LA’s Top 5 Tech Funding Rounds Totaled Nearly $1.7B in May
A slow funding season hasn’t stunted innovation on the West Coast. From space exploration to new Web3 capabilities, Los Angeles tech companies are working to stay at the forefront of the future. With a total up significantly from April, learn what the companies who secured last month’s largest funding rounds are developing with the fresh cash.
#5. $36 million, May 26
With over $45 million in funding to date, augmented reality startup Jadu pulled in fresh capital to develop its Web3 platform that will let users project NFT avatars onto the real world. The company’s mobile solution connects to players’ Ethereum wallets and enables them to convert their 3D animated NFTs into playable avatars. Jadu’s latest round of capital will go toward expanding its 50-person team and building out its gaming app.
#4. $43 million, May 24
Helping the companies that work to keep our vital facilities functioning, BuildOps secured Series A funding for its SaaS platform. The company serves commercial contractors, such as those in HVAC or refrigeration, with a cloud-based operations management software. After seeing significant growth in its solution over recent years, BuildOps is furthering that momentum with its new funding. The company, which is actively hiring, is adding resources to its product and engineering efforts.
#2 (tied). $50 million, May 5
A player in the NFT space, Zora is developing its marketplace platform with its latest round of venture funding. The company secured $50 million from Haun Ventures to build out its solution that enables artists and developers to create NFT marketplaces and collections. On Zora, most NFTs are sold on third-party sites. This latest round for the company values it at $600 million.
#2 (tied). $50 million, May 2
Tribe Capital led the Series B funding round that brings LinearB’s total capital raised to $71 million. LinearB specializes in building analytics and management tools to help software development teams optimize their workflow. The company is putting the money toward hiring engineering, customer success, sales and marketing talent and then expanding its solution into new markets worldwide.
#1. $1.5 billion, May 25
The latest development from Elon Musk’s aerospace company is $1.5 billion in fresh funding. With the additional capital, the company’s valuation reaches $125 billion. Though it wasn’t exclusively disclosed what the new funding will go toward, the Hawthorne-based company is currently working on projects including the Starship rocket system intended for deep-space missions as well as its Starlink satellite-internet service.
