Sunset Ventures

Big news! LA-based Kindo closed $21M Series A to safely & securely bring your AI to work! 🚀 We at Sunset Ventures are thrilled to be a Seed investor and early believer in Ron Williams, Bryan Vann, and the talented team at Kindo. The recent global IT outage from Microsoft and CrowdStrike has reminded me (and the general public) of how critical cybersecurity is to our consumer internet & digital experiences. Every industry is impacted... travel, commerce, financials, communications. We have seen security need to be stepped up with each new era of the internet. "BYOD" came into the workplace over the last decade and allowed you to "𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦." Mobile forever changed how people work. Now, get ready to... "BYOM!" AI is bringing the next wave, and you will soon want to "𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭." Just as you wanted to use your personal Apple iPhone instead of the company Blackberry, you will want to use your preferred model or personal agent. But this required new levels of security. Today, AI adoption in the workplace faces major challenges: • ❌ Data leakage risks • ❌ Compliance with evolving regulations • ❌ Workers using an unapproved AI tool / agent    These issues can harm businesses and slow innovation. It's time for a change! As Ron Williams of Kindo, puts it: "We're an orchestration platform that lets enterprises of all sizes integrate any AI capabilities or any AI model. It gives centralized control." Did I mention that Ron was a 3-time founder, and was Chief Security Officer at 3-unicorns? (Riot Games, Clover Health, Bird Global) In other words, he is the man for 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 job! Kindo is flipping the addressing these issues with their innovative platform: • ✅ Centralized AI governance, access, and security controls • ✅ Data loss prevention for AI interactions • ✅ Integration with 200+ enterprise SaaS apps    It's time to prioritize secure AI adoption and empower the workforce of tomorrow! Chris Olsen, GP at Drive Capital, shares our excitement: "As AI adoption accelerates, CIOs & CSOs need a trusted partner to navigate the complex landscape of AI security and governance. Kindo is poised to become that essential partner." As SoCal kid and LA-based investor, I'm incredibly proud to see our local ecosystem producing game-changing AI companies like Kindo. This exciting news comes just weeks after our recent Emerging LA event, where Ron from Kindo and Stephen Marcus from Riot Ventures joined our panel. They gave insights on how AI & deeptech would change the Future of Work. We're excited to see Drive Capital lead this round, and to invest alongside Riot Ventures, Eniac Ventures, RRE Ventures, Marlinspike and New Era Ventures! ☀️ --- If you're passionate about AI and the future of work, spread the word! Do these 3 things in the next 30 seconds: 1) 👍 Like 2) 💬💬 Comment 3) ♻️♻️♻️ Repost It means a lot to me and helps our founders! (article in comments)

Proud to have Kindo as one of our AI portfolio companies setting out to change the way people work!

Would you like to see a new Consumer Conference focused on emerging tech & software? Have you noticed that most conferences & investors focus on enterprise SaaS... What about those of us who are excited about the resurgence of consumer technology. Emerging tech is coming into the hands and households of everyday people: • AI • Robotics • Blockchain • Mixed reality And it is transforming industries like fintech, commerce, gaming, media, work, learning, and health. I want to see the next-gen of builders who are using emerging tech to change the way people live, work, and play. Don't you? Take 60 seconds to fill this out this form if you are interested to learn more and stay updated on a next-gen Consumer Conference. You can potentially speak & pitch if you indicate interest. --- ♻️ Please share the post and tag anyone you think would be a good fit! https://lnkd.in/gBaJscBY

Wonder will happen to human creativity & media industries with the rise of web3 & AI? 👇🏼 Tonight at 530p we have another Emerging LA happy hour in Santa Monica. There are 99 guests are signed up, and only 11 slots left! SIGN UP HERE: https://lnkd.in/gcR8dKHY This happy hour will be part of our 'Future Frontiers' series, with a panel discussion on the latest developments in emerging technologies and how it will impact the creative industries. These trends matter as it relates to content generation, creators, IP, royalties & rights, and ownership. Emerging tech such as crypto & generative AI is already bringing disruptive innovation to media, and that is why everyone in Hollywood is keeping a close eye on it! The speakers for our panel discussion are leaders at top firms, funds & startups in this field and come from Xsolla , Hashed , Spaceport.xyz , and Republic Crypto. Come listen to them speak and bring your questions for our AMA with the audience! Thanks in advance to our panelists: • Michael Dershewitz (COO/Head of Corp Dev at Xsolla) • Jun Park (Sr. Investor at Hashed) • Le Zhang (Founder/CEO at Spaceport) • Maria Chak (Head of BD at Republic Crypto) These are areas that we pay close attention to at Sunset Ventures, and it can be tough to keep up with the latest developments. So I am excited to learn from this group discussion! A big shout-out to my co-host for the evening Timothy K. as we represent Wharton Digital Assets Club in SoCal and the support from the Lightspeed Faction VC + Orange DAO + AI LA teams!! 🙏🏼 The mission of these events always remains the same, we want you to 1. Deepen connections with good people in LA tech community 2. Learn actionable insights as a builder or investor 3. Leave more inspired than you arrived as you continue your journey -- Hurry and sign up now if you would like to come. If you know someone in your network would find this community & discussion useful... Then please repost & tag! ♻️

The most important insights that I took away from AWE on the future of XR & spatial computing! 👇 I attended #AWE2024 this year for the first time on behalf of Emerging LA as a media partner, and want to share my top learnings with you all! One of the highlights was getting to attend the "Visionaries" panel and learning firsthand from the pioneers of VR. 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 Palmer Luckey (Founder of Oculus & Anduril) Darshan Shankar (Founder of Bigscreen) Moderated by Stephanie Riggs (Ink & Paint) 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗩𝗥 Palmer Luckey built his first VR headset prototype in 2009 at age 17 in Long Beach while living in a trailer. The original Oculus was a DIY kit for enthusiasts. It became clear early on Kickstarter that people wanted fully built kits, not DIY. Darshan Shankar immediately started building Bigscreen when the DK2 came out and shipped the first version of software in 2016 on Rift. 𝗩𝗥 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 People often think that VR development has stalled, this is wrong! It has actually advanced exponentially over the last 10 years. • HW & UX: Now 3-4x lighter in weight and has 20x better resolution • Units: 55K DK1 units sold 12 years ago to 20M Quests sold last year • Users: Gorilla Tag has 1M DAUs The bars of success have drastically changed, and expectations are warped. 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗥 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 "𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴" is Darshan's approach to HW development & making trade-offs “𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘹” happens with more touchpoints of interactivity, the more complicated it is to tell & experience narrative 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗦 & 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 1. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗫𝗥 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗜          From: Said Bakadir (Qualcomm), Ori Inbar  (Co-Founder AWE & Super Ventures), Bobby Murphy (Snap Co-Founder), Paige (Social AR dev), Michael (AR Insider)     2. 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗜        Observations and announcements from Charlie Fink (Forbes), Brian McClendon and Erik Murphy-Chutorian (Niantic/8th Wall)     3. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗼 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲        My personal favorite of the expo floor! After playing with products from founders who came all the way from Korea in partnership with Grace Park (Nuleep) Personal shout-outs: • Maddie (Boost VC) and Jasper (BITKRAFT) for a great VC Q&A! • Jackson (Konvoy VC) for breakfast & our convo on the future of gaming & emerging tech • Jean-Daniel LeRoy Skylar Thomas who won Auggie award with Playbook XR, and are representing #LongLA builders from USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy - My Samsung Next fam! Michael + Carlos --- ♻ If you found this useful, please repost with others!

Up next in our 2024 PledgeLA VC Fellow Spotlights series are Jordyn Hill & Tatiana Jackson! 🙌 Get to know more about these brilliant fellows below! ⬇️ Jordyn is a recent graduate of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at UC Irvine. Prior to business school, she received her Bachelor’s of Science in Economics from Howard University. 🎓 With a particular interest in professional sports, Jordyn is interested in venture capital funds that specialize in sports and entertainment, such as sports-tech, sports media, or entertainment funds overall. Upon graduating, she will be continuing her education at Columbia University to receive her Master’s of Science in Sports Management. 🏆 ⭐This summer, Jordyn is interning at Sunset Ventures! Tatiana is a recent graduate of the Masters of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation program at California State University-San Bernardino, concurrently completing the Reserve Officer Training Corps to commission as a United States Army Officer. 💪  A proud native of South Central Los Angeles, she pursued post-secondary education at the California State University Northridge as a first-generation college student who received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Child Development and graduated in just three years while remaining debt-free. Her passion has always been to help others achieve their goals no matter their cultural background, financial status, or gender, and is the founder of Future Wealthy Minorities, Inc. ✨ ⭐ This summer, Tatiana is interning at Avivar Capital! Join us in welcoming these outstanding fellows! We are beyond excited to have them in this year’s cohort. 👏 #VentureCapital #EmergingVCs #VCLeaders #VentureInternship #LosAngeles

I am excited to moderate an exciting panel Kindo and Riot Ventures to talk AI, Work, Deeptech, & LA!! 🌴 This will be an Emerging LA event where you will hear about how AI will advance the future of work, especially regarding data privacy, cybersecurity, and open source. These panelists are some of the best founders/investors that LA has to offer, and I am humbled to have them coming. Panelists: • Ron Williams (Co-founder/CEO of Kindo): 3X founder, and 3X Security executive at 3X Unicorns - Riot Games, Clover Health, Bird Global. Kindo is one of the hottest AI companies in Los Angeles and has raised tens of millions. • Stephen Marcus (Co-Founder/General Partner at Riot Ventures): He previously invested in Okta and Stripe, and more recent portfolio companies are: Desktop Metal, Toast, and Shield AI. He founded 6 hardware / software companies in the past. We at Sunset Ventures are proud to call Kindo a portfolio company and lucky to be able to back a founder like Ron, especially alongside top-tier investors like Riot Ventures. I can't wait and hope to see you there! There will be attendees from our co-host communities AI LA + Wharton Club of Southern California. You will be in good company! Proud to have this event participating under the #EarlystageLA initiative by the STARTUPSTARTER team: Lorel Scott is killing it on the logistics for this whole month + Jose Barrera's design skills are second to none, evident in the flyer! --- The event is tomorrow (Thurs 6/27) in Santa Monica. There are limited tickets left before we hit capacity. (link to sign in comment below)

Our first Emerging LA down in Long Beach at AWE's XR was a massive success! 🌴 Extended Reality (XR), as well as AR/VR, has received less hype compared to AI or Blockchain over the last few years. Still, I am a firm believer that these new hardware form-factors will innovate at the Interaction Layer of the digital stack. New methods of interaction will lead to new experiences, new utility, and new types of value creation. We at Sunset Ventures see this technology as game-changing and will reshape the way that people live, work, and play over the coming decade. Enough the of innovation talk. Now onto the fun stuff... events!! -- We hosted TWO back-to-back events in downtown Long Beach, bringing together people who are passionate about XR. 𝟭) 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗫𝗥 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗻 Our Happy Hour mixer at Padre with Emerging LA taking over the patio. We had an impressive turnout of 115 people, including locals from the LA area and visitors in town for AWE. It is always good to see some of my favorite people, and thank you all for coming out to support! s/o to Faraz Fatemi at Lightspeed, Todd Terrazas of AI LA, Aaron Childress, Darren Jones at The Walt Disney Company, the Hartmann Capital team, and the Samsung Next team who all flew down from the Bay Area Group shots of everyone swarmed at Padre’s patio in Long Beach 𝟮) 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗩𝗜𝗣 𝗗𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 Our intimate dinner at Gladstone's, with 16 attendees, was an amazing night of good conversation and great food with a waterfront view into Long Beach. This diverse group included individuals passionate about XR, leaning towards the music industry and Korean culture. Some of our guests include: • SeHwang Kim, COO of ATTRAKT and manager of FIFTY FIFTY (K-pop group with number 1 song "Cupid" on TikTok in 2023) • Evan Lai, executive at AmazeVR (immersive concerts) • Leaders from the Korean government's startup programs • Summer Watson, President of music label Vol. 1 Records (a joint venture with Epic Records & Sony Music) • Julia Yan, a growth leader from TikTok --- A special shout-out to the Samsung Next team and those who made this possible! • Michael Shim was instrumental in co-hosting and organizing, along with Brendon Kim and Carlos Castellanos, from Samsung who came to support • Grace Park for facilitating our meeting with K-Metaverse and the Korean government initiatives with The Welcome • Michael Mottahedeh, one of our newest Emerging Ambassadors, who helped on-location and managed logistics in the lead up to both events Michael's effort to lean-in reminds me community building is only possible by those who demonstrate servant leadership. Many of the most important leaders are those unsung heroes behind the scenes of a community. I am grateful for this community. Let’s continue the momentum and keep exploring the emerging tech of LA! P.S. → If you want to step up to become Emerging Ambassador, drop a comment! 👇🏼

TikTok in the crosshairs: A privacy battle that could change everything in Social, Ads, and Commerce! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱? • U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to file a lawsuit against TikTok on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission on violations related to children's privacy • TikTok is urging a U.S. court to strike down a law that will ban the app in the U.S. starting January 19 next year • This legal battle highlights increasing regulatory scrutiny on TikTok in the U.S. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: • 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: A reminder of how important privacy laws are, especially for minors, will be and how they are a true regulatory risk for some businesses. A reminder to investors when considering legal risks in diligence, which is likely underestimated • 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: A potential TikTok ban could reshape the social media market, creating opportunity for new startups to fill the void 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁? • 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗩𝗶𝗱: The mega tech companies (Magnificent 7) will continue to build out short-form video and prioritize in their algos: LinkedIn (MSFT), YT Shorts (Alphabet), IG Reels (Meta), X • 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀: Creators (supply side) and Ad buyers (demand side) will both make sure to diversify their channels of content & dollars beyond TikTok, in the event that there is a sudden ban. • 𝗗𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: Those US based dollars, ad unit spots, and audience eyeballs will all be up for grabs! Those ad dollars will not only go to Social, but will poor into Content, which is seeing a shift from SVOD to AVOD (Netflix & Prime making big moves recently) • 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 (?): TikTok has started to pave the way for Social Commerce to finally take off, and is US consumers get a taste for this and become used to it... then maybe we see adoption tick up on the big social platforms that offer commerce. This shifting landscape at the intersection of content, creators, and commerce is a big reason why we at Sunset Ventures made an early investment into KINO, along with ARK Investment Management LLC, Blockchain Founders Fund , Slow Ventures These shifts are leading to a potential big opportunity right now for the next gen of consumers... and that opportunity will only get bigger (for startups & big tech) in the event a TikTok ban happens. If you are a top creator on traditional social platforms who are specifically looking to make the leap into TV/Film quality video and are wanting to diversify your channels for content & ads ... then check out KINO! The team is amazing there, Austin, Daril, Brit. I can put in a good word for you if you want to meet them 😉 PS: Bonus you may get a chance to attend the KINO x Emerging LA Red Carpet Gala in 2025! https://lnkd.in/g2HMuTMx

⭐️ we're hiring summer interns to join the Favs ambassadors team! this role is perfect for you if you... 🎞️ want to create fun videos 🤳 keep up with social media trends 👯 enjoy talking to people 🦉 are eager to learn in a fast growing startup we’re seeking charismatic, high-energy people to serve as ambassadors for Favs as we scale. you’ll be in charge of inviting friends, creating videos, and collecting feedback. follow this link to apply, learn more about our story, and download our app to try it out! feel free to share with your network so this post can find the right people. don't hesitate to email us with any questions :) https://lnkd.in/g_ZucRV7