LA had a busy week on the tech front, with lots of funding news and plans for innovations. This is the Built In LA weekly refresh.
UNest raised $26M. The Series B funding will allow the company to expand and grow its platform. UNest platform allows parents to manage their child’s financial portfolio as soon as they’re born. The company plans to add cryptocurrency options to the platform with the latest funding. [Built In LA]
Luxury Presence raised $25.9M. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round alongside existing investors and former Dallas Mavericks basketball player Dirk Nowitzki. Luxury Presence sells marketing software to real estate brokerages helping them create a real estate content management system. [TechCrunch]
LA TECH QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Elude raised $3M for growth. Elude is the app that allows people to plan out a budget-friendly vacation and allows users to make transactions all through the app instead of directing to a third-party site. The seed funding will be used to expand the platform and its engineering team. [Built In LA]
Steno got $20M. The court reporting services startup landed the debt financing and equity investment from Rivonia Road Capital. The company’s services are currently available in five states — California, Florida, New York, Nevada and Texas — and the funding will help it expand to new markets next year. The company also tripled in size over the past year and expects to continue that growth. [Business Wire]
Fourthwall gained $17M. Along with the new funding, Fourthwall also announced a new chief creative officer: YouTuber Phil DeFranco. Fourthwall is an all-in-one platform that allows users to create their own website, open a shop and more. Fourthwall will continue to invest in its platform with the latest funding. [PR Newswire]
Deloitte’s Fast 500 ranking had 29 LA companies. The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list gathered the fastest-growing tech companies in America between the years of 2017 to 2020. Out of the 500, 29 companies from LA made the list. Local companies who made the cut this year include WELL Health, Sure, Traliant and Haawk, among others. [Built In LA]
Inversion gained $10M. The company closed a seed round led by Spark Capital. The LA-based company focuses on building affordable, high cadence return capabilities for the space and defense industries. The funding raised will go towards the company’s space capsules. [PR Newswire]
