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.
Funded in LA
Incentify Raises $4.25M for its SaaS Platform to Manage Tax Credits and Incentives
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.
The 5 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of August 2020
Xos Trucks Raises $20M to Make Last-Mile Delivery Cleaner and Greener
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
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
The LA TechWatch Startup Daily Funding Report: 8/20/2020
The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for LA startups for 8/20/2020 featuring funding details for Science 37 and much more.
Uniper Care Raises $4M to Reduce Loneliness in Older Adults by Helping Them Age in Place with Tech
COVID-19 is exacerbating the loneliness and isolation and this is even more true among seniors. Uniper Care is the startup that helps older adults age in place, while simultaneously reducing feelings of social isolation through technology. Uniper Care’s multi-modular platform transforms any TV or mobile device into a social assistant that enables older adults to video chat with family and friends, access remote health care, participate in interactive programs, browse photo albums, connect with peer-led groups, and meet new people. CEO and Cofounder Rami Kirshblum shares more insight about how his cofounder’s experience with his aging mother led to the founding of Uniper, how the company is growing rapidly and alleviating loneliness for seniors during the pandemic, and the company’s latest funding round led by Zeev Ventures.
Arrive Outdoors Raises $4.75M for its Outdoor Gear Rental Platform That Delivers to Your Doorstep
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
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.
Mobalytics Scores $11.25M for its Gaming Analytics Platform That Drives Performance
Esports revenues are expected to exceed a billion dollars per year for the first time and expected to increase rapidly as the industry continues to attract players, teams, and fans at an explosive pace. Competitive video gaming is a serious business with lucrative rewards for those that are the most skilled. Seeking a way to finetune their gaming skills, Amine Issa and his cofounders founded Mobalytics, the gaming analytics platform for competitive gamers to master their trade through player development, strategy, and tracking. Issa shares some insight on the state of the esports industry, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic, and T1 Esports.
Ready, Set, Food! Raises $3M For a Proactive Approach to Reducing Food Allergies
Witnessing the stress and worry severe food allergies caused young children and their parents, Daniel Zakowski founded Ready, Set, Food! a daily supplement that protects infants from developing peanut, egg, and milk allergies. The company just closed $3M in funding from Danone Manifesto Ventures, Mark Cuban, AF Ventures (formerly AccelFoods), and other investors. Zakowski shares more about how the company is making food allergies preventable, the company’s giving partnership with Cuban, and much more…