In 2010, there were 17,000 electric cars on the road. By the end of the decade there were over 7.2M. This increase has been largely attributable to improvements in affordability and accessibility. Culver City-based Envoy is bringing electric cars to residential buildings, offices, hotels with its electric vehicle sharing service. Largely focused on the residential housing market, the company partners with building owners to offer access to its fleet of electric cars as a basic building amenity like a pool or clubhouse. LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Aric Ohana to learn more about Envoy’s focus on make mobility an amenity, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Shell Ventures, Building Ventures, DENSO, Goodyear Ventures, GroundBreak Ventures, and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund.
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The 6 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of Q4 2020
StarNews Mobile Raises $1.8M for its Africa-Focused Mobile Content Platform
Mobile phone usage is exploding in Africa and the continent is the world’s fastest growing mobile market. StarNews Mobile is a mobile video network that’s partnered with the largest telecom operators to provide video content to this burgeoning base of consumers. The company allows entertainers and brands to reach their audiences while allowing content creators to monetize their content. LA TechWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Guy Kamgaing to learn more about the market opportunity in Africa for content providers, the company’s future plans, and recent funding round from I&P and Expert Dojo.
Sunbit is the Buy Now Pay Later Solution Helping Thousands of Local Businesses Increase Revenue
4,500+ merchants have already signed up to use Sunbit, the omnichannel financial solution helping local businesses generate revenue while giving consumers flexible payment plans for everyday essentials. In 30 seconds, consumers can sign up for a 3, 6, or 12-month payment plan that will finance total purchases ranging anywhere from $60 – $8K. Merchants such as auto shops, eye doctors, dentists, and veterinary clinics can provide omnichannel payment experiences to make payment as seamless as possible. LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CTO Ornit Maizel to learn more about Sunbit’s plan to Buy Now Pay Later solutions more accessible and applicable to everyday purchases
ConsejoSano Pulls in Another $17M for its Multichannel Patient Engagement Platform Built for Traditionally Underserved and Vulnerable Populations
Providers are turning to patient engagement to steer results in value-based care models, leading to better outcomes for both patients and physicians. Yet many of these engagement programs focus on providing a one-size-fits-all approach that does not truly engage patients due to cultural and socio-economic differences. ConsejoSano is a multicultural patient engagement platform that leverages 2M+ cultural data points to provide a tailored approach in a patient’s native language, leading to improved outcomes. Launched in 2017, the company is already working with four of the top five managed care plans in the US.
LA TechWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Abner Mason to learn more about his experience in Mexico sparked the launch of ConsejoSano, the company’s plans to scale its platform, and latest round of funding from investors that include Magnetic Ventures, The American Heart Association/Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund, DaVita Venture Group, Salesforce Ventures, NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo, 7wireVentures, Impact Engine, Tufts Health Plan, and Wanxiang America.
ForeVR Raises $1.5M to Bring Popular Real Life Games to VR
The virtual reality gaming market is expected to reach $45B/yr by 2027. The increased affordability of VR sets like Oculus’s Quest 2 will contribute to this massive growth. ForeVR, founded by two ex-Zynga employees, is seeking to capitalize on this trend with its VR-focused gaming studio. Emerging recently from stealth, the company’s first title, launching in early 2021, is focused on bowling and ForeVR plans to build new games that are based on popular games in real life. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Marcus Segal to learn more about the genesis of the company, its future product pipeline, first institutional round of funding from investors that include Galaxy Interactive Fund, Presence Capital, Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Mark Pincus, and Justin Waldron.
Finli Raises Another $1M to be the Payment Solution for Neighborhood Schools and Studios
Small businesses have been devastated by the pandemic and neighborhood schools and studios are no different. There has been a wave of innovation that empowers these small businesses to rapidly digitize to address changing customer preferences. Finli is the small business management platform and payment solution for these family-centric businesses that have been traditionally reliant on paper and pencil models. On the platform, parents and caretakers connect their bank accounts or credits to schedule and process payments for their children’s education, while schools and studios can invoice, streamline payments, and service their customer bases. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Lori Shao to learn more about the critical service the platform provides to family businesses, the company’s future plans, and recent seed extension round from investors that include MaC Venture Capital, TechStars Los Angeles, Core Innovation Capital, and Muse Capital.
Boulevard Raises Another $27M for its Spa and Salon Management Platform
Boulevard is a spa and salon management platform designed specifically to address the needs of the industry. The platform’s functionality is robust and allows facilities to manage all facets of their operations, ranging from bookings, marketing, payment, and reporting.
LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder & CEO Matt Danna to learn more about the company’s future plans, experience working with partners during the pandemic, and latest funding round from investors that that include Index Ventures, Toba Capital, VMG Partners, Bonfire Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, and BoxGroup.
The 6 Largest LA Tech Startup Funding Rounds of November 2020
Shred Raises $4M for its Social Digital Fitness Platform
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.
Radiant Raised $1.2M to Bring Portable Nuclear Microreactors to the Market
Most entrepreneurs believe that they are going to change the world. However, there are very few that actually will have such an impact. Meet Doug Bernauer, a former SpaceX engineer that left the company to launch Radiant, an LA startup developing the world’s first portable, nuclear microreactor. The company’s vision is grand and if they are successful, they will be able to seamlessly bring energy to many places that need it the most. LA TechWatch caught up with Bernauer to learn more about the company’s vision, future plans, and recent funding round from investors that include Charlie Songhurst, Hank Vigil, Josh Manchester, and Tom McInerney.