TechCrunch LA

MAY 23, 2019

The Los Angeles ecosystem is $76 million stronger today as Fika Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm, announces its sophomore investment fund. Fika invests roughly half of its capital exclusively in startups headquartered in LA, with a particular fondness for B2B, enterprise and fintech companies.

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Funding Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles 218

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. Seed has become an option factory for many. And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way. That used to be called A-round investing. It’s just now that we’re Seed Investors.

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Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and seed funding is the hardest to find.

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Software Review Seed Funding Funding Startup 123

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Santa Monica-based GoCoin --one of the first BitCoin startups to emerge out of the Silicon Beach technology ecosystem--said today that it has raised $550,000 in a seed funding round, to develop a platform to enable the purchasing of good and services around the world with Bitcoin. angel seed purchase capital venture bitcoin gocoin'

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Beachbody Seed Funding Santa Monica Platform 211

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

Santa Monica-based Troy Capital Partners , a new venture investment firm led by Josh Berman, Brian Sullivan, and Samit Varma, has backed a veteran of TrueCar for a new startup called Rollick Outdoor. Rollick Outdoor is based in Austin, where Brenner was based while at Santa Moinca-based TrueCar. READ MORE>>.

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Truecar Capital Santa Monica Seed Funding 113

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Many entrepreneurs struggle with their setbacks.

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Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Xconomy

JANUARY 23, 2018

Now the tech investor, entrepreneur and filmmaker is at it again, leaning on some of the same investors to fund Skyhawk Therapeutics, a new company joining an emerging race to target RNA with drugs.

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Entrepreneur Seed Funding Startup Funding 72

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2014

in seed funding for its service, from such angels as Aaron Batalion (LivingSocial), Ben Huh (The Cheezburger Network), Naval Ravikant (AngelList), Paige Craig, Jillian Manus, Mike Walsh, and Structure Capital, along with Double M Capital, Venture51, Expansion, and Karlin Ventures. Honk is led by serial entrepreneur Corey Brundage.

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Help Services Demand Santa Monica 190

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

San Diego-based Deckard Technologies , a new startup founded by serial entrepreneur Neil Senturia, said on Monday that it has raised $4M in funding and launched a new company focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify property tax scofflaws. The company said its latest funding was worth $500,000.

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Artificial Inteligence Software Technology Riverside 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which In the U.S. Most share expertise as well as money.

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Angel Funding Venture Capital Seed Funding 126

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 7, 2016

in a seed funding round. The funding came from Aristos Ventures, private angel investors and investment from serial entrepreneurs, founders and executives from several high tech companies, according to the company.

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Artificial Inteligence Platform Southern California Seed Funding 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2013

The number of startups getting seed funding in 2012 jumped by 65% over the previous year to a total of 1749, according to a recent report by CB Insights. Seed investments” are early stage financings (typically less than $1.5 This is great evidence that the recession drag on funding new startups is behind us.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Seed Funding 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

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Entrepreneur Startup Equity Funding 96

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. Talk more about the ability to lead investments?

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Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

socalTECH

AUGUST 14, 2014

Vadio , the developer of a platform which helps match music videos and ads with streaming music , said Thursday that it has raised $2M in a seed funding round, which included Mucker Capital, Amplify.LA, as well as other LA investors. READ MORE>>.

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Capital Funding Seed Funding Incubator 138

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

in its seed funding round. Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups. disney startup accelerator walt angeles entertainment consumer funding venture capital techstars' READ MORE>>.

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Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. would you want to give up the right to invest in subsequent rounds?

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

A while back I heard a talk by Dave McClure, a long-time angel investor, who also proclaims to be one of the “new breed” of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, as CEO of 500Startups , which is either a micro-VC seed fund, or a startup incubator, or both. He is going gangbusters, and is now targeting a $50M second round of funding.

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Entrepreneur Startup Seed Funding Incubator 101

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat. There is a reason for this. You betcha.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

No, Jason Calacanis , the Santa Monica angel investor, and CEO and founder of Mahalo , isn''t bootstrapping a new company and reverting to the hungry''s entrepreneur diet. The size of the investment round was not announced. READ MORE>>. ramen software crowdfunding finance project development jason calacanis mahalo launch conference'

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Mahalo Sites Santa Monica Conference 140

socalTECH

OCTOBER 18, 2011

The accelerator said that it is aiming at helping entrepreneurs--particularly in the social and mobile technology space--in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange County with pre-seed funding and mentoring.

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Orange County Southern California Seed Funding Mentor 208

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

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Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Make sure everyone comes with an entrepreneur mindset for real innovation. In my experience, team members with an entrepreneur mindset are rare in mature companies, due to a growing focus on low risk fixed processes, narrow job roles with specialized expertise, and long-term tenure. Entrepreneurs crave more ownership.

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Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Customer 143

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. First, if the VC does 15-20 of these under one partner then it is certain he can’t spend any time with these investments. Let me explain: 1.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. Peter Cowen is Managing Director of Sutton Capital Partners, a leading technology investment banking firm focused on software and fintech.

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Capital SoCal Southern California SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

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Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Startup incubator seed funding.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. One of my favorite entrepreneur-Twitterer weighed in, “You want to keep tapping into their collective intelligence so you keep saying ‘Thank you for the feedback’ and they keep sending it,” Ms.

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Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 27, 2010

The Tech Coast Angels is stressing its mixer program, seed investment efforts, and a new website, as it kicks off a 2010 program, according to the angel investing group. The TCA is the biggest angel investment group in Southern California, and is among the largest nationally. READ MORE>>.

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Tech Coast Angels Orange County Seed Funding Santa Barbara 157

Xconomy

DECEMBER 5, 2017

Author, investor, and AOL co-founder Steve Case today announced a new $150 million venture fund aimed at pumping investment capital into tech companies in so-called flyover states. Contributing to the fund is an impressive group of some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital Startup 45

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. Social proof can be helpful. So What’s the Big Deal? Both are right. founder fighting.

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Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

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Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

socalTECH

DECEMBER 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based venture investment firm CrossCut Ventures (www.crosscut.vc) announced this morning that it has raised its fourth fund, CrossCut 4 , a brand new, $125M early stage investment fund. We spoke with one of the firm's four Managing Directors, Clinton Foy , about the big new fund and its investments.

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Funding Southern California Invest Riot Games 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and the seed funding is the hardest to find.

Software Review 106

Software Review Funding Startup Seed Funding 106

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 19, 2018

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. . After about a year of research, the company launched with an initial investment of $1.2 Elementary Robotics has raised $3.6

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Los Angeles Angel Artificial Inteligence CalTech 207

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. If you’re an entrepreneur, all else equal you prefer convertible debt because the deal is priced at a later stage when you’re worth more. Google’s investment in Zynga.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210