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- The LA Grind: Week of June 30th
The LA Grind: Week of June 30th
Upcoming events, venture deals, investment opportunities, and more.
Justin Gordon
June 30, 2025
Curated events and standout stories for LA’s most ambitious founders, builders, and investors.
👋 I’m Justin. I run The LA Grind, host the Just Go Grind podcast, and scout for Headline. I’ve lived in LA since 2018, earned my MBA from USC (✌️), and I’m probably out running when I’m not writing this.
Want to connect?
Some updates before we dive in:
Thanks to everyone who came to our startup community mixer last week!
I’m creating a free LA Founder Guide with everything a founder needs to thrive in this city (Investor lists, service providers, events, communities, work spots, and way more), if you’d like to sponsor it for 6 or 12 months, reply to this email, there will only be 3 spots and this will get an insane amount of exposure, promoted each week through The LA Grind and social media.
Last week I ran a poll about creating a Clubhouse on the westside for the LA startup community and while this project is very early, the results were encouraging, with 22 people interested in a membership and 22 more interested in day passes.
This week, I’d love your input below:
Which event should I host soon? (That you'd actually attend) |
Did someone forward this to you? You can subscribe here.
Let’s get to it.
🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴
🗓️ July 8: Curated Founder Dinner. Our first one filled up fast, so I’m organizing another! 2 sponsor seats available.
🗓️ July 12: LA Startup Community Hike. We had our first one in months and it was so much fun so we’re running it back again.
🗓️ July 15: Curated Founder Breakfast. Breakfast in Hollywood with the owner of a healthy fast-casual restaurant that recently opened. 2 sponsor seats available.
🗓️ July 29: LA Startup Community Mixer. A casual way to meet other amazing people in the LA startup ecosystem. 2 sponsor tickets available.
🗓️ August 1: Founder Poker Night. I'm bringing together ~30 of LA's most ambitious founders for a fun night of poker in the Hollywood Hills!
This Week
🗓️ June 30: Los Angeles Investors and Innovators. Drinks with VCs, angels, and founders in Santa Monica, hosted by Black Dog, Expert Dojo, and RBW EV Cars.
🗓️ June 30: ComfyUI Official LA June Meet-Up. Swap ComfyUI tips with AI builders at BLANKSPACES Venice, formerly Snapchat’s HQ.
🗓️ July 1: Technology Social Night of Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Connect with founders and tech pros over drinks at Weary Livers in Santa Monica.
🗓️ July 2: Startup Cafe: Breakfast with Minnie Ingersoll of TenOneTen Ventures. As part of Jeffrey Chernick’s podcast series, join for an exclusive breakfast with Minnie Ingersoll, Partner at TenOneTen, an LA-based venture fund with over $200M under management.
🗓️ July 3: tidalDAO: The Swell, Wave V. A relaxed Solana community meetup in LA for builders, artists, and investors to network, share ideas, and collaborate.
🗓️ July 3: AI Cafe. A dynamic space where technology, creativity, and innovation converge.
Coming Soon
🗓️ July 9: Investor Only Future of Deep Tech Summit by FIC & DTI. An exclusive Santa Monica summit where investors explore AI, quantum computing, aerospace, and national security through expert talks and panels.
🗓️ July 10: Breaking Into the Business of Biotech: Los Angeles Startup Spotlight. An evening that demystifies the local startup landscape and spotlights the programs turning great science into high-impact companies.
🗓️ July 11: LA Female Founders Lunch. An opportunity to meet other female founders in person. Note: This is only for female founders/entrepreneurs.
🗓️ July 12: Venture Social Club | Official Launch Party. Venture Social Club is StartupStarter’s private community of founders and investors.
Want to submit an event for consideration in the next edition? Fill out this form.
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Chrys Bader is the co-founder and CEO of Rosebud, an AI-powered interactive journal headquartered in Santa Monica (such a beautiful place to build a startup).
Launched in 2023, Rosebud acts like a pocket-sized mentor that remembers your entries, spots patterns, and guides daily growth through conversational prompts backed by therapists.
Before Rosebud, Bader built some of the most viral consumer products of the last decade. He co-founded the anonymous social app Secret (15 million users), graduated from Y Combinator, and held product roles at Google and several other ventures, giving him the user-centric playbook he is now applying to mental-health tech.
Rosebud just raised a $6 million seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from 776, Initialized, and Tim Ferriss. The app has already logged 500 million words, 30 million mindful minutes, and 7,500 paying customers.
Recent Notable LA Startup Deals
Senra Systems raised a $25M Series A led by Dylan Field & CIV.
Chronicle Studios raised a $11.6M seed round led by Patron and Point72 Ventures.
Gemist raised a $6M round from investors including Entrada Ventures, Artemis Fund and Collide Capital.
2wai raised $5M in pre-seed funding.
Stackup raised a $4.2M seed round led by 1kx.
Superfiliate raised a $2M round led by HappyStack.
Please send any fundraising news for LA-based companies or funds to [email protected].
Investment Opportunities
VC-backed startup Spill is raising on Wefunder, $347,000 raised so far. Current investors include MaC Venture Capital, Kapor Center, and Collide Capital.
A founder friend of mine raised a $1M pre-seed for her startup a year ago, a platform transforming the way Gen Z shops online, and is now raising a seed round.
Another founder who came to my recent mixer is raising $5M for his company building the social app and community for pet people.
A friend of mine is raising a seed round for his trailer rental marketplace. Currently backed by LAUNCH and Forum Ventures.
Two other friends of mine in LA are raising their first venture funds, one just had his first close.
Email me at [email protected] or reply to this email if you want to know more about any of these opportunities.
Career Opportunities
Social Media Manager @ Rainmaker
Software Engineer @ Sift
Staff Software Engineer @ BuildOps
Sr. Marketing Program Manager @ Altruist
Fullstack Software Engineer @ HeyGen
Executive Assistant, C-Suite @ Hadrian
Senior Software Product Manager - QualityOS @ Anduril Industries
Venture Capital Investment Analyst (Fintech) @ Clocktower Ventures
Associate @ Arc Capital Partners
Operations Associate @ Techstars Space
Are you hiring, looking for a co-founder, or raising capital? We’d love to help you. Fill out this form to get started or reply to this email.
Miss Melbourne Coffee. I’ve gotten to know the owners over the last few years and it’s one of my go-to spots when I want to take a coffee meeting or get some work done outside of my apartment.
The Strand House. I love this restaurant in Manhattan Beach. Great views and great food, with one of my favorite menu items being their gigantic cinnamon roll.
Fun Events
Is there a cool place or fun event we should know about? Email me at [email protected]
See you next week,
Justin
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