Among Pollen's travel experiences is a package trip to Las Vegas. The company has just raised $150 million in a Series C funding round.
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Travel technology company Pollen has raised $150 million in a Series C round as it adds more travel experiences and expands its reach.
Based in Los Angeles and London, Pollen was founded in 2014 by brothers Callum and Liam Negus-Fancey to create travel and entertainment experiences that are exclusive to its platform.
The company said it has created hundreds of travel experiences featuring talent and brands including J Balvin, Justin Bieber and Duran Duran. Pollen also partners with music festivals, hotels, venues, restaurants and nightclubs to sell experiences.
The company’s investors include Kindred, Lansdowne Partners, Northzone, Sienna Capital, Backed and Molton Ventures.
In other L.A.-area tech news:
- Satellite launch provider Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB) has renamed its national security arm to Virgin Orbit National Systems. Founded in 2017, the subsidiary, formerly called VOX Space, provides services to national security organizations in the U.S. and for U.S. allies. The Long Beach, California-based company also named retired Maj. Gen. Craig Cooning to its board. Cooning is a former president of Boeing’s Space and Network Systems.
- Captura, a Pasadena-based startup backed by Caltech, is among the 15 teams that are milestone winners in the XPrize Carbon Removal competition, a $100 million competition funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation. Each of the 15 milestone winning teams has been awarded $1 million to recognize their efforts to date and support their continued work. The overall winners will be awarded $80 million in 2025. The milestone winners hail from Australia, Canada, France, Iceland, Kenya, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States. Unlike previous prizes, every team is still eligible to compete and win the grand prize.
Customers eager to drive a Tesla Model 3 can access Autonomy's subscription service.
Autonomy
- Electric vehicle subscription company Autonomy has expanded its services to Sacramento. The Santa Monica-based company recently launched in Orange County and also provides services in San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Autonomy says 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.
- New York-based marketing company Tinuiti has become a strategic partner in Snap Inc.’s (NYSE: SNAP) growing work with independent agencies. Tinuiti will gain access to the Santa Monica social media company's tools, teams and resources for clients, including early access and testing of new products, exclusive trading agreements, incentives and pricing reductions on new products and account activations, education and training opportunities for Tinuti staff. With Snapchat, Tinuiti said its clients are able to reach a “unique, valuable and highly engaged audience, many of whom can't be reached via traditional methods.” Tinuiti has more than $3 billion in digital media under management and 1,000 employees.
- Bespoke Financial, an L.A. fintech company that provides debt financing to cannabis businesses, has partnered with PayQwick, a financial services platform for the cannabis industry out of Calabasas. Bespoke said the partnership provides a compliant one-stop shop for cannabis businesses to access Bespoke’s lending products and PayQwick’s invoicing, electronic bill pay, armored car cash pick-up, wire transfers and other financial services.
- L.A.-based online wine marketplace Vinohead has launched its beta for X-Drop, a sales "drop" where consumers can buy wine directly from a single winery through Vinohead’s platform, on a limited time basis. Vinohead is partnering with Chosen Family Wine to release its 2019 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($35). Vinohead said its online shopping experience bypasses middlemen and retailers, and forges a relationship between the winery and the customer.
Funds and funding
Afterparty is an NFT platform that helps creators monetize and manage fan relationships.
Afterparty
- Los Angeles-based Afterparty, an NFT platform that helps creators monetize and manage fan relationships, has closed a $4 million round to bring total capital raised to $7 million. The strategic community round includes more than 25 entrepreneurs, creators, and VCs, including Paris Hilton, Zillow’s Spencer Rascoff, Jason Calacanis of The Syndicate, NBA player Andre Iguodala, Blockchange Ventures, Acrew Capital and TenOneTen Ventures.
- WndrCo, the Hollywood-based venture capital firm founded by former DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, is seeking to raise $450 million for its second fund, according to dot.LA, citing a regulatory filing. WndrCo raised $600 million for its first fund in 2017. The venture firm's focus is on cybersecurity, future of work and consumer technology. It recently participated in a $42 million Series B round for Silicon Valley cybersecurity company Twingate and a $3.6 million seed round for New York-based food brand startup Popchew.
- Entrepreneur Jon Goldman has raised a $50 million venture capital fund, Tower 26, to invest in extended reality startups, according to VentureBeat. The firm, named after a lifeguard tower in Venice, will invest in virtual reality games and the metaverse. Goldman is managing director at Skybound, the maker of "The Walking Dead" franchise and other entertainment. He is also a board partner at Greycroft and runs the GC Tracker Fund.
Jill Angel has been named chief people officer at TrueCar.
TrueCar
People
- Santa Monica car-buying marketplace True Car has named Jill Angel as its chief people officer. Angel will report to President and CEO Mike Darrow and advise on key organizational issues. Angel was most recently executive vice president of people at Leaf Group, which she joined in 2015. Prior to Leaf Group, she was vice president of operations at Saatchi Art, which was acquired by Leaf Group, and also held operations roles with Cocodot and Swirl.
