The tech industry in the City of Angels is booming and Dot.La, a new digital media startup, wants to tell its story.
“I think the L.A. tech scene now has all the ingredients for this booming decade,” dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff said. “One of the only things missing was that steady drumbeat of local journalism that can amplify what's happening here and shine a light on all the innovation in the LA startup community.”
Rascoff attributes L.A.’s recipe for success to the city’s broad economy, where tech sits at the intersection of media, entertainment, fashion and pop culture. The city harbors companies that probably couldn’t exist anywhere else, according to the dot.LA exec, like Snap, parent company of Snapchat, and GOAT, an e-commerce shop for sneakerheads.
“The tastemakers are here, the celebrities are here, this is where brands get built,” Rascoff said.
The company started with a newsletter and plans to launch a website covering the city’s tech industry this month. Rascoff and his peers got to work as soon as they began pitching dot.LA to potential investors, strategically picking people and companies in order to create community buy-in. While the company works on expanding its coverage into social media, video and podcast, it will also be building out an events business.
“Here in L.A., there’s a ton going on in tech but it's more spread out [than in San Francisco] and there’s no organizing force to the community and no journalism,” Rascoff said. “So we think dot.LA can provide an opportunity for [someone] to become more informed about his or her career and build a network with others in tech.”
Rascoff previously served as CEO of Zillow and hopes to bring the inclusive environment he helped create there to dot.LA.
“[We were] focused on diversity and inclusion and equity and belonging,” he said said. “That’s certainly something we’re going to replicate at dot.LA, [not only] internally at the company but also in terms of the stories that we tell.”
Orangetheory Fitness is redefining the future of workouts with smarter tech, strength-based programming, and community-driven studios built for what’s next.
Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
