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LA TechWatch

The Pulse of LA Tech

Angel/Seed

Shred Raises $4M for its Social Digital Fitness Platform

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More often than not, hiding behind the paywalls of many fitness apps is premium content such as virtual fitness classes led by celebrity trainers that require additional spending in order to access. Shred, the digital fitness app, goes against the grain by offering a constantly growing library of high-quality workouts within its subscription and provides the opportunity to make your workouts social by including your friends. Since the company’s founding in 2018, more than 3M workouts and 76M exercises have been completed on the platform. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO Adam Weinstein to learn more about the company’s experience growing during COVID, future plans to roll out new products including video-based social workouts, and Shred’s recent funding round.

Arrive Outdoors Raises $4.75M for its Outdoor Gear Rental Platform That Delivers to Your Doorstep

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The sharing economy is making the concept of ownership obsolete for many categories. Rachelle Snyder and her cofounder had to go through the difficult process of deciding which of their belongings to take with them during a cross country move and their outdoor gear just couldn’t be accommodated. The experience of trying to obtain gear once in LA led to the foundation for launching Arrive Outdoors, the rental company for premium, outdoor equipment that can deliver an assortment of outdoor gear straight to a consumer’s door. Rachelle shares some insight about how the company makes the exploration of the outdoors more accessible and the company’s recent seed funding round from investors that include Freestyle Capital Science Inc., AVG Basecamp Fund, Corigin Ventures, Pine5 Ventures, and James Reinhart and John Voris.

Swoop Raises $3.2M to Make Booking Group Transportation as Easy as Ordering an Uber

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Anyone who has ever been in charge of organizing a group trip is familiar with all the planning that goes into it, and executing the most basic plans like how to get from point A to point B can kickstart a flurry of activity that includes hours of Google searches and phone calls with various vendors. Swoop makes it as easy as ordering an Uber with its group transportation booking platform that digitizes mom-and-pop group chauffeur operators. CRO and Cofounder Peter Evenson shares more insight on how Swoop is bringing SaaS to a historical paper and pencil industry, the company’s future plans, and recent funding round.

Pipe Raises $10M to Give SaaS Startups What They Need Most – Cash Flow

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Investors love SaaS companies because of the recurring revenue. But SaaS companies often have to give up growth when faced with monthly and quarterly subscriptions that cause less signup friction versus annual upfront fees. Pipe is the non-dilutive financing solution for these to normalize their cash flows. Pipe is a marketplace that connects SaaS companies to investors that are looking to invest in these types of factoring arrangements. Investors receive reliable cash flows and companies receive the cash they need quickly to fuel their growth. Win/Win. We caught up with CEO and Cofounder Harry Hurst to learn more about Pipe, the Saas landscape, and the company’s recent Seed extension round.

Carbonated Games Raises $8.5M To Bring Hardcore Competitive Gaming to Mobile Devices

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Once a gamer, always a gamer – at least that’s what we gathered from our interview with industry veteran and cofounder, Travis Boatman, of Carbonated Games, the new game studio that designs intense, competitive games for mobile devices. Carbonated Games creates experiences for gamers that have a busy life but still miss the hardcore, competitive games they used to play on console and PC, taking a modern approach to these games by designing ultra-competitive, player vs. player (PVP) games that are meant to be played on mobile devices, abandoning the need for additional hardware. Boatman shares more about the team behind the studio, the company’s first title, MadWorld, and the company’s recent funding round led by by Andreessen Horowitz, Golden Ventures, and BITKFAFT Ventures.

Willa Raises $3M to Help Freelancers to Get Paid on Time

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The future work is changing and the freelance economy is thriving. Though for freelancers, getting paid is still a constant problem. Willa has built a payment platform specifically for freelancers that is more popular than Paypal, Quickbooks, or other invoicing platforms. CEO and Cofounder Kristofer Sommestad shares some on the state of the fintech market, how the needs of freelancers have not been addressed, and the company’s recent funding round led by EQT Ventures.

Treehouse Games $2.6M for its Gaming Studio Focused on Collective Experiences

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With video games immersive and interactive experiences captivating audiences like never, Treehouse Games announced the launch of its gaming studio that designs interactive, cooperative games instead of narrative-based single-player games. Treehouse Games is currently building its first game and the team is hard at work to translate the feeling of doing something with/for others into the gameplay. At a time where society is longing for social connections, even if virtual, and with American video game usage increased by 75 percent during the quarantine, Treehouse Games is poised to make an impact.
CEO Michael Chu tells us more about building games that focus on cooperation rather than competition, the challenge of fundraising during COVID-19, and the company’s upcoming plans.

Datch Raises $3.2M for its Voice Assistant Technology Platform for Industry

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No more canary in a coal mine. Datch is the AI-powered voice assistant for the mining, manufacturing, and utility sectors. Mark Fosdike, a first-time founder and CEO of Datch, walks us through the practical application of Datch’s technology in industry, raising as a first-time founder in a new country, and the company’s recent funding round from investors that include Plug and Play Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, Acceleprise, Tuhua Ventures, and Predictive Venture Partners.