LA tech businesses made an abundance of announcements last week primarily centered around capital raises. Read on to learn what these companies are up to next and how they will spend their fresh funding. This is the Built In LA Weekly Refresh.
Monarch Collective closed a $100M fund. Looking to bring equity to women’s sports, Monarch Collective launched with a $100 million fund. The investment firm aims to be a “change agent” equity product for women’s teams and leagues, Monarch Collective co-founder Kara Nortman said in a blog post. Nortman is a former partner of VC firm Upfront Ventures and co-founder of National Women’s Soccer League team Angel City FC. She co-founded Monarch Collective with Jasmine Robinson, a former partner at Causeway. [Fast Company]
Huupe raised $11M. LA-based huupe raised an $11 million seed round co-led by Protagonist VC, Marvan Ventures, TRI Investments and Kawn VC for its tech-infused basketball hoop. The backboard of the basketball hoop is a rugged screen that can display and stream content. The hoop can also track a player’s speed, release time, agility, vertical jump and more. [Built In LA]
LA Tech Quote of the Week
“By understanding the personalized motivation that each member needs to change behaviors — and by helping train these behaviors into lasting habits — we’ve been able to help people from all walks of life dramatically improve their health outcomes.” — Matt Loper, co-founder and CEO of Wellth
Wellth secured $20M. Founded in 2014, Wellth is a rewards platform that helps users with chronic illnesses form healthy habits, such as refilling prescriptions on time. Funds from the Series B round will go toward growing the Wellth team. [Built In LA]
Giadzy landed $5M. Founded by chef Giada de Laurentiis, Giadzy is a direct-to-consumer food e-commerce marketplace. The website also provides content such as recipes and cooking tips. Giadzy originally launched the platform in 2016 but it is being reimagined with fresh funding and a new content deal with Amazon. [Forbes]
Superfiliate pulled in $3M. Superfiliate is a marking company based in LA that offers personalized storefronts for consumers. Superfiliate works with companies like Dr. Squatch, Kinder Beauty, Florence by Mills and others. The $3 million seed round was led by Hawke Ventures, a VC firm that provides seed funding to emerging commerce enablement platforms. [PR Newswire]
Sensible Weather secured new funding. Santa Monica-based Sensible Weather is an insurance and weather tech company. It raised a $12 million Series A last May and recently secured additional funding from EP Golf Ventures and Elysian Park Ventures. The funding amount was not publicly announced. The funds will help Sensible continue expanding its Weather Guarantee offering, which allows customers to be reimbursed if inclement weather conditions cancel their travel experience. Sensible is also actively hiring. [Bloomberg]
