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.
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Retina Makes Understanding Customer Lifetime Value Possible Even Before a Sale
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
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.
The LA TechWatch January 2021 LA Venture Capital Funding Report
LA Startups start the year strong with $432M in funding raised; up 195% MOM and 90% YOY with strong late-stage funding and Series A rounds. There were two mega ($100M+) deals.
The 9 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of January 2021
Everything you need to need to know about the largest Los Angeles startup funding rounds of January 2021; broken down by industry, stage, investors, and more…
LA Tech Week in Review: 1/24/21-1/30/21
With so much going on in the thriving LA tech and startup ecosystem, it is easy to miss some of the news in the space. We keep you abreast of the things that you may have missed in LA Tech news for the week ending 1/30 featuring news for AppOnbord, Albert, and much, much more.
Albert Raises $100M to Help Manage Your Finances with a Blend of Automation and Expert Human Guidance
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.
These are the 5 Most Active LA Venture Capital Firms in 2020
Today, I took the time to scour through some data to isolate the most active LA venture capital firms that are investing in the greatest number of LA startups (this analysis is not based on dollar amounts) across all stages of the venture cycle. As you seek out your next round, hopefully, this will serve as a […]
The LA TechWatch 2020 LA Venture Capital Year in Review
Funding up 40% in a banner year for LA Tech with ~$4.3B invested. Read on for clear, concise analysis that spans deals, IPOs, SPACs, the pipeline for the future, and much, much more in a clear, concise format.
The 6 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of Q4 2020
The LA TechWatch December 2020 LA Venture Capital Funding Report
Early-stage funding strong in LA with late-stage activity completely non-existent to close out 2020. Aggregate statistics for all LA funding deals by stage of funding (Early, Series A, Series B, & Late) including mention of notable rounds for December 2020.