ExpertDojo Funded 25 New Startups Amidst the Pandemic

When you say “Los Angeles”, many people think of Hollywood and the movie industry. What many people don’t know, at least not yet, is that LA has emerged as one of the largest challengers to Silicon Valley’s startup scene. It’s home to some of the world’s most influential unicorns such as Honey, SnapChat, SpaceX, and ServiceTitan. LA is unique in that it is not only are people attracted to the city because of the movie industry, it is also the gateway to Asia, home of champion sports teams and a vast network of investors, and a dense diverse deep pool of talent. LA is able to support the startup ecosystem, from innovators with ideas to accelerators and incubators to invest, nourish and grow, to seasoned owners and managers, Los Angeles has it all.

ExpertDojo is one of several early-stage startup accelerators in Los Angeles. They have already invested in over 70+ startups around LA and beyond. ExpertDojo is rapidly growing and they plan to invest in hundreds more in 2021. The global pandemic hasn’t slowed them down, they have invested in 25 new early-stage startups this past year.

Here’s the full list of the startups they are working with.

Champions Round is a mobile game company that builds the stickiest fan engagement games for Esports and traditional sports. They are the only fantasy Esports platform that synchronizes with major tournaments, where users answer live questions, earn points, learn the game, and win cash, which makes the experience fun for all sports fans, not just fans of Esports. They have developed a 3rd vertical into the fantasy sports space: Micro Fantasy Sports. This introduces new gameplay that keeps users’ engagement high all year by rewarding users through interactive gameplay and providing the best odds to win money.
Making data-driven decisions in real-time is vital when optimizing any business, which is why CloudNineAI has introduced Augmented Intelligence to gather intelligence across global enterprises. CloudNineAI is taking advantage of AI to connect data from multiple data sources empowering people to make data-driven decisions. CloudNineAI’s Augmented Intelligence SaaS Applications enables companies simple querying using natural language to see data so no technical expertise is required.
Essenvia is an online platform that helps medical device companies go to market. Essenvia automates some of the most time-consuming and error-prone activities to get to market. This SaaS solution saves medical device companies up to 6 months and as much as $1.8M in avoidable costs.
Geojam is the ultimate music-based social media platform. It harnesses the power of music consumption and gamification to bridge the gap between businesses, artists, and consumers. Geojam works with all popular music streaming services to enable new music discovery. It is highly addictive and fun for Gen Z to share music with their friends and engage with artists like never before. Members earn Jam Points for engagement, and brands and artists can leverage their fans to promote and share their music. Jam Points can be redeemed in the Jam Shop which is a digital storefront for exclusive experiences and products.
Mavens List is a revolutionary social transactional network platform that provides a seamless and secure mobile booking system for brands, venues, charities, educational institutions, and more to not only match but securely pay via patent-pending unique escrow payment process where funds are verified and paid upfront.
Meetcaregivers is building the world’s largest marketplace for senior care. Meetcaregivers provide access to technology tools and services such as in-home care, meal delivery as well as products like PPE and walkers that seniors need to age happily at home.
NVISNx‘s Platform discovers, analyzes, and profiles billions of files across the enterprise to help determine what corporate files are either Jewel (critical data) or Junk (useless data). Our Platform provides a global view of all the data to then make data-driven decisions to either enhance controls to better protect the jewels or assist in deleting the files that can result in $Ms in cost savings in enterprise storage. More specifically, NVISNx makes data protection controls of DLP, Access, and Insider Threat work.
Obscure Games is a mobile game developer and publisher based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. By introducing rapid prototyping, Obscure Games aim to soft-launch multiple games to the market every ±6 months, kill underperforming games, and find high performing ones. This approach will allow the company to build a portfolio of hit titles.
Potli brings top-quality, delicious, and easy to integrate cannabis edibles products to the kitchen to help people embrace plant-based wellness and self-care every single day. Potli is set out to craft a product people could trust, with quality or dosage undoubtedly clear and apparent. Potli also hopes to change the emotional response to cannabis in so many from intimidation and uncertainty to excitement and joy.
Secure Block Technology proprietary “SuperNodes” sit on chain giving companies the necessary Monitoring, Analytics and Security tools needed to push their Blockchain Applications out of the sandbox and into production. This revolutionary technology stack provides application health, data analytics, and enterprise-grade security needed to stimulate the mass adoption of Blockchain-Powered Applications. The next-gen internet is finally upon us!
Virtanza is the only scalable experiential sales training solution white labeled to universities and employers. Virtanza connects employers into the virtual classroom and students into jobs. Universities get a customized sales training solution and platform that prepares students for jobs with an average salary range of $60k-$150k. Employers get a platform where they can re-skill workers; and access, monitor, and hire sales candidates.
Woodpecker believes that access to legal services should be a right, not a privilege. Woodpecker is revolutionizing the American legal system via the only attorney-led, AI-assisted legal document, and services marketplace. Woodpecker is productizing the legal system and empowering attorneys to make more money in the process while ensuring consumers and businesses have access to legal services for a fraction of the cost of a law firm.
AdLaunch is the world’s fastest AI-powered technology for creating hyper-personalized video ads. The founders Marko Nylund and Joel Hypén have won several prizes for their quality videos. AdLaunch currently has multiple patents pending for automatic video generation technology that enables users streamline operations and produce marketing videos with the most efficiency.
Artishok is a workspace and workforce operating system, based on data-driven algorithms, enabling every company to transform into hybrid work the right way.
BokDoc is the first marketplace specialized in surgeries & medical procedures in Egypt. The company includes more than 37 different medical specialties, 1500 doctors & 75 hospitals with more than 3000 surgeries & procedures. BokDoc is the first in the Mena region to offer installment solutions for its patients for any surgery in BokDoc, 0% interest, and without advance payment.
BroadBridge Networks allows organizations to run more efficient and effective security operations with relevant insights from their network data. The platform collects stores, and analyzes network telemetry at an unprecedented level of scale, incorporating a high-performance data processing workflow, optimized for GPU based analytics. Additionally, BroadBridge Networks’ platform provides analysts with an intuitive Human First User Interface, called The Analyst Workbench™, designed to simplify the process of ingesting network telemetry and deploy Machine Learning models, equipping both experienced and inexperienced security professionals with the ability to discover relationships between data objects and quickly uncover relevant security insights.
Cannon Cyber ensures that cybercriminals are never successful by enabling enterprises to have better security hygiene and readiness. Cannon Cyber continuously protects its organization’s perimeter through its industry-leading algorithms which are now leveraged by Fortune 500 companies.
LEAD helps companies maximize the potential of their current teams and increase cross-team collaboration, starting with introducing colleagues via Slack or Microsoft Teams. LEAD’s software solution offers common social program practice advice to help employers manage their teams in a meaningful way. This allows companies of all sizes to not just keep connected, but also learn from each other as well as build the most brilliant and supportive teams possible.
Every team – not just sports teams – needs a coach to motivate them, help them build the skills that matter, and be productive and successful. Squadra carves out a new space in the workplace productivity stack as the first virtual coaching app for teams.
Suavei is a SaaS solution that accurately identifies all devices that are connected to a network without the installation of any additional hardware or software agents. Suavei can also handle slow network connections and sensitive IoT devices. This startup was born out of 3 fundamental issues that were identified in other active vulnerability scanning products: a) They don’t identify the devices accurately and reliably. b) They can’t handle slow network environments. c) They can’t be trusted to scan sensitive (e.g. medical) devices.
ThankUCash is rewarding customers for buying what they need. Customers will earn ThankUCash Points when spending at ThankUCash Merchant Locations. ThankUCash merchants have grown their revenues by over 25%, using their breakthrough technology to track sales, monitor their business, acquire new customers, retain existing customers while rewarding loyal customers.
TradeStars is a Fantasy Sports Stock Trading platform where users monetize on fantasy sports assets in a 24/7 stock market with automated liquidity and based on a public blockchain infrastructure.
Unlu is making ordinary people interact with extraordinary personalities. Unlu is a fan-to-celebrity connect platform, offering a whole new experience to ‘interact’ with celebrities, through personalized video shoutouts, masterclasses, live sessions, live quizzes, endorsements, etc. formats.
Markit (stealth mode Vision Interchange) is the first-of-its-kind fintech transaction marketplace where users can shop directly with what they already own. This novel approach allows consumers to bypass loss in the resale process (as well as for retail goods). Markit utilizes IP transaction ledgers to attach currency/value directly to commodities (not bartering/swapping). In addition, physical sensors are embedded to ensure automated and 100% fail-proof authentication/valuations for all products.
Vision Interchange is the initial iteration applicable to the vision market through a top accelerator. They are currently launching a duplicate platform for millennial brands, luxury goods, and the general marketplace (Markit).

John Diep

Website | + posts

Founder, Editor-In-Chief // A native Angeleno. John studied engineering at UCLA; founded Schmoozd, an offline social tech networking event in LA with 30,000 subs; ran a startup accelerator (StartEngine). Worked for several major brands like Toyota, DIRECTV, Hitachi, ICANN, and Raytheon. A mentor at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Entrepreneur School, Dr. David Choi. And advises a dozen local LA startups building amazing tech in various industries; and invested in some. // Let's Connect: john@lastartups.com