Sat.Sep 25, 2021 - Fri.Oct 01, 2021

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Activision Blizzard to Pay $18 Million to Settle Sexual Harassment Suit

L.A. Business Journal

The gaming giant, which posted in $2.3 billion in quarterly revenue, also said it's working to upgrade its policies and training to prevent harassment.

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Landsat 9 Satellite Launch Scheduled For Today At Vandenberg

socalTECH

A launch of an Atlas V rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base is scheduled for today, to take a new Landsat satellite into space for NASA, according to NASA. The launch is currently targeted at 11:11am from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is north of Los angeles near Lompoc. According to launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA), the launch will also include multiple CubeSats, which will be released after Landsat 9 separation.

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Have you accidentally created a “power vacuum?”

Berkonomics

Here’s a question to help you decide if you’re guilty. How many times have you heard someone say, “Let’s do it now and ask permission later?” Have you done it in front of your cohort? That’s a common practice in companies where there is a barrier between levels in the chain of command, or lack of communication between people who work together or even for you as a leader.

Resource 156
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5 Keys To Sustaining A Positive Attitude In Your Team

Startup Professionals Musings

In my experience as an employee, up to an executive, in large companies as well as small, I’ve found that people who are consistently negative and complain are a big constraint on productivity, as well as the most difficult management problem that most business leaders face. The challenge is to get negative people to see themselves as part of the problem, rather than the solution.

Coach 148
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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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Meet the Tech Companies Keeping LA’s Music Industry Humming

L.A. Business Journal

The music industry in Los Angeles has grown to encompass far more than just production.

Company 295
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New Program Aims To Connect Startups, Series A Funding

socalTECH

A new program, run by the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, is looking to connect startups with Series A funding, according to the group. The Alliance said it has launched its new SoCal Venture Pipeline program, to help bridge a key funding gap for Southern California entrepreneurs, by connecting them to relevant venture capital firms. The new program is being run in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank.

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Assembly Reaches $1 Billion Valuation

L.A. Business Journal

Culver City-based ecommerce software and data company Assembly has joined L.A.’s tech startup unicorn club.

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Metro Wraps $129 Million Willowbrook Station Makeover

L.A. Business Journal

One of the largest light rail station overhauls in the history of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently wrapped up.

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Airdrop Service Dash Delivers Proof of Concept

L.A. Business Journal

In the 10 months Joel Ifill worked at El Segundo-based Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc., he said he “never felt at ease” making precision kinetic weapons, better known as smart bombs.

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When Scammers Go Phishing, They Hope to Reel In You and Your Business Data

L.A. Business Journal

There’s an old expression: “fishing for information.” It means that a person is trying to pry information from you indirectly. In today’s world, that old saying has been updated and modified.

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Foothill Gold Line Extension Paused as Funding Effort Dies in Legislature

L.A. Business Journal

A 3-mile extension of the Foothill Gold Line into San Bernardino County has been put on ice for at least another year as $550 million in funding for the project was dropped from a state surplus spending bill earlier this month.

Funding 130
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Tetra Tech Nabs Slice of $800 Million Federal Contract

L.A. Business Journal

Pasadena engineering and data analysis consulting company Tetra Tech Inc. has won a slice of an $800 million federal architectural and engineering services contract.

Pasadena 130
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7 Ways To Get Satisfaction From Your Next New Venture

Startup Professionals Musings

A common request I hear from aspiring entrepreneurs is for an assessment of their latest idea. I don’t even try to assess things at the idea level, since I can’t read minds. I can assess execution plans, if you have any. Yet I believe that business success is more a function of the person than the idea or the plan, so the best idea is one that is a best fit for you, and only you can assess that.

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6 Sweet Spots That Have Sustained Many Great Startups

Startup Professionals Musings

I n my experience mentoring new entrepreneurs and aspiring business leaders, I see far too many who seem to be driven by all the wrong reasons. Everyone seems to espouse extrinsic motivations, such as getting rich, having power, and fulfilling parent dreams, when in fact a focus on satisfying internal interests and desires will likely lead to more success, as well as satisfaction.

Startup 144
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Rocket Lab Inks Contract for Space Debris Removal

L.A. Business Journal

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said removing space debris is “highly complex" as objects in orbit travel more than 14,500 miles per hour.

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10 Keys To Getting A Role With The Startup You Desire

Startup Professionals Musings

In a corporate environment, the focus of a job interview has long been demonstrating your match to the skills and experience outlined in the job description. In my experience with startups, that is still necessary, but not sufficient. Today’s business world has become totally customer driven, so customer-centric and people abilities really make the difference between winners and losers.

Startup 135
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Well Health Names New Marketing VP

socalTECH

Santa Barbara-based Well Health, a developer of digital health software, said this week that it has named Robin Hackney as the company's Senior Vice President of Marketing. Hackney was most recently Chief Marketing Officer at FairWarning, which was recently acquired by Imprivata. She also has served at Azalea Health, Ingenious Med, Greenway Health, Equifax, and IBM.

Marketing 113
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Three Good Snags Pre-Seed Funding

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based employee wellness and artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Three Good announced that it has raised a seed funding round. The company says it has raised $700K in that pre-funding. According to the company, notable pre-seed investors and partners include impact investor Pete De Mare and Guitar Hero founder Charles Huang and industry leaders from Cisco, Dell, Riot Games, and HTC.

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Docupace Acquires PreciseFP

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Docupace, which develops cloud-based software for the wealth management industry, said it hacquired PreciseFP, a provider of data gathering and client engagement software. Financial details of the buy were not announced. Docupace said that PresciseFP will combine its capabilities with its automation, workflow, and operations tools.

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Morf3D, Starburst Aerospace Partner On Manufacturing Effort

socalTECH

El Segundo-based Morf3D, a metal additive manufacturing company which is a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, and Los Angeles-based space startup accelerator Starburst Aerospace, are in a manufacturing deal in Long Beach, Morf3D said this week. According to Morf3D, it is in a technology development partnership in its new Applied Digital Manufacturing Center (ADMC) in Long Beach, California.

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Evite Names New CTO, VP Marketing

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based online invitations service Evite said this morning that it has appointed two new executives, adding Thanh Khuu as Chief Technology Officer and Karen Graham as Vice President of Marketing and Brand. Khuu had previously served as Chief Technology Officer at ShoeDazzle, in addition to other roles; Graham most recently was Vice President of Marketing at Nordstrom for the off-price online and brick-and-mortar division.

Evite 113
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Acrew Capital, With Presence In LA, Launches Two Funds

socalTECH

Acrew Capital, the venture capital fund which recently added local Los Angeles investor Richard Wolpert as a Venture Partner, said this week that it has launched two new funds. The venture fund said it launched The Long Term View (LTV) Fund, a ~$380MM early stage fund and the Diversify Capital Fund (DCF), a $300MM late stage fund. Acrew Capital is specifically targeting more diverse startups; the fund's leadership is 67% women and/or underrepresented minorities, with over half of its team immigr

Capital 113
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Slingshot Aerospace Launches Space Simulation Tool

socalTECH

El Segundo, California- and Austin, Texas-based Slingshot Aerospace says it has launched a new, educational space simulation tool, which it says is aimed at workforce preparation, training, and education. According to the startup, the tool--which is aimed at novice users with no scientific background--teaches the fundamentals of astrodynamics, and provides visual representation of complex mathematics and theories.

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Virgin Galactic Cleared After Air Traffic Control Snafu

socalTECH

Virgin Galactic, the space flight and tourism company led by Virgin Galactic, has been cleared to fly again following an FAA inquiry into the company's re-entry from space in July. Virgin Galactic had been under investigation for diverging from its air traffic control clearance at it returned to earth with founder Sir Richard Branson on its Unity 22 flight.

Company 113
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Netflix Buys Night School Studio

socalTECH

Netflix, the online streaming provider which has operations in Los Angeles, said on Tuesday that it has acquired Glendale-based video game developer Night School Studio. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Night School Studio is best known for the title OXENFREE. According to Netflix, the acquisition will help it expand its games team.

Netflix 113
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Invoca Names New VPs

socalTECH

Santa Barbara-based Invoca, which provides call tracking and marketing intelligence software, says it has named Paula Schmidlin as Senior Vice President, People & Culture, and promoted Ben Sullivan to Executive Vice President, Sales. Schmidlin previously served in interim roles as Head of People at CircleCI and Thorn, and also previously was VP of Learning & Development at Epicor, in addition to serving at LSI, Cisco and Barclays (London).

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Immortals Shuffles Execs As CEO, COO Launch New Venture

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based esports organization Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) said this morning that it has undergone a "comprehensive corporate reorganization", which will see the promotion of Chief Executive Officer Ari Segal and Chief Operating Officer Tomi Kovanen to Co-Managing Directors of IGC. As part of the shift, the company said that Jordan Sherman, currnetly President and Chief Commercial Officer was promoted to become CEO of Immortals, and that it has hired Roberta Coelho as CEO of MIBR.

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Happy Returns Expands Network With Staples

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Happy Returns, which provides both retail locations for returns, as well as handles the logistics for e-commerce return processing, is expanding its network in a partnership with Staples, the company said today. Happy Returns--which is now owned by PayPal--said the partnership will offer box-free and label-free returns at more than 1,000 Staples locations nationwide.

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Sommetrics Scores $11M

socalTECH

Vista, California-based Sommetrics, a startup developing treatments for sleep apnea, said this morning that it has raised $11M in its ongoing Series C funding round. Names of the investors in the round were not announced, however, the company said they included existing shareholders and new investors in the U.S. and Australia. The company said it is targeting up to $16M for the round.

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Zymo Research Donates COVID-19 Testing Kits

socalTECH

Irvine-based ,a href="[link] Research, a provider of molecular biology tools, says it has donated one million COVID-19 testing kits to a molecular diagnostics company in Hyderabad, India. According to Zymo, the molecular diagnostics company, Mapmygenome, is a provider of personalized DNA testing, COVID-19 testing, and genetic counseling, and provides COVID-19 testing for incoming passengers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.

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VideoAmp Inks Deal With ViacomCBS

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based media software and data measurement provider VideoAmp has inked a partnership with ViacomCBS, where ViacomCBS will use the company's software for linear TV planning and measurement, according to the company. Financial impact of the win was not announced. VideoAmp said ViacomCBS will use its proprietary commingled TV Viewership dataset to guarantee linear media transactions against age and gender demographics.

Media 113
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Caylent Connects With $16M

socalTECH

Irvine-based cloud computing services provider Caylent has raised $16M in a growth equity investment round, the company said on Monday. The company said the funding came from East Los Capital. Caylent is led by CEO JP La Torre. The company offers up "container orchestration" software, which is used to deploy software into clouds, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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Future Acres Links Robotics With Plant Breeder Sun World International

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based agricultural robotics startup Future Acres says it has signed a collaboration agreement with global plant variety breeder and genetics licensor Sun World International to further develop its proprietary technology, the company said this morning. Financial details of the collaboration were not announced. Future Acres said the deal will include an initial testing and pilot program at Sun World's International Center for Innovation and will include collaborative commercialization

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Three Good Snags Seed Funding

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based employee wellness and artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Three Good announced that it has raised a seed funding round. The company says it is raising $2.5M in that funding. According to the company, notable pre-seed investors and partners include impact investor Pete De Mare and Guitar Hero founder Charles Huang and industry leaders from Cisco, Dell, Riot Games, and HTC.

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Beyond Meat Expands Beyond Chicken Tenders To Markets

socalTECH

El Segundo-based Beyond Meat, the developer of plant-based meat products, is expanding availability of its Beyond Chicken Tenders beyond restaurants, and into retail markets, the company said this morning. The company said that its Beyond Chicken Tenders will be available at Walmart stores and other retail chains across the US, starting in October. The product had previously only been available for the food service business, and in particular at Panda Express and A&W Canada.

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Karman Systems Acquires Systima Technologies

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Karman Missile & Space Systems, a developer of flight hardware and sub-assemblies for the space market, said Friday that it has acquired Systima Technologies, a provider of integration of mission critical space and hypersonic systems. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. The acquisition was supported by private equity investor Trive Capital.