Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. Mobile and web software apps may cost even less. Some VC firms are bogged down by their own weight.

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JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Congrats on the new name for your venture capital firm. It's always hard with venture capital. I was blown away.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? It was 1991.

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APRIL 30, 2019

Irvine-based Specright , a developer of specification data management software, has raised $8.8M in a Series A funding, according to the company. The startup said the funding was led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital (PGVC), and also included Okapi Venture Capital, Fika Ventures, and Mucker Capital.

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Xconomy

MAY 2, 2019

A new venture capital firm, which in November marked its launch by raising a $53 million-plus fund to invest in startups, has made its first investment. The duo built a proprietary software system to help them find companies that fit its parameters, which is what led Blueprint to Sunwave, Lewis said.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Many of the start-ups my various angel funds have financed died a slow death , not because of poor concept but because of poor execution, wasting fixed overhead and draining the financial resources from the company coffers. Growth before the VC arrived was not a problem. All investors, including the VC firm, lost everything.

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AUGUST 30, 2021

Los Angeles-based Sugar, which develops software to help manage apartment and residential living, has raised $2.5M in a seed funding round, according to the company. The company develops software for residential communities, handling rent payment and other tasks. The company is led by foudner and CEO Fatima Dicko.

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JANUARY 10, 2023

La Jolla-based Personal AI, which is developing artificial intelligence software to help users draft personal messages, retain, and recall personal information, has raised $7.8M in a seed funding round.

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AUGUST 14, 2019

Seal Beach-based CUDDLY , a developer of software and technology to help non-profit, animal rescue organizations, announced on Tuesday afternoon that it has received an investment from an angel investor. Size of the investment was not announced. Size of the investment was not announced. CUDDLY is led by CEO and Founder John J.

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JULY 22, 2013

Encinitas-based ForwardMetrics has just taken $1M in a seed funding round, to help companies better conduct their strategic planning. The startup said that the new funding round brings its total raised to $1.75M. Source of the seed funding was not announced. READ MORE>>.

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NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Los Angeles-based Parabol , a startup developing software management tools, used to manage the efforts of development teams, has raised $4M in a funding round, the company said this morning. The funding came from CRV, Haystack, and the SlackFund.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

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JULY 22, 2020

Los Angeles-based CreatorIQ which develops influencer marketing software, has raised $24M in a Series C funding round, the company said on Wednesday. The funding was led by Kayne Partners Fund, a private equity fund managed by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. Below is the outline Upfront.

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SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

Los Angeles-based employee wellness and artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Three Good announced that it has raised a seed funding round. in that funding. The company says it is using both artificial intelligence and traditional psychology to help companies beat employee burnout.

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JUNE 24, 2021

San Diego-based Drata, a startup working on security and compliance automation software, said it has raised $25M in its Series A funding. The funding was led by GGV Capital, and also included Okta Ventures, Silicon Valley CISO Investors (SVCI), Cowboy Ventures, and Leaders Fund.

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MARCH 18, 2014

Irvine-based Bitvore , a startup developing big data and intelligence-gathering software which pulls information from both public and private data sources for businesses, said this morning that it has closed a $4.5M, Series A funding round. The funding was led by serial entreprenur Yuri Pikover, as well as $1M from crowdfunding.

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JULY 18, 2013

in venture capital investments in Q2 2013 across Southern California, spread across 80 deals. However, venture dollars invested were above Q1, when Southern California saw $569.1M However, venture dollars invested were above Q1, when Southern California saw $569.1M in investments across 90 deals.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

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NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Los Angeles-based Boulevard , which develops software to help salons manage their business operations, has raised $27M more in a Series B funding, the company announced on Monday. The funding was co-led by Index Ventures and Toba Capital, and also include VMG Partners, Bonfire Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, and BoxGroup.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology.

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MARCH 10, 2021

Los Angeles- and Tel-Aviv-based LinearB, a startup developing software used by both Agile and DevOps team for managing their projects, has raised $16M in its Series A funding, the company announced today. The funding was led by Battery Ventures, and also included 83North and Ariel Maislos, plus TechAviv Founder Partners.

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JUNE 19, 2014

San Diego-based Qualcomm Ventures , the venture capital arm of Qualcomm, is backing the developing of software to help home care agencies manage their workers and operations. clearcare home care agency software back office saas venture capital qualcomm' ClearCare is based in San Franciso.

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NOVEMBER 27, 2017

LeafLink , a startup that develops e-commerce software for the cannabis dispensary market, has expanded its operations into Los Angeles ahead of the sales of recreational marijuana in January, with a $10M funding. LeafLink's software helps cannabis dispensaries with branding, marketing, and e-commerce sales.

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JANUARY 18, 2019

San Diego-based PetDesk , a developer of software used by veterinarians, announced Friday morning that it has raised $12M in a Series B funding round. The funding came from PeakSpan Capital. PetDesk develops online software used to manage veterinary practices.

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JANUARY 4, 2011

Newport Beach-based LiveTime Software , a provider of Web 2.0 service desk software, has raised a round of debt funding, according to funding provider Agility Capital. Financial details of the debt funding were not disclosed. According to Agility, LiveTime will use the funding to support its growth.

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MARCH 6, 2017

San Diego-based Raken has raised $2M in a funding round, for the company's construction reporting and compliance software. The funding was led by Rincon Venture Partners , and also included Eniac Ventures and Spider Capital.

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SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Agoura Hills-based Estify , a developer of software to help auto body shops creates estimates on repair for auto insurers, has raised $6.3M in a Series A funding, the company disclosed today. The funding came from Romulus Capital along with ff Venture Capital. Estify was founded by Jordan Furniss.

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SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

North Hollywood-based ConsejoSano , a developer of patient experience and engagement software, aimed at payers, providers, and health care systems, has scored a round of "impact" funding, the company said this week. Tyson Impact Fund, which is administered by the American Heart Association. According to the two, The Bernard J.

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Irvine-based billing and payments software startup Chargezoom has raised $2M in a seed funding round, the company said on Wednesday. The funding was led by Okapi Venture Capital and also included Saas Ventures. Chargezoom said the new funding will go to continue scaling its product and team.

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OCTOBER 30, 2012

A new, Altadena-based startup, Rexter , has scored some funding to help it build its software algorithms and tools to help manage a user's professional relationships. Other investors in the company have not been announced. READ MORE>>.

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APRIL 10, 2013

Two, Orange County venture capital investors are behind a developer of socially-driven, healthcare software aimed at helping health plans encourage healthy activity by their members. welltok health wellness venture capital healthplan plan program okapi miramar' Welltok said today that it has raised $18.7M

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FEBRUARY 4, 2020

more in funding, the company announced on Tuesday. The funding came from prior investor Crosscut Ventures. Retina develops customer lifetime value software which companies used to determine how much their customers are worth to them, helping them to optimize their cost-per-acquisition. READ MORE>>.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Clearstone currently invests out of a $200 million fund based in LA with offices in Menlo Park and in India. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”.

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OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. Tempus Fugit.

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MARCH 6, 2015

At the time almost nobody had heard of the following funds: FirstRound Capital, TrueVentures, Floodgate and SoftTech. But back in 2005 there were a few people who spotted the trend before others and one of the true pioneers was (and continues to be) Jeff Clavier who founded SoftTech VC. But not many others.

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