*socaltech.com <http://socaltech.com> TechNews - Friday, March 8, 2024* Edited by Benjamin F. Kuo ISSN: 1524-6736 http://www.socaltech.com/News <https://www.socaltech.com/News> ------------------------------
*Sponsored By * Bank of California (http://www.bancofcal.com) KPMG (http://home.kpmg/us/en/home/about/offices/los-angeles-1.html) Level up with KPMG ------------------------------ *Headlines * - Faraday Future Recalls Eleven Vehicles <#0083868> - Rivian Pauses Georgia EV Plant Efforts <#0083867> - SpaceX Sued Over Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination <#0083866> - Rakuten Medical Gets $119M In Series E <#0083865> - Sendlane Rolls Out New Tool <#0083864> - A Look At Plug In South LA <#0083863> - Funraise Applies AI to Nonprofit Fundraising Tool <#0083862> - REC Solar Names CEO <#0083861> - Fisker Cut 15 Percent, Pauses Work On New Models <#0083860> - Zest AI Launches New Product <#0083859> *Marketplace* - From Idea to IPO - KPMG’s Emerging Growth Practice <#ad760> - IP Protection for Technology and Business - SoCal IP Law Group LLP <#ad750> - Pixelgate.net - Internet Access, Web Hosting, Network Services <#ad796> *Friday, March 8, 2024* *Banc of California, Venture Banking Group <https://www.bancofcal.com>* Banc of California is one of the nation’s premier relationship-based business banks focused on providing banking and treasury management services to small-, middle-market, and venture-backed businesses. Banc of California offers a broad range of loan and deposit products and services through more than 70 full-service branches throughout California and in Denver, Colorado, and Durham, North Carolina, as well as full-stack payment processing solutions through its subsidiary, Deepstack Technologies. The bank is committed to its local communities by supporting organizations that provide financial literacy and job training, small business support, affordable housing, and more. For more information, visit us at www.bancofcal.com. *Faraday Future Recalls Eleven Vehicles* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083868.html> Los Angeles-based EV maker Faraday Future has had to issue its very first vehicle recall--for a grand total of eleven (11) vehicles. In a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), Faraday Future said certain FF91 2.0 Alliance vehicles have an issue with a module, which causes the air bag malfunction indicator light to not illuminate. The company said all of the FF91 2. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083868.html>) *Rivian Pauses Georgia EV Plant Efforts* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083867.html> Irvine-based EV maker Rivian has paused work on a $5 billion EV plant it had been working on in Georgia, as it looks to cut costs at the auto maker. Rivian said it intends to produce its R2 at its existing, Normal, Illinois manufacturing plant instead of Georgia, saving $2.5 billion for the company. Rivian said that its Georgia plant "remains an extremely important part of its strategy to scale production of R2 and R3" but did not give any timing on when it might resume work in Georgia. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083867.html>) *SpaceX Sued Over Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083866.html> Hawthorne-based SpaceX has been sued by an ex-employee, who accuses the company of supporting a supervisor who "pressured her into having sexual relations with him". The lawsuit claims the company fostered serial sexual abuse. The lawsuits are not the first for the company, which was sued by five former SpaceX employees in 2021; another Musk company, Tesla, has also faced similar lawsuits. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083866.html>) *Rakuten Medical Gets $119M In Series E* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083865.html> Rakuten medical, a company developing precision therapies for treating cancer, has raised $119M in a Series E funding round. The company said the new funding came from Hikma, a global pharmaceutical company, and Mizuho Bank and Dai-ichi Life, plus SBI Group, Rakuten Group and its Chairman and CEO, Mickey Mikitani. The company said it will use it to support development of its pipeline. As part of the funding, the company said it has added Mazen Darwazah of Hikma to its board. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083865.html>) *Sendlane Rolls Out New Tool* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083864.html> San Diego-based *Sendlane <https://www.sendlane.com>*, which develops retention marketing software for the e-commerce industry, says it has rolled out an update to its email and SMS marketing product. According to the company, it has launched "Forms", a tool which helps its customer grow their email and SMS lists. The company says the tool is available at no cost to its existing customers.(More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083864.html>) *A Look At Plug In South LA* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083863.html> What is *Plug In South LA <https://pluginventures.co/>*? Techcrunch looks at the accelerator program, which is aimed at helping accelerate startups based in South Los Angeles, and bolsters "Black & Brown early-stage entrepreneurs", who have historically had a very difficult time getting venture capital money. Plug In South LA is led by Derek Smith.(More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083863.html>) *Funraise Applies AI to Nonprofit Fundraising Tool* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083862.html> Los Angeles-based *Funraise <https://www.funraise.org/>*, which develops on online platform that helps nonprofits raise funding, says it has launched new AI features within its products. According to the company, it has added ""AI forecasting, AI data explanations, and AI natural language queries" using technology from Sisense. Funraise is led by CEO and co-founder Justin Wheeler.(More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083862.html>) *REC Solar Names CEO* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083861.html> San Luis Obispo-based REC Solar, which develops on-site and community solar and storage projects, says it has named a new CEO. According to the company, it has appointed Robb Jetty--most recently, Chief Operating Officer at Distributed Solar Development (DSD)--to the CEO position. Jetty previously also served as Vice President of Business Development for C&I and EPC Markets at EDF Renewable Energy as well as Executive Vice President at Onyx Renewable Partners, LP and M+W Group. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083861.html>) *Fisker Cut 15 Percent, Pauses Work On New Models* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083860.html> In a ominous sign for Los Angeles-based electric vehicle (EV) maker Fisker Automotive has cut 15 percent of its staff--200 people--and will pause new work on its new EV models, as a result of a shift to a new "Dealer Partner" model. (More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083860.html>) *Zest AI Launches New Product* <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083859.html> Los Angeles-based *Zest AI <https://www.zest.ai>* said this week that it has launched a new, generative AI product, which it calls "LuLu". According to the company, the customized generative AI tools will allow its customers to "instantly capture strategic industry insights, decisioning and portfolio performance metrics, and quickly access their unique Zest AI product knowledge base." Zest develops AI lending technology aimed at financial providers.(More... <https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0083859.html>) *From Idea to IPO - KPMG’s Emerging Growth Practice < [email protected]>* KPMG provides Bookkeeping, Audit, Tax, and Advisory services to assist you at any stage of your life cycle. Whether you are starting your business, strengthening your business, expanding into new markets, or pursuing an exit, we have a global network of experienced resources that can take you to the next level. For more information, please contact Ryan Youhan at [email protected]. *IP Protection for Technology and Business - SoCal IP Law Group LLP <http://www.socalip.com>* Patents. Trademarks. Copyrights. Trade Secrets. IP Filings. IP Strategy. IP Litigation. IP Transactions. US and Worldwide. Offices in Westlake Village and Santa Barbara. [email protected] www.socalip.com *Pixelgate.net - Internet Access, Web Hosting, Network Services <http://www.pixelgate.net>* We put the "Service" back into Internet Service Provider. http://www.pixelgate.net ------------------------------ *Recent Funding <#funding>* 4/13/23 Altruist <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=110844> Culver City $112.00 M 2/10/23 Fabric8Labs <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=110604> San Diego $50.00 M 1/31/23 Saviynt <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=110563> El Segundo $205.00 M 1/23/23 ADARx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=110494> San Diego $46.10 M 1/19/23 PLAI Labs <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103242> Culver City $32.00 M 1/19/23 Oro Inc. <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103241> Los Angeles $13.00 M 1/19/23 ContractSafe <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103240> Malibu $27.50 M 1/17/23 Sensible Weather <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103239> Santa Monica $0.00 M 1/10/23 CRISPR QC <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103238> San Diego $1.60 M 1/10/23 Cari Health <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103237> San Diego $3.20 M 1/09/23 PBS Biotech <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103236> Camarillo $22.00 M 12/07/22 Drata Inc. <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103235> San Marcos $200.00 M 10/21/22 Kudos Technologies <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103234> Woodland Hills $7.00 M 9/22/22 TheoryCraft Games <https://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=103233> Los Angeles $50.00 M ------------------------------ *Upcoming Events* Submit your events at least two weeks in advance to: http://www.socaltech.com/submitevent.html ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ *Sponsored By * KPMG (http://home.kpmg/us/en/home/about/offices/los-angeles-1.html) Level up with KPMG Email [email protected] for more information about sponsoring this newsletter. ------------------------------ You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the socalTECH.com TechNews from our web site, or otherwise requested a subscription. 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