Despite 2020 being a rough year for many businesses, the LA tech scene has been bouncing back in the second half of the year. Several LA tech companies raised large funding rounds in September, and that momentum continued in October with a handful of eight- and nine-digit raises. The top five largest funding rounds raised almost $600 million collectively.
#5 (tied). $45 million, October 12
Tied for the No. 5 spot is TigerConnect, a Santa Monica-based healthtech startup that raised a $45 million Series D round this past month. Healthtech companies have proven especially valuable in 2020, and TigerConnect is no exception. The company created a communication and collaboration platform for patients, doctors and healthcare providers, which has seen a surge in demand in recent months. This new funding will help the company as it grows to meet that demand.
#5 (tied). $45 million, October 21
Tied with TigerConnect is Output, a startup that builds music production software for professionals and hobbyists alike. Output raised a $45 million Series A in October, which marks the company’s first official funding round. It hopes to use the money to build more products for music creators, as well as add new features to existing products.
#3. $48 million, October 8
Hyperice recently raised $48 million in a Series A funding round, which puts the company’s valuation at $700 million. Investors in the company included several star athletes: Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Naomi Osaka. That’s because Hyperice creates products for athletic recovery — like its Hypervolt handheld massager, Venom back massager and AI-powered app.
#2. $120 million, October 27
Restaurants have been hit hard in 2020, and many have had to adopt new strategies to survive. LA-based Ordermark offers solutions to keep these restaurants afloat. Its online ordering terminal helps restaurants manage orders coming from multiple digital platforms, which has been a boon for restaurants as the pandemic limits sit-down dining. Ordermark is also in the ghost-kitchen business, in which food brands share a stocked kitchen to fulfill delivery orders quickly. These two approaches attracted investors, who helped the company raise $120 million in a Series C round.
#1. $340 million, October 28
This month’s largest funding round came at the very end of October. Mobile game conglomerate Scopely just raised $340 million in its Series E funding round. This brings the company’s valuation to a hefty $3 billion, which is about twice as much as its valuation a year ago. Scopely is behind several smash-hit games, including Scrabble Go, which released this March and hit the No. 1 spot in the app charts for the most downloaded word game in the world.
