LA tech roundup: UCLA opens accelerator, VR for kids, & more

by Patrick Hechinger
January 29, 2016

UCLA opens doors to new accelerator

The UCLA Anderson School of Management announced the launch of their new accelerator this week. Housed within the Rosenfeld Library building, the 10,000 square foot is open to any student entrepreneurs. The accelerator will feature guest speakers, demo days, and a co-working space that can host 45 people. [UCLA Anderson Opens an Accelerator: LA Business Journal]

 

Peekaboo VR plans to bring Virtual Reality to children

The man behind the visual effects for I, Robot, and The Polar Express is helping create a new immersive virtual world for children. The 360 degree space will help teach children about topics like evolution and space exploration. [Peekaboo VR Plans Virtual World For Children: SoCal Tech]

 

The City of Los Angeles unveils open data mapping site

In hopes of making its data more accessible to citizens, LA released their new data mapping site: Los Angeles Geohub. The site is powered by GIS technology from Esri. It can track map-based data including flood zones, bus routes, accident prone areas, and even the location of tech companies. [LA Rolls Out Slick Open Data Mapping Site, GeoHub: SoCal Tech]

 

Our Los Angeles office is located in the Hayden Tract area of LA., an up and coming technology and entertainment hub. Located off the I-10 freeway, near Culver City, Hayden Tract is near downtown Culver City and is near two Metro Expo Line stops.
links up with Huffington Post

Culver City's Jukin Media inked a deal with the Huffington Post this week to supply licensed user-generated videos for their site. Jukin grabs potentially viral videos from sites like YouTube and licenses them in order to provide the content to suitable broadcast partners. [Jukin Media Inks Deal with Huffington Post: LA Business Journal]

 

SteelHouse is located in the diverse and historic town of Culver City. Our office is just off the LA River, and is only a metro ride from the beach.
sees huge revenue growth in 2015 

Culver City ad-tech company SteelHouse announced they grew their revenue by 170 percent in 2015, achieving a $130 million revenue run rate. The company added 400 customers last year including Oakley, Staples, and Getty Images. [SteelHouse Revenue Grows 170%: LA Business Journal]

 

named as the sixth best large tech workplace

For the second year in a row, Fortune has ranked its 30 Best Workplaces in Tech and Santa Monica's Cornerstone OnDemand has landed in a prominent spot. Cornerstone took the number six spot in the Large Workplace category, followed by Yelp (#7) and Google (#8). 

 

announces new CEO

The LA-based developer of API management software, Akana, said they have appointed Mark Tapling as their CEO this week. Tapling was previously CEO of PacketVideo and Language Weaver. He will replace Paul Gigg who had been CEO since 2004. [Akana Names New CEO: SoCal Tech]

 

Fundings of the week

HopSkipDrive HQ officially moved to a new office this week in the Little Tokyo district in Downtown LA! Can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead.
, $10.2 million

Investors: FirstMark Capital, Greycroft Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, along with prior investors Upfront Ventures, BBG Ventures and 1776

HopSkipDrive, a ridesharing service for kids, continued their rapid growth this week with the announcement of their $10.2 million Series A. CEO Joanna McFarland said the funding will be used to build their operations team and expand to new markets. [HopSkipDrive nets $10.2M in Series A funding for national expansion: Built In]

, $5.3 million 

Investors: Shea Ventures, TYLT Labs and Whittier Ventures

SnapMD is a LA-based startup that provides virtual healthcare and telemedicine platform. The company will reportedly use the funding to add talent to its team and aid future technology development. [SnapMD Raises $5.3M: SoCal Tech]

, $2.5 million 

Investors: Not disclosed

Based in both Newport Beach and Tel Aviv, Memeni develops a social software platform for brands to create personalized online communities. [Memeni Gets $2.5M For Community Software: SoCal Tech]

Know of a startup that we should be covering? Send us an email at [email protected]

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