Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Upfront Ventures was created 20 years ago as one of the original VC funds in Los Angeles. 10 years ago we found ourselves trying to persuade LPs and VCs that it was worth spending more time getting to know the LA market and now the most common refrain that I hear from them is “there really is something going on in LA.”

Dollar Shave Club 321

Dollar Shave Club Cornerstone OnDemand Riot Games Venture Capital 321

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2016

Los Angeles-based Naritiv , a new startup developing a network of content creators for Snapchat, has raised $3M in a funding round, the company said Thursday. The startup--founded by Dan Altmann and Eric Posen--says it is enabling the creation of mobile-first content for Snapchat and other social network platforms.

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Content Social Network Class 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Meet the next generation of startup success stories at Be Great Fest in Los Angeles. Their mission: to support a charity, savor the hot SoCal nightlife, and transform Los Angeles into the startup capital of the world. Although the Startup Genome Project named Los Angeles the No.

Los Angeles 101

Los Angeles Angel Startup Venture Capital 101

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. Mostly I wanted the journalist to know: We love Snapchat.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2017

the parent firm behind Snapchat , has joined up with R/GA Marketing --which helps run the Dodgers Accelerator in Los Angeles--to launched a new startup accelerator, the R/GA Marketing Tech Venture Studio with IPG. Venice, California-based Snap Inc. ,

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Startup Venice Advertising 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 21, 2014

Snapchat, the messaging pioneer leads the charge with a staggering $123 million raised (and a valuation of $3-4 billion) even amongst a strange series of uncertainty surrounding their denial of Facebook’s $3 billion cash offer and security leaks. Originally posted by the good people at Built In Los Angeles.

Los Angeles 105

Los Angeles Angel Startup Snapchat 105

socalTECH

APRIL 11, 2014

Los Angeles-based Tinder , the mobile dating app developer led by Sean Rad, is now worth over $5 billion, according to a report Friday from Bloomberg. Bloomberg said that IAC recently bought 10 percent of Tinder from venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, for $500M. Bloomberg cited "people with knowledge of the deal."

Report 190

Report Snapchat Social Network Venture Capital 190

TechCrunch LA

JULY 23, 2016

It wasn’t so long ago that venture capital was a suburban California phenomenon. Los Angeles didn’t have much in terms of a real tech scene — and even San Francisco only had a few VCs or tech companies. Now, VC offices have sprung up in San Francisco, moving more of the investment energy up there.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Los Angeles Activity Dollar Shave Club 100

socalTECH

JULY 24, 2020

Los Angeles-based Wave.tv , a sports media company focused on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Youtube, and Tiktok, said this week that it raised $32M in its Series A funding round. The company said the funding will go to expand its portfolio of media brands.

Media 113

Media Snapchat Equity Los Angeles 113

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Disney Accelerator said that Smart Toy was acquired by Los Angeles-based children''s product firm Cartwheel Kids, and that SnowShoe raised $2.2M Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups. in its seed funding round. READ MORE>>.

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

socalTECH

MAY 20, 2015

Venture capitalist David Lee , who was Managing Partner of seed and angel investing fund SV Angel , one of the most active venture investors in San Francisco, has resigned to spend more time with his family in Los Angeles, the fund told its Limited Partners on Tuesday. READ MORE>>.

Angel 100

Angel Snapchat Venture Capital Los Angeles 100

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

From Los Angeles to Silicon Valley , a trend emerged among social media influencers and startup founders alike: move into a mansion with 10 or so collaborators, work day and night together to build fame and wealth, and hope that your new roommates do their dishes.

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

socalTECH

JUNE 14, 2018

Los Angeles- and Las Vegas-based Influential , which operates a service to help match brands with influencers, has raised $12M more in a Series B funding, the company disclosed today. The funding came from Capital Zed, ECA Ventures, Paradigm Talent Agency, ROAR, the Tech Coast Angels, plus WME. READ MORE>>.

Artificial Inteligence 124

Artificial Inteligence Tech Coast Angels Snapchat Los Angeles 124

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Technologies , one of the companies looking to bring Elon Musk's concept of the Hyperloop, high speed transportation technology to life, has named Rob Lloyd as its new CEO. Hyperloop is venture backed by Formation 8, Sherpa Ventures, Zhen Capital, Caspian VC, David O.

Technology 100

Technology Snapchat Venture Capital Google 100

socalTECH

MARCH 13, 2017

Los Angeles-based Flyr , a new startup founded by Hassan Uriostegui and Brett O'Brien, the serial entrepreneur behind Viddy and Xdrive, said today that it has launched a new app which lets users create interactive, shareable videos. READ MORE>>.

Social Media 113

Social Media Snapchat Funding Los Angeles 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. billion (Upfront Ventures was an early Overture backer).

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Chance Barnett , Crowdfunder (Los Angeles, crowdfunding). Allison Beal , StyleSaint (Los Angeles, fashion). James Borow and Clark Landry (shared position), SHIFT (Los Angeles, Santa Monica, advertising). Josh Brooks , OnTheRunTech.com dba Post Cards On The Run (Los Angeles, mobile apps).

Southern California 279

Southern California SoCalTech Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 279

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2016

Southern California's venture capital totals dropped significantly in Q3 of 2016, to a mere $663.2M billion funding round for Snapchat. The most amount of investment came for the Los Angeles-Long Beach MSA, which saw $247.6M According to the report, there were 71 deals worth a total of $663.2M

Southern California 100

Southern California Orange County Report Santa Barbara 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2016

This continues to solidify Los Angeles’ place as a major player in the global tech ecosystem and while any one success doesn’t define a city — the number of high-profile startups and exits has definitely increased. Frankly, it’s awesome to see a VC articulate a vision for the kind of company they would back in a given category.

Dollar Shave Club 150

Dollar Shave Club Venture Capital News Snapchat 150

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! Maynard Webb) and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. Maker Studios.

Startup 318

Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

LATechDigest

JUNE 6, 2016

LACI, Los Angeles. DTLA General Assembly, Los Angeles. CTRL Collective, Los Angeles. HauteLook/Nordstrom HQ, Los Angeles. Busby’s, Los Angeles. LMU, Los Angeles. **. PASADENA ANGELS Raises $1.3M SNAPCHAT Acquires 3D Selfie Co ( link ). 06/07/2016.

Snapchat 40

Snapchat Pasadena Santa Monica LMU 40

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2015

Venture capitalists invested more than $1.3 billion in Southern California startup, according to the latest MoneyTree Report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association last night, based on data from Thomson Reuters. raised by SnapChat , and $320M in an investment in NantHealth.

Southern California 100

Southern California Invest Orange County San Diego 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

It's often tough to figure exactly who the venture capital funds are who are funding startups in the area. However, for members of socaltech.com, it's a click away with our real time analysis of venture funding flows. Most recent investments: Ring, Flipagram, Snapchat. Crosscut Ventures 6 deals.

Southern California 100

Southern California Dollar Shave Club Lootcrate Orange County 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

As an active investor in the Los Angeles technology market we’re always seeking to better understand the data and trends of why our market has grown so rapidly since 2009. Everybody now knows that LA produced SnapChat, Tinder and Maker Studios. Everybody now knows that LA produced SnapChat, Tinder and Maker Studios.

Marketing 150

Marketing Newsletter Venture Capital Blogging 150

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

If that’s news to you, here are eleven of Los Angles’ best and brightest. Venture Capital: Upfront Ventures. Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: Los Angeles heavy hitters J.J. Social Media: Snapchat.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

socalTECH

AUGUST 29, 2014

We recently spoke with Mauhan about his startup, which is setting up offices in Los Angeles, but is based in New York. I personally was a technology VC and digital media investor. Mauhan Zonozzy: We''re angel funded, and were part of Media Camp at Warner Bros. What does Bubbl do? How are you financed and backed?

Content 113

Content Los Angeles Seed Funding Hollywood 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Mike Bonin , Council Member, City of Los Angeles. Phillipe Browning , SnapChat. The socalTECH 50 is aimed at identifying and highlighting the top 50 people in the technology industry here, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit, or influence the industry in a significant way.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Lootcrate Southern California Snapchat 100

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). What I am trying to do, is to build a new type of venture capital firm.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2021

Los Angeles-based Givingli, a developer of a gifting app, said Tuesday afternoon that it has raised $4M in its seed funding round. The funding was led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six, Snap's Yellow Accelerator and angel investor Harry Hurs (Co-CEO and Co-Founder, of Pipe). The company has now raised $5M in total.

Seed Funding 113

Seed Funding Los Angeles Funding Angel 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. when to build out our offices in Silicon Valley, New York & Los Angeles.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

The topic of the conference was “The Sharing Economy” and as I read many of the session title descriptions I realized that people would be talking more about “collaborative consumption” (think airbnb, taskrabbit, uber) than about why people are sharing more on Instragram & Snapchat. Network Up. But what else?

Marketing 361

Marketing Course Pricing Networking 361

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

He was running to be the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles and he outlined his vision to “open up the city government to technology and innovation” if he were elected. They always ask whether I see this as threatening as Upfront Ventures. 43% of all goods arriving into American ports come through LA and Long Beach ports in Los Angeles.

Riot Games 191

Riot Games Los Angeles Technical Review Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. I don’t need to tell you what else is LA … SnapChat, Whisper, Tinder. Venture Capital.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. And this is following mega financings at Honest Company ($75 million), JustFab ($85 million), Victorious ($25 million) as well as the obviously known standouts like Tinder and SnapChat.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

https://medium.com/media/cc969482e7abf6b75d3c0958c8ee409d/href I moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and as a VC who had built his career as a programmer, database designer, program manager, CEO then VP Products at Salesforce, I wanted to build a portfolio of software investments.

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210