LA Startup Raises in SEC Filings: What a Typical Round Looks Like

Venture headlines are dominated by billion-dollar AI rounds, but most Los Angeles founders raise money on a very different scale. A public tally of private-placement filings shows what that looks like this fall, and the numbers offer a useful reality check for anyone planning a raise.

The national backdrop

Crunchbase reported that investors put $92 billion into North American startups in the third quarter. That was down 35% from the prior quarter, which included huge financings for OpenAI and Anthropic, but up 50% from a year earlier. Roughly two-thirds of the money went to AI-focused companies, and Crunchbase's read is that the dip came mostly from the absence of new giant rounds rather than a broad pullback. Seed-stage investment was still busy, with at least $5 billion preliminarily recorded, though the company notes seed totals tend to grow as late-reported deals are added.

Southern California has its own mega-round. Defense-tech company Mach Industries, based in Huntington Beach in Orange County, announced a $600 million extension of its Series C on September 10 at a $3.7 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported. It is a reminder of how much capital is chasing certain categories, and how little that resembles the average early-stage raise.

What 41 local filings show

When a company sells securities privately, it generally files a short notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission called a Form D. The notice reports how much was sold but not who invested or at what valuation. The LA Globe's L.A. Startup Money Tracker collects those filings from companies with business addresses in Los Angeles County. It leaves out investment funds, special-purpose vehicles, real-estate partnerships, amendments and offerings under $10,000.

From September 4 through October 27, the tracker lists 41 raises totaling more than $114 million. We tallied the entries and found:

• The typical raise was small. The median was about $1.26 million. Eighteen of the 41 were under $1 million, and seven were under $100,000.
• A few filings carried most of the dollars. Seven raises of $5 million or more added up to about $76 million, roughly two-thirds of the total. The largest was $20.8 million for Marina del Rey manufacturer hiyo, followed by $14.8 million for B2U Infrastructure Partners I, which lists an energy industry.
• Not just software. Industries listed on the filings included manufacturing, health care, retail, insurance, telecommunications and agriculture, along with technology. Several filers with film or studio names raised amounts from $10,000 to $250,000.
• Activity was uneven. The week of October 19 had 12 filings totaling about $40.5 million, while the week of October 5 had three totaling $1.7 million.

Other larger entries included $8.9 million for Valencia-based Sensydia, $8.4 million for Los Angeles-based Cofertility, $8.3 million for NanosVet, $7.7 million for Burbank's StartEngine and $7.6 million for Culver City's MyVillage.

How to read this data

These are not complete counts. Companies that raise in ways that do not require a Form D, or that file late, will not appear, and the tracker's ZIP-code method can miss firms with out-of-county addresses. It also leaves out venture funds and similar vehicles. A Form D reports the amount sold, not necessarily the round announced in a press release. Treat the tally as a snapshot of publicly filed private raises, not an official measure of the Los Angeles startup economy.

What founders can take from it

These are our suggestions, not conclusions of the sources.

1. Benchmark your ask. If you are raising a first round, the filings suggest that low-seven-figure raises are common among Los Angeles filers, while rounds of $10 million or more are rare: only two of the 41.
2. Look at peers in your industry. The filings are public, so you can see which nearby companies in your category have recently raised and roughly how much.
3. Do not let mega-rounds set expectations. National totals are driven by a handful of enormous deals. Crunchbase attributes this quarter's swing largely to the absence of new OpenAI and Anthropic mega-financings.
4. Check your own compliance. If you are selling securities, talk to a securities lawyer about whether you need to file a Form D and any California notice requirements. Public filings also mean your raise can be seen.
5. Expect a lag. Filings appear after a sale, so they reveal where money has been, not where it will go next.

The bottom line

Los Angeles has companies raising on both ends of the spectrum, but the public paperwork shows a market where a typical round is closer to a seed check than a headline. That is useful context for founders deciding how much to ask for, and for owners of small businesses weighing whether outside capital makes sense at all.

Sources: Crunchbase News, Oct. 7, 2026 · TechCrunch, Sept. 10, 2026 · The LA Globe, L.A. Startup Money Tracker (our tallies from its listed filings as of Oct. 27, 2026)