Jonathan Shieber
Writer
The Latest from Jonathan Shieber
Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute is rolling out a spit test for COVID-19 testing
Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have begun trials of a new spit test for COVID-19 infections developed by the university’s Innovative Genomics Institute. Since the diseas
Pioneering CRISPR researcher Jennifer Doudna is coming to Disrupt
Jennifer Doudna, a woman whose work has triggered the explosion in innovation in the field of synthetic biology and has given researchers around the world a way to program and reprogram the living wor
Top LA investors discuss the city’s post-COVID-19 prospects
When it comes to venture capital, Los Angeles is a city on the rise. In the past year, it’s seen one of the most profitable venture-backed exits of any tech ecosystem (with the $4 billion sale o
Mexico City’s Jüsto raises a $12 million bridge round for its delivery-only grocery stores
Jüsto, the Mexico City-based, delivery-only grocery store chain, has raised another $12 million in financing as it looks to expand its now pandemically relevant business of “dark stores”
VCs see much to like in Democrats’ $1.5 trillion Moving Forward Act
“The Moving Forward Act reads like a $1.5 trillion validation of our fund’s thesis — that upgrading cities and related infrastructure is key to fighting the existential threat of climate
Elementary Robotics is making its quality assurance robots commercially available
Two years and more than $17 million after it first began working on its robots for quality assurance, the Los Angeles-based Elementary Robotics has finally made its products commercially available. Th
Discord now has a $3.5B valuation and $100M for a sales pitch lighter on the gaming
Discord wants to be more than just a place for gamers and is now billing itself as the Slack for users’ social lives. The new pitch, and a new funding round of $100 million at a reported valuat
NexHealth’s founder went from a receptionist at a clinic in the Bronx to $12 million in funding
The summer before Alamin Uddin was set to begin medical school, he worked as a receptionist in a small doctor’s office in the Bronx. There, dealing with the workflow of managing paper and electr
Menten AI’s combination of buzzword bingo brings AI and quantum computing to drug discovery
Menten AI has an impressive founding team and a pitch that combines some of the hottest trends in tech to pursue one of the biggest problems in healthcare — new drug discovery. The company is al
How $20 billion health care behemoth Blue Shield of California sees startups
In the two years since Jeff Semenchuk took the reins in the newly created position of chief innovation officer for Blue Shield of California, the nonprofit health insurer with $20 billion in revenues
Medtech assessor Elektra Labs is offering free evaluations of COVID-19 biosensors to doctors
As COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continue to spike and doctors and researchers try to marshal any and all technological resources to help patients, understand the disease and fight off the spread of the
Scotts Miracle-Gro gets into the venture capital business with a $50 million fund, because it’s 2020
Scotts Miracle-Gro, the lawn care and fertilizer giant that has opened up a secondary business as a pioneer in cannabis and hemp cultivation, is launching a $50 million corporate venture capital fund
Telegram to pay SEC fine of $18.5 million and return $1.2 billion to investors as it dissolves TON
Pavel Durov’s grand cryptocurrency dreams for his Telegram messaging service are ending with an $18.5 million civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a pledge to re
As advertisers revolt, Facebook commits to flagging ‘newsworthy’ political speech that violates policy
As advertisers pull away from Facebook to protest the social networking giant’s hands-off approach to misinformation and hate speech, the company is instituting a number of stronger policies to
Now one of the largest Black-led venture firms by assets, Base10 raises $250 million second fund
Two years after closing their debut fund of $150 million, Base10 co-founders Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian are back with a $250 million investment fund and a sense of vindication for their thesis of in
Oscar’s health insurance platform nabs another $225 million
The direct-to-consumer health insurer Oscar has raised another $225 million in its latest, late-stage round of funding as its vision of tech-enabled healthcare services to drive down consumer costs be
Automating payments for the corporate sales force leads to a $10 million windfall for Spiff
Salt Lake City’s Spiff has announced a $10 million round of funding to expand the sales and marketing efforts for its service that automates commission payments for sales people. Some of the big
Aclima and Google release a new air quality data set for researchers to investigate California pollution
As part of the Collision from Home conference, Aclima chief executive Davida Herzl released a new data set made in conjunction with Google. Free to the scientific community, the data is the culminatio
Partners at Sequoia, GGV, General Catalyst and Greylock join Valence’s VC initiative for Black founders
The new, Los Angeles-based online professional network for Black talent, Valence, has launched a new initiative called the Valence Funding Network to link Black entrepreneurs with top partners at firm
New Enterprise Associates goes to Hollywood and launches a venture firm with CAA
New Enterprise Associates has launched a new investment initiative with the Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency . The new partnership, called Connect Ventures, said it will identify and ac