Quantcast

LA TechWatch

The Pulse of LA Tech

Business

Beyond Limits Raises $133M for its Industrial and Enterprise AI Platform

by

Much of the focus of AI has been on data-intensive applications and consumer-facing implementations.  Beyond Limits’ cognitive AI platform unleashes the power of AI for some of the most demanding verticals like energy, utilities, and healthcare.  The company’s solutions are used to boost operational insights, improve operating conditions, enhance performance, and ultimately, increase profits. The company’s technology originated at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA space missions and is now being leveraged to help some of the largest industrial enterprises and companies address their most pressing challenges with a combination of machine learning and human knowledge. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Founder AJ Abdallat to learn more about the state of the enterprise and industrial AI market, the company’s future plans, and recent funding round.

Where We Are Investing Now: Longevity and Aging Economy

by

Longevity and Aging Economy will be one of the core investment areas for Social Starts for the remainder of 2020. Longevity ties strongly into Health and Happiness: “Healthspan”—the number of years a person can expect to live with full health and no activity limitations—is an emerging concept in this area and should stand at the […]

Incentify Raises $4.25M for its SaaS Platform to Manage Tax Credits and Incentives

by

The average Fortune 500 company has a portfolio of over $212M in Tax Credits and Incentives. As large as this sounds, nearly 50% of available credits and incentives (C&I) go unclaimed each year. Companies may be dissuaded by the process of applying, reporting, and maintaining these credits. Incentify is the enterprise SaaS platform that lets companies manage all aspects of tax credits and incentives.CEO Laurence Sotsky shares more on how Incentify is changing the narrative around C&I by providing analytics, reporting, and compliance in a centralized platform.

Bingie is the Social App that Lets You Discover and Chat About What to Watch Next

by

Most have fallen into the trap of endlessly scrolling through Netflix’s immense library to find something to watch. The disproportionate time that people spend finding a series versus actually viewing has given rise to a new category of watchlist apps. Bingie is the entertainment recommendation app that taps into personal networks to help find relevant content. Bingie puts an emphasis on content suggestions from friends and family to create a highly-personalized interface where users can discuss, discover, and debate the merits of shows and movies.  The platform works across the major streaming services including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Cofounder Matt Knox shares more about launching the company during the pandemic, the company’s future plans, and differentiators.

Xos Trucks Raises $20M to Make Last-Mile Delivery Cleaner and Greener

by

California recently passed regulations requiring that over 50% of all commercial trucks sold in the state must be zero-emissions by 2035 and other states have signed a memorandum to phase out all diesel-burning medium- to heavy-duty truck and bus sales by 2050. These new laws signal promise and opportunity for companies like Xos Trucks, the LA company building state-of-the-art OEM electric trucks that forge together battery packs, chassis, and software. Xos Trucks’ flagship X-Platform 1 is fully electric and compatible with a variety of medium-duty bodies, wheelbases, and range requirements up to 200 miles. The X-Platform 1 is often customized into Class 6 medium-duty bodies that fulfill short-range deliveries, which have been used by UPS. Xos Trucks is also developing the ET-One, a Class 8 heavy-duty truck that can carry 80,000 pounds and can travel 150 miles per charge. 65% percent of trucks on the road travel less than 150 miles per day and Xos is addressing this market with its solutions to make last-mile delivery sustainable and efficient. COO and Cofounder Giordano Sordoni shares more about Xos Trucks is disrupting an $8T industry from the ground up with saavy engineering and software.

Science 37 Raises Another $40M to Make Clinical Trials Fully Virtual

by

Technology allows us to instantly message or video chat with people halfway across the world, and now companies like Science 37 makes it possible to participate in clinical trials from the comfort of your own homes. Science 37 partners with pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to design flexible, decentralized clinical trials.  By making the barrier to participate lower, organizations can recruit participants faster, increase retention rates, include a representative patient population, drastically reduce the cost of trials, and accelerate the speed to market. CPO Christopher Ceppi shares more about Science37 and its plans to expand to 30+ countries, the company’s response to the pandemic, and recent funding round from investors that include PPD, Novartis, Amgen, Sanofi Ventures, GV, Glynn Capital, LifeSci Ventures, Mubadala Ventures, Lux Capital, and Redmile Group

Fastly Acquires Signal Sciences for $775M to Secure its Edge Computing Platform

by

Signal Sciences, the developer-focused provider of security solutions for APIs and web applications, has agreed to be acquired by Fastly, the edge computing platform, for $775M.  The transaction is structured as $200M in cash and $575M in cash.