Project Engineer

Arc's $50M push into commercial maritime. Mar 20 2026 Spotlight. As the city pushes through a record-breaking March heat wave, one of the week's most interesting LA startup stories came with a reminder that climate tech gets a lot more real when it leaves the pitch deck and hits the water. In Arc's case, that means tugboats. LA based Arc, founded in 2021 by a team of SpaceX alumni, announced a $50M Series C this week, led by Eclipse, a16z, Menlo Ventures, Lowercarbon, Necessary Ventures, and Offline Ventures, as it pushes deeper into commercial maritime. The raise follows Arc's $160M contract with Curtin Maritime to deliver eight hybrid-electric tugboats beginning at the Port of Los Angeles, with the first expected to hit the water this year. Imsage Source: Arc That feels notable not just because of the funding, but because it marks a clear evolution in Arc's business. What started as a premium electric boat company is now making a serious push into the industrial side of maritime transportation, with ambitions spanning tugboats, ferries, and defense vessels. There is also something fitting about this story happening in Los Angeles. This is a city known for spectacle, but Arc is building in a category where performance actually has to perform. No amount of branding can fake a working tugboat, and that is exactly why this moment feels worth paying attention to. Now, onto this week's LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions. Venture deals. LA Companies * Talino closed a $7.5M Series A led by Chemonics International, with participation from Mt Sinai Capital and Gulf Blvd, as it shifts from a venture studio into what it calls a global fintech foundry. The company said the new funding will help build an API-first cross-border payments infrastructure layer connecting the U.S. with emerging markets, starting with the Philippines, where it is targeting faster, more compliant financial product launches and modernizing legacy rails with stablecoin and real-time payment capabilities. - learn more * PADO AI raised a $6M seed round led by NovaWave Capital to expand its AI-powered orchestration software for mid-market colocation data centers. The company said the funding will support product delivery and global growth as it helps operators better manage power, compute, cooling, and distributed energy resources to increase GPU utilization and maximize "compute per megawatt" without requiring major new infrastructure buildouts. - learn more * Meadow Memorials raised a $9M Series A led by Lachy Groom and Haystack to expand its software-enabled funeral planning platform, which lets families arrange services online or by phone. Founded in 2024 by former Stripe executive Sam Gerstenzang and Emma Gilsanz, the company says it is using a real-estate-light model to offer lower-cost funerals as it expands beyond California into states including Texas, Washington, and Arizona. - learn more LA Venture Funds * Anthos Capital participated in Bluesky's $100M Series B, which was led by Bain Capital Crypto and also included Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Knight Foundation, and True Ventures. The company said the round gave it the resources to scale both the Bluesky app and the broader AT Protocol ecosystem, which it says has grown to more than 43 million users and now supports a fast-expanding network of third-party apps and developers. - learn more * Navigate Ventures participated in VerbaFlo's oversubscribed $7M seed round, which was led by Pi Labs and also included Haatch and Old College Capital. VerbaFlo said it plans to use the funding to scale its conversational AI platform for real estate operators, building on traction across more than 200,000 units and expanding further into markets including the U.S., Middle East, and Australia. - learn more * March Capital participated in Xage Security's $15M equity financing round, which was led by Piva Capital as the company posted 81% year-over-year revenue growth and expanded its Zero Trust platform for AI and critical infrastructure. Xage said the funding, which closed in December 2025, will support go-to-market expansion and continued product innovation, including new AI security capabilities, as demand grows across sectors such as energy, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and defense. - learn more * B Capital led Knox Systems' $25M Series A, backing the company's push to scale what it says is the largest AI-managed federal cloud and dramatically shorten the FedRAMP authorization process for software vendors. Knox said the new funding will help accelerate growth after its June 2025 seed round, with the goal of helping customers achieve FedRAMP authorization in as little as 90 days at roughly 90% lower first-year cost, while expanding adoption across both government and commercial environments. - learn more * WndrCo participated in Tenkara's $7M round, which was led by True Ventures as the company builds AI-powered operations agents for American manufacturers. Tenkara said it is creating tooling to help factories handle sourcing and operational work more efficiently at a time of rising supply-chain pressure, with backing from a broader investor group that also included Articulate Capital, Night Capital, HF0, SF1, and Transpose Platform. - learn more * Aurora Capital participated in Niv-AI's $12M seed round, backing the startup alongside Glilot Capital, Grove Ventures, Arc VC, Encoded VC, and Leap Forward as it emerged from stealth. Niv-AI is building sensors and software to measure millisecond-scale GPU power surges and help data centers use electricity more efficiently, with plans to deploy its system in a handful of U.S. facilities within the next six to eight months. - learn more * Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Fuse's $25M Series A, which TechCrunch reported was led by Footwork, Primary Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, and Commerce Ventures, with Fuse also naming Clocktower Ventures among its backers. The company said it plans to use the funding to expand its AI-native loan origination and account opening platform for credit unions, building on traction with more than 100 customers and a $5M "rescue fund" aimed at helping institutions switch off legacy systems. - learn more * Kairos Ventures participated in Alomana's €4M seed round, which was led by CDP Venture Capital and also included Founders Factory, Italian Angels for Growth, Club degli Investitori, and others. Alomana said it will use the funding to strengthen its enterprise AI platform, add more capabilities for autonomous workflow automation, and support larger deployments across Europe as demand grows in sectors like finance, manufacturing, and pharma. - learn more * Optimal's Entertainment Media division is being acquired by Capstone Point Holdings, with the business set to operate under its legacy name, Optimad Media, following the deal. The transaction keeps founder Kevin Weisberg in place to lead the company from Los Angeles, while giving Optimad more backing to expand its entertainment media planning, buying, and prints-and-advertising investment capabilities across theatrical, streaming, and broadcast campaigns. - learn more

Curtin Maritime selects Motive Energy for electric tug charging infrastructure in Los Angeles. Curtin Maritime, Long Beach, Calif., has selected Motive Energy, Tustin, Calif., to design and deliver charging and energy infrastructure to support the company's future fleet of electric tugboats at the Port of Los Angeles, marking one of the first large-scale, purpose-built charging deployments in the U.S. for commercial marine operations, a Motive Energy press release said. Under the agreement, Motive Energy's Sustainable Solutions division will provide the primary charging and energy system for Curtin's electric tug program, which the operator previously announced as part of its broader push toward lower-emission harbor operations. Charging operations will be supported by four 1-MW high-capacity charging systems designed to meet the duty cycles and fast-turnaround requirements typical of harbor tug work. The chargers will deliver high-voltage DC power and are engineered to integrate with marine cable-handling systems. Motive said the configuration allows for multiple simultaneous charging ports per vessel, supporting consistent daily operations across the fleet. At the center of the system will be a 10-MWh battery energy storage system intended to manage energy availability, reduce peak grid demand, and improve operational resilience. The full system is planned as a barge-based platform connected to new onshore utility service, with transformers, switchgear, and power-conversion equipment engineered and integrated by Motive Energy to meet marine operational requirements. Planned solar resources, currently pending review and approval by the Port of Los Angeles, are intended to further reduce lifetime emissions and support long-term sustainability goals, Motive said. "We are honored to partner with Curtin Maritime as they advance the next generation of environmentally sustainable marine operations," said Bob Istwan, chief executive officer of Motive Energy. "Ports across the country are seeking viable pathways to reduce carbon emissions, and this project demonstrates the role that advanced energy infrastructure will play in enabling that transition." "This deployment shows what it takes to keep electric tugboats running in real-time port conditions," said Jeffrey Rome, AIA, executive vice president at Motive Energy. "It's more than installing chargers; it's building systems that deliver reliable power, day after day, without disrupting operations. That's what happens when operators and infrastructure providers design together from the start." Curtin Maritime said the charging platform is a core component of its electric tug strategy at the Port of Los Angeles. "This infrastructure is central to our investment in a cleaner and more efficient tugboat fleet," said Martin Curtin, chief executive officer of Curtin Maritime. "Motive Energy's engineering approach provides the performance, reliability, and adaptability required for continuous marine operations at the Port of Los Angeles."