2023 LA Hard Tech 50: Highlighting the Leaders Shaping LA's Hard Tech Ecosystem

[This post originally ran on Always Add the Egg]

There’s something happening in LA. From the South Bay to the Valley to Pasadena and everywhere in between, early-stage founders are setting up clean rooms and programming robots to manufacture everything from rocket engine components to portable nuclear fission reactors.

People new to LA might visit these ambitious companies and marvel at the hard tech startup ecosystem blossoming here. More informed observers realize this is the evolution of an industry that has been building in Los Angeles for a hundred years. LA has been a leading technology center for critical infrastructure like aerospace and defense since the founding of Lockheed in 1926 and Hughes, the JPL, and Northrop Corporation shortly thereafter.

The city boasts the greatest concentration of hard tech talent in the country. These scientists, researchers, and engineers have been making planes fly, satellites communicate, and submarines lurk for decades. Nick witnessed this firsthand because his mom and other family members led systems design and built flight control systems for programs like the V-280 Valor and the B-2 Bomber.

Until recently, most of this work happened inside large government prime contractors. However, after decades of consolidation in the aerospace and defense industry, the US Department of Defense acknowledges that “promoting competition to the maximum extent possible is a top priority for the Department.”[1] That has created the friendliest environment for technology startups in a generation, and there is no place where startups are taking better advantage of that than Los Angeles.

Since SpaceX was founded here in 2002, there has been an explosion of hard tech startups created throughout southern California. Unsurprisingly, many of the founders hail from SpaceX. The company ignited the entrepreneurial spirit in LA’s hard tech ecosystem. Now, people who previously progressed science and engineering inside primes at incumbent speed are pursuing hypergrowth startups.

But it doesn’t stop there. Countless founders are moving to LA to build ambitious companies in satellite manufacturing, boating, aviation, and more. The world of atoms is cool again. There has never been a better time to start hard tech companies, and because of the talent already here, many of the most promising ones are built in LA.

Here are the 50 hard tech companies you should know about in southern California (and many honorable mentions at the end). Let us know who we’ve missed!

LA Hard Tech 50

These are the companies that come up again and again when we speak to founders and co-investors. This list is just the tip of the iceberg: a sampling of companies that had stand-out years in 2023. We’ve compiled a searchable and sortable list of these companies for you here.

Public and Late-Growth (Series D+)

spacex

SpaceX

CEO & Key People: Elon Musk, Gwynne Shotwell | Stage: Late-growth | Founded: 2002 Hawthorne, CA

Designer and manufacturer of reusable orbital launch systems and satellite constellations for government and commercial applications.

Anduril

CEO & Key People: Brian Schimpf, Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm | Stage: Series E | Founded: 2017 Costa Mesa, CA

Builder of interconnected, software-enabled sensors and autonomous systems that deliver new capabilities to the battlefield for the DOD and allies.

Rocket Lab

CEO & Key People: Peter Beck | Stage: Public | Founded: 2006 Long Beach, CA

Designer and manufacturer of small and medium-lift orbital launch vehicles, satellite buses, and satellite subsystems.

Relativity

CEO & Key People: Tim Ellis | Stage: Series E | Founded: 2015 Long Beach, CA

Designer and manufacturer of reusable 3D-printed heavy-lift orbital launch vehicles.

Shield AI

CEO & Key People: Ryan Tseng, Brandon Tseng | Stage: Series F | Founded: 2015 San Diego, CA

Developer of autonomous AI pilot software for manned and unmanned aerial systems and manufacturer of UAVs.

Rivian

CEO & Key People: RJ Scaringe | Stage: Public | Founded: 2009 Irvine, CA

Designer and manufacturer of electric consumer adventure vehicles and fleet delivery vehicles.

Apeel

CEO & Key People: James Rogers | Stage: Series E | Founded: 2012 Goleta, CA

Manufacturer of a plant-derived coating for fresh produce that extends shelf-life by reducing water loss and oxidation.

Divergent

CEO & Key People: Kevin Czinger, Lukas Czinger | Stage: Series D | Founded: 2013 Torrance, CA

Developer of end-to-end production systems, including software and hardware for industrial digital manufacturing in automotive, aerospace, and defense.

Zeitview

CEO & Key People: Dan Burton | Stage: Series D | Founded: 2014 Santa Monica, CA

Developer of advanced inspection software capturing visual data to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and protect critical infrastructure.

Early-Growth (Series B/C)

early growth

Radiant

CEO & Key People: Doug Bernauer, Bob Urberger | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2019 El Segundo, CA

Designer and manufacturer of small modular nuclear fission reactors for austere environments and off-grid backup use cases.

ABL Space Systems

CEO & Key People: Harry O’Hanley, Dan Piemont | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2017 El Segundo, CA

Designer and manufacturer of an orbital launch vehicle and deployable ground system that enables responsive launch capabilities delivered in a shipping container.

Epirus

CEO & Key People: Ken Bedingfield, Grant Verstandig | Stage: Series C | Founded: 2018 Torrance, CA

Developer of directed energy systems for counter-electronics and counter-UAS using high-power microwaves.

SpinLaunch

CEO & Key People: Jonathan Yaney | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2014 Long Beach, CA

Provider of kinetic orbital launch capabilities using rotational mass acceleration to move small payloads at hypersonic speeds.

Umbra

CEO & Key People: David Langan, Gabe Dominocielo | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2015 Santa Barbara, CA

Designer, manufacturer, and operator of earth observation satellites using synthetic aperture radar to deliver ultra-high resolution imagery from orbit.

Skyryse

CEO & Key People: Mark Groden | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2016 El Segundo, CA

Developer of flight hardware and a software operating system to facilitate safe, autonomous, and accessible aviation.

Machina Labs

CEO & Key People: Ed Mehr | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2019 Chatsworth, CA

Provider of robotic manufacturing platforms that can scan, shape, and trim sheet metal into large and complex geometries.

inVia Robotics

CEO & Key People: Lior Elazary | Stage: Series C | Founded: 2015 Westlake Village, CA

Provider of next-generation warehouse automation robotics and orchestration software.

Spartan

CEO & Key People: Matt Markel, Nathan Mintz | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2019 Los Alamitos, CA

Developer of software and sensing hardware to improve safety and performance for mobility sensing radar.

Universal Hydrogen

CEO & Key People: Paul Eremenko, Mark Cousin | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2020 Hawthorne, CA

Designer and developer of hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain conversion kits and natively designed aircraft with a mission to decarbonize aviation.

Arc Boats

CEO & Key People: Mitch Lee, Ryan Cook | Stage: Series B | Founded: 2021 Los Angeles, CA

Designer and manufacturer of high-performance and sustainable electric watercraft.

Vast

CEO & Key People: Max Haot, Jed McCaleb | Stage: Privately funded | Founded: 2021 Long Beach, CA

Builder of the world’s first commercial space station for space agencies, research, manufacturing, and private individuals.

Early-Stage (Series A)

Varda

CEO & Key People: Will Bruey, Delian Asparouhov | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2020 El Segundo, CA

Developer of a platform for manufacturing pharmaceuticals in space and manufacturer of re-entry vehicles to return to Earth.

Freeform

CEO & Key People: Erik Palitsch, TJ Ronacher | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2018 Hawthorne, CA

Builder of autonomous 3D printing factories to deliver complex metal parts at high volume using software-defined powder bed fusion printers.

Hadrian

CEO & Key People: Chris Power | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2020 Torrance, CA

Builder of software-defined automated factories to produce high-precision machined parts for aerospace and defense.

First Resonance

CEO & Key People: Karan Talati | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2020 Los Angeles, CA

Developer of next-generation manufacturing systems software for rapid, iterative, and data-driven hardware manufacturing.

Parallel Systems

CEO & Key People: Matt Soule, John Howard, Ben Stabler | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2020 El Segundo, CA

Builder of autonomous and decarbonized freight system with zero-emissions rail vehicles.

Epsilon3

CEO & Key People: Laura Crabtree, Max Mednik | Stage: Series A Founded: 2020 Santa Monica, CA

Developer of a software suite for complex engineering, testing, and operations.

Harbinger

CEO & Key People: John Harris, Phillip Weicker, Will Eberts | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2021 Gardena, CA

Builder of a vertically integrated electric vehicle platform to produce commercial and specialty vehicles.

Impulse Space

CEO & Key People: Tom Mueller | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2021 El Segundo, CA

Designer and manufacturer of orbital transfer vehicles for maneuvering orbits and last-mile payload delivery.

Chaos Industries

CEO & Key People: Gavin Hood, John Tenet, Bo Marr | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2022 Los Angeles, CA

Builder of novel technology for defense and critical industries with rapid prototyping.

Apex Space

CEO & Key People: Ian Cinnamon, Max Benassi | Stage: Series A | Founded: 2022 Culver City, CA

Designer and manufacturer of standard and configurable satellite buses with transparent pricing.

Early-Stage (Pre-seed and Seed)

K2 space

Honorable Mentions

Here are some more honorable mentions who inspired us and who we believe are worth getting to know:

Ampaire, Antares, Argo Space, Astrolab, Auriga, Cover, Datum, Duro Labs, Elementary, Exosonic, Flyby Robotics, Gambit, KittyCAD, Moonware, Morpheus, Neros, Odys Aviation, Outpost Space, Phase Four, Prewitt Ridge, Proteus, Quilter, Rollup, Salient Motion, Slingshot, Stellar Pizza, Syntiant, Terraform Industries, Turion Space, Valar Atomics, Vuecason…

…and many stealth companies that have yet to announce any information publicly.

[1] State of Competition within the Defense Industrial Base, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (February 2022)