socalTECH

AUGUST 21, 2019

Santa Monica-based Tala , the fintech startup led by CEO Shivani Siroya, has raised $110M more in a Series D funding round, the company said this morning. The funding was led by RPS Ventures, and also included GGV Capital, IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective VC, ThomVest Ventures, and PayPal.

Funding 113

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Mobile 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Second, we are announcing officially that we are moving our offices from Century City to Santa Monica. But in Los Angeles, Santa Monica is akin to SoMa in San Francisco, Cambridge in the Boston area or Flatiron / Union Square in NYC.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2019

Santa Monica-based Fair , which operates a vehicle subscription service that lets users subscribe to gain access to cars without the restrictions of a traditional lease, has raised $100M in a combined debt facility and equity investment, the company said this morning. The debt facility was provided by Ally Financial.

Equity 100

Equity Invest Santa Monica Tool 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “ Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” Build out our junior staff including pulling through some younger professionals into the investment ranks. Invest more heavily in platform services.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Journal Invest Santa Monica 150

socalTECH

DECEMBER 10, 2014

Santa Monica-based venture capital investor March Capital Partners --the new investment firm led by longtime Southern California venture capital veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken, and Jamie Montgomery--has made an investment in cloud application infrastructure developer Appcito.

Capital 147

Capital Clearstone Southern California Santa Monica 147

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Santa Monica-based Tuition.io , which helps employers offer up student loan repayment assistance as part of their employee benefits, has raised $7M in a Series B funding round, the company said today. says so far that it has signed up such clients as Live Nation, Staples and Fidelity Investments to its programs.

Funding 133

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Sales 133

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2015

Santa Monica-based ,a href="[link] OnDemand , the developer of cloud-based, talent management software, said this morning that it has made investments in four companies, from the Cornerstone Innovation Fund. Size of the investments in each company were not announced. READ MORE>>.

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand Invest Company Companies 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. To provide an opportunity for VCs and senior executives to engage with the community by giving back rather than just attending more cocktail parties.

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Are you an entrepreneur looking for a sympathetic ear from a local venture capitalist on your idea? Karlin said its will be holding office hours every Thursday, starting February 21st, at ROC Santa Monica, as part of an effort to help aspiring entrepeneurs. READ MORE>>.

Orange County 180

Orange County Tech Coast Angels Santa Monica Southern California 180

socalTECH

OCTOBER 18, 2013

Santa Monica-based CrossCut Ventures , the venture capital investment firm founded by Rick Smith, Brian Garrett, and Brett Brewer, has received a new credit facility from Square 1 Bank, Square 1 announced this week. Venture capital companies typically only call capital from their LPs on an infrequent basis.

Santa Monica 153

Santa Monica Venture Capital Capital Invest 153

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Santa Monica-based online car buying technology provider TrueCar said this morning that it has raised $30M in a new round of funding, from Vulcan Capital, the venture funding arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. TrueCar''s other investors are Upfront Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group, USAA, and Allen & Company.

Truecar 187

Truecar Capital Santa Monica Venture Capital 187

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2018

The Montgomery Summit (www.montgomerysummit.com), which kicked off on Wednesday, and continues today in Santa Monica, is one of the biggest gathering places for venture capital, private equity investors, and technology executives from around the globe. We also had Sue Seigel, the Chief Innovation Officer at GE Ventures.

Southern California 113

Southern California Santa Monica Artificial Inteligence Conference 113

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2012

Santa Monica-based Playsino , the developer of social casino games, said Friday that it has released the first two games under its Publishing Network effort. Playsino recently announced an effort to bring third party, social casino games into its ecosystem, where it wlil help market and support games not designed by the company.

Networking 226

Networking Clearstone Santa Monica Venture Capital 226

socalTECH

JULY 3, 2013

Santa Monica-based Engrade announced this morning that it has raised $5M in a Series B funding round, for the company''s district-level education platform. The funding was led by Javelin Venture Partners, and also included Rethink Education, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Kapor Capital, Expansion Capital and Ed-Mentor.

Education 173

Education Tool Santa Monica Venture Capital 173

socalTECH

JULY 18, 2013

Santa Monica-based content delivery network EdgeCast has just filled up its warchest, announcing Thursday that it has raised $54M in a big funding round. The new funding was led by Performance Equity Management, and also included existing investors Menlo Ventures and Steamboat Ventures. READ MORE>>.

Content 150

Content Steamboat Ventures Santa Monica Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

MARCH 11, 2015

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners , the venture capital investment firm led by Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milkin, and Jamie Montgomery, is the lead investor in a new cyber security startup, E8 Security. March''s investment was led by Sumant Mandal. READ MORE>>.

Capital 100

Capital Allegis Clearstone Santa Monica 100

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Los Angeles-based venture capital investor GRP Partners announced this morning that it has raised a fourth fund, worth $200M, and also renamed the firm Upfront Ventures. upfront ventures partners venture capital fund startup msuster suster launchpadla' READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 164

GRP Partners Funding CitySearch Venture Capital 164

socalTECH

MAY 1, 2014

Santa Monica-based movie and entertainment company Lionsgate said late Wednesday that it is expanding into a new line of business, and has launched a new, interactive and game arm. He also had been at Creative Artists Agency, Walt Disney, and Bellrock Media. READ MORE>>.

Media 159

Media Santa Monica Entertainment Venture Capital 159

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2017

Santa Monica-based equity crowdfunding site Crowdfunder is making it easier for it to work with investors, saying on Monday that it has just received its broker-dealer license to sell securities directly to accredited investors. Crowdfunder said the move will help create a "more seamless solution" for its customers.

Clearstone 113

Clearstone Draper Santa Monica Venture Capital 113

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2020

Santa Monica-based Grow Credit , a fintech startup which provides small dollar loans and helps consumers establish their credit record through paying for online subscriptions, says it has added a new investor, Commerce Ventures. Size of the investment was not announced.

Santa Monica 113

Santa Monica Netflix Seed Funding Commerce 113

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2017

Wallach on investments out of a new fund, Inevitable Ventures. How did you end up here in Los Angeles doing investments? Coincidentally, that was the exact same time in 2009 when I moved out, when Ashton Kutcher started first investing. Ron chose me to manage those investments. Chris Hollod: For sure.

Invest 157

Invest Startup Hollywood Echo Park 157

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

I’m often asked about the differences between being at a VC and being an entrepreneur and whether I prefer one or the other. The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” And LA shifted to Santa Monica and Venice.

Rancho Palos Verdes 150

Rancho Palos Verdes Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 150

socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

The list has been short on local investors for the last few years , even as many Southern California companies have helped place other, Silicon Valley venture capitalists high up on the investor ranking. forbes midas list southern california venture capital cornerstone ondemand servicenow jmiequity' READ MORE>>.

Southern California 159

Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand SoCal San Diego 159

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

socalTECH

APRIL 21, 2015

Santa Monica-based Campus Steps , a new startup aimed at college counseling, said this morning that it has raised $3M in a funding round. The funding included $2M in a strategic investment and $1M in a venture commitment, according to the company. Names of those investors were not announced. READ MORE>>.

Chief Technology Officer 100

Chief Technology Officer Santa Monica Venture Capital Demand 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Santa Monica-based Forge Platform , which is developing software development kits used for Ethereum, has raised $1M in a seed funding, the company disclosed on Wednesday. The funding came from Manta Ray Ventures and Upfront Ventures. The company was founded by Chris Lorenz, Geoffrey Anderson, and James Borow.

Platform 113

Platform Santa Monica Seed Funding Software Development 113

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Los Angeles-based cloud-based talent management software solutions firm with over 13 million users, Cornerstone OnDemand has launched Cornerstone Innovation Fund , to invest in disruptive LA-based cloud startups building cutting-edge solutions for organizations. Applications to the fund are now open and available online here. .

Cornerstone OnDemand 88

Cornerstone OnDemand Incubator Santa Monica Funding 88

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

He knows every startup & VC in town.” ” He was generous with his time with me and helpful. I told him that our market was absolutely booming and was worthy of a commensurate investment. Invest they have. I told David, “Look at the changes we’ve seen in the VC / funding market.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

socalTECH

APRIL 5, 2010

A quick analysis of venture capital deals in Q1, tracked by socalTECH, finds that there was around $1.4 billion in venture activity here in Q1, up significantly from around $997M tallied in Q4. The growing clean technology sector also helped numbers, with $74.0M for Santa Monica electric vehicle firm Coda Automotive.

Southern California 160

Southern California Santa Barbara Anthem Redpoint 160

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2018

Behzad Kianmahd is the co-founder of Los Angeles coworking space Cross Campus , which is one of the major centers of startup activity in Silicon Beachand also involved as co-founder and lead investor in a brand new, venture capital fund, TAU Ventures (www.ideasimmersion.com/tau-ventures/).

El Segundo 100

El Segundo Southern California Startup Santa Monica 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

Last week displayed the best of LA last week for a gala event of all of Upfront’s portfolio companies + the CEOs of many of LA’s top technology companies + 75 VC firms from LA, SF, NY & Boston + 25 LP Funds + the Chairman of Yahoo! Burstly is a Santa Monica-based team that I also proudly funded.

Startup 318

Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2017

Santa Monica-based CRM software maker Nimble --let by contact database and software pioneer Jon Ferrara--has raised $9M in a Series A funding, the company announced on Thursday morning. Ferrara helped create the contact management and tracking category way back in the standalone PC desktop software days, when he created Goldmine.

Funding 100

Funding Santa Monica Seed Funding Google 100