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- The LA Grind: Week of July 7th
The LA Grind: Week of July 7th
Upcoming events, venture deals, investment opportunities, and more.
Justin Gordon
July 07, 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:
I’m hosting a curated dinner tomorrow at a beachfront private residence in Santa Monica for ~45 founders and can probably have one more sponsor get involved. Reply to this email if interested.
Last week, I interviewed the founder of Boardy and I have a special link you can use to meet people that might be able to help you build your company.
Finally, I toured a very interesting space last week in Marina Del Rey that could potentially be used as a clubhouse for The LA Grind. It has a mix of private offices and a big room where people can convene. Honestly, a clubhouse isn’t the top priority right now, but I do love the idea of having a physical space for the LA startup community to come together.
This week, I’d love your input below:
What would you use The LA Grind Job Board for?I'm thinking about creating one for this community and promoting it through this newsletter every week. |
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. Nearly at capacity, but probably have room for one or two more exceptional founders.
🗓️ July 12: LA Startup Community Hike. Our next hike is this weekend, should be fun!
🗓️ 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. We sold out the last one and we’re running it back again. 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
🗓️ July 7: LA GenAI Meetup. A casual evening AI meetup in the heart of Pasadena.
🗓️ July 8: Space Tour at NASA JPL. A Rockets & Robotics Tour at NASA JPL hosted by Emerging LA.
🗓️ July 9: LA Tech Happy Hour. Connect with like-minded individuals, startups, and entrepreneurs.
🗓️ 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 9: Startup Pitch & Networking in Los Angeles. Networking and 5-minute startup pitches.
🗓️ 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 10: Deep Techies - Funders & Founders Happy Hour - Powered by TriNet & GTLaw. Connect with leaders from emerging deep tech ventures, engage in thought-provoking discussions, and discover potential collaboration and investment opportunities.
🗓️ July 10: Hardware & Decarbonization Dinner. An intimate dinner in Manhattan Beach with fellow travelers building the key infrastructure towards a more prosperous and decarbonized future.
🗓️ July 11: LA Female Founders Lunch. An opportunity to meet other female founders in person.
🗓️ July 11: AI Unfiltered: Founder Fridays Santa Monica. A rooftop gathering of founders in Santa Monica.
🗓️ July 12: Tech Founders Coffee Mixer. Come out and grab a coffee and pastry with others in the LA tech community.
🗓️ 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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Mike DeVerna is the founder and CEO of MACROFIT, a premium fitness-technology studio headquartered in Los Angeles (the perfect playground for building next-gen workout gear).
MACROFIT is assembling a portfolio of hardware and software products that keep users moving and paying, starting with the recent acquisition of Flexia Pilates, a connected reformer platform riding the surge in at-home pilates.
Before MACROFIT, Mike served as chief operating officer at Wag!, where he helped the pet-care marketplace raise more than $400M and scale nationwide, experience he is now channeling into fitness tech.
The team is currently raising capital to grow MACROFIT into a holding company of recurring-revenue fitness brands. Flexia is live, and Newton, a smart strength trainer positioned as a more powerful alternative to Tonal, is set to launch next.
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn, check out MACROFIT at joinfitapp.com, and tell him The LA Grind sent you!
Recent Notable LA Startup Deals
Castelion rasied a $350M Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Altimeter Capital. The El Segundo defense-tech startup is building rapidly iterated hypersonic-missile systems for U.S. military customers.
Earth Sama raised a round of funding from Omtse Ventures. The Calabasas climate-tech company provides blockchain-based tools that let local communities create, verify, and sell high-integrity carbon credits.
Please send any fundraising news for LA-based companies or funds to [email protected].
Investment Opportunities
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, is growing fast, 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.
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
Software Engineer @ Whatnot
Senior Robotics Engineer @ GrayMatter Robotics
Tooling Mechanical Engineer I @ Relativity Space
Retention Marketing Manager @ GOAT Group
VP of Engineering @ Counterpart
VC Analyst @ Clocktower Ventures
VC Associate @ Arc Capital Partners
Are you hiring, looking for a co-founder, or raising capital? We’d love to help you. Seriously. Fill out this form to get started.
Citizen Public Market. This is such a unique spot. Last year, I hosted a mixer on the rooftop, at Bar Bohemian, but Citzen Public Market, located in Culver City, also has this back patio and plenty of food options. Highly suggest checking it out.
Palma at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel. Good spot to take a meeting, have a meal, and get some work done too if you want.
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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