LA Tech Firms Secure Major Funding
Los Angeles' technology sector saw a surge of investment in AI and deep tech. AI-powered metal 3D printing startup Freeform raised a $67 million Series B, while GPS-alternative developer ZaiNar emerged from stealth with a $100 million raise and a valuation over $1 billion. Additionally, microreactor startup NuCube Energy secured $13 million to address rising industrial power demands.
- Freeform's Series B funding round was notably backed by NVIDIA's venture arm, NVentures, along with Founders Fund and Two Sigma Ventures. The company was founded by former SpaceX engineers Erik Palitsch and Thomas Ronacher. - ZaiNar, which operated in stealth mode for nine years, has a notable list of investors including SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, and Siri co-founder Tom Gruber. - NuCube Energy was co-founded at the Idealab studio by entrepreneur Bill Gross and nuclear engineer Dr. Cristian Rabiti in 2023. The company's recent funding round was led by Arizona Nuclear Ventures. - Freeform's manufacturing technology utilizes on-site data centers with NVIDIA H200 GPU clusters to run physics simulations and control its metal 3D printers. The new capital is intended to help the company hire up to 100 new employees and upgrade its current 18-laser system to a new "Skyfall" platform that will employ hundreds of lasers. - ZaiNar's technology provides precise location data by synchronizing time across 5G and Wi-Fi networks to a sub-nanosecond level, offering an alternative to GPS that functions effectively indoors. - NuCube is developing a modular microreactor capable of generating industrial heat up to 1,100 degrees Celsius, aiming to replace natural gas in energy-intensive applications and power data centers. - This investment activity is part of a larger trend in Los Angeles, which is the fourth-largest AI talent hub in North America and ranked second in the U.S. for AI venture capital funding in the third quarter of 2024.
