LA entrepreneurs get a lift from new venture fund TYLT Lab

A couple of Los Angeles-based entrepreneurs have launched a small venture fund to seed Southern California startups. TYLT Lab said today that it had secured commitments for $20 million. The Santa Monica-based firm had previously filed a report with the SEC on Feb. 28 showing that it had closed on $2 million. TYLT plans to make 12 to 14 deals of $50,000 to $2 million each. Its first two investments were in Cargomatic and PogoSeat. TYLT was co-founded by Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale, who have been investing privately for more than five years.

PRESS RELEASE:

New Los Angeles Venture Capital Firm, TYLT Lab, Raises $20M for SoCal Startups

Los Angeles, CA—TYLT Lab (www.TYLTLab.com) launched an early stage fund focused on seed-to-A round investments and advisory services for companies executing on businesses disruptive to their industries. The fund launched with its initial LP and first investments late in 2013 and has now added limited partners with $20 million in committed capital toward their initial fund closing.  Seasoned L.A. entrepreneurs Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale founded the fund and sourced the TYLT Lab management team.

“We believe that the local startup ecosystem has finally reached a critical mass in Los Angeles– specifically in the Silicon Beach area– and our fund intends to be in the middle of all the action.   We are finding great companies right here in SoCal” said partner Gerard Casale.

TYLT Lab co-founder Rami Rostami is the first limited partner in the fund. Rostami has built the long standing and leading wireless accessory distributor Technocel of Simi Valley as well as the more recently launched accessory product and lifestyle brands TYLT and Jelly Fish. Collectively, Casale and Rostami have been privately investing in companies together since 2008. In the past, the pair had coupled their cash investment with the provision of management services, software and app development services, logistics, manufacturing and product development services to nearly a dozen companies before launching TYLT Lab together.   With TYLT Lab, they now commit to formalizing the process and bringing on a team of world-class advisors to the fund and the local Southern California venture community— investing with a twist in offering what TYLT Lab calls its “Shared Services Platform.”

“We are looking to be involved in the companies with which we invest. We have a platform that has been tested with Fortune 100 companies over the past 20+ years which includes supply chain services, logistics, pick, pack and ship, rapid 3D printing/prototyping, global distribution network and much more, and we are offering this to early to mid-stage companies.  We think this is a unique offering to our entrepreneur partners,” said partner Rami Rostami.

TYLT Lab estimates that it will place 12-15 investments in 2014 ranging from $50,000 to a maximum of $2,000,000 per investment.

About TYLT Lab:

TYLT Lab is a venture capital and venture advisory group based in Santa Monica, California with a focus on building innovative companies capable of producing outsized returns for investors.  The partners are entrepreneurs themselves and have a hands-on approach to working with founders.  Focus areas are consumer lifestyle products, mobile platforms and services, home automation, software focused on transactions and engagements, consumer goods, clean technology, e-healthcare, and entertainment. However, the firm’s scope is agnostic and will assess any company that has a great team seeking to intelligently disrupt an industry with great ideas and products.