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.” Invest more heavily in platform services. Move our offices to Santa Monica so we could be closer to the early-stage companies being created in LA.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Journal Invest Santa Monica 150

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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

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FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Santa Monica-based TradeYa said Wednesday that it has raised $1.1M in a venture capital funding, to launch its social platform for trading goods and services. The funding came from angel investors, including Chris Hameetman (Tech Coast Angels) and Joe Addiego (Alsop Louie Partners).

Tech Coast Angels 147

Tech Coast Angels Web Design Santa Monica Venture Capital 147

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JUNE 28, 2021

Santa Monica-based Tapcart, a startup focused on helping Shopify-powered e-commerce brands with mobile apps, has raised $50M in a Series B funding round, the company announed Monday afternoon. Tapcart says its platform allows cusomers to create apps using drag-and-drop, codeless tools which merchants can customize for their customers.

Commerce 113

Commerce Mobile Santa Monica Tool 113

Xconomy

APRIL 17, 2017

San Diego-based TakeLessons set out nine years ago to create a Web-based platform that helped match music students with qualified instructors. Since then, TakeLessons has raised a total of $20 million in venture capital, and expanded into new markets and services.

Venture Capital 59

Venture Capital San Diego Santa Monica Coach 59

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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

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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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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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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MARCH 7, 2018

Santa Monica-based Camera IQ , which is developing technology focused on the "camera experience", says it has raised $4.3M The funding came from Betaworks, Homebrew and WndrCo, Shasta Ventures, Presence Capital, Brilliant Ventures, Greycroft Tracker Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, Act One and Noname Ventures.

Santa Monica 124

Santa Monica Seed Funding Platform Funding 124

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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

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MAY 26, 2015

Santa Monica-based Enervee , which provides an online platform collecting energy consumption information on appliances and other products, is announcing this morning that it has raised $3.7M The funding was led by Obvious Ventures, the venture capital fund created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

Santa Monica 100

Santa Monica Venture Capital Platform Funding 100

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

SoCal CTO

JUNE 14, 2008

The topic is: Betting Your Company On An Internet Platform? At the CTO Group that I organize in Santa Monica, we've had lots of discussions around this. However, these platforms could be interesting for prototype and pilot solutions. The other conclusion was that you need to have a migration path from the platform.

Platform 150

Platform EC2 Java S3 150

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MARCH 6, 2013

SharesPost , the private company marketplace headed by Greg Brogger, which had been incubated and started in Santa Monica via Brighthouse, the startup incubator run by Brogger and Scott Painter, is in a joint venture with NASDA OMX , the two said this morning. Financial details of the joint venture were not disclosed.

CarsDirect 170

CarsDirect Marketing Incubator Truecar 170

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NOVEMBER 2, 2017

Santa Monica- and Irvine-based Onica , a provider of IT services focused on cloud-based platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), has raised $20M in a funding round, the company announced this week. The company--formerly known as CorpInfo--said the funding came from Sunstone Partners.

Services 113

Services Santa Monica Web Resource 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

They are no longer remarkable in Santa Monica or Venice or in many cities in America, Europe or South America. In my home town of Santa Monica they painted 19 miles of bike lanes green to help delineate bikes & scooters from cars and they built 3 miles of soft barriers to test how this works with traffic flow.

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Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

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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. Tags: viewdle face recognition facial venture capital ukraine software. READ MORE>>.

Anthem 154

Anthem Santa Monica Venture Capital Research 154

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DECEMBER 27, 2018

Here are five exciting examples (in alphabetical order): Appetize, a cloud-based point-of-sale platform for large venues, recently raised funding from Shamrock Capital Advisors, the NFL and the Dodgers. ZipRecruiter, based in Santa Monica, closed a $156 million Series B round that valued the company at $1.5B.

Southern California 133

Southern California SoCal Culver City Venture Capital 133

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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

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NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Santa Monica-based VideoAmp , which says it is developing a "screen optimization platform" aimed at the TV and video ecosystem, said today that it has raised $15M in a Series A funding round.

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Anthem Tool Santa Monica Screening 100

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AUGUST 2, 2017

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners , along with another local investor, Crosscut Ventures , have both made investments in a new Techstars company, Branch Messenger , Branch announced this morning.

Capital 113

Capital Invest Santa Monica Los Angeles 113

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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. We''re happy to report that we''ve found quite a bunch of those here in our backyard in Santa Monica. Why start an investment firm in Los Angeles?

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

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

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JULY 11, 2016

Santa Monica-based Kin Community , the online content producer focused on food, home, and DIY content and led by Michael Wayne, has raised $13.5M The company has around 170M followers across social platforms and says it has more than 600 million video views a month. READ MORE>>.

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Santa Monica Content Platform Media 100

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MARCH 4, 2016

Santa Monica-based Comparably.com , a new startup led by longtime entrepreneur Jason Nazar, has raised $6.5M in a funding round, and launched a new platform to help people compare pay and culture between companies.

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand Yammer Geni Santa Monica 100

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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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OCTOBER 2, 2012

Santa Monica startup, Gravity --headed by former MySpace COO Amit Kapur--announced this morning that it has raised $10.6M The funding was led by GRP Partners, and also included Redpoint Ventures and August Capital. in a Series B financing round for its personalization technology.

GRP Partners 178

GRP Partners Redpoint Santa Monica Web 178

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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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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. This year, we focused on diversifying and strengthening our team by recruiting Maureen Klewicki as an investor and senior associate, and Nick Kim as our head of platform.

Riot Games 133

Riot Games Southern California Startup Santa Monica 133

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FEBRUARY 4, 2011

Santa Monica-based Focused Labs , which provides social media marketing services, said Thursday that it has renamed itself GraphEffect , and raised $2M in funding. GraphEffect provides a social advertising platform which helps advertisers gain Facebook fans and Likes. The firm was founded by Clark Landry and James Borow.

Marketing 189

Marketing Santa Monica Social Media Advertising 189

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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.

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Cornerstone OnDemand Invest Company Companies 100

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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

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

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MARCH 4, 2021

It runs our proprietary technology, and it's a platform that people can plug into. We were sitting at Huckleberry Cafe in Santa Monica, and I asked him if labor was a big problem for his business. It's equalized finance, and it's equalized an elite, walled-off section of finance, venture capital.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Capital Customer 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

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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