IoT
Battery Chemistries
Cleantech
Mobility
Industry 4.0
Robotics
Immersive Computing
Biotech
Frontier Tech
Nanotech
Wearables
Bits to Atoms
STEM
Drones
Semiconductors
Our Founders
We attract and invest in principled leaders who prioritize five values:
#1 Curiosity > Product-Market Fit
#2 Principled > Polished
#3 Creative > Experienced
#4 Hungry > Aggressive
#5 Confidence > Arrogance
The Team
Carmen Palafox
Partner
Carmen’s focus at Make in LA is coaching entrepreneurs in finance and investment, managing fund operations, and developing investor relationships. She was formerly VP at Dimensional Fund Advisors where she scaled operations into new markets, including Latin America, Canada, and Europe. Carmen also served as a consultant to startups in areas such as operations, fundraising, and growth strategy. Carmen has an MBA from Berkeley-Haas, an MA in sports management from USF, and a BA in economics from USC. She is a board member of CCEO YouthBuild, on the advisory board at Santa Monica City College’s Business Department, and a contributing writer for Latinas in Business.
Shaun Arora
Managing Partner
Shaun Arora fights for underdogs and believes that hardware startups can be built in a capital efficient manner. He is a cultural anthropologist, entrepreneur, operator, and startup advisor and board member. In 2015 he spun off Make in LA from NEO Tech (a global contract manufacturer that he helped scale) to improve outcomes for hardware startups. At MiLA Capital, Shaun focuses on leveraging best-in-class resources to support the startups, leveraging his portfolio for best practices, providing world-class programming, and building strategic partnerships for the benefit of the startups. He plays the devil’s advocate, challenging executive teams towards brilliant and uncomfortable thinking, and he can be bribed with spicy vegan food.
Noramay Cadena
General Partner
Noramay Cadena is an engineer and nonprofit leader turned vc. Prior to cofounding Make in LA, Cadena spent 10+ years in aerospace holding technical oversight and program management roles with profit and loss accountability over budgets of $20MM+. Cadena is also active in the community. She cofounded the Latinas in STEM Foundation and led the organization 2013-2015. She serves on the Housing Authority Commission of Los Angeles and is a founding board member for a K-8 charter school. Cadena holds an MBA, a Master’s in Engineering Systems and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering – all from MIT. She’s been a featured speaker in many platforms including TEDx – her talks cover technical achievement, leadership, and overcoming obstacles. Her recognitions include being named one of the top 26 women engineers to watch by Business Insider, one of the top 20 Latinos in Tech by CNET and she’s received national awards from the Society of Women Engineers and Great Minds in STEM.
Portfolio
Thesis Couture
- B2C
Sentio
- B2B
Rufus Labs
- B2B
Radii Robotics
- B2B
Prosper
- B2B
- B2C
Pathspot
- B2B
HAVA Health
- B2B
- B2C
Gaszen
- B2B
Emerge
- B2B
DASH Systems
- B2B
Caban Systems
- B2B
Amped Innovation
- B2B
Acqubit
- B2B
47
COMPANIES WITH A FEMALE FOUNDER
135
MILLIONS RAISED IN FOLLOW-ON FUNDING
61
COMPANIES WITH AN IMMIGRANT FOUNDER
19
PORTFOLIO COMPANIES
235
FTES HIRED
1
HARDWARE ACCELERATOR IN HARDWARE PARADISE
OUR MISSION
MiLA Capital is a high-touch Venture Capital firm based in Los Angeles, CA. The team believes that (1) hardware can be brought to market more frugally than in the past and that (2) Los Angeles has the expertise and best resources to support founders who play in the physical world.
SOURCING STRATEGY
We invest globally. Make in LA is our early-stage accelerator, and we built Toolbox LA as the epicenter of hardware entrepreneurship in California. MiLA Capital leverages resources across these and other organizations to build capital efficient startups and give our founders a competitive advantage.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
We fund pre-seed, seed, and post-seed hardware. Check sizes vary across stages and range from $100k-1M. We like to be small but mighty investors on your cap table and will occasionally lead a deal.