$740M+ raised in LA during the week! LA Tech news for the week ending 6/12 featuring news for StoryFile, Mythical Games, and much, much more.
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iLife Raises $4M to Empower Life Insurance Professionals to Offer Modern Digitally-Focused Customer Experiences
Like most industries, the pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital adoption in the insurance industry. Life insurance professionals need to leverage technology to successfully engage with prospective and existing clients to deliver services that today’s digital-savvy consumers demand. iLife is a sales automation platform for the life insurance industry that streamlines building a digital presence, increases sales, manages leads and prospects, matches customer profiles to policies, and allows the seamless collection of application materials. The company’s most popular plan is offered for a nominal $99.99 per month and offers unlimited prospects, customized quote generation, one-click submission for underwriting, and a selection of more than 670K policies. By leveraging iLife, insurance brokers are able to reduce the time to quote from days and weeks to seconds, bringing a much-needed better tech-enabled customer experience to the customer. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Nelson Lee to learn more about the inspiration for the business, how iLife is bringing much-needed advancement to a traditionally stalwart industry, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Foundation Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Plug and Play, Cherubic Ventures, and Expansion VC.
The LA TechWatch May 2021 LA Venture Capital Funding Report
Aggregate statistics for all LA funding deals by stage of funding (Early, Series A, Series B, & Late) including mention of notable rounds for May 2021.
The 7 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of May 2021
Everything you need to need to know about the largest Los Angeles startup funding rounds of May 2021; broken down by industry, stage, investors, and more…
Sunbit Scores Another $130M for its Buy Now, Pay Later Platform for Everyday Services and Becomes LA’s Newest Unicorn
Platforms like Klarna and Affirm have popularized buy it now, pay later platforms to distribute payments over time for e-commerce purchases. Sunbit is the buy now, pay later platform that brings the flexibility and ease of these payments for everyday services like optical care, dental visits, automobile maintenance, and election healthcare. Transactions, for amounts as low as $60 to as high as $10K, can be approved for the flexible solution within 30-seconds in 7300+ locations. LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Arad Levertov to learn more about how Sunbit’s platform brings consumers peace of mind with the ability to pay over time, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Migdal Insurance, Harel Group, AltaIR Capital, and More Investment House.
PayPal Acquires Happy Returns and Eyes Post-Purchase Service to Boost Online Shopping
Happy Returns, the in-person return logistics provider for online purchases, has been acquired by Paypal. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
LA Tech Week in Review: 5/9/21-5/15/21
$149M+ raised in LA during the week! LA Tech news for the week ending 5/15 featuring news for Hidden Leaf, Alice, and much, much more…
Arcturus Raises $5M to Allow Volumetric Video to Scale
Volumetric video captures a three-dimensional space or object using computer graphics, photogrammetry, and computation-based methods. Since these videos are recorded in 3D, they can be viewed on web or mobile without any specialized hardware or equipment. Arcturus is a suite of software that allows content creators can to easily record, edit, and distribute native volumetric content at scale. The company’s platform can be used in sports, gaming, e-commerce, live performances, real estate, or any other applications where dimension and perspective on depth and space can enhance the viewing experience. LA TechWatch caught up with Head of Marketing Piotr Uzarowicz to learn more about volumetric video, the company’s traction, future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include BITKRAFT Ventures, HBSE Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, Build Ventures, Marc Merrill, and Craig Kallman.
ReCharge Raises $277M for its E-Commerce Subscription Management Software Thats’ the Secret Weapon for Merchants
Recurring revenue is the holy grail for businesses, bringing revenue predictability, deepened customer relationships, and high customer lifetime values. Successfully retaining customers leads to lower acquisition costs in the long term and reduced churn. Given the benefits, SaaS solutions have widely moved to subscription offerings and e-commerce businesses are also jumping in on the trend. The global subscription economy for e-commerce is expected to grow to ~$250B by 2025. ReCharge is a subscription management platform built specifically for e-commerce merchants to capitalize on this growth. Bootstrapped since its founding, the company just raised its first institutional round after growing 91% in 2020. The 15,00+ merchants using Recharge’s checkout solution include Hubble, Harry’s Art of Sport, Fiji, and Oatly. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Oisin O’Connor to more about the experience of initially bootstrapping, the company’s impressive traction, the state of the e-commerce market, and recent round of funding from investors that include Summit Partners, ICONIQ Growth, and Bain Capital Ventures.
The LA TechWatch April 2021 LA Venture Capital Funding Report
Aggregate statistics for all LA funding deals by stage of funding (Early, Series A, Series B, & Late) including mention of notable rounds for April 2021.
The 10 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of April 2021
Everything you need to need to know about the largest Los Angeles startup funding rounds of April 2021; broken down by industry, stage, investors, and more…