This Week in San Diego Tech News 9-23-24

Hello. Hello everyone. Your San Diego Tech besties Neil and Fred here. Back at you. Hey Fred, how you doing?

Hey Neil. Doing pretty good, how are you doing?

Doing all right. It was a crazy busy week last week. This weekend has proven to be a lot more low key. Little cooler too, which we all appreciate as San Diego who live in a 10 degree, 5 degree maximum in we buckets. But you were in Chicago. How's the weather? How's your trip?

The weather was great. It was 80 degrees. It was my first time in Chicago. Got some deep dish pizza and just really took in the scene there. I think Chicago is one of the greatest places on earth. If I wasn't living in San Diego, Chicago would be close. Top three choice for me. It was great.

Awesome. Love to hear it. We connected to some local investors too, which I know you'll be staying in touch with. Well, why don't we dive into some news?

Tacos in tech, you know we got tacos and tech is on smash Boulder green guacamole keep accountants counting beans Contador Quentan frijoles founders trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping paella tortillas us round jalapenos in these modern times a craft beer and coffee my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing Coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded when San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside the Tijuana sd be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthous houses right on the beach. Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach. We interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon. Hashtag SD TechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Come on.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech, you know we got it.

Hey.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos in tech, you know we got it. Hey.

But first, quick little backgrounds here. I'm Neil Bloom, run Fresh Brew Tech and the Tacos and Tech podcast as well as co founder of Interlock Capital, a local venture capital Fund and this is Fred.

And I'm Fred Greer, journalist and author of the Business of San Diego Substack. I write about tech, the tech industry in San Diego, covering the ins and outs of the startup scene and excited to be back talking about the biggest news in startup this week.

Well, we keep talking about how as the year goes on it's going to get busier and busier. The fall is proving to be some of the busiest from events with the election is becoming the busiest from news and everything else that comes with all of that. So last week we had a busy week in event land starting with Monday. I attended Evonex's demo day which was a pleasure to be a part of and see Evo. Nexus is what brought me to San Diego 11 years ago and what was really cool is they did a lot of alum showcases. So companies that actually started in Eva the same time as me 11 years ago were up on stage showing here's how we're doing now including House Call Pro with president and co founder Ian Hecht talking about how they're doing 200 million in annual revenue which was awesome to see them doing well. Shout out to the whole team, Reza and Roland and Ian and the whole co founding team on building something great as well as Bio Link gave a big update. They in same time as me 11 years ago they were originally known as Electrozyme and their original premise was being able to detect your blood sugar just from your sweat and they've had a long journey since then and they're actually getting back to that now now that they've already figured out Micro Needle, they're getting back to their roots so it was cool to see some of the updates. A lot of hardware companies which was cool that EVO is really good at especially because of the roots in the chip space here in San Diego of a lot of the early founders and early companies. A lot of serial entrepreneurs in the audience who are there from Mark Bowles, everyone's favorite Eric Otterson and so many more. So it was a great night and it was great to see EVO showcase the impact they've had locally the rest of the week there's a lot else going on. I know SDX had an AI showcase. We did Dev and Data night meet CTO talks at Seismic which brought out about 80 to 90 technical leaders to chop it up at Seismic's office in Carmel Valley which was really cool to host on the panel included VP of AI at Seismic Union and a really fun, fun conversation for talking all technical leadership both From a tech perspective and leadership, it was great. So look out for our fourth quarter event, which will be more of a holiday party tech the halls. We are going to do a bit of a silent disco meets holiday party meets a bit of a give back, if you will. So we're going to make everyone who attends bring something that we will donate to a local charity as well too. So it's a busy week. Oh, and then I was part of techstars mentor magic, which is going on right now, two weeks straight of connecting serial builders with the newest techstars cohort, which also was recently announced. We talked through those companies on the last podcast. So it was great to meet. I met all 12 companies in a rapid fire. Five hours, sat down, got to know each one a bit and now know a bunch of us know how we can help and where to kind of watch where they're headed over the next three months before their December demo day. Busy week for us. Same with Fred, who was busy in Chicago. It's good to have you back in town here, Fred. Should we dive into some of our stories or you got some events you wanted to mention last week as well too?

Now let's, let's get into it.

Yeah, we got, we got some big news from the big tech companies to top it off. I'll let you break it here.

Yeah, so I think the biggest headline is Qualcomm has approached intel recently about taking over the company. And this was a kind of a alleged rumor that broke news last week. And it's funny because I've seen in the last two days, Wall Street Journal, Axos, all the big publications are talking about it now. It's been a long, long time rival for Qualcomm, Intel. They have chips, business, a computer business, PC, etc, you know, they actually have poached employees from Qualcomm over the last couple decades. So it's interesting to see that Qualcomm was looking to purchase Intel. I don't know the details on it. I'm still, I think we're still kind of following the story pretty closely, but this is like fresh news and you know, this is, this could be huge if it goes through. What are your thoughts on it, Neil?

Yeah, it's, it's massive. It's this big storyline that Qualcomm has been at the epicenter of for so long and specifically around handsets and chips in our phones. Intel used to have a really big play in this, actually making modems for phones and they actually sold that division to Apple. Not too Long ago, within five, six years ago. And that included a San Diego office that Apple was, that was their first presence in San Diego was the intel modem office over in Scripps Ranch, I believe. Then there was this whole big play of Qualcomm versus Broadcom, which is another big chip maker that eventually Broadcom, an Irvine originally funded company or based company that got acquired by a Singapore company and it was trying to take over Qualcomm that Trump stepped in and said, nope, it's a national security interest, can't let that happen. And then you have the Apple and Qualcomm battles through IP as well too. So some major storylines here. I can just picture Mike Friedman, former Union Tribune writer, just salivating over the storyline here as he loved to do. He was, he's so good at getting the deep details. So I hope we're, we're doing some justice here. But we will stay on this story and if we hear, as soon as we hear of something more, we'll be sure to share this, that's for sure. Let's go to our next story. Oceanside is officially opening its Front Wave arena basketball stadium, slash mixed use stadium, but primarily for actually I think it's indoor soccer. The soccer is going to be playing there as well as the Clippers D League team, the San Diego Clippers. It is officially open and I think the season begins late October, early November for the Clippers. Is that right, Fred?

That sounds correct. I think the details on it that I saw is yeah, this new Front Way arena is going to seat about 7,500 people with brand new amenities. This is an $85 million project, 16 premium suites, you know, the whole, the whole nine. This is a pretty big deal. You know, I think Oceanside, North Counties is having some momentum and San Diego is, is definitely benefiting from a sports perspective with the soccers and the G League coming to town. I'm actually trying to go to the G League. One of their events is happening, you know, later this year I think October or September. It's actually October I believe. I think it's, I forgot who they, who they play. But anyways it's just a good way to engage the community down at North County. And yeah, just opened up on Monday. They did a ribbon cutting. So yeah, great news.

Yeah, yeah, it is great news for sure. We love to pepper in the big sports news here and why don't we stay with sports for now. I'm gonna mix one in before the one we have here. We didn't actually talk about Landon Donovan coming in as head coach for the Wave. Landon Donovan, legendary soccer, men's soccer player. I think the MLS MVP of the year award trophy is called the Landon Donovan MVP of the Year award. And he's resided here. He's. He was the co founder of the San Diego Loyal. And then over the summer when the Loyal, when the Wave were looking for a new head coach, Landon stepped up and is coaching them through the end of the year. And now our men's pro team has stepped up with officially naming their new head coach. The San Diego FC don't start till next year, 2025. So we're actually probably, I think, only like six months away from their season beginning. But they just announced their newest head coach. You want to take us through this, Fred?

Yeah. So they hired a head coach from New Zealand and basically, you know, Santa Football Club, they haven't started yet. They're kicking off their season next year in 2025 and the. The club currently has about six players under contract. And I think people are really excited. You know, I see a lot of marketing from San Diego Football Club on Instagram and Twitter. Some of they're really trying to engage that fan base from SD Loyal and SD Wave. So yeah, it's exciting that they've appointed a head coach and expect to see more news from them coming soon.

Yeah, the. What's been really cool to follow is their Chrome Ball tour. They've been doing, you know, one to two events per month where they bring a big full day, not just soccer, a sports celebration, to a different city in the community. Whether it's Escondido or Carlsbad or Chula Vista or Lakeside, like every, you know, few times a month, they're bringing this community together and really making it city by city. I see the roots of that is from the Loyal. A lot of the loyal staff went over to San Diego FC and you're seeing a lot of similar, like grassroots, local connection community, which is very San Diego, how you got to do it. We are not big on big overarching marketing campaigns. I feel like you win us at the local wineries and I mean, sorry, breweries and bars one by one. And it's great to see SDFC kind of leaning into that aspect. So congrats to, to the club for naming Mikey Virus and let's get, you know, ready to see some new sports here in town, which will be exciting. Speaking of new in town, we have a new venture fund officially here in town. Connect has spun up the TL foundation or as it's known as the Tree lady foundation, which has some backstory there which I'll let Fred share. But they have made their first official investment in four companies. I think all four are or part of this year's cool companies as I recognize that name. And it's a unique spin on this venture fund as it is a non profit venture fund. You want to take us through some of this news, Fred?

Yeah. So the TO foundation which is led by Mike Crin who's the president and you know, CEO of Connect, which is a non profit supporting early stage companies and connect them to investors Till TL Fund foundation launched earlier this year. And their fund is actually a flagship model where they engage kind of like senior leaders, people who've, you know, have been successful in the business world and now want to give back. They raised, you know, a couple million from these folks to invest in early stage startups. And their motto is once they invest in these companies, these LPs that gave them money aren't respecting return. They're actually going to, you know, return that fund into an evergreen, evergreen fund. So I think they just made, you know, I think five investments, total investments 400k. Natalie Rocha from the Union Tribune did a great piece highlighting those companies. I believe Mike Crin will be pulling more in detail and showcasing their accomplishments at Innovation Day this coming Tuesday. And so he had the full scoop there and we can talk more about some of that next week.

Yeah, let's do that for sure. Yeah. Four investments, 100k each into Condor Software, Luke Papillion Therapeutics and Resolute Science. So you know hardware to BIOS and the software company is a software into biotech companies. So a very, very San Diego companies, I would say into, into that. And as we mentioned, they'll be on showcase at this Tuesday's Innovation Day. So come out and meet them. I'll be there. Fred will be there. We'll talk more during the events part later here in the episode about what's going on that day as well too. But great to see another early stage pre seed and seed stage investment group here in town that will have long standing benefits to the local ecosystem. Let's talk about the other side, the later stage side of some tech companies. Singular Genomics received an acquisition proposal. Was that good? Was it bad? Fred, take us. Break the news here for us.

Yeah, this is kind of on a radar story. Similar Genomics, they were founded 2016, they went public and they are, they're based in Torrey Pines, have 250 employees. I saw through LinkedIn a guy named Alex Dickinson, he's kind of a celebrity among the life science ecosystem. He posted the news about how singular genomic stock was falling after a big company proposed to offer them 12 a share. I went ahead and did some research. Their market cap for this company is 40 million and their stock is currently trading at $616. And this is a proposal. So the stock tanked, but now their stock is up. It's like 16 now. So obviously the acquisition is going to be happening. But it's kind of interesting, interesting move. You know this is about a company, they've been around for almost two decades now and you know they, someone proposed a buyout for them. So staying tuned, we'll see what happens. But yeah, their stock is up, it's up on the news. So yeah, stay tuned and we'll, we'll follow that story closely. I think Jonathan Wilson is a pretty good guy to follow. He works at Stat News and covers a lot of the biotech companies in San Diego. So I expect him to have a deeper dive story on that in the coming weeks.

Yeah, Alex, sorry Alex. I don't know why I said Alex, the Jonathan who Fred, maybe you and I, we get him on one of these podcasts since he covers national biotech but he's local here in San Diego. Kind of fun since we've been talking about the crazy year biotech is happening. You know this singular genomic story actually is also interesting in that who some of the founders are. Drew Spaventa, one of the original founders of Singular Genomics actually has some deep roots in a variety of companies in San Diego including co founding Eco atm So went from the hardware space and specifically which had a. It still is talked about to this day as like one of the bigger hardware meet software success stories Evo Nexus alumni. And then Drew went on to co found this genomics company which if you actually look at a lot of the Eco ATM alum, almost all except all of them went on to some area of biotech which was super interesting. Whether it's you know the team that went on to do Truvian which is a hardware meets biogenomics or blood testing company. There was Peter Van Rooyen who went on to do a chip set focus in the genomics space, forgetting the name all of a sudden but Illumina bought them for about 100 million. So it's really interesting routes here worth talking about and tracking and so you know, hopefully this is just another piece of the long term story of serial founders and entrepreneurs building and you Know, going for swinging big, swinging hard and continue building because that's kind of what happens in serial entrepreneur land, at least here in San Diego, that's for sure. Let's end. Maybe we don't end on that. Maybe this isn't our last story. Genentech is doing some closure of its cancer group, immunology group and unfortunately expecting some layoffs here. We're seeing this a lot like certain there's just this retooling, re swapping of companies, biotech, like what their focus is. So whether it was, you know, they spun up really quick diagnostics during COVID and now they're swinging back saying diagnostics is not our area. Let's get back to some other, you know, center of excellence. And so, you know, we're seeing this big swing across the board at Big Bio. Genentech's one of the biggest BIOS biotech companies, Bay area based, but they actually have significant biomanufacturing in Oceanside. So this is not the same group at all. This is their cancer immediate geology group. But they still have a really big presence up in Oceanside. I think it's like one or two facilities. I remember touring it like 12 years ago, this massive manufacturing facility in Oceanside. So different group but it looks like they are shuttering some doors here in town. Anything else to add here on what you're seeing from Genentech?

Yeah, I think I saw that they laid off roughly around 436 people, about 3% of its staff. You know, they have over, you know, 13,000 employees. So it's really, really minuscule. And then yeah, they shut down their R and D research center similar to, I think it's Cadeda or one of, one of the bigger pharma companies. They also shut down their research firm as well. So we're seeing a lot. The broader story here is like Big Pharma is doing a lot of restructuring and there is going to be layoffs as a result of that. But yeah, I think we have to showcase some of the fast growing companies that are growing but also some of the, the challenges during this time, especially during, you know, increase inflation and recession concerns. There's a lot of companies and executives that are having to make some tough decision decisions totally.

And I think if you're in the startup world, you're not immune to this at all. In fact, you live for living in this uncomfortable space. You, you swing for the fences, for trying to get a grand slam and oftentimes that's a miss, you strike out. And that happens still also at the big tech level as well too. So while it hurts to lose jobs, every job is important. I always look back at that idea that man quality of life in San Diego is so good that while a job while one window's closing, usually there's another window opening locally because people don't want to leave. And so either that means you're going to go find somewhere else to take your skills to locally or maybe it's time to roll up the sleeves and start that new company that you've been tinkering on for years. So that's always the hope and all we can do is help provide resources and inspiration for those who want to go do it. But neither case never love to see people losing jobs, never a good storyline. And so if that is, if you are affected by that, come meet the community. There's a ton of events happening over the next few weeks every day literally there's a way to go network with hundreds if not thousands of people to go find a new opportunity, a new company to join or start yourself. Including Carlsbad Tech Gathering right here in Carlsbad North County a month a monthly event that Carlsbad puts on to connect a different different center of excellence. This month is a tech focus one it's going to be at Shipcom's office. Shipcom is a software meets tech enabled service in the CPG space. So they help they have a software platform and a physical warehouse platform that helps I think over 400 different consumer packaged goods companies. They the platform helps them scale as an E commerce business and so it'll be great to see the operation itself and come on out. I know I think last time I saw it 80 plus RSVPs to the event. So come on out Monday night September 23rd just before the big Connect Innovation day which is happening all over Petco park pretty much all day. There's pre parties and post parties happening all day as well. So if you want to take the day off I think you should because you'll be busy that day whether it's and it's kind of become a platform in its own regard. So not only are there events and talks happening but you know like tech stars, San Diego Powered by SDSU is going to have a whole showcase area and I know Interlock Capital, we're doing our own 4pm meet interlock gathering over in Gallagher Square. So a lot of VCs flying into town and doing post event dinners that night right nearby as well too. So there's a lot going on. Do you have any A few events that you're looking forward to or already planning to go to just that day itself. Fred?

Yeah, I mean I do a call out to Social Coyote. Jonah does a great job of curating what events are happening. And then also Hussein from North county, he has a startup beach platform kind of highlighting the, the pre events and the post events. I know a few founders have texted me and asking me, hey, what, what, what events are you going to? I'm still trying to figure out my day. It's going to be pretty busy Tuesday and it's always gonna be something to do. So yeah, I just recommend following those two resources. There's, there's plenty of plenty to keep you busy.

I actually forgot a good call out to Hussein. He's been tapped to use his startup beach software platform for local events to. Because we've created this like matching algorithm, if you will. There is a matching networking event at the end, towards the end of the day I believe, or maybe it's happening all day. You can use this platform and get paired up with people almost throughout the day. And the platform's actually been running for a few months now. If you go to any of his events, you get matched up with two people before that event. And then he actually just turned that into a twice a month match, one on one matches if you opt in. So I've now had two matches where I've been paired up with someone interesting in the ecosystem that I hadn't met before. So that'll be happening all day at Innovation Day as well too. Then the next day is the kickoff for Women's Venture Summit. This is year 12, which is amazing for Sylvia, Ma and co, who have been putting on this amazing spotlight. It actually is the culmination of a series of regional Women's Startup pitch events that happen I think in four areas of the country. And the championship awards are here at Women's Venture Summit. I've spoken in eight years. In the past I've sponsored people to tickets who couldn't afford in the past too. And I know Fred, you're covering this year. So it's going to be another jam packed three days helping make sure that all entrepreneurs get equal access here.

Yeah, that's taking place September 25th, which is this coming Wednesday through Friday 27th. Going into some of that same week as Top Tech Awards which takes place on Thursday the 26th. I plan on being there as well. Top Tech Awards has been going on for many years now recognizing kind of the C suite in technology in San Diego. So it's always a great event. And then October 2nd there's the plug and Play Showcase. I'm told that a lot of investors are going to be gathering for that event as well. We hyperlink all these these these events in our show notes. Anything else you want to cover off Neil?

No, this is plenty. We thank you all for tuning in and sharing this with everyone else that you know is looking to get connected. As always, you can follow Fred at the Business of San Diego Substack and you can follow Fresh Brewtech substack as well. Links are in the show notes. We appreciate your shares and come find us in person. We mentioned that we're at these events. We're always happy to say hi and point you in the direction of someone else that is useful for you and valuable as well too. So thanks Fred always for joining in. Great to see all you out this week and until the next one.

Always a pleasure and I'll see you out there.

Startups get the party Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, tacos tacos and tech is all smash for the grand green guacamole keeper Countins counting beans Contador Quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping Fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times of craft beer and coffee My coating yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos standing puesto lucha libre and so from Baro gotta shout out to cost Angels by the ocean watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside to Tijuana, South Dakota be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon SD TechOS with your host Neil Bloom Startups get the.

Party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech in tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it hey.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos Tacos in tech you know we got it Hey.