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.

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Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

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DECEMBER 30, 2016

In 2016, our Santa Monica office more than doubled market share of early-stage companies. Despite the Q1 correction in valuation, and subsequent drop in VC funding, we saw numerous LA companies not only survive, but thrive - despite the macroeconomic trends. You can see all of our holiday reflections here. Rob Freelen: Focus.

Santa Monica 124

Santa Monica Southern California Venture Capital SoCalTech 124

socalTECH

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Santa Monica-based TigerConnect , which provides collaboration and communications tools for the hhealthcare industry, says it has raised $45M more in a Series D funding round, as it has seen surging demand due to the pandemic. The company says the new funding will go towards further investment into its platform to meet surging demand.

Santa Monica 113

Santa Monica Demand Tool Platform 113

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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

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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

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

MAY 1, 2019

Santa Monica-based advertising startup VideoAmp said on Wednesday that it has raised a big $70M funding round, led by the Raine Group, and also included Ankona Capital, Mediaocean, and RTL Group. As part of the funding, Peter Liguori (former CEO of Tribune Media) joins the company's board of directors.

Funding 113

Funding Santa Monica Advertising Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Current round: $20.0mm Series-B led by Andreesen Horowitz, with USV and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. A social analytics platform for Facebook app developers and publishers that provides detailed demographic and engagement data. led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman. Total Raised: $21.4mm.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

socalTECH

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Viewdle , the developer of cross platform, facial recognition technology backed by Santa Monica-based Anthem Ventures, has scored another round of funding, worth $10M, according to Viewdle. As part of the investment, Best Buy's Kuk Yi and Blackberry Partners Funds' John Albright have joined the company's board.

Anthem 154

Anthem Santa Monica Venture Capital Research 154

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DECEMBER 27, 2018

Here, we have the thoughts of Clinton Foy , General Partner and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures (www.crosscut.vc). Venture Capital is a Long Term Game. When I first joined Crosscut Ventures five years ago, the firm had $20 million under management and was just starting to invest out of its second fund.

Riot Games 133

Riot Games Southern California Startup Santa Monica 133

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Naturally I’m excited about this investment or I wouldn’t have done it.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Santa Monica-based mDialog said Wednesday afternoon that it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding. mDialog said the investment will be used to expand its producrs across mobile and connected devices such as the iPad and iPhone, as well as Android, Roku and other platforms.

Santa Monica 145

Santa Monica Platform Mobile Invest 145

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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.

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Funding Santa Monica Seed Funding Google 100

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2015

Santa Monica-based GumGum , the online image-based advertising startup led by Ophir Tanz, has raised a big, $26.0M round this morning, from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, along with NEA, Upfrot Ventures, First Round Capital, and the company's other exiting ivnestors. READ MORE>>.

Funding 100

Funding Santa Monica Advertising Platform 100

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MARCH 4, 2021

It runs our proprietary technology, and it's a platform that people can plug into. Buck Jordan: The story is, I was at the tail end of my last fund, Canyon Creek Capital, and I wanted to try something different. We were sitting at Huckleberry Cafe in Santa Monica, and I asked him if labor was a big problem for his business.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Capital Customer 113

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MAY 10, 2017

Santa Monica-based WorkToday (www.worktoday.com) has created a text-based marketplace to help connect workers with employers. in a funding from Mucker Capital, Social Capital, Hone Capital (formerly CSC Venture Capital), E-Merge, and GAN Ventures. The company recently raised $1.1M

Startup 100

Startup Orange County Platform Capital 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 27, 2016

at Cross Campus in Santa Monica. We will have amazing panelists from Crosscut Ventures, Machine Shop Ventures, Techstars, and more to be announced soon who will share their insights and forecast for startups in 2016. Machine Shop Ventures was featured in WIRED Magazine for its groundbreaking new model.

Startup 40

Startup Santa Monica Venture Capital SaaS 40

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

To get some insight into the growing world and business of e-sports, we caught up with Clinton Foy , a local venture capital investor at Crosscut Ventures in Los Angeles. How would you compare this investment, versus the more traditional investments you have been doing at Crosscut?

Riot Games 100

Riot Games Southern California Invest Mobile 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Last week, Santa Monica-based Tecca (www.tecca.com) launched a consumer electronics, consumer information service, backed by Fuse Capital and Best Buy. We caught up with Mickie Rosen , the firm's CEO, about the company, its links to Best Buy, and how it was incubated out of Fuse Capital. READ MORE>>.

Incubator 239

Incubator Startup Web Technical Review 239

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 12, 2015

at the Dethrone Base Camp in Santa Monica. We will have amazing panelists from March Capital, Greycroft, Machinima, Silicon Valley Bank and Amplify who will share their insights and forecast for start-ups in 2015. Our line-up of panelists include many of Southern California’s top VCs, Angels and Startup Accelerators.

Startup 40

Startup Artificial Inteligence Venture Capital Santa Monica 40

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 30, 2011

24 7pm at Coloft in Santa Monica. The panel is comprised of Southern California’s Top VC’s, Angels, and Startup Accelerator founders. As an active early stage investor, Mike has personally invested in over 30 startup businesses including Klout, Betterworks, Formspring, ShoeDazzle and LunchMoney to name a few.

Tech Coast Angels 105

Tech Coast Angels Startup Angel Southern California 105

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

I believe that Twiistup is now a platform from which to grow and highlight what is uniquely LA. For highlighting what is uniquely LA, for adhering to a strict quality standard for speakers and for building this great platform for the future Francisco Dao (aka “ The Man ”) should feel proud of what he has accomplished.

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

In attendance we had startups galore with VC's and Angle's mixing and mingling all through the night. TechZulu captured the entire VC/Angle panel and we also had a chance to interview every StartupDemo startup company that participated. VC/Angel Panel. Investment trends in startups that are about or related to social media.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

It is an opportunity to get frank feedback from VCs, angels, peers and the technolust. Mixergy and AsAble are also joining us to bring you an amazing VC/Angel Panel. This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over must have content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. The Startups.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2012

And no wonder, lately he and his partners are on a tear, investing out of their $200+ million VC fund. They recently exited their investment in Gaikai for $380 million while their rival OnLive (who had raised > $200 million) just went through bankruptcy. Nate, tell us a bit about Rustic Canyon Venture Partners.

Rustic Canyon 279

Rustic Canyon Venture Capital Southern California Userplane 279

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

Funding is different – In Silicon Valley you have mega venture capital funds and many of them. It’s not uncommon for incredibly smart and talented Phd’s or CS majors from Stanford to raise $10 million on an early-stage “platform&# that if it succeeds it will be huge. LA investors are more pragmatic.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2013

28 from 7pm-10pm in Santa Monica. The panel is comprised of Southern California’s Top VC’s, Angels, and Startup Accelerator founders. We will also have some of the top companies present that each of the panelist has invested in. Brock Pierce is a 10x entrepreneur best known for pioneering the market for digital currency.

Startup 111

Startup Entertainment Media Santa Barbara 111

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

They make it easy to collect investment funds, track ownership, and provide targeted updates to investors. Novimap is an online and mobile mapping platform. enables developers to sell cross-platform web-apps that optimize to your mobile device. Where: Wokcano, 1413 5th Street, Santa Monica, CA. to 11:00 p.m.

Company 106

Company Companies Web Evite 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. Upfront VI is our latest core fund and is $400 million to invest in early stage entrepreneurs. We’ll invest in about 15 new companies every year or just over 2 per partner.

Funding 287

Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 17, 2011

a perks platform for small medium businesses. After the acquisition, MyMiniLife became the common technology platform at Zynga and powers 150M monthly users including games like Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville. CallFire.com is a small company with fewer than 20 employees located in beautiful Santa Monica.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Idealab Angel Design 100

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

IPPLEX researches and develops pioneering cross-platform applications and services focused on interactive communication – between people and the information, contacts and places they need to access through their mobile phone, PC, and other devices. CallFire.com is a small company with fewer than 20 employees located in beautiful Santa Monica.

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2012

On our platform, we allow them to set their own rate, and have complete control over the dogs they will accept, and their schedule. We know you're doing this as a dog lover, but it might be interesting to talk a bit about your past background in the venture investing industry? We believe we've come up with a solution.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Startup Sites Malibu 164

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2012

On our platform, we allow them to set their own rate, and have complete control over the dogs they will accept, and their schedule. We know you're doing this as a dog lover, but it might be interesting to talk a bit about your past background in the venture investing industry? We believe we've come up with a solution.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Startup Sites Malibu 160

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

A serial Internet entrepreneur, Mike has founded and sold numerous businesses, including agency PBJ Digital, application platform Userplane, which he led from startup to its acquisition by AOL, Tsavo Media and Myspace. CallFire.com is a small company with fewer than 20 employees located in beautiful Santa Monica.

Tech Coast Angels 96

Tech Coast Angels Idealab Angel Startup 96

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. I live in the city of Santa Monica. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 20, 2012

OrganicStartup incubates and accelerates innovative ventures by providing them with strategic early-stage investment, advisory, and operational assistance. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies.

Idealab 84

Idealab Tech Coast Angels CalTech Startup 84