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The Pulse of LA Tech

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First Resonance Raises $3.5M to be the Operating System for Factories

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The aerospace, defense, and automobile industries have long been reliant on obsolete processes for hardware design and manufacturing that do not fully encapsulate the potential of technology. First Resonance is the manufacturing intelligence platform that allows next-gen hardware companies to innovate, iterate, and get products to market faster with unprecedented real-time visibility into production status. Replacing spreadsheets, documents, and costly legacy manufacturing processes, First Resonance’s ion Factory Operating System leverages data science, API integration, and machine learning to provides flexibility and collaboration between knowledge teams in established manufacturing workflows. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, the platform was able to gain 12+ new customers in 2020 despite the pandemic to help advance the future of climate change, space travel, planetary exploration, and sustainable agriculture. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Karan Talati to learn more about First Resonance, the platform’s impact on manufacturing, progress made since launching out of stealth last fall, the company’s latest funding round led by Blue Bear Capital.

Retina Makes Understanding Customer Lifetime Value Possible Even Before a Sale

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Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the single most important metric for understanding your customers and their behavior. Without a solid understanding of it, it becomes nearly impossible to understand your marketing efforts and predict profitability. Retina is leveraging AI and data analytics to understand CLV before a customer makes a purchase for high-growth consumer companies. According to its data, the customer intelligence platform is able to lift CLV by 44%, generating 8x more return on ad spend while improving marketing efficiency by 30%. Presently, the platform is focused on companies that are doing ~$10M in revenue but plans to roll out its offering to mid-sized businesses is in the works. The level of specialized data that Retina is able to provide has traditionally been reserved for large companies with entire in-house data teams. LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Emad Hasan to learn more about the company’s mission to democratize the access to data that drives high-value sales, future plans, the LA Tech ecosystem, and much, much more.

Metropolis Raises $41M to Modernize the Experience of Parking in Cities with Technology

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So much attention has been paid to improving urban mobility, starting with ride-sharing, shared scooters, bicycle lines but not much has been paid to improving the accessibility and availability of parking. Metropolis is on a mission to change that. It’s a sophisticated parking management system, powered by computer vision, that leverages technology to improve the experience of parking for both consumers and parking garage operators. With a single app, consumers can find convenient parking options and pay without having to worry about availability, payments, tips, and the like. For operators, in addition to cost savings, they are finally able to gain valuable data on capacity, utilization, and customer behavior while having their locations staffed by dedicated teams from Metropolis. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO, Cofounder, and repeat founder Alex Israel (ParkMe acquire by Inrix) to learn more about the state of the parking industry, the company’s expansion plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Starwood Capital, 01 Advisors (Dick Costolo and Adam Bain), Dragoneer, Slow Ventures, Zigg Capital, DivcoWest, RXR (Scott Rechler), Dan Doctoroff, Baron Davis, Halogen Ventures (Jesse Draper), and Gideon Hixon.

Albert Raises $100M to Help Manage Your Finances with a Blend of Automation and Expert Human Guidance

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Goal setting is one of the most powerful processes to build your future. When it comes to your finances, adding in expert advice accelerates achieving those goals in a sustainable and measurable way. Albert is the personal financial advice platform that leverages technology and access to financial experts to address any aspect of your financial situation. At its core, the platform provides mobile banking complete with automated savings, equity investing, tracking, budgeting, and access to cash advances if necessary. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO Yinon Ravid to learn more about the gap that Albert fills in the consumer finance space, the company’s future plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include General Atlantic, CapitalG, Portag3, and QED Investors.

The Year of the SPAC and What it Means for Hardware

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A record 219 companies went public through this fundraising vehicle that uses a reverse merger with an existing private business to create a publicly-listed entity. This accounted for more than $73 billion dollars of investment, providing private equity startups a new outlet to raise capital and provide shareholder liquidity.

Envoy Raises $11M to Make Electric Vehicle Sharing a Building Amenity

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In 2010, there were 17,000 electric cars on the road. By the end of the decade there were over 7.2M. This increase has been largely attributable to improvements in affordability and accessibility. Culver City-based Envoy is bringing electric cars to residential buildings, offices, hotels with its electric vehicle sharing service. Largely focused on the residential housing market, the company partners with building owners to offer access to its fleet of electric cars as a basic building amenity like a pool or clubhouse. LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Aric Ohana to learn more about Envoy’s focus on make mobility an amenity, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Shell Ventures, Building Ventures, DENSO, Goodyear Ventures, GroundBreak Ventures, and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund.

How High Can Bitcoin Go? A $1 Million 10-Year Price Target (Or $1 per dSAT) Actually Looks Reasonable

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I know many will laugh at me. And maybe they’re right. But I’m not writing this to convince the naysayers. This is for the growing community of people (including Michael Saylor, Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckenmiller, Bill Miller….) who have seen the crypto light. And I’ve been laughed at before for making seemingly outlandish predictions and been proven right.

StarNews Mobile Raises $1.8M for its Africa-Focused Mobile Content Platform

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Mobile phone usage is exploding in Africa and the continent is the world’s fastest growing mobile market. StarNews Mobile is a mobile video network that’s partnered with the largest telecom operators to provide video content to this burgeoning base of consumers. The company allows entertainers and brands to reach their audiences while allowing content creators to monetize their content. LA TechWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Guy Kamgaing to learn more about the market opportunity in Africa for content providers, the company’s future plans, and recent funding round from I&P and Expert Dojo.