TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Shell’s plan to roll out 500,000 electric charging station in just four years is the latest sign of an EV charging infrastructure boom that has prompted investors to pour cash into the industry and inspired a few companies to become public companies in search of the capital needed to meet demand. Since the beginning of the year, three companies have been acquired by special purpose acquisition vehicles and are on a path to go public, while a third has raised tens of millions from some of t

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Company Companies Acquisition Equity 363

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Today we announce the results of the twentieth official round of the TechEmpower Framework Benchmarks project. Now in its eighth year, this project measures the high-water mark performance of server side web application frameworks and platforms using predominantly community-contributed test implementations. The project has processed more than 5,200 pull requests from contributors.

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Framework TechEmpower Blogging Report 280

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. received a contract from the Department of Energy to build and test power systems for future NASA missions into deep space.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

For today's interview, we sat down to catch up with Jon Waterman, the founder and CEO of Ad.net, to understand what the company's business is nowadays, how the company has evolved over the years, and how the company has adjusted to life during a pandemic. What is Ad.net? Jon Waterman: We envision ourselves today as a marketplace outside Google and Bing.

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Advertising Startup Google Commerce 203

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

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

How planning is done today. Most entrepreneurs and managers, when modeling their business operations using a spreadsheet, start with expected revenue by month. Then they calculate cost of sales, and then project their expenses, to find the bottom-line profit or loss each projected month. One way to think for tomorrow. There is a rarely used twist that makes lots of sense.

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.Net Sales Startup Equity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

We all know at least one entrepreneur who always gets things done, and appears unstoppable in his quest. All of you probably know many others who talk incessantly about their great ideas, but never seem to even get started, or they give up at the first obstacle. What are the attributes that make an entrepreneur unstoppable, and is it possible for people to learn to be unstoppable?

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Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Activity 164

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Los Angeles-based Seed Health, which is focused on microbial sciences, says it has acquired Auggi, a digital health company which develops artificial intelligence and machine learning software to track and analyze digestive health. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. According to Seed Health, Auggi has the world's largest stool image database, and has developed algorithms for automated stool image detection and consistency characterization using computer vision and neural ne

Artificial Inteligence 203

Artificial Inteligence Acquisition Los Angeles Mobile 203

Inverted Software

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Configuration is an essential part of every application. Misconfiguration can happen at any level of the application stack. From code, to web and application servers, databases and frameworks. Unfortunately, in most cases you will not found out your gaps until its too late. Here are some of the most common issues our DevOps have encountered: Deployment of development configuration to production.

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PHP Web Framework Examples 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

The future of work is definitely changing, accelerated by the current pandemic. There is always the next generation of workers coming of age who expect more, as well as the current generation already having the lowest engagement and productivity levels that business has ever seen. It seems they are both looking for more personal satisfaction and sense of purpose for their efforts.

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Tips Satisfaction Coach Mentor 159

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Insurance technology startup LeaseLock Inc. has ambitious plans to make security deposits irrelevant, and the Marina del Rey-based business now has significantly more funding to make that happen.

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Marina Del Rey Funding Startup Technology 243

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

TikTok and Universal Music Group said on Monday that the two are in an "expanded global alliance", which allows TikTok users to continue to use tracks from Universal Music Group artists on their social media creations. The announcement comes as Universal Music Group pulled its artists from TikTok's rival social media service Triller. Financial details of the deal between Tiktok and Universal Music Group were not announced, however, Universal Music Group described the agreement as delivering "equ

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Social Media Los Angeles Media Angel 133

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Mate Fertility , the new Los Angeles startup launching today with $2.8 million in financing, has a mission to create a more inclusive network of family planning services for people struggling with the high cost and low availability of fertility clinics around the country. Founded by serial entrepreneur Oliver Bogner and his brother Gabriel, Mate was born from both brothers’ struggles with trying to start a family.

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Lancaster Screening Startup Los Angeles 201

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

Change is hard. I see entrepreneurs every day who are trying to change the world with a new idea, and startups that are trying to survive their hyper-growth phase by changing processes to meet demand. In both cases, it’s easy for them to become frustrated and give up, since most have never been trained in change management, and don’t even know what questions to ask.

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Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 155

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

ServiceTitan Inc., the Glendale-based developer of management software for the home services industry, announced Feb. 2 that it had acquired Service Pro.Net Inc.

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Software Development Software Develop Development 246

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

San Diego-based Dexcom, which develops equipment for continuous glucose monitoring for people with diabetes, has launched its own venture capital fund, Dexcom Ventures. According to Dexcom, the new fund will seek to identify and invest in opportunities to supplement growth in its core business and advance the development of adjacent technologies for the future.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding San Diego 124

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

With the pandemic accelerating ecommerce sales nationwide, the founders of online flower marketplace BloomNation are broadening their business.

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Sales 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In my experience as an angel investor for new startups, I’m always surprised by how many entrepreneurs are looking for funding without outside advisors. An experienced Board can give them credibility, as well as advice on the many pitfalls of starting a new company. Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost.

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Startup Technical Review Equity Entrepreneur 142

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Well over 25 years ago, Michael E. Gerber wrote a best-selling business book called The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business.

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Technical Review Startup Social Media Satisfaction 136

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Starburst Aerospace and UCLA announced the launch of SCALE Aerospace Ventures, a startup accelerator and “innovation hub.

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UCLA Startup 130

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Virgin Galactic, the commercial spaceflight firm that is backed by Sir Richard Branson--and which went public in October of 2019--has delayed its planned spaceflight test for this weekend. The company said it has "decided to allow more time for technical checks" on its spacecraft. Virgin Galactic did not say what kind of issues it had encountered in the check.

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Company Companies 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Westlake Village-based Ember Technologies, which makes temperature controlled coffee mugs, says it has named a former Dyson executive as its new CEO for its consumer division. The company said it named Jim Rowan to the position, to head up marketing, sales, finance and operations for the consumer business. The company said Rowan has joined it board of directors.

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Westlake Village Research Sales Product 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Santa Barbara-based patient communications and digital health provider Well Health said this morning that it has added new COVID vaccination self-scheduling capabilities in its app. The company said the new features are through third party partnerships. WELL Healths ays it so far has helped its providers 4 million COVID vaccine-related messages and more than 1 million COVID vaccine appointments.

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Santa Barbara Help Company Companies 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Foothill Ranch-based LoanDepot, a developer of a technology platform to automate and originate mortgage loans, has raised $54M in an IPO on the NYSE. The company sold 3.9 million shares of its stock at $14.00 per share, below its estimated IPO pricing of 15.1M shares of stock at between $19.00 to $21.00 per share. The company claims it is now the second largest retail-focused non-bank mortgage originator and the fifth largest overall retail originator, with $79.4 billion of loans originated for

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Equity Pricing Platform Capital 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

San Diego-based Pipeline Therapeutics, a biopharmaceuticals firm focused on small molecules for neuroregeneration, said on Thursday that it has raised $80M in its Series C funding. The funding included Perceptive Advisors, Franklin Templeton, Casdin Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Suvretta Capital, Red Tree Venture Capital, plus Versant Ventures, Sectoral Asset Management, Cleva Pharma (a Brace Pharma affiliate), Hadean Ventures, RBV Capital and Helicase Venture, as well as several other undisclose

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Funding San Diego Venture Capital Capital 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

West Hollywood-based Assembled Brands, which provides capital to consumer brands companies, said it has put together a $50M transaction to support Win Brands Group to pursue M&A transactions in the consumer product goods and direct-to-consumer space. Assembled Brands said the funding comes alongside funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. Win Brands Group, which is a holding company, owns such companies as Homesick, Qalo, and Gravity.

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West Hollywood Capital Hollywood Funding 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Santa Monica-based Nobl9, a developer of software to help manage engineering, software, and reliability of software in the cloud, has raised $21M in a Series B funding, the company said on Wednesday. According to the company, the round was led by Battery Ventures and CRV--both of which were also Series A investors--and also included Bonfire Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Harmony Partners and Sorenson Venture.

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Santa Monica Software Design Organization 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Santa Monica-based private equity investor Clearlake Capital said this morning that it has created a new company, Newfold Digital, through the acquisition of Endurance International Group, plus strategic investment transactions with both Web.com and affiliates of Siris. Endurance owns the web hosting and domain name registration businesses Bluehost, HostGator.com and Domain.com.

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Capital Santa Monica Company Companies 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

El Segundo-based Slingshot Aerospace, which develops software which aggregates information from satellites, ground-based sensors, and more to help with situational awareness, has named Melanie Stricklan as its new CEO. Stricklan is one of the company's co-founders, and was most recently serving as Chief Strategy Officer. Stricklan previously served in the U.S.

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El Segundo Seed Funding Venture Capital Software 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Irvine-based Viant, which develops advertising software, had a successful IPO on Wednesday, selling 10 million shares of its stock at $25 per share last night, above its initial estimated IPO price of $19.00 to $21.00 per share. The company jumped all the way to $47.72 per share in its first day of trading. Viant is led by technology veteran Tim Vanderhook, who founded Viant with brothers Chris and Russ.

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Acquisition Advertising Pricing Software 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Los Angeles-based SoLo Funds, a startup which operates an online crowd-lending marketplace, letting users lend and borrow funds from each other, has raised $10M in a Series A round. The funding was led by ACME Capital, and also included Impact America Fund, Techstars, Endeavor Catalyst, CEAS Investments and others. The company says it has now raised a total of $12M in funding.

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Funding Los Angeles Mobile Capital 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Errol Ginsberg, the co-founder of one of Ixia, one of Southern California's most successful startup-to-IPO network equipment manufacturers, has died at the age of 65, according to his obituary. Ginsberg was co-founder and CEO of Ixia, which he took to an IPO in 2000. Ixia was eventually acquired by Keysight Technologies for $1.6 billion in 2017. Ginsberg's family said he "peacefully passed away" surrounded by loved ones on January 25th at his home in Malibu.

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Malibu Southern California Networking Startup 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

A new survey, by Los Angeles-based GoBankingRates, says that there have been "staggering effects" on Americans' financial well-being. The site said it recently ran a survey, which found that 40% of Americans now have less than $300 in savings, which is a drop compared to the pre-pandemic figure of $400 that the Federal Reserve had measured pre-pandemic.

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Los Angeles Sites Angel Company 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Santa Monica-based auto buying program operator TrueCar announced this morning that it has inked a partnership with Los Angeles-based HyreCar, to power an online auto marketplace for HyreCar. Financial details of the partnership were not announced. HyreCar operates an online rental marketplace for ridesharing, food, and package delivery services. According to TrueCar, it is launching the HyreCar Auto Buying Program powered by TrueCar, which will both help HyreCar's customers find vehicles, as we

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Truecar Santa Monica Los Angeles Customer 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

A new startup accelerator, SCALE Aerospace Ventures, launched in Los Angeles on Tuesday, backed by UCLA and Starburst, the company that had backed the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator. According to Starburst, is has launched the new accelerator in collaboration with UCLA, aimed at building an aerospace innovation hub in Los Angeles. Starburst said it was awarded a 2020 Venture Challenge grant of $1.4 million by the US Economic Development Administration to create the new accelerator.

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UCLA Startup Los Angeles Class 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has opened up signups for its Starlink satellite Internet, allowing interested customers to sign up for ordering the service on its website. SpaceX requests users' email and service address, and says that orders are "first come, first serve". The ordering page does not give any details on where, how much, or when the service will be available.

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SpaceX Hawthorne Email Services 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

Costa Mesa-based MeridianLink, a developer of loan origination, digital lending, and digital banking software, is in the midst of an IPO effort, according to a report. The report, from Reuters, said that MeridianLink is looking to go public via a SPAC, rather than a traditional IPO filing. The company has reportedly hired investment bankers for the deal; those bankers have not been announced or disclosed.

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