The Crescent Newsletter #17
UCI fireside chat, humanities in venture, and the latest SoCal tech news
*ICYMI, here's last week’s issue.
Good morning and welcome to this week’s edition of the Crescent Newsletter! We’ve got some cool news to share.
UCI Fireside Chat
A discussion about the value of humanities in VC
USC’s Lavalab event, a UCLA tech-based sport startup, and SoCal tech news
Sincerely,
The Crescent Team
*If you’re a student building something cool, want to join Crescent, or just want to chat, reach out to us at ops@crescentfund.vc.
UCI Fireside Panel with Operate
We’re excited to announce that Crescent Partner Alex Pham is hosting a fireside panel at UC Irvine on Apr. 29 from 7-8 pm!
The fireside panel will feature Operate’s Co-Founder Carey Ransom and General Partner Mallory Maske, as well as fellow Crescent Managing Partner Gaurav Mehta.
The panel will be discussing current trends in the SoCal industry, common patterns in student startups, and more. Don’t miss it!
Crescent Partner Highlights
The humanities are often overlooked subjects in the world of venture. This week, Crescent Partner Alex Pham writes about their relevance and importance to VC, arguing that their intangible contributions are indispensable to any students interested in VC and entrepreneurship.
Peer Into Our Campuses
Here’s an inside look at what’s been happening at our campuses:
USC:
LavaLab, USC’s student-run entrepreneurship and product incubator, held its Demo Night this past Wednesday. Student teams pitched their final products to investor judges.
UCLA:
UCLA partners are currently speaking with the startup CrewLab, which is building a hub for crew coaches and athletes to help track workout progress in a simple and efficient way.
The Southern Californian Tech Landscape
Pasadena-based Arrowhead Pharma raises $60 million investment from Silicon Valley health care firm Vivo Capital to sell treatments in China’s rapidly growing market for pharmaceutical drugs.
Entertainment startup Vaunt, co-founded by former NBA basketball player Roger Mason Jr., has raised $5 million in its latest round of funding. Vaunt pairs itself with artists and athletes to provide alternative sports entertainment such as selling NFTs that fans can buy in return for facetime with professional athletes.
Torrance-based Divergent Technologies is using 3D printing to change the car manufacturing industry by reducing its carbon footprint and making the process cheaper and more efficient. With the latest round of $160 million in funding, Divergent Technologies will be expanding its 3D printing production system with new factories in Europe and the US.
Career Opportunities
Software Dev + Engineering:
Crexi (Full-time)
Quantum Optics (Internship)
Cash App (Internship)
Marketing + Content:
Verkada (Full-time)
Anduril (Internship)
Centerfield (Internship)
Product:
SameSky Health (Full-time)
The Trade Desk (Internship)
Foursquare (Internship)
VC:
Touchdown Ventures (Full-time)
StackCommerce (Internship)
*If you’re interested in helping out Southern California student founders through advising or becoming an LP feel free to reach out to ops@crescentfund.vc.
What an exciting week of events! We’ll see you all next time.
Signing off,
Crescent Fund