Welcome to February 2020. January was sobering as Kobe Bryant’s death affected me more than I was expecting. I was born and raised in LA and Kobe was always there, grinding out to be the best at what he does. I would say it took me five days to really shake past the shock and channel it towards focusing on my main goals of 2020: get consistent sleep (utter failure in 2019), grow the business by changing the game, and show up as the most prepared to everything I do. Mamba mentality. RIP Kobe.

If you’ve been a subscriber to The Local Buzz for a bit, you’ve seen our SD Tech Mafia series, and we are excited to announce our latest series: The HNC Mafia. You may know the company today, FICO, by its buildings off the 56 freeway in San Diego. HNC is the godfather of analytics and data science in San Diego and the world, really, especially in fintech. Check out Part 1 by Andrea Siedsma below and tell us what you remember of this legendary company.

I am also excited to share this week’s Tacos & Tech Podcast with new Startup San Diego Executive Director Alexa-Rae Navarro . She’s been in the role six weeks and is already making waves since coming back to San Diego from LA. Get to know her in this week’s episode . Also, a new Home Brew article highlights the next sustainable hub for innovative companies coming to Little Italy. Come check out the 2100 Kettner Fête & Feast event on February 6 to learn about Little Italy’s fishing history and focus on sustainability.

Cheers,

Neal

Follow @FreshBrewedTech on Twitter for regular SD tech updates throughout the day.

Our team of  local writers   gives a fresh look inside the San Diego tech ecosystem past and present

Kneron, $40M with Horizons Ventures

Calidi Biotherapeutics, $5.2M with Won & Partners and Greentable Co.

Concert Health, $2M with California Healthcare Foundation and Alliance Health Foundation

BlueNalu, amount undisclosed with Nutreco

Soft-Pak by Dover, amount undisclosed



Enviance by Cority, amount undisclosed

VisionTree by Brainlab, amount undisclosed

Technical Solutions Engineer, MindTouch (Downtown)



Product Marketing Manager, Verimatrix (Sorrento Valley)

Client Solutions Engineer, Cordial (Downtown)

HR Generalist, eSUB Construction Software (UTC)

Finance Manager, NuVasive (Sorrento Valley)

Customer Success Associate, Uqora (South Park)

Media Manager, Sony Electronics (Rancho Bernardo)

Accounts Receivable Specialist, Intuit (San Diego)

People Business Partner, Apple (UTC)

Marketing Assistant, Chatmeter (Downtown)

Tacos: the only valentine worth having