For Los Angeles’ tech scene, the past few months have been a period of tremendous financial growth. In fact, Built In LA reported that local companies raised a total of $760 million in March alone.
Of course, the city’s investment surge began earlier than that. Back in December 2021, medical apparel brand Jaanuu acquired $75 million in a Series B round, bringing its total capital raised to $92 million. According to Chief Financial Officer Marshall Lai, the company’s latest capital infusion will be used to strengthen its industry prominence, as the organization continues to evolve alongside increasing demand for its products.
“We’re excited to drive growth across the healthcare apparel space over the next several years,” Lai said.
Yet healthcare fashion isn’t the only sector contemplating how to spend expanded budgets in LA. Earlier this year, energy and power management solutions provider Epirus raised more than $200 million in a Series C round. This fresh capital brings the startup’s total funding raised to more than $300 million and raises its valuation to $1.35 billion.
Rubun Dey, Epirus’ vice president of investor relations, financial strategy and treasury, said the company’s latest funding round came at a critical moment within its growth journey. As the company increases its headcount and enhances its technological offerings, the team aims to leverage its financial backing to bolster existing values.
“People come first at Epirus, and this new capital isn’t an exception to that rule,” Dey said.
Built In LA caught up with Lai and Dey to learn more about why both companies decided to raise funding rounds and how they plan to deploy their investments.
How did your team decide when to raise a round of funding?
The time was right to bring in new capital to allow us to scale even faster and further, given market demand. We’ve reached a pivotal inflection point in our growth trajectory, which has been fueled by our people and commitment to rapid innovation. Our team has more than doubled over the past two years, and we expect to maintain this rapid growth in order to continue executing on our innovative strategy. Throughout the past couple of years, we’ve taken three distinct product offerings from being concepts to operational prototypes, and our customers are taking notice. We’re often proactively approached by prospective customers who are aware of our technology and want us to help them solve challenging problems. We’ve been awarded numerous contracts, particularly for research and development, and expect to maintain that momentum.
The time was right to bring in new capital to allow us to scale even faster and further, given market demand.”
How do you plan to deploy this new capital?
People come first, and this new capital isn’t an exception to that rule. The funding will be used to invest in and grow our team. Beyond that, we’ll use it to accelerate the development of our government product lines, which will allow us to create next-generation testing articles, transition prototypes into scaled production with a new manufacturing facility and bring new products to market. While we’re currently focused on solving some of the world’s most complex defense challenges, we’re also excited about deploying our technology across other industries in the future. This latest funding will help us expand into commercial markets, where our underlying technology can have a transformative impact on increasing power output and driving energy efficiency.
How did your team decide that the time was right to raise a round of funding?
In 2021, the company’s scrubs business grew tremendously, which was driven by a renewed focus on our product and brand as well as greater discipline regarding how we use our marketing capital. Backed by growth and a clear product-market fit, we felt it was the right time to engage with global investment company Eurazeo, given its decades of operational, brand and financial experience.
We’re excited to drive growth across the healthcare apparel space over the next several years.”
How do you plan to deploy this new capital?
We plan to deploy the capital in three specific ways. Firstly, we want to launch a number of large-scale brand awareness campaigns in major U.S. metro areas. We also aim to innovate our scrubs and accessories. Lastly, we will continue building out our brand marketing, creative and product design lanes with exceptional talent. Aside from those primary areas of investment, we will also streamline and drive efficiencies within our supply chain, HR, finance and accounting processes. It’s important for the company to continually evolve its corporate functions alongside business growth.
