February 2, 2021
THE LOCAL BUZZ
Your one-stop newsletter on all things tech in San Diego.

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BLOOMBITES
Happy February, friends. It’s hard to believe everything that went down in January, let alone the past year, but that’s not detracting from the momentum that continues to build in our San Diego tech community. Fundings continued to happen at a blazing fast pace in January as you’ll see below in our funding section. We also continue to highlight what our local investors are investing in, including companies outside San Diego. While companies are raising funds, we need to make sure opportunity is happening equitably and ServiceNow is proving they are being the change with the launch of their $100M Racial Equity Fund.

Considering Valentine’s Day is coming up, love for our city is in the air with new people moving to town, including Jaime Schmidt and Chris Cantino, both previously of Portland-based Schmidt’s Naturals and now running Color Capital. Chris recently posted about why they are excited about San Diego in this tweet thread. We’re excited to have them too, so please give them a welcome. 

Do you know other entrepreneurs who are moving here? A way to connect them and you further to our community is through the app Clubhouse, a new audio-only community. We’ve been hostly weekly Thursday 9 p.m. SD Startup Chats and we would love for you to join us. Reply to this email if you need an invite.

Cheers,

P.S. Help us understand how the pandemic has affected our local ecosystem by filling out this business survey.

Follow @FreshBrewedTech on Twitter for daily SD tech news.
ORIGINAL BREW

Our team of local writers gives a fresh look inside the San Diego tech ecosystem past and present.
TekMate, founded at SDSU by senior Ben Shapiro, offers live technology classes, personal one-on-one training sessions, and remote business-to-business services to local senior living homes.
TACOS & TECH PODCAST

Jasmine Sadler is the Founder and CEO of The STEAM Collaborative, which focuses on advocacy for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through an artistic lens.

Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for enabling us to tell these stories of inspiring leaders.
FAST FIVE

Some highlights from this past week in San Diego tech.
ServiceNow has launched a $100M Racial Equity Fund to drive home ownership, business creation, and neighborhood revitalization in Black communities

San Diego is the largest county in the U.S. to commit to zero carbon emissions by 2035

Hydrostasis receives U.S. patent for their hydration monitoring technology

Local battery technology company, Enersmart, is installing $20M worth of battery storage in SD

San Diego self taught software engineer Jabril wins YouTube’s Black Voices creators grant
JOBS SPOTLIGHT
During the current shift in the world of work, many San Diego companies are still hiring. This live job board by SD Life Changing, StartupSD, and Connect shows open roles. Companies can add their roles if they are hiring, too.
Video Engineering Program Manager, Apple

Membership Development & Programs Manager, Downtown San Diego Partnership

Senior Lifecycle Marketing Manager, Surfline

Partner Relations, Mercato

Product Manager, Silicon, Google

Director, Engineering, CourseKey

Corporate Service Sales Rep, GitHub

Product Analyst, SOCi

SVP, Product Management, Evernote

Content Marketing Manager, PetDesk
RECENT DEALS
Design Therapeutics, $125M Series B with Logos Capital, Ra Capital, T. Rowe Price

SOCi, $80M Series D with JMI, Ankona Capital, Doug Winter

Encodia, $75M Series C with GV, Alexandria Ventures, Northpod Ventures, Tao, ARCH

BlueNalu, $60M Series with OurCrowd, Radicle Growth, Stray Dog Capital

Airspace Technologies, $38M Series C with Prologis, Defy.vc, Qualcomm Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Scale Ventures

Plexium, $35M with Series A with Lux Capital, DCVC Bio, Pivotal Bioventures, CRV

Trovata, $20M Series A with JP Morgan, Wells Fargo Strategic Growth, Capital One Growth Ventures
Vessel, $14.5M Series Seed with Monogram Capital, Cove Fund, Jared Leto, Kelly Slater, Neal Bloom

Concert Health, $14M Series A with Vertical Venture Partners, Town Hall Ventures, Clear Vision Equity, Neal Bloom

M2 Ingredients, $5M

CoviCept Therapeutics, $2.3M with Forbion Capital Partners

Ent*heos Enterprises PBC, $1.2M with Kelly Perdew

HAI Solutions, $1M with Tech Coast Angels San Diego
ACQUISITIONS
Mesa Biotech by Thermo Fisher for $550M

Welk Resorts by Marriot for $450M
SD INVESTORS IN THE NEWS
Correlation Ventures invested in Joshua

Blueprint Equity invested in Axela Technologies

Correlation Ventures invested in Silq

Correlation Ventures invested in Sounding Board

TVC Capital invested in SimpleNexus
UPCOMING *VIRTUAL* EVENTS
Enjoy these events from the comfort and safety of your own home.
Building Brands San Diegans Love
Webinar by GA San Diego, February 2

Law 101 for Entrepreneurs
Interactive workshop by Miramesa REC Innovation Lab, February 8

WBC Virtual Launch Program
9-week classroom sessions program, February 8

Power of Community Financing
Online event by by Mission Driven Finance, February 11

Venture Outlook 2021
Annual event by Connect, February 16

AFWERX Applications
Open for SBIR and STTR until February 18

Connect's Cool Companies
Annual capital program, apply by March 1

Ad Astra Ventures Get To Even Founder Bootcamp

SD Angel Conference
By the Brink SBDC, March 20

Airport Innovation Lab Application
1 year development program, apply here

Launch Factory Application
Now recruiting founders for their new startups, apply here
TACO TO YOU LATER
Love you ALMOST as much as we love tacos...
Have a tip or want to share your favorite local taco?
Feel free to tell us about it: techos@freshbrewedtech.com