Since coming under new ownership, Evite
has been growing its offerings and its revenue.
When Karen Klein joined party invitation platform Evite in 2022, the company was undergoing a significant evolution.
Evite had been around for 24 years at that point, becoming a first mover in the digital invitations space that’s now populated by the likes of Partiful, Eventbrite and Paperless Post. It was once a proprietary eponym, much like Thermos, Kleenex or Xerox.
But the then-downtown-based Evite changed hands often, raising $38 million in funding before it was acquired by Beverly Hills-based Ticketmaster in 2001 and then again by Liberty Interactive in 2010.
By 2020, Evite hadn’t turned a profit. The digital invitations company, which depended on social gatherings, was also facing a crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that shuttered schools, businesses, concert halls and restaurants.
That’s when now-chief executive David Yeom and George Ruan decided to buy the company. Evite moved into an office space in Glendale, where streamers clinging to the walls, slowly-deflating balloons bobbing about and a well-stocked spirits bar show signs of the various elaborate parties the company throws internally.
“The pandemic was a catalyst for rethinking how people connect and celebrate,” Klein, the executive vice president of product at Evite, said in a statement. “In the post-Covid world, Americans are wanting community and togetherness, and are actually partying much more. As people began to seek more ways to reconnect, especially in 2024, Evite saw an increase in making a celebration out of the everyday events that we missed so much.”
Indeed, parties went up 4% between 2023 and 2024, according to Evite. Younger generations are finding more excuses to party by celebrating what once might have been considered mundane moments. Parties have also become less elaborate, Evite found – a simple potluck, book club meeting or kickback at home is still organized on digital invitations platforms, rather than group chats.
In the black
In November, Evite received a strategic growth investment from Francisco Partners, though the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“It re-solidified our confidence in the vision for the Evite brand as we head into 2025 and beyond,” Klein says.
Under Yeom, Evite lessened its heavy reliance on advertisements under invitations and began using affiliate e-commerce programs that would suggest gifts guests could bring to parties. It developed premium invitations – ad-free invitations that offered more customization in terms of gifting suggestions and template designs and that, according to Evite, garners more RSVPs than their economy product. More than 6 million invitations are sent every year.
The recent rebrand has allowed Evite to achieve profitability for the first time in 26 years. Business revenue at Evite is up 50% year over year and the company says its Instagram content sees 420% more reach than competitors’ social media engagement.
And now 26 years since its founding, the company doesn’t just create digital invitations. It has expanded to support the larger party planning ecosystem by creating sign up sheets for volunteer shifts or potluck dishes, and “party playbooks” – guides complete with themes and decor affiliate links for anything from a Taylor Swift-themed birthday to a nostalgic adult slumber party.
“Over the past 25 years, Evite has grown from a digital invitations platform to a party planning ecosystem that evolves with the needs of Evite’s community as they grow,” Klein says.
GALS LA opened last year. It was built with shipping containers.
Besides being the first all-girls public charter middle school in the San Fernando Valley, the Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles, or GALS LA for short, is gaining notoriety for its new campus – the first and only in Los Angeles County to be built entirely out of recycled shipping containers.
The school opened its doors to students last August after finding a permanent home in Van Nuys following eight years of space sharing in Panorama City. Sitting just under 1 acre, GALS LA acquired the land in 2020 and replaced a residential home.
“We have always set out to be a school that serves the public,” Vanessa Garza, executive director of GALS LA, says, emphasizing its sustainable features. “We want the school to look like the face of Los Angeles.”
Vanessa Garza is the executive director of the GALS LA school.
Made up of 32 recycled shipping containers – 16 on each floor – the school spans 21,300 square feet and includes 17 classrooms, a multipurpose room, a dance room, an office, conference space and a teachers’ lounge.
Each container was stacked modularly – a type of prefabricated and sustainable method of construction where units of a building are made off-site and then assembled on-site. While modular building has gained prominence in recent years due to its less costly and more timely development approach – specifically in the multifamily sector – it’s less commonly used in other types of commercial construction.
“The shipping containers are a more cost effective and faster path to construction. Typically, they’re used in a crisis situation, like a FEMA trailer or for the unhoused or an ADU, like people trying to make their budgets work. Similarly, we wanted to take advantage of that option, but it’s also sustainable,” Garza says. She estimates the choice to proceed with modular design spared the school somewhere between $2 million and $3 million. “They were one-time use containers so we’re keeping them out of the landfill. California is an expensive place to have insurance and they’re safer in fires and earthquakes. There is that advantage and it’s just a way for us to teach the students about sustainability and being stewards of the future. And it’s not just the structure, our whole campus is sustainable.”
GALS LA was built using 32 recycled shipping containers and sits on just under 1 acre.
Sustainable at its core
Beyond its modular design, Garza points out some other environmentally friendly amenities of the campus, including having a rainwater pump irrigation system as opposed to more-wasteful sprinklers, and featuring LED lights in all the classrooms, which use up to 80% less energy than traditional incandescent and fluorescent lights.
“It’s our first year there so I feel like the dividends that we’ll see aren’t fully manifesting yet, but I think it’s just the role modeling (that embodies the school’s values),” Garza says. “I think it’s also reducing the stigma of what shipping containers are used for. I feel like it’s crisis or affordability or it’s looked down on as if you can’t afford to do other types of construction (but) that’s not the case. I don’t believe in greenwashing, so I feel like we’re representing actual sustainable practices.”
But its weight on sustainability isn’t the only unique aspect of the school. In prioritizing holistic learning, GALS LA emphasizes the brain and body connection, meaning every student starts the day with physical education, as well as social-emotional learning, which, according to Garza, requires every student to take a life skills class to challenge the stressors of middle school life.
“Our model of just education is entirely different,” Garza says. “Sure, we’re a single-gender school and there’s many of those in Los Angeles, but we really capitalize on the backdrop of being a single-gender school. Same thing if you’re going to build a school – do it right. Do it for sustainability; be really inclusive about your purpose.”
Looking ahead, Garza hopes to further decrease the school’s ecological footprint by developing an on-campus garden and by adding shaded parking though installing solar panels.
Dennis Prager, nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host, remains among Salem Media Group's biggest radio draws. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In an effort to improve its balance sheet and reduce its debt, Camarillo-based conservative content distributor Salem Media Group Inc. recently completed three transactions.
The company said in a release from Dec. 30 that it had repurchased all $159 million of its outstanding senior secured notes due in 2028; issued $40 million of a series of convertible preferred stock; and agreed to sell seven radio stations and enter into a marketing agreement for $90 million.
David Santrella, chief executive of Salem, says that because of these transactions, the company’s ability to service its national ministry partners and listeners has been greatly enhanced.
‘No outstanding debt’
Upon closing of these three transactions, Salem will have transformed and significantly improved its balance sheet and capital structure, Santrella said in a statement.
“With the exception of its revolving line of credit, Salem will have no outstanding debt,” Santrella added. “Salem will also have the benefit of working with an important new strategic investor that is expected to bring significant new opportunities to the company.”
On Dec. 23, Salem repurchased all $159 million of its outstanding 2028 notes, in consideration for payment of $104 million in cash and the issuance of an aggregate of $24 million in subordinated unsecured promissory notes to the holders of the 2028 notes, according to the company’s release.
On that same date, the company sold $40 million in preferred stock to the new strategic investor, Christian Community Foundation Inc., doing business as WaterStone in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
WaterStone’s investment in Salem will be overseen by Rick von Gnechten, the chief operating officer of the nonprofit.
Von Gnechten was appointed to the Salem board in early January.
Also on Dec. 23, the company agreed to sell seven Christian music radio stations, including KFSH-FM in Los Angeles, for $80 million to Educational Media Foundation, the Franklin, Tennessee-based owner of the country’s two largest Christian music radio networks with over 1,000 stations and streaming platforms across all 50 states.
The foundation will begin operating the stations pursuant to an affiliation agreement on or about Feb. 1.
Regarding the sale, Edward G. Atsinger, the company’s executive chair and co-founder, said that it had made a strategic decision to exit the contemporary Christian music format to pay off all of Salem’s long-term debt and he could not be more delighted that the buyer for the seven stations is the foundation.
“EMF has demonstrated over many years a unique ability and dedication to creating and distributing the highest quality Christian music content to its listeners in a positive and encouraging way” Atsinger said in a statement at the time. “I am confident that their impact on listeners and their communities will be incredibly effective.”
In addition to the stations sales, Salem also entered into an advertising and marketing agreement with the foundation for $10 million. The radio stations sale is expected to close in the first half of this year.
One of Salem’s most noteworthy talk show hosts is Dennis Prager, a La Cañada Flintridge resident, whose show airs mornings on KRLA AM 870.
Working out of his home, Corry Banks has built up Modbap Modular as a boutique synth designer as an award-winning business since 2020. (Photo by David Sprague)
Corry Banks was always a creator.
As an emcee in a hip-hop group, he created rhymes. As a beatmaker, he created the sounds to go with the rhymes. And now, as the founder of and visionary behind Modbap Modular, Banks is creating the various tools that serve as instruments for the world’s beatmakers.
“I’ve always made beats on MPCs (music production centers) and obviously collect them” – Banks says as he gestures to the plethora of rare and classic synthesizers and MPCs in his home studio – “and what I started getting into was sampling. That’s the name of the game in hip-hop. Because I have a tech background and that I’ve always done hip-hop, it just felt like, ‘Oh, that’s my two worlds coming together.’”
Banks’ business, which he runs out of his Santa Clarita home, has gotten attention. Modbap products are sold in more than 40 electronic instrument stores in North America, Europe and Asia. Late last year, Modbap was one of three winners in the Famous Amos Ingredients for Success Entrepreneurs Initiative, which came with a $50,000 grant.
Entering his sixth year with the business, Banks says he has new products in the pipeline for his aficionado customer base. Longer term, he says he would like to establish a formal headquarters to accommodate continued growth.
Finding his voice
After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, Banks familiarized himself with the music scene through his rap group.
As a songwriter and performer, he was used to the showmanship aspect of the business. He even tried his hand at making a beat once but stuck with the vocal side.
However, the seed was planted. He thought about the classic hip-hop production – a drumkit, plus the records you wanted to sample – that was behind the boom bap style, so-named for the drum pattern that punctuated the audio. But then he also thought about European dance and techno music, which used Euroracks – a collection of modular synthesizers – to create more melodic experiences. Think J Dilla – the legendary Detroit producer who once worked with South Los Angeles alternative darlings The Pharcyde and whose beats you might have heard as Adult Swim interludes. Or maybe of RZA’s soul samples for Wu-Tang Clan and Pete Rock’s jazz-infused beats. It’s what Banks did.
“Eurorack is very experimental. I want to make tools that not only help you experiment but be melodic. There was a point where a lot of this stuff was obviously not the kind of music that I make, but it’s music that I respect,” Banks explains. “I really wanted to make something that lives in the context of the type of music that’s boom bap and that sort of thing. As time goes on, I’ve gotten a lot of people who are beatmakers who are jumping into more modular stuff and want to incorporate this stuff into what they’re doing.”
This set Banks on the path to blending the two together, down even to the name of his company being a portmanteau of “modular” and “boom bap.”
One of Modbap Modular’s eurorack modules. (Photo by David Sprague)
In the customary approach of the time, he began to blog about his thoughts on the music and his reviews of certain pieces of equipment. On top of his flair for music, Banks also holds an academic background as a technologist.
“Because I’m kind of a techie and kind of gadget guy like that, I was always looking at, what are the latest things that are out there, and so I started blogging about the things, because I just didn’t hear my perspective and my voice, like from a hip-hop perspective,” he says. “I think now that it’s 2025 that’s changed drastically. We’re talking about 10 years ago now.”
In reviewing or beta testing products, the name of the game is that those companies will incorporate that feedback. Banks started seeing his influence manifest on those products.
“Some of those ideas live with those products, and it started making me think, ‘I could do this,’” he recalls.
Building a business
Banks has the acumen to design the modules – which, visually, are essentially metal blocks with dials, switches, buttons and line jacks. The sounds and effects can vary greatly between models, hence the development of the modular Eurorack system; creators can assemble a unit based on their preferred modules.
Once he’s designed them, Banks works with a manufacturer in San Clemente to produce them. He handles distribution himself.
Since coming online in 2020, Modbap products have gone from being available in a handful of stores to now more than 40 across three continents. Though declining to cite specific sales figures or revenue, Banks says last year his distribution footprint grew between 15 and 20%.
Modbap got another boost last year as well. The company was among three winners of the annual Ingredients for Success Entrepreneurs Initiative by Famous Amos.
The initiative, which is done in partnership with U.S. Black Chambers Inc., invites Black entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to judges. More than 2,800 applied, and those like Banks were keyed onto the contest through newsletters from U.S. Black Chambers.
“Because I was getting ready for a new product and an event, I saw it and was like, I got a million things to do,” Banks admits. “I just kind of thought to myself, ‘I’ll apply for that,’ but I kind of blew it off, because I was really getting stuff together. I was in the midst of a development cycle, in the midst of getting stuff for my booth and making sure everything was right.”
Banks eventually buckled down and recorded the video pitch one Saturday morning, with just days to spare. He would eventually become one of the 10 finalists and then one of the three winners.
“That grant money, it’s going to help in a lot of ways,” he says. “I need to keep my inventory up. I need to be able to invest in development, to kind of finish products that have come out. I have goals to expand the product line.”
Eyes on the future
Banks’ home studio looks the part. On top of his various Modbap products, a plethora of classic and vintage MPCs and synthesizers decorate the space tastefully, including an Akai MPC3000 that was J Dilla’s beloved choice of instrument.
“I’m kind of a collector and gear hoarder,” Banks quips.
Corry Banks describes himself as a hoarder of classic synthesizers and MPCs. (Photo by David Sprague)
Nevertheless, the goal one day is to have a formal business location, and not one tucked into a Santa Clarita cul-de-sac.
“That’s a dream of mine, is to be able to have a Modbap office,” he says. “Right now, I’m doing the American dream, distributing out of a garage, heavily utilizing Zoom calls with developers, but it will be nice to have everything in a ‘proper place.’”
One advantage to having more space and more people, he says, is that it would allow him more leeway to jump into different platforms: desktop units, which are simpler condensed modules meant to be more accessible to those of casual interest, as well as other accessories like instrument pedals.
When the time comes for an office, Banks says he wants to stay in the Valley area.
“I don’t want a long commute,” he says, with a laugh. “I love the idea of being offset, away from the hustle and bustle a little bit. I envision a warehouse, and there’s a lot of business parks up here.”
As more artists add the brand to their repertoire – Modbap counts Ski Beatz, who has produced for key names like Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim and Mos Def, as perhaps its most well-known endorser – Banks says he is open to bringing in more minds and artists to work with him on products.
“I’ve had conversations with a couple of creatives. We’ve talked about doing collaborative projects and I’m totally open to that,” he says. “I think there’s something special about that. I feel like it’s almost like an experience. I’m a huge sneaker fanatic and I love the idea of ‘brand gets with designer, creates thing.’ For people who know the brand and the designer, the thing becomes something to experience.”
California Credit Union's chief operating officer Robert O’Grady and chief marketing officer Jill Vasant in their office in Glendale. (Photo by David Sprague)
More than 90 years ago a group of Los Angeles area schoolteachers started a small credit union. But Glendale-based California Credit Union has since grown from its humble beginnings to serve more than just teachers, spreading into additional markets amid initiatives to evolve. Recently, a new target clientele for the credit union has emerged: Gen Z and millennials.
Operational changes for the financial institution began in 2017 when CCU merged with North Island Credit Union in San Diego, which opened CCU to a wider pool of clients, not just those involved in education. Then in 2023, the credit union officially expanded into a community charter to serve members across Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties. This shift also diversified membership eligibility to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or owns a business in its service areas, plus all school employees across California.
CCU’s expanded pool of members both geographically and occupationally has proved advantageous for growth. Currently the second largest Valley-based credit union by assets, sitting at more than $5 billion as of June, CCU has increased its assets by about 32% from 2020.
Attracting the next generation of clients, though, has been crucial for CCU’s sustainability.
When it comes to signing on Gen Z and millennial clients, Robert O’Grady, the company’s chief operating officer, says the credit union “was really struggling five years ago.”
And it’s not just CCU that has grappled with this. Recent data shows that 79% of Gen Z and 69% of millennials identify larger banks as their primary financial institution with just 11% and 15%, respectively, saying the same for credit unions, according to an Apiture report backed by data from a 2024 Harris Poll.
“We really had to retool ourselves to be a choice for them,” O’Grady says.
This retooling approach is two-fold with significant pushes toward marketing and tailoring products and services to the younger generations’ needs and preferences, says Jill Vasant, chief marketing officer at CCU.
Over the last five years, these efforts have resulted in a 40% increase in Gen Z and millennial members for the CCU and a 116% increase in online applications from this group.
Specialized solutions and tech-based platform
In finding ways to appeal to younger audiences, the credit union places huge emphasis on its mobile app.
“We know that these generations are all digital natives,” Vasant says. “They’re accustomed to getting information instantly at their fingertips and seamlessly across applications. We’re constantly working to add enhancements to our mobile app.”
This includes features to check credit scores, tools to create budgets for certain goals – such as saving up for a wedding or vacation – financial literacy modules, videos and blog posts, and the ability to send and receive funds through Zelle.
In line with this strategy, the Harris survey found that 80% of Gen Z and 81% of millennials hold digital banking paramount in their banking preferences and favor digital features, such as Zelle, budget tracking, ability to transfer funds between accounts and monitoring credit, at higher rates than Gen X and baby boomers.
O’Grady finds that with the younger generations, there’s a perception that the larger, household name banks offer better access to financial tools on the digital side of things. Thus, having CCU’s app accompanied by a 4.9/5 star rating in the Apple app store – on par with the ratings for Wells Fargo and Citi – is crucial.
While the majority of this demographic is choosing larger banks, Apiture asserts that “banks and credit unions that cater to the specific preferences of younger consumers can win a greater share of this strategically important group” in its report.
In addition to placing emphasis on its mobile app, CCU has been ramping up its use of data and AI, including forming its own in-house data team.
“That was a shift for the credit union to really focus energy and resources on building out this (data insights) team and making this a priority, because we know how much better and more strategic decisions can be when they’re data driven,” Vasant says.
For the younger generations, this means looking at what types of accounts they are opening, what their needs are and what life cycle they are in, mining that data and then creating offerings and services that are in alignment.
“It’s using our data, and then also using some predictive models (through AI) to suggest what that next product might be for them,” Vasant says.
For example, this could mean targeted advertising for first-time homebuyer programs, which seems to be working as 81% of the credit union’s first-time homebuyers last year were Gen Z or millennial, compared to 65% in 2019.
Additionally, the underwriting for opening accounts is being done by AI, O’Grady says. During this, AI can also generate savings for members by calculating how much they could save per month on certain payments by cross-referencing another institution’s APR with CCU’s.
“The AI is pulling from a bunch of different data sources too,” O’Grady says. “It could possibly know that you have a credit card somewhere else that possibly is at 19% and our credit card is at 7%.”
With these tools, O’Grady finds members are often quite enthusiastic about potential savings through refinancing and consolidating debt – options that many folks may not know they have.
Robert O’Grady and Jill Vasant. (Photo by David Sprague)
Marketing and social responsibility
Even with updates to digital services and product offerings, awareness continues to be a roadblock for credit unions.
“A sizable portion of consumers – including 30% of Gen Z and 21% of millennials – do not have credit union accounts because they simply aren’t aware that membership is an option for them,” according to Apiture’s report. “Credit unions must focus on building awareness with this segment.”
O’Grady finds this to be very true, adding that even when younger generations do know about credit unions, they don’t think they fit membership criteria. This is an especially important thing for CCU to dismantle because it was in fact a teachers’ credit union for many, many years.
The key to teaching the community about CCU is outreach.
“The marketing is really making sure that we’re reaching them on the channels that they like to be communicated on or with,” Vasant says, using Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as examples. “We make sure that we’ve carved out a significant portion of our marketing budget – and that that increases every year – to reach them on social channels through paid advertising.”
Aside from online, the CCU promotes its platform through community partnerships.
“One of the great things that we do is going into communities, especially underserved or underbanked communities, and so that helps spread awareness for ourselves, but also really goes to who we are in terms of helping our community and all of those grassroots efforts that contribute to our membership and the organization,” Vasant says.
This can be in the form of promoting financial literacy through seminars/webinars on topics such as establishing credit and paying off debt. Local partnerships include the Los Angeles Unified School District, the L.A. County Office of Education and the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club.
Last year in particular was substantial for the CCU in terms of community initiatives with the launch of the California Credit Union Foundation, which focuses on investing in organizations surrounding education, service members, community and youth. Of the $2.5 million the credit union has invested in community programs in the last five years, more than $700,000 was deployed in 2024.
Younger generations notice these efforts. In fact, the Harris survey found that “28% of Gen Z would consider switching away from a large bank to a community bank or credit union due to ethical or moral alignment with the smaller institution’s practices.”
In analyzing marketing impacts, Vasant finds that social media posts showcasing CCU’s community involvement and philanthropy get “a lot of engagement, especially from the younger generation.”
“Those efforts speak to them,” Vasant says. “They want to see who we are, aside from just a credit union that offers a checking account or their first car loan, but really who we are beyond those walls. We’re able to really paint that picture for them and our social responsibility online.”
Ben Klein, chief executive of Aero, in the cockpit of one of the luxury airline’s planes. The company is based out of Van Nuys Airport. (Photo by David Sprague)
Van Nuys-based scheduled and chartered private jet service operator Aero Technologies Inc. is making a big bet on a small niche market: high-end travelers who are willing to pay more to fly to avoid the hassles of commercial airports for their vacation destinations but don’t want to pony up the really big bucks to charter their own plane.
Aero Technologies, which does business as just Aero, was founded in 2019 by Uber Technologies co-founder Garrett Camp initially as an “Uber for jets,” a platform matching up customers with private jets. But during and after the pandemic, it has morphed into a two-tier operation: one a semi-private jet service offering premium seats on private aircraft making scheduled flights and the other a more traditional charter jet service.
“The aim was to fill the gap between first class on commercial jets and private charter service,” says Aero Chief Executive Ben Klein. “We offer all the conveniences of private charter service at the price of a first-class ticket.”
It can cost $20,000 to $30,000 to charter a private plane for regional flights, while a first-class ticket aboard a commercial airline typically runs anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. Also, Aero steers clear of major commercial airports, Klein says, so that customers can avoid spending lots of time dealing with hassles those airports entail.
Getting its start
In 2021, Aero established its flagship terminal at Van Nuys Airport and launched nonstop scheduled flights year-round to Aspen, Colorado, and Los Cabos, Mexico, with seasonal flights to Sun Valley in Idaho.
In the second half of last year, Aero added services to Napa, Las Vegas and Thermal Airport in the eastern Coachella Valley.
In January, Aero launched services three times per week between Van Nuys Airport and Salt Lake City, just ahead of this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, 30 miles to the east.
This month, Aero is starting flights between Teterboro Airport (a general aviation airport in New Jersey, 12 miles from Manhattan) and Aspen, Colorado.
Klein says scheduled flights to more destinations are under consideration for launching in the next couple of years. He notes that customer demand has been most intense for service between Los Angeles and New York, even as that route is now heavily served by commercial airlines.
As of now, he says, Aero derives about 55% of its revenue from selling seats aboard these scheduled private jet flights. (He declined to give a revenue figure.) The remaining 45% of revenue comes from traditional charter service, often for the same customers.
All the flights use ER-J135 jets manufactured by Brazilian company Embraer, the third largest civilian aircraft maker behind Boeing and Airbus. This aircraft typically seats about 30, but Aero has reconfigured the interiors to seat 16 passengers, meaning there’s considerably more legroom and space for more luxury amenities.
“We offer more space and privacy,” Klein says.
He also notes that this seating configuration is particularly advantageous for touring music bands and their equipment – at a much cheaper price than a band would spend on a charter flight.
The lounge area of the Aero airline at Van Nuys Airport. (Photo by David Sprague)
One of trio of major players
Aero is not the only company offering scheduled private jet service-by-the-seat.
According to Doug Gollan, president and editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons, which offers a buyers’ guide to program offering cards, memberships and fractional ownership of aircraft, there are two other significant players in the market: Dallas-based JetSuiteX Inc., or JSX as it’s better known, and XO, a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates-based Vista Global Holding. Both are significantly larger operations, with JSX having at least 47 aircraft serving 22 destinations across North America.
Gollan says this is a particularly difficult market to make money in.
“Anything that’s a good experience for consumers in aviation and is affordable is usually very hard to make it work economically, and this market is no exception,” he says.
Also, Gollan says, the biggest drawback is the lack of frequency on these scheduled flights.
“Commercial airports offer several flights per day to many of these destinations, so if you miss one or want to time your arrival, it’s relatively easy to do so,” he says. “And as for charter flights: you go when you want to. Aero flights are at most once per day to a specific destination, which offers very little scheduling flexibility.”
Gollan says that companies like Aero need to have robust higher-margin charter flight operations to balance out the limitations of scheduled flight service.
Kein says that for its charter flights, Aero uses the same Embraer planes, which can be easily adapted to provide high-end charter service.
On the ground, Klein says that a major focus has been on building partnerships with high-end hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria and Four Seasons chains in the luxury destinations Aero serves. One example is a recently announced partnership with the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Los Cabos.
“With these partnerships, our guests can get preferred pricing, both at the hotels and aboard our airline,” he says.
Robert Wasmund, center, is chief executive of Ascent Developer Solutions. Here he is flanked by team members at the company's Encino headquarters. (Photo by Thomas Wasper)
This article has been revised and corrected from its original version.
Not even one year into its formation, private lending and institutional debt platform Ascent Developer Solutions is rapidly growing.
The Encino-based company launched in July, with equity help thanks to Florida-based Elliott Investment Management, one of the world’s largest multi-strategy funds, and offers customized financing solutions to single-family, homebuilder and multifamily developers, ranging from short-term, secured loans for the purchase, renovation and construction of projects to more complicated, post-completion bridge financing as well.
“We’re supporting everything you see around from the tear-down, build-new construction on single-family and multifamily,” Robert Wasmund, founder and chief executive of AscentDS, says. “Those are the business lines that are extensive around the country that I provide debt to.”
Although the company is focused exclusively on the housing sector, as opposed to lending on other types of commercial assets such as office and industrial, Wasmund says its diversification comes from its geographical range. AscentDS mainly focuses on California but does deals all over – with a particular emphasis on the southern Sun Belt states.
“I think multifamily is set in solid for the long run, simply because of the fundamentals,” John Boyett, a senior vice president at CBRE Group Inc. specializing in multifamily investment sales, says. “Everyone needs a place to live.”
In the first five months since its founding, the company originated over $300 million worth of transactions and plans to more than quadruple that amount to $1.2 billion by the end of this year.
Residential landscape
Although AscentDS narrows in on one lending vertical – housing – Wasmund is interested in the whole gamut of residential living, from single-family to multifamily properties – each of which vary in loan conditions and risk metrics, according to experts.
“The best thing about single-family residences (is that) you’re not constrained by interest rates or a high-interest rate environment – you’re constrained by loan-to-value ratios and how seasoned the builder (or) developer is,” says Max Mellman, founder and managing partner of Beverly Hills-based Max Benjamin Partners Inc., which also specializes single-family and multifamily construction financing. “With respect to multifamily construction financing, in general, it’s just tougher to get deals done. Lending institutions are forecasting rates to remain higher for longer and they’re a lot more conservative than the conventional debt funds. There’s also just so much more red tape to traditional banks.”
Properties with one to four units fall under residential lending criteria while properties with five-plus units are considered commercial. Boyett says the difference is that lenders directly underwrite commercial assets and use them as collateral whereas, with residential properties, lenders will underwrite the borrower instead.
Within multifamily lending, Wasmund says AscentDS is specifically interested in the affordable housing landscape, namely accessory dwelling units and projects utilizing increased density incentives, as well as repositioned assets.
“Just given tax abatement purposes, in higher density and affordable deals, depending on if you can get vouchers or work with a certain housing authority, it’s a meaningful difference than market rate multifamily,” Mellman says. “There’s a whole slew of positives and I’d almost argue that the majority of deals that make sense, specifically in Los Angeles, are affordable.”
“The ADU opportunity is very unique to Los Angeles,” adds Shlomi Ronen, founder and managing principal at Dekel Capital Inc., a Century City-based real estate merchant bank. “It becomes highly accretive to the overall value of the whole property … Because it’s accretive, your loan to value ends up going down as a lender so it’s attractive from that standpoint and attractive in the sense that just a lot of lenders haven’t really focused on that niche and so it creates an opportunity for them to lend.”
Third-time founder
Despite AscentDS being a brand-new entity, it’s not the first of its kind for Wasmund, who has a history of growing companies from the ground-up.
Prior to launching AscentDS, Wasmund was the founder and chief executive of Sherman Oaks-based Genesis Capital LLC, a mortgage lender company he led for over 10 years and, before that, was cofounder of Anchor Loans, another private lender, based in Thousand Oaks.
It was his experience at Anchor Loans, during which he navigated the effects of the Great Financial Crisis, where he learned the importance of data analytics and the need for institutional equity. Wasmund claims he recognized there was an opportunity to nationalize and professionalize the private lending landscape, which ultimately set the foundation for him to split off and start Genesis and, eventually, AscentDS.
“We were the first private lender to gain private equity entrance into the private lending (sector),” Wasmund recalls on the formation of Genesis. “Oaktree Capital did my deal (in 2014). They gave me a $250 million check to build a national company in private lending.”
And after four years being backed by downtown-based Oaktree Capital Management LP, Goldman Sachs scooped Genesis up for an undisclosed sum in 2017 and then sold it again to private mortgage REIT New Residential Investment Corp., now known as New York-based Rithm Capital Corp., in 2021.
“I thought there was an opportunity to reset (and) restart,” Wasmund says on the decision to branch off. “With 25 years of lessons learned, there was an opportunity to create Ascent DS with a new start.”
While Wasmund is building a company from scratch, he says his experience going through two successful sale processes sets AscentDS apart and has also given him an easier footing when it comes to industry connections, as well as getting deals done.
“If he’s got a good brand in the market and they’ve got a pipeline, I think the easiest path would’ve been to add to the existing firm,” Ronen says. “Starting a new firm is not the easy path.”
Ascent Developer Solutions is located in the 15821 Ventura Blvd. office building in Encino. (Photo by Thomas Wasper)
Steady growth
But Wasmund, who has already gotten off to a quick start and has high expectations for the year ahead, is hoping the third time is the charm.
Beyond growth in originations, the company is increasing its headcount too. AscentDS currently has 55 full-time employees – about 40 of whom Wasmund has previously worked with – and that number is expected to jump to 100 by the end of this year.
The firm recently welcomed as chief credit officer Kerri Brouilette, who has more than two decades of real estate and private funding experience. Mike Corominas also recently joined the team as head of valuations.
And while Wasmund says AscentDS is investing in loans every day, its transaction volume has been slow due to overall market stagnation. So, as he finds down time in between deal closings, Wasmund says he’s most focused on investing in company infrastructure, technology and talent so that, when the deals do pick up, he’s ready to roll.
“I think part of that plan is continuing to make sure we grow the culture, both internally and externally at the same time,” Wasmund says. “Focus points of being relentless and thoughtful around how we continue to grow the culture which is why frankly I’ve had followership over the last 10-15 years in my different companies and why those folks all decided to believe in not just me, but in our balance sheet which is backed by Elliott, because we think we can build something special over the next five years as the long-term goal.”
Positive outlook
Although many think 2025 will still be a year of distress – particularly due to the new political office and rate curve environment – most experts are optimistic in the long haul, anticipating deals to ramp up within the next year or two, which will create a very attractive lending market.
“It’s like the Golden Age of the debt fund,” Mellman says. “Even in this high-interest rate environment, there’s an appetite for debt.”
And although Wasmund plans to stay in the residential sphere, experts agree there’s plenty of deals to come forth within that realm alone.
“The unique thing about multifamily, and the reason why it’s attractive to us and a number of other investors, (is that) even through the worst recessions, there’s always been capital available for the asset class, which ultimately translates into price stability, much more so than commercial assets,” Ronen says. “And then as well, we’re undersupplied, not only in Los Angeles, but nationally in general, in housing. There’s been ongoing demand for it, which ultimately results in higher rents so long as supply doesn’t get in control.”
“For me, the journey is everything,” Wasmund says. “At the end of the day, building a team, building the culture, creating connectivity internally and then externally, creating connectivity with our borrowers and sponsors, I think for me that’s what’s most gratifying of building these businesses – creating something that’s different from the competitors, creating something that’s repeatable, that has value … I’m really having fun, and I hope and think that translates through not just myself, but my executive team and to the staff and to, frankly, all of our borrowers as well.”
Paula Bahamon is senior vice president of Mission Valley Bank. (Photo by David Sprague)
Paula Bahamon is a senior vice president and community development manager at Mission Valley Bank in Sun Valley. In her role she helps assists small- to mid-sized companies grow their businesses.
She was born and raised in Colombia. Bahamon, who is one of eight children, came to the United States 26 years ago to get her master’s degree. She jokes that having so many siblings taught her how to share.
Bahamon loves to travel. “My favorite destinations are the national parks,” she says, adding that Yellowstone, which she visited in 2023, “has my heart.” She adds that she would love to go back but Niagara Falls is next on her travel bucket list.
She also enjoys going to museums and “discovering local gastronomy of the places that I visit. It’s a great way to learn about the people and the culture.” Her favorite foods are Mediterranean and Mexican. Locally, she says she loves visiting the Getty museum and the Petersen Automotive Museum.
Bahamon is interested in aviation and aerospace. She says she always like learning about new aspects of the industry and enjoys attending air shows and looking at airplanes.
She says her biggest accomplishment is a partnership with the Enrich Financial Literacy Program which launched last year. “This is my way to help my community,” she says. “I love elevating the community and connecting with the community.” Through the program, Mission Valley Bank customers can access interactive workshops, seminars and more.
Ken Craft is founder and chief executive of Hope the Mission. (Photo by David Sprague)
Ken Craft is the chief executive of Hope the Mission, a North Hills-based nonprofit provider of housing and homeless services. Today, the organization has 750 employees and 40 locations across the Los Angeles region, 24 of which are interim housing sites. Here, Craft discusses the importance of being open to working with others and not blindly accepting assumptions.
When I founded Hope the Mission 15 years ago, we started with nothing. Our humble beginnings were in a run-down Lutheran church in Sun Valley, where we served meals to the homeless. It was a labor of love, born from a deep desire to make a difference, but we faced significant challenges from the start.
Our first major breakthrough came when we had the opportunity to take over the payments for a 10-bedroom house in Pacoima. This property, formerly owned by the Catholic Church, had once housed nuns. After a successful renovation, we opened our doors to 10 homeless families. It was a proud moment, but also a daunting one. Providing for those families stretched our limited resources, and no matter how hard we worked to raise funds, we were losing ground.
Financial ruin loomed, and I wasn’t sure how we could sustain our mission. One day, someone suggested partnering with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a government agency. At the time, my instincts resisted the idea. My background – and many voices in my ear – had ingrained in me a distrust of government partnerships. I was warned that the government would impose restrictive conditions and compromise the authenticity of our work.
‘Forcing clarity’
But desperation has a way of forcing clarity. Facing the reality of our financial struggles, I decided to meet with a representative from LAHSA. I needed to hear directly what a partnership would entail.
When I asked about the restrictions tied to government funding, the representative calmly explained:
• We could not mandate that someone participate in a program or service, like religious activities, to receive food or shelter.
• We could not discriminate against anyone for any reason.
• Any religious services we offered had to be opt-in, ensuring freedom of choice for our clients.
I remember sitting there, stunned. “Is that it?” I asked incredulously. Everything I had been told about government restrictions was either exaggerated or completely untrue.
That moment was a turning point for me – not just for Hope the Mission, but for my personal growth as a leader. I realized the danger of blindly accepting others’ opinions and assumptions. It taught me an invaluable lesson: Do your own research. Trust, but verify.
Increasing in size
By overcoming my skepticism and embracing collaboration, Hope the Mission forged a partnership that changed the course of our organization. Today, because of our work with LAHSA and other government agencies, we are the largest rescue mission in the country, operating 24 shelters with 2,700 beds and 11 new projects in development.
The experience taught me that isolation is not the solution to society’s greatest challenges. Real progress requires collaboration, compromise and the courage to question preconceived notions.
My worst mistake wasn’t just about a missed opportunity – it was about the fear and distrust that held me back from stepping into something greater. I am grateful every day that I chose to step beyond that fear. Together, we have built something extraordinary, proving that when we work collectively, we can achieve the impossible.
Yo Egg thinks it has. In less than a year, as egg prices skyrocketed and avian flu-related shortages ensued, the North Hollywood-based food tech company has managed to get itsplant-based egg replacements into 600 distribution points like grocery stores and foodservice locations, up from just 10.
The plant-based egg industry is rather nascent. There’s Eat Just Inc., which packages a mung bean protein batter that can be scrambled for a plausible egg experience. There’s also Neggst, which also makes plant-based egg substitutes like hardboiled eggs or poached eggs. But funding for the sector is rather thin, and Pitchbook says Yo Egg is the fifth largest startup in its category in terms of most capital raised with $5 million.
Yo Egg makes several products, such as a poached egg substitute the company often features atop eggs benedict, and a sunny-side up egg with a yolk that runs when squished in a burger. Its egg products are made with chickpea and soy proteins, algae extract, beta-carotene (a naturally occurring pigment) and paprika extract. The “whites” are whipped up from a runny batter and baked, along with the “yolk”, on a conveyor oven.
“We don’t only solve for plant-based; we also solve for convenience,” Eran Groner, the chief executive of Yo Egg, said. “How would the everyday consumer go about preparing an indulgent breakfast dish such as eggs benedict? Most people can’t.”
Leader: Yo Egg’s Eran Groner.
The state of plant-based meat
Yo Egg is a relatively new entrant in the same space El Segundo-based Beyond Meat Inc. and Impossible Foods dominated 10 years ago: making a convincing replica of animal products – sans the animal, of course.
It was out of the success of Impossible and Beyond Meat that the idea for Yo Egg was hatched.
Groner spent his life developing factory farms throughout Southeast Asia, eastern Europe and Africa where he saw firsthand how animal proteins were manufactured. He later joined a team of biochemists and engineers at what is now called Believer Meats, developing a business model and supply chain strategy for bringing plant-based proteins to the market. In 2021, he cofounded Yo Egg.
Plant products not in favor
In recent years, the plant-based meat category has lost favor with consumers – though they were able to visually replicate juicy burgers that “bled,” plant-based meat is generally more expensive and less nutritious than their animal counterparts.
“I think we see a lot of consumers moving towards cleaner products, so shorter ingredient lists, recognizable ingredients,” said Johnny Ream, a partner at Stray Dog Capital and investor in Yo Egg. “There’s been a lot of consolidation in the space. There were a lot of brands that came to market over the past three or four or five years and – I would actually attribute it more to performance of the consumer – they just didn’t meet a high enough bar. So a lot of those brands went away.”
Growing distaste from consumers shows in the funding. In the year following Impossible’s 2016 debut, plant-based proteins raised a whopping $157 billion, an anomaly the sector hasn’t come close to any year since then. The sector raised $36.6 billion in 2024.
“People who see plant-based meat as tasty are more likely to purchase and eat it, but health, sustainability and a desire to eat less conventional meat also play a role,” The Good Foods Institute said in a consumer insights study. “Many consumers are looking for tastier and cheaper plant-based meat.”
The price factor
Yo Egg certainly isn’t cheaper than a carton of shelled, raw eggs, though prices are expected to soar 41% in 2025, per a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. The company sells each unit at $5.99, which doesn’t include any markup a grocery store may add. But the company said it is priced similarly to other egg products on the shelves, and, with scale, will be able to achieve price parity with hen-laid eggs.
“It’s important to acknowledge that the egg industry had more than a century to perfect supply chain and manufacturing processes and science. Hormones and antibiotics all gear towards how to minimize the cost of manufacturing and increase efficiency,” Groner said. “We only started three and something years ago, right? So give us some credit.”
