July, 2020

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From bioprinting lab-grown meat in Russia to Beyond Meat in the US, KFC is embracing the future of food

TechCrunch LA

From a partnership with the Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to make chicken meat replacements using plant material and lab cultured chicken cells to an expansion of its Beyond Fried Chicken pilots to Southern California, KFC is aggressively pushing forward with its experiments around the future of food. In Russia, that means providing 3D Bioprinting with breading and spices to see if the company’s chicken replacements can match the KFC taste, according to a statement from the comp

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Innovative Companies Turn LA into an AI Hub

L.A. Business Journal

The idea of artificial intelligence may conjure up images of robots and mechanical automation, but for businesses, the technology’s applications are much more wide-ranging.

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Crowdsourcing, collaboration, support groups. Oh my.

Berkonomics

At the MIT Center of Collective Intelligence, professors and graduate students are wrestling with an important opportunity – and gaining ground. With new collaborative tools available for use in the cloud, people are no longer isolated in their creative endeavors. Some label this “crowdsourcing,” a term used to describe one form of this new empowerment.

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Hollar No More, As Five Below Rebrands Site

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based, low-cost e-commerce products site Hollar is no more, and will be swallowed up by new owner Five Below , six months after the acquisition of Hollar by Five Below. According to an email to current customers of Hollar--known for its "dollar store" style, grab bag of products--Hollar will "soon become Five Below" and continue to offer up its $1 to $5 products, and occasional products of up to $10.

Sites 203
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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

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CES 2021 Is Now Officially an All-Digital Experience

Tech.Co

All the optimism in the world couldn't make an in-person CES 2021 happen, as the world's largest trade show has officially been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The cancelling of tech conferences was one of the first signs that the pandemic was going to be disruptive, and not in a fun, entrepreneurial way. From SXSW in mid-March to E3 in June, many believed these cancellations would help curb the spread of the virus, opening the door to more events in 2021.

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6 Keys To Measuring Return On Investment In Marketing

Startup Professionals Musings

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Even those things that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, as the market matures, the culture changes, and competitors appear with new solutions.

Marketing 174

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Video-Sharing App Triller Acquires Halogen Networks

L.A. Business Journal

Video-sharing platform Triller, which is owned by Century City-based Proxima Media, has completed the acquisition of Halogen Networks.

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What would happen to the business if you die, leave or are disabled?

Berkonomics

Yes, we’re invincible when young. When we are young and early in our business lives, we feel infallible to the degree that we do not think of what might happen if we die while in office or decide to leave the company for any reason. Such thoughts just do not occur to most of us until the business is substantially far enough along in its growth to have multiple layers of management and enough employees and stakeholders that there is a board of directors and calls for key man insurance and succes

Coach 156
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Snapchat Debuts Headspace Meditation Tool

socalTECH

Venice, California-based Snapchat has debuted the new meditation features that it developed with Los Angeles-based Headspace this morning, the new meditation-with-friends feature that the company announced at its Partner Summit in June. The new "Snapchat mini" feature lets friends simultaneously access the "Headspace Mini" feature, which are three to four minute meditation exercises.

Snapchat 147
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How the Tech Giants are Adjusting to Working From Home

Tech.Co

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies to embrace working from home. And for some, the transition will last much longer than others. Google has announced that its staff will work from home until at least July 2021. The company is the first technology company to publicly commit to keeping its remote working policies in place into next year, in an attempt to give employees more clarity on how long they would be working from home.

Google 158
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7 Tips To Getting A Bank Interested In Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. A question I get from time to time is “Can I ever expect any backing from my bank for a great opportunity?” The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework.

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LA’s consumer goods rental service, Joymode, sells to the NYC retail investment firm, XRC Labs

TechCrunch LA

After raising $15 million in financing from one of technology’s most successful global investment firms, the Los Angeles-based consumer goods rental company Joymode is selling itself to an early-stage retail investment firm out of New York, XRC Labs. Joymode’s founder Joe Fernandez will continue on as an advisor to Joymode as the company moves to pivot its business to focus on retail partnerships.

Invest 263
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Spot Parking Rolls Out Mapping Tool to Help Local Businesses

L.A. Business Journal

Santa Monica-based Spot Parking (US) Inc. is repurposing its mapping technology to build a tool that helps business communities stay on top of ever-changing Covid-19 regulations.

Tool 246
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Selling your company for less than expected?

Berkonomics

How about outside investors? Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Most all experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is the unfortunate truth that half of their investments fail, on average, within the first several years of the investment.

Company 156
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MomentFeed Finds $10M More

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software used by retail brands for optimizing mobile and proximity searches, has raised $10M more in funding, the company said on Thursday. The funding was led by Level Equity, and also included Signia Venture Partners, Draper Nexus, and DFJ Frontier, all prior investors. The company says it has now raised $38.3M in total.

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Fixing the Top Fundraising Mistakes Startup Entrepreneurs Make

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, August 3, 2020 -- Fixing the Top Fundraising Mistakes Startup Entrepreneurs Make. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Scott Fox, CEO of the OC Startup Council, for a discussion of the top mistakes that early stage entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups for funding. Together they will review the challenges that face startup founders, including how to avoid the most common problems in pitch deck slide presentations, developing new products/services, finding first customers, buil

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5 Startup Stages And The Right Investors For Each One

Startup Professionals Musings

Time is too precious to waste trying to close a deal with the wrong investors at the wrong time. Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup.

Startup 148
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Humana partners with Heal and invests $100 million in the company’s doctor-on-demand service

TechCrunch LA

“The doctor’s office is dead.” That’s the way Nick Desai, the co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based startup Heal describes the future of traditional healthcare delivery. While Desai’s bluster may be wishful thinking, the doctor’s office is certainly changing, and that’s thanks in part to companies like Heal, which offer in-home and telemedical consultations — and health insurance providers like Humana that are backing them.

Services 244
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eTailPet Helps Small Stores Boost Their Online Presence

L.A. Business Journal

Santa Monica-based eTail Pet Inc. is giving small pet stores a longer leash in the digital space.

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An economics lesson for growing companies

Berkonomics

Catching up from past insights. Growing companies usually require more working capital during their periods of rapid growth. In past insights we have calculated the amount of additional capital needed for a business as it grows, and the additional capital required is often surprisingly large. In this insight, we need to speak of the sources of working capital and the implications to the future financial health of the choices made when selecting one financial resource.

Company 156
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MomentFeed Rolls Out New Proximity Search Dashboard

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software to help multi-location brands manage their reviews, location listings, and much more, says it has rolled out a new product. According to MomentFeed, its new Proximity Search Optimization Dashboard allows multi-location brands to easily monitor and manage how well their local marketing efforts are performing.

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How Equity Crowdfunding helps achieve Success

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, July 20, 2020 -- How Equity Crowdfunding helps achieve Success. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Bruce Virga to discuss how funding platforms connect everyday investors to growth-focused businesses, helping both parties to achieve success. We will further dive into what entrepreneurs need to know before embarking on a capital raise via equity crowdfunding and, conversely, best investment practices.

Equity 100
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7 Startup Marketing Strategies To Bring In Customers

Startup Professionals Musings

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROMI).

Customer 146
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LA-based Replicated adds former GitLab head of product as its chief product officer

TechCrunch LA

Replicated , the Los Angeles-based company pitching monitoring and management services for Kubernetes-based applications, has managed to bring on the former head of product of the $2.75 billion-valued programming giant GitLab as its new chief product officer. . Mark Pundsack is joining the company as it moves to scale its business. At GitLab, Pundsack saw the company grow from 70 employees to 1,300 as it scaled its business through its on-premise offerings.

Product 244
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AEG Plans 5G for Staples Center, LA Live by 2021

L.A. Business Journal

Instantaneous livestreaming and multi-angle replay might become a reality next year for music and sports fans at Staples Center and L.A. Live.

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How to make the most useful dashboard

Berkonomics

The need for real time information. From sports car to aircraft to super tanker, successful operation depends upon the pilot’s understanding and urgent timely use of a dashboard. Real time information is critical to real time decision-making, and increasingly in the modern business world, decisions are made by management without extended meetings or discussion with others.

Metrics 156
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JetBlue Deploys UV Cleaning Robot From LA Startup In COVID-19 Fight

socalTECH

JetBlue has become the very first airline to deploy high tech, ultraviolet cleaning robots--developed by an LA startup--in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. JetBlue said on Wednesday that it has begun using Honeywell's UV Cabin System to disinfect cabins in "less than 10 minutes" using UV light. That Honeywell UV Cabin System was developed and licensed from Los Angeles-based Dimer LLC, maker of the "GermFalcon" germicidal lighting systems, back in June.

High Tech 140
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AltaSea, Milken Institute and Santa Monica College: Mobilizing an Ocean Economy Workforce in California

SoCal Tech Calendar

Friday, July 17, 2020 -- AltaSea, Milken Institute and Santa Monica College: Mobilizing an Ocean Economy Workforce in California. Join AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles for the second of back-to-back webinars focused on the blue economy. Panelists include: Tim McOsker, CEO of AltaSea; Matt Horton, Director of Public Policy for the Milken Institute; Dr.

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10 Steps To A New Venture That Can Change The World

Startup Professionals Musings

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( 200 on Wikipedia ), or another dating site/app ( over 1500 in the USA ). Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare.

Metrics 144
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Play the prologue of ‘Linda & Joan,’ a video game about the worst year of its creator’s life

TechCrunch LA

It’s not hard to see why Russell Quinn calls 2017 the worst year of his life. That was the year he moved back to the United Kingdom to take care of his mother, and the year in which both his mother and grandmother died within a month of each other. Quinn recalled returning to Los Angeles afterwards and “trying to unpack all of this trauma that had happened.” During that time, he said he was “reading a lot about how other creative people dealt with grief” and realize

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Fitness App FitOn Reports 200% Increase in Users

L.A. Business Journal

Century City-based FitOn Inc. is trying to turn the phone into a pocket-sized gym.

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VelosBio Tacks on $137M to Advance Its ROR1-Targeting Cancer Antibody Drugs

Xconomy

Dave Johnson has known UC San Diego physician and cancer reseacher Thomas Kipps for nearly 20 years. Now Johnson, CEO of San Diego-based cancer drug developer VelosBio, has secured $137 million to accelerate the company’s goal of developing targeted therapies based on an antibody program developed by Kipps that homes in on tumors with a specific genetic signature.

San Diego 121
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HelpWith Black Equity Launches To Connect Volunteers With Racial Equity Efforts

socalTECH

A new effort-- HelpWith Black Equity , said on Tuesday that it has launched, to help connect people with time and skills to projects advancing racial equity across the globe. The new effort--powered by social impact company Deed, the company founded by former YCombinator President Sam Altman--said the new virtual, skills-based volunteering platform is based on a similar platform, HelpWith COVID, which was created by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help connect people helping in assisting wit

Equity 140
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AltaSea and LAEDC: Latest Cutting-Edge Tech Companies Are All Wet.

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, July 16, 2020 -- AltaSea and LAEDC: Latest Cutting-Edge Tech Companies Are All Wet. Join AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles for the first of back-to-back webinars focused on the blue economy. The July 16 webinar will be moderated by multi-Emmy award-winning journalist, Val Zavala. Panelists will include: Tim McOsker, CEO of AltaSea; Bill Allen, CEO of LAEDC; Rusty Jehangir, Founder and CEO of Blue Robotics; Kelly Stromberg, Co-Founder and COO of Holdfast Aquaculture.

Company 100
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10 Startup Principles To Validate Fit Prior To A Plan

Startup Professionals Musings

If you are one of the new age of entrepreneurs who hates the thought of doing a business plan as a first step in starting your new venture you will love this message. More and more professionals agree that a better strategy is to explore and fine tune your assumptions before declaring a specific plan with financial projections based only on your dream and passion.

Startup 143
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Investors drop off $33 million for Chowbus, a delivery service for ‘mom and pop’ Asian restaurants

TechCrunch LA

When big platforms have carved out large swaths of the delivery market, the best thing for an upstart company to do is to specialize. For Chowbus , that meant building a food-delivery business that finds restaurants whose cuisines specialize in regional cuisines from Northern and Southern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s a strategy that has now netted the company $33 million in financing led by the Silicon Valley-based investment firm Altos Ventures and New YorkR

Services 187