Central Coast companies continue to pull in deals, despite growing talk of venture capital drying up. In all, companies across the region have raised more than $300 million since the start of the year.
Invoca raised $83 million to expand its conversation intelligence platform, bumping the Santa Barbara-based tech company into Unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation.
Allthenticate, winner of the 2019 UCSB New Venture Competition, plans to expand hiring in Santa Barbara and Texas after raising $3.13 million in seed funding to grow its digital authentication product.
Green energy startup C-Zero raised $34 million to add to last year’s $11.5 million Series A to build a pilot plant that runs off hydrogen, eliminating the carbon emissions from burning natural gas.
And space launch companies aren’t the only ones to benefit from the new round of California Competes tax credits. Global Algae is getting a $2 million credit for its $46 million investment to build a commercial algae farm in Shandon that will create 52 new jobs in carbon-removal innovation.
“Our large-scale algae farming practices are essential tools in solving the climate crisis and were recently selected by XPRIZE as some of the most promising solutions for carbon removal in the world,” said CEO/founder Dave Hazlebeck. “We are excited to expand in California, provide a full spectrum of high-quality agricultural jobs, and keep California in the lead for carbon removal.”
Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the world, is expanding its presence in Goleta as well as other areas in Southern California. The company is filling 200 new jobs in Goleta, bringing its workforce there to 1,600.
“We’ve got great partners in the area … that includes UCSB and Cal Poly SLO, and we believe that there’s a strong talent pool in Southern California,” Douglas Greene, the senior director of talent and acquisition of Raytheon Intelligence & Space, told the Pacific Coast Business Times.
