

Angel 254

Angel Technical Review Software Review Platform 254

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

And the fact that we’ve all worked for a decade with Dana Kibler who is our long-time CFO and now helping run Investment Operations & Platform Services we have a truly senior & killer internal team. “Getting the band back together” doesn’t stop for me with just our fund.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

He’d been working at a well-funded startup for about a year and had come to terms with the fact that the startup was really a pretty dumb idea. Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Tesla is not. Your Process Doesn’t Work. Prerequisites.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. Open cloud led by Amazon with their AWS services drove total operating costs down by 90%. Hedge funds out to be, well, hedge funds. There are also others.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 23, 2010

Southern California companies are second to only Silicon Valley in raising venture capital , there are three major universities to recruit talent – UCLA, Caltech, and USC – and a thriving startup community to mingle with. provides online service to compile and compare plans and rates across multiple monthly services.

Guide 42

Guide Startup Mahalo GRP Partners 42

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. Why aren’t there a half-dozen well-funded startups running up your tailpipe? Rincon Venture Partners and GRP Partners ).

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Ideas Entrepreneur Invest 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

For those of you who may not know about StartupDemo, it is an event that TechZulu and Schmoozd have partnered up to bring you some of the hottest startups around. StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. The Startups.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Topic discussion: Impact of social media on startups and on funding leads for investors. They make it easy to collect investment funds, track ownership, and provide targeted updates to investors. is a web hosting and virtualization service provider headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Surprisingly, Hollywood hasnt played a major role in the formation of new companies, which have tended to be in less glamorous though more lucrative areas like lead-generation and service (with obvious exceptions like JibJab and Hulu, a joint venture of Fox and NBC). My fund was an early investor in Overture. startup scene so hot.

Los Angeles 50

Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley. So it would be unwise to say that funding outside of Silicon Valley will be easier. As a result many funds are OK with big bets. Los Angeles.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle. When you think about the success that is Silicon Valley, the unfair advantage is not just the huge amounts of available venture capital. Who can get help get access to their capital?

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

If you care about accessing customers, reaching an audience, communicating your vision, influencing people in your industry, marketing your services or just plain engaging in a dialog with others in your industry a blog is a great way to achieve this. They achieved all of this before they raised even a penny of venture capital.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

We met at a private party hosted by his venture partner Mike Yavonditte and I outlined my concerns for the lack of precision of the algorithm. I had been hanging around Klout for a year and many of my friends had angel funded the company and were champions. So why not offer this service to startups at cost? SHOW NOTES.

Cornerstone OnDemand 303

Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303