Culver City-based home water monitoring outfit Flo Technologies Inc. entered into a two-year contract Sept. 13 with Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, wholesale water supplier for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Flo Technologies was selected by MWD as part of its Innovative Conservation Program, which is funded in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Southern California Gas Co. Flo, one of 12 grant recipients, was awarded $50,000 from a total $570,000 of allocated MWD funds. The money will be used to provide free Flo devices to 150 participating LADWP homeowners.
Flo is currently still “in the very early stages of their program,” and “is finding the customers,” MWD Water Efficiency Manager Bill McDonnell said.
McDonnell added the program’s aim is to “create a competitive grant looking for technology that will help every water utility in the United States, not just California” conserve water.
A Flo Technologies device connects to a home’s main water supply line and costs $499 for a regular customer. Homeowners can operate and monitor the systems via an iOS or Android smartphone app that turns water on and off and runs tests to help identify leaks.
Flo Technologies has raised $11.3 million since its founding in April 2015, and most recently raised $7.8 million in a November 2017 seed round, CrunchBase Inc. reports.
Flo Technologies estimates its technology has saved U.S. homeowners more than 1 million gallons of water.
Penny Falcon, LADWP’s manager of water resources, said in a statement she is pleased Flo is working to reduce Californians’ water use.
“Our customers have already reduced their water use dramatically and technology that can help them be even more efficient is key to further conservation,” she said. “It is vital that our customers become more aware of their household water use and limit water waste.”
UCLA Anderson Forecasts Continued Tech Job Growth
Los Angeles County has the largest technology workforce in California, according to a Sept. 26 report from the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s 2018 Anderson Forecast economic outlook. As of July 2018, the Anderson report estimated there were 446,000 tech jobs in Los Angeles, compared to 346,000 in Silicon Valley and 268,000 in San Francisco.
The Silicon Beach corridor saw the highest growth in tech jobs in California from January 2017 to July 2018, driven by gains in the information technology sector. An increasing number of startup investments in the region are further “fueling innovation and entrepreneurship,” according to the study.
Additionally, 307 funding deals in 2017 landed Los Angeles County startups a total of roughly $9 billion – compared to the $2.75 billion it netted in startup investments in 2011. The current total places Los Angeles third behind San Francisco ($22.2 billion in investments) and Silicon Valley ($18.3 billion in investments).
Job growth in Los Angeles’ technology sector is expected to increase by 2 percent year-over-year in 2019. William Yu, UCLA Anderson Forecast economist and study co-author, said the predicted continual tech job increase is predicated on funding growth and tech manufacturing in the region.
“Startup funding is continuing to rise, but the other reason is because of manufacturing, especially aerospace and defense manufacturing,” he said. “It has been growing well over the past year, and I expect it will continue.”
Firms such as Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Long Beach-headquartered Virgin Galactic are increasingly expanding their plans for individual space travel, Yu said, which “will produce paid jobs in Los Angeles.”
Yu also pointed to the increasing U.S. defense budget as a factor in tech job growth.
Latest Additions to Evite, Dreamscape
Jay Neuman joined West Hollywood digital invitation and event planner Evite Inc. Sept. 18 as its vice president of data.
Neuman previously worked as vice president of data science at Brentwood marketing and advertising firm Quigley-Simpson & Heppelwhite Inc. He holds a master of public policy degree from USC.
Santa Monica-based virtual reality entertainment outfit Dreamscape Immersive Inc. announced two new hires Sept. 20 as part of an effort to expand its location-based virtual reality experiences across the globe.
Adam Rockmore, former head of marketing at Sawtelle-based NBCUniversal Media subsidiary Fandango Media and mentor at Venice-based venture capital startup investor Amplify.LA, was hired as Dreamscape’s global head of marketing and communications. Rockmore will be charged with various marketing duties, according to a company press release.
Ron McJunkin is Dreamscape’s second hire, taking over the post of senior vice president of global retail stores and operations. McJunkin previously served at Santa Barbara-based smart speaker manufacturer Sonos Inc. for roughly four years as the company’s head of global stores.
Staff reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335.
