Home Podcast This Week in San Diego Tech News – September 23, 2022

This Week in San Diego Tech News – September 23, 2022

by Neal Bloom

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Sesha Machiraju 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 

Sesha: Hey I’m Sesha, former biotech data person, currently working on cyber & cloud evangelism at Microsoft Azure – check us out on Twitter @AzureSupport. SD transplant by way of Seattle, fond of all things tech, startups, and data. 

 

For September 23, 2022:

  1. Hone lands $30M in funding 
    • Hone, a company that has developed an employee learning and development platform, and offers live online worker training classes to businesses at scale, lands $30M in second round of venture capital funding 
      • Led by 3L capital 
      • Total amount raised $52.4M
    • Platform’s instructors are domain experts, and its platform enables real-time practice sessions, peer discussions and measurable results.
      • Offers both pre-recorded online training providers as well as in-person training/coaching services
      • 60 live online classes so far focused in DE+I, mental health, management techniques 
      • Customers include Indeed, ConocoPhilips
    • Hone started by Tom Griffiths, originally based in SF, but new HQ in Encinitas 
    • Well-positioned during time of hybrid work 
    • Next up: growing catalog of classes, ROI metrics, platform features
  2. ImmunoScape raises $14M in venture capital to fund platform targeting cancer
    1. Research focused on discovery of novel T-cell receptors for targeted oncology treatments 
    2. Developing a platform that profiles cancer-specific T-cell receptors (TCRs) (which are proteins that bind to the abnormal cancer cell and act as a “signal” for immune cells to destroy)
      • Call it “deep immunonics” combining computational biology, ML, and high-throughput screening to evaluate blood samples for these T-cells
      • How does it work? Pull blood samples from patients > TargetScape mines for T cells/T cell receptors > TCR Antigen Profiling (TAP)  to sequence tumor antigen-specific T cells > TCR Assessment to further develop T cells and TCRs
    3. Total funding of $41M; dual research labs in Singapore and SD; 10 scientists in SD, 43 employees worldwide!
      • This funding round is led by Amzu Ventures, others include Amgen Ventures
  3. The news we’ve been waiting for! Sapporo completes sale of Stone Brewing for $165M
    1. Sale completed on August 31
    2. Greg Koch & Steve Wagners, the founders, are no longer at the helm, but no layoffs for the 670 employees
    3. Beer production is expected to double – Sapporo could invest $10-20M in Escondido HQ and $20-40M in Richmond, Stone’s other brewing site
      • Stone expected to produce 360k barrels within 18 months 
    4. Stone’s revenue, which dipped during the pandemic, is up 9% this year
    5. Part of Sapporo’s expansion in the US – has already expanded NY, FL, TX
  4. General Atomics opposes Chinese agriculture investment near Grand Forks Air Base in ND
    1. Aeronautics division of General Atomics, which created the Predator drone, is asking the US Government to reject the Chinese purchase of 370 acres for a corn milling plant due to proximity to Air Force Base
    2. General Atomics uses the local airspace to “conduct significant test and evaluation efforts related to unmanned aircraft, radar systems, and other advanced military technologies” and believes the secrecy of new weapons would be compromised.
    3. Worries of corporate espionage as “Chinese business efforts are inextricably linked with Chinese government efforts” according to GA spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley 
    4. Also on the heels of heightened threat of Chinese cybersecurity threats – should the US government reject this purchase?
  5. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2022-09-20/new-research-shows-you-might-be-able-to-measure-your-blood-oxygen-levels-with-a-smartphone-camera
  6. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2022-09-06/european-regulators-move-to-block-illuminas-7-1-billion-acquisition-of-grail
  7. https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2022/09/18/new-iphone-emergency-sos-feature-supported-by-qualcomm-chip-custom-apple-technology/

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