Autonomy, the latest auto startup from Scott Painter (left), is expanding to Orange County.
Autonomy
Glytch has partnered with entertainment venue operator Legends to become the exclusive operator of professional esports stadiums in major cities across the U.S. and Canada.
Irvine, California-based Glytch said it plans to open four locations by the end of 2024, and an additional four locations each year after that until reaching an initial target of 32 locations. The first location, already under construction, is in Los Angeles, with additional locations under development in Atlanta; Bellevue, Washington; and Chicago.
Glytch Stadiums are large-scale, 90,000- to 120,000-square-feet venues that combine a high-tech performance venue with location-based entertainment and live broadcasting.
In other L.A.-area tech and startup news:
- Electric vehicle subscription company Autonomy has added Orange County as a new market coverage area. The Santa Monica-based company recently launched its services in San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, following its commercial launch in L.A. in January. Autonomy said it’s the first U.S. company to offer a comprehensive monthly subscription for a Tesla Model 3, with other popular EV models scheduled in the near future.
- Boryung, Axiom Space and aerospace accelerator Starburst Aerospace have launched a joint initiative aimed at growing the next generation of pharmaceutical, bioscience and medtech development in space. Applications have opened for the first annual Care in Space Challenge that will offer space-related companies and technologies a chance to receive a $1 million dollar prize pot that will be divided by no more than 10 winners. The selected companies and technologies will also go through Starburst's 13-week accelerator program.
Funding
- Performance energy drink maker A Shoc Energy has raised $29 million in a Series B funding round led by existing investors and strategic participants, as well as athletes and celebrities including Bryson DeChambeau, Aaron Judge, Chase Young, Chase Elliott and Michael Strahan. The Newport Beach-based startup said the funding will go toward expanding its national sales staff; executing its partnerships with Thrill One and Chase Elliott/Hendrick Motorsports; creating and distributing digital content with its strategic sports and entertainment partners; and continuing to develop products.
- Trust, a network for emerging brands, has received $25 million in debt financing from Upper90 and $5 million in equity from existing and new investors, including Sapphire Sport and former Venmo COO Michael Vaughan. Founded by a team of Snap alums, Trust says its network allows businesses to band together to get benchmarked KPIs, insights and extended payment terms for their growth investments.
- Stem, a music-tech startup that helps artists with distribution and payments, has raised $20 million in a new funding round that brings the total raised to date to $40 million, according to dotLA. The round was led by QED Investors and included Block, formerly known as Square, and existing investors Slow Ventures and Quality Control.
- Odys Aviation, an aircraft startup building hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for regional mobility, has raised a $12.4 million seed funding round and has received a total of $18 million in funding. The company is building a 15,000-square-foot facility at Long Beach Airport to support advanced testing of its VTOL technology, as well as construction and assembly of its first human-scale demonstrators, which will be tested and flown at an offsite test facility outside of Long Beach.
- Music-tech company Trac has closed a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Lagos, Nigeria-based Zrosk Investment Managemen, with participation from AppWorks, InfinityVC, Calm Company Fund and Dapper Labs, as well as angels including Roham Gharegoziou and Siqi Chen. Founded in 2020 by Cardin Campbell, Trac is a one-stop shop for artists to monetize and manage their careers. The company said it will use the funding to scale its business and increase its market reach while expanding its engineering and operations teams.
- SoundMint, a generative platform for music NFTs, has raised a $1.7 million seed round led by Animoca Brands, with participation by Castle Island Ventures, Focus Labs, Sfermion, Sky Vision, Tess Capital and Goodwater Capital. The raise comes on the heels of a $30 million appraisal of SoundMint. The company said it will use the funds raised to build an NFT marketplace that will allow artists to create their own music NFTs as well as interact with collectors and other creatives: create a dashboard for NFT-holding fans to view exclusive content from artists; and release a token buyback program and ecosystem fund. SoundMint will also be launching SoundMint Vinyl, an NFT for current holders to redeem in the future.
- Impervious Technologies Inc. has closed its seed financing round with participation from bitcoin and privacy-focused investors including CoinShares, NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Fundamental Labs, Strategic Cyber Ventures, TEN-31 and others. The company said it plans to scale the peer-to-peer internet standard and is set to release its Impervious Browser, which is a suite of P2P tools that help to mitigate censorship and surveillance controls, in the second quarter.
Funds
- DRA Family Office has created a $10 million investment fund dedicated to supporting women business owners in a variety of sectors by granting them access to capital. Founded in 2019, DRA Family Office invests in lower- and middle-market private equity along with early-stage companies (seed through D rounds) that span a diverse range of industries, including real estate, technology, retail and equity venture opportunities.
