The Strand 🌴 - March 17, 2019
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Bird is laying off about 40 employees or 4-5% of its workforce, Brookfield has acquired 62% of LA-based Oaktree Capital, and Tesla unveiled its new mid-size SUV.
Welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of The Strand, a weekly-ish newsletter covering venture capital, private equity, and general business news from around the Los Angeles area. My name is Brendan Boken, a native of Southern California. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, send deals/news to brendanboken@gmail.com.
Venture Capital Funding
Cluster, a one-year-old, Los Angeles, California-based company matching candidates with jobs at advanced manufacturing companies, has raised $1.9 million in seed funding led by Mark Cuban and ECMC Group, with participation from other individual investors, including Zynga founder Mark Pincus. Pulse 2.0
Impact, an 11-year-old, Santa Barbara, California-based marketing technology company, has raised $75 million in growth funding led by Providence Strategic Growth, with participation from earlier investor Silversmith Capital Partners. Channele2e
ProdPerfect, a two-year-old, Boston, Massachussets-based startup focusing on automating QA testing for web apps, has raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Eniac Ventures and Los Angeles-based Fika Ventures co-led the round, and was joined by investors including Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. TechCrunch
Truepill, a 2.5-year-old, San Mateo, California-based online pharmacy company powering delivery for the likes of Hims, Nurx, and other DTC healthcare brands, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Initialized Capital. Other participants in the round include Y Combinator, Beverly Hills-based Sound Ventures, Tuesday Capital, and others. TechCrunch
Private Equity Funding
Los Angeles-based LightBay Capital and Los Angeles-based Freeman Spogli & Co. will acquire FASTSIGNS International, Inc., a Carrolton, Texas-based franchisor in the signage and visual graphics industry. Financial terms were not disclosed. PR Newswire
Los Angeles-based Strand Equity Partners made an investment in The Real Good Food Co., a Glendale, California-based provider of high protein, low-carb comfort food. Financial terms were not disclosed. PR Newswire
Liquidity / Exits / M&A
Brookfield Asset Management agreed to acquire 62% of Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital for about $4.8 billion, creating an alternative-asset manager that will challenge the likes of industry giant Blackstone Group. NASDAQ
New Funds
No LA-based firms announced new funds this past week.
IPOs
No Los Angeles-based companies or investors were involved in IPOs this past week.
On The Move
No Los Angeles-based companies or firms gained notable new employees this past week.
Featured Jobs
City Storage Systems, a startup focusing on re-purposing distressed real estate assets and turning them into spaces suited for new industries, is hiring for their Operations team in the company’s greater LA office.
GOAT Group, the world’s largest marketplace for authentic sneakers, is looking for a Data Platform Engineer in the company’s greater LA office.
The Black Tux, a company reinventing the formalwear rental industry, is hiring a Senior Product Manager in the company’s Santa Monica office.
News, Resources, & Required Reading
A bit late, but I enjoyed this post by Mike Fernandez on what 2018 meant for SoCal Tech and the year in review, including some analysis on the growth of the unicorn club, exit activity, and of course, scooters.
A consortium that includes SoftBank Group is in late-stage talks to invest $1 billion or more in Uber’s self-driving vehicle unit, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Under terms discussed, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and other investors, including Toyota, confirmed by Axios, would take a minority stake in the unit at a valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion. Wall Street Journal
Bird has reportedly laid off between four to five percent of its workforce in a cost-reduction effort, says The Information. The article also states that Bird is trailing Lime in both U.S. and international ridership by some measures. About 40 employees of the roughly 900-person team were let go. The Information
California was declared totally drought free for the first time in more than seven years (!) this past week, following unusually abundant winter rains and snowfall statewide. Reuters
From Alibaba to Zynga: 40 of the best VC bets of all time and what we can learn from them, including the top 25 VC-backed exits of all time:
Here’s how old these companies are as of this year:
Snapchat: 8 years
Uber: 10 years
Twitter: 13 years
Facebook: 15 years
Tesla: 16 years
Google: 21 years
Netflix: 22 years
Amazon: 25 years
Apple: 43 years
Intel: 51 years
HP: 80 years
Disney: 96 years
IBM: 108 years
In what is being called the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted, numerous wealthy parents, investors, celebrities, coaches, and college prep executives have been accused of carrying out a nationwide fraud to get students into prestigious universities. In all, 50 people were charged in the criminal investigation including Lori Loughlin (Aunt Becky from Full House), fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, Crown Realty & Development CEO Robert Flaxman, as well as a number of other individuals. CNN
Los Angeles is attracting more tech talent thanks to a swath of e-commerce startups including the likes of GOAT Group, Ritual, Dollar Shave Club, The Honest Company, Magento, and more. Digiday
Rent, lease, or buy: 5 companies shaking up LA’s real estate scene. Built in LA
SoftBank Group Corp has expanded its appetite for early-stage startups, with a venture capital unit set to launch its biggest fund for early investments as it opens new offices in Asia. The global fund will be worth as much as $500 million and could launch next month. It will be interesting to observe how the Vision Fund will support some of these early-stage startups as they grow and what type of ownership SoftBank will control in these companies across funds. SoftBank also recently unveiled a $5 billion fund focused on startups in Latin America. Reuters
Tesla unveiled it’s mid-size electric SUV, the Model Y, this past Thursday night in Hawthorne. The most-affordable Model Y will have a base price of $39K and a 230-mile battery range, but customers will have to wait until 2021 to own one of the five-seater SUVs. Investors were not impressed as many have speculated on the cost of the new mid-size SUV compared to other vehicle manufacturers, sending the stock down 5% on Friday morning. CNN
Uber and Travis Kalanick are in business again - this time, as competitors. Bloomberg
Take a Break
12 years ago this past week, Kobe Bryant had his first of four STRAIGHT 50+ point games.
Imagine believing we’re significant in any way whatsoever.
March Madness must list: where to eat, drink, and have fun in NCAA host cities.
New York City is just different.
Samuel L. Jackson - The King of Hollywood.
The current leaderboard at the 2019 Players Championship. Rory McIlroy and Jim Furyk lead at 15-under-par.
This $29.5 million Holmby Hills estate in Los Angeles boasts 2.2 acres of gently rolling green lawns, two guest houses, a championship lighted tennis court, and a pool.