Doodle Labs, a connectivity specialist founded in Singapore, has joined a slew of aerospace manufacturers in leaving California.
The startup, led by brothers Amol and Ashish Parikh, has relocated from Marina del Rey to Austin, Texas, where it currently works out of a temporary space run by WeWork Inc. Since Doodle Labs put down its roots on U.S. soil in 2018, its industrial-grade connectivity components have found their way into commercial drones and robotics, most recently expanding into defense at the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.
Now, the shift toward a fully domestic supply chain and further expansion into physical artificial intelligence have prompted the family-owned business to seek greener pastures, said Amol Parikh, co-chief executive.
“What we have found (that is) a real driver of our success and our partnership model with our customers is that we spend a lot of our time in the field itself, working with the technology (and) with our radio systems,” he said. “That specific set of logistics … was really hard to work around in the Southern California area because it’s so dense.”
As the startup shops for a larger facility in Austin and sorts out its supply chain, Amol Parikh said it has some “aggressive hiring plans” going forward. Some sales presence will remain in Los Angeles, he noted, though most of the team has relocated since the move began in August.
“Taking a hard look at what we needed for our particular business to be able to support the next phase of growth – moving to Austin was the right choice for us,” he added. “Austin really seems to be home to physical AI.”
Leaving California
Southern California is having an aerospace revival, but that has not stopped companies like Doodle Labs from moving out. The most famous example may be Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which moved its headquarters from Hawthorne to Starbase, Texas, in 2024, though it still maintains a large local footprint in L.A.
On the other hand, L.A. is still seeing an influx of budding heavy-industry startups. The latest entrants include Denver-based aerospace defense manufacturer Voyager Technologies Inc., which debuted its 140,000-square-foot Long Beach facility in March, and rare earths processor Maglut Heavy Industries Inc., which emerged out of stealth in Long Beach in August.
