San Diego Tech News Weekly – January 14, 2022

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Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Jonah Peake from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast

I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder 

Jonah: Hey I’m Jonah, ops guy building marketplaces spent time at Lime, Handy, and Postmates and I enjoy helping startups throughout San Diego. Let’s dive into our five stories of the week:

 

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For 1/14/2022:

1. 2021 Year in Review Wrap Up
   1. https://freshbrewedtech.com/2021-san-diego-tech-report-december-20-2021/ 
2. 2022 Predictions
   1. Federal spending will trickle down to SD/SoCal very well in both infrastructure spend and new tech applied
      1. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2021-12-28/major-energy-storage-project-enough-to-power-110-00-homes-for-2-hours-coming-to-san-diego?_amp=true
      2. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2022-01-11/federal-infrastructure-bill-expected-to-bring-many-millions-to-san-diego
         1. City preparing to compete for federal grands from 1.2T infrastructure bill
            1. sewage recycling system, 
            2. wildfire prevention, 
            3. broadband internet in low-income areas and 
            4. many other infrastructure projects
         2. City is looking at which projects meet the requirements for the bill
         3. 40% must be spent in disadvantaged areas
         4. CA has set aside 3.5B for water
            1. Replacing lead pipes
            2. Major part of previous infrastructure
         5. There’s also money for
            1. Roads
            2. Transit
            3. Cyber security
            4. Climate 
            5. Planting more trees and improving green space
               1. Alleviating heat islands
      3. Tech niches like logistics tech, IoT, digital health, will continue to shine for SD
         1. https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/29/tusimple-completes-its-first-driverless-autonomous-truck-run-on-public-roads/?guccounter=1
            1. They did it! First trip solo, with no drivers
            2. 1:20 trip
            3. 80 mi
            4. Tuscon->Phoenix 
            5. Major route: FL->CA
            6. The cargo was preloaded and systems might require drivers initially 
            7. An important detail
               1. This isnt a car or standard truck
               2. This is potentially 80,000 lbs
                  1. Thats a ton of momentum 
         2. San Diego biotech’s computer chip could help spot disease
            1. Solid hybrid of chip design
               1. Qualcomm legacy
               2. being applied to everything: drones, trucks/cars, genomics, AI, and biotech
            2. San Diego’s rich history of Biotech
            3.  potential to revolutionize how researchers detect disease, develop drugs
            4. rapidly detect molecules, cells and DNA
            5. They can see if
               1. Been infected with virus
               2. Or if medication is working
         3. The startup scene will mature with new local capital, diversity ingrained in the growth, but will be constrained by talent
            1. https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/29/founders-first-capital-partners-brings-a-different-approach-to-diversity-investing/
            2. https://mkrenn.medium.com/we-can-lead-in-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-too-6c8258ab7834
            3. Interlock Capital new fund plug
         4. Exits
            1. M&A and IPOs were way up in 2021 and could see more of that, depending on how the stock markets hold up. 3 tech/consumer IPOs in 2021, I expect 5+ IPOs in 2022
            2. Classy & GoFundMe
               1. https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/13/gofundme-acquires-classy/
               2. 2 SD legends join forces
               3. A vision to be the most helpful place in the world
               4. Blog by GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan
               5. How GoFundMe will accelerate progress towards our vision to be the most helpful place in the world
               6. All equity deal
               7. Classy has raised $183mm
               8. Most recently 118, D round
               9. They will operate as a separate entity (subsidiary) under GoFundMe
               10. A quote:
                   1. “While we are proud of the combined $20 billion the GoFundMe and Classy communities have raised for people and organizations, we recognize the unique opportunity we have to make an even bigger impact — both in the U.S. and around the world — if we do this together,” Cadogan wrote
                   2. Why Classy?
                   3. philanthropic market is about $500 billion annually
                   4. US alone
               11. Together have raised $20 billion and together can do more
               12. There are some cool connections here
               13. Someone using GFM helping an individual could also support NPO attacking a greater cause. 
               14. Think Climate change / specific natural disaster
               15. https://www.classy.org/blog/gofundme-acquires-classy/

 

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