TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Elementary Robotics has raised $3.6 million in seed funding to begin building a manufacturing facility and expand its presence in Los Angeles as the city continues to grow as a hub for robotics and automation. . Earlier this year, Embodied announced a $22 million round for its personal robotics platform focused on healthcare and wellness, while InVia Robotics collected $20 million for its own take on the robotics industry.

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Los Angeles Angel Artificial Inteligence CalTech 207

L.A. Business Journal

DECEMBER 19, 2018

AvantStay, a West Hollywood-based hospitality firm that provides short-term vacation rentals to groups, announced Dec. 19 it received $5 million in a round led by Menlo park investment firm Bullpen Capital.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

San Diego-based EDF Renewables North America , which develops renewable energy projects such as solar and wind farms and Shell New Energies US LLC (Shell), said late Wednesday that the two are in a 50/50 joint venture to develop wind farms off the shore of New Jersey. According to the two, the area has the potential to produce approximately 2,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy.

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L.A. Business Journal

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Pasadena-headquartered Elementary Robotics Inc. announced a $3.6 million seed raise Dec. 19, led by Fika Ventures and Fathom Capital. Additional investors participating in the round included Toyota AI Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, and Osage University Partners. Elementary’s prior funding consisted of a $1.2 million pre-seed round in October 2017.

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Advertiser: Aggregage

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

Company

socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Elon Musk and The Boring Company have finally opened up their first, demonstration tunnel underneath the streets of Los Angeles, showing off a system which transports Tesla vehicles on guided rails under the city. The prototype system takes a Tesla vehicle down an elevator, sends it jetting through the tunnel at high speed, and back onto another elevator.

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Guide Los Angeles Company Companies 138

Xconomy

DECEMBER 19, 2018

RiverVest Venture Partners, a St. Louis, MO-based venture capital firm with additional offices in San Diego, CA, and Cleveland, OH, has raised $184.4 million for its fourth fund dedicated to investing in healthcare companies. Since its launch, RiverVest has invested in 47 companies working to develop new drugs and medical devices. Nearly half of the businesses in its portfolio have either been acquired or gone public, according to RiverVest.

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L.A. Business Journal

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Elementary Robotics raises $3.6 million; Musk shows off Boring tunnel; new chief at Snap’s hardware lab.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Fountain Valley-based gaming accessory maker HyperX , which is part of Kingston Technology, says it has acquired the naming rights to the HyperX Esports Truck , in a deal with e-sports company Allied Esports. The truck, formerly known as the Esports Arena DRIVE , is an 80-foot long 18-wheeler which contains a "self-contained" mobile arena for e-sports.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Entrepreneurs seem more quickly frustrated these days when their “million-dollar idea” doesn’t turn into a sustainable business overnight. They don’t realize that it takes many skills to build a business under the best of circumstances, and today’s world of instant gratification doesn’t leave room for the patience and practice to develop these skills.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Irvine-based BookingPal , which develops vacation rental distribution and booking software, said on Wednesday that it has named Simon Lehmann, the former CEO of Interhome, to its board of directors. Lehmann also previously was on the board of HomeAway, and had served as presidento f travel reseadrch firm PhocusWright. BookingPal is led by founder and CEO Alex Aydin.

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Xconomy

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Two of the world’s top drugmakers want to focus on making new prescription drugs. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have agreed to merge their consumer health businesses and spin them off into a joint venture, a move that will both create a new consumer healthcare giant and increase the pressure on each company to churn out innovative medicines. GSK (NYSE: GSK ) will hold 68 percent of the new company, with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) getting the remaining 32 percent.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Irvine-based TITAN School Solutions , a developer of nutrition software and services for K-12 school districts, said on Wednesday that it has raised $5.2M in its Series A funding round. The funding was led by Wavemaker Partners and Springboard Ventures, and also included RezVen Partners. According to Titan, the funding will go towards buildings its software, plus sales and marketing.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies announced on Wednesday afternoon that it has acquired a number of scientific imaging brands from Roper Technologies , in a deal worth $225M in cash. According to Teledyne, the businesses include Princeton Instruments, Photometrics and Lumenera, as well as other brands. Roper Technologies is based in Sarasota, Florida.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Los Angeles-based programmatic advertising platform provider The Trade Desk said on Wednesday that advertising technoloy platform developer PubMatic has selected the company's unified IT solutions on its sell-side platform. Financial impact of the win were not announced. The companies said the deal will help improve the impact and effectiveness of addressable audience reach.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and Swiss biotech company Molecular Partners AG said Tuesday that the two are in a collaboration and licensing deal, for the commercialization of a molecule aimed at the immuno-oncology area. According to the two, Amgen obtains exclusive global development and commercial rights for MP0310, a preclinical molecule designed to locally activate immune cells in the tumor by binding to FAP on tumor stromal cells (localizer) and co-stimulating T cells via 4-1BB (immune modulat

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Irvine-based CoreLogic announced this morning that it has completed its acquisition of Symbility Solutions , a developer of cloud-based, property claims workflow software for the property and casualty insurance industry. Financial details of the buy have not been announced. The acquisition was originally announced in October. According to CoreLogic, the acquisition will expand its insurance and international footprint.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

A new, Los Angeles-based content startup, Fiction Riot said this morning that it is plannig to launch a new mobile app, which developers short-form, video series for consumers. According to Fiction Riot, its new app, Ficto , will offer up subscription access to series from professional producers, writers, actors and artists, designed specifically for mobile usage.

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