Sipsy, Bezel, Sunnie and Two More Growing L.A. Companies on What’s Fueling Their Rise
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
The fastest-growing companies headquartered in Los Angeles have a diverse mix of backgrounds and cover a wide range of industries. Some are bootstrapped, while others rely on an investor network to help grow. Business by LA Times Studios interviewed the top companies on our list and asked them about their growth, challenges and plans for the future – and here they are, in their own words.
NO.1: SIPSY
Hala Shamas, CEO
What does your company do and why is it growing?
Sipsy is a better-for-you alcohol retailer built around what we call smarter sipping: better ingredients, fewer shortcuts and bottles worth knowing about. We ship to more than 40 states, deliver same-day in Los Angeles and run stores people actually want to hang out in. The alcohol industry is shrinking and we’re growing because we focus on quality, in both alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks. People, more than ever, want to know what’s in their drink, and a lot of what we do is help them figure that out through our social media and in-store programming.
Why did you start this business?
Our family has been in the liquor business for over 40 years, so my brother and I grew up around it. We both took different paths. I spent 12 years in marketing and tech, mostly with startups, and he went into finance and accounting. Over time we noticed that almost every kind of retail had modernized except liquor stores. Most of them still looked and ran the way they did decades ago. Between the two of us we had the tech, the marketing and the finance, and our family had the industry knowledge and the relationships. We saw a chance to bring all of that together, and that’s how we started Sipsy.
What has been your biggest challenge as your company has expanded?
We’re 100% self-funded. There are no investors behind us. Opening stores and scaling in alcohol takes a lot of capital. Every dollar we spend is our own, so we’ve made real sacrifices along the way and had to get very smart about money. My brother’s finance background has made a big difference there. It’s slower than raising a big round, but every decision we make is one we can stand behind, and the business belongs to us.
What are your expectations heading into 2027?
We plan to open five more locations, and each one will be built around discovery. We want people to come in, taste something new, ask questions and meet the small-batch brands we carry. Tastings and education will be at the center of every store. For us, the curated shelf is just the starting point. The bigger goal is building a community of people who care about what they’re drinking and enjoy discovering it together.
NO. 2: LEYES
Kevin Leyes, CEO
What does your company do and why is it growing?
Leyes, formerly Leyes Media, is a communications and identity-protection firm for technology companies, financial firms, public figures and creators. We started in PR and marketing, and over the last two years expanded into digital protection, cyber-intelligence, crisis communications and AI-powered media infrastructure under LeyesX. We’re growing because visibility and trust now decide who wins, especially in AI search, and clients need communications that are both AI-integrated and security-aware. Our growth has been exponential and entirely organic, driven by referrals, a strong and loyal client portfolio built on long-term retainers, high-profile client wins, and expansion across the U.S., Europe and Latin America.
Why did you start this business?
I grew up in Argentina, in a low-income family and an environment that didn’t offer many paths forward. That taught me independence early. Since I was a kid I was drawn to computers and the online world, and I saw it as the one place where talent and effort could matter more than where you started. I began in e-commerce, built my own jewelry brand, VVS & Co., and then launched Leyes in 2019. Everything was very small back then, and it grew to a point I never imagined or projected.
What has been your biggest challenge as your company has expanded?
Changing what we are while we grow, and scaling at the same time. Clients needed more than visibility, they needed protection. We had to move from traditional PR into cyber-intelligence and crisis work, building new expertise and teams across time zones, without outside capital and without diluting the senior attention clients come to us for. Scaling fast while keeping that standard has been a challenge in itself. It takes more than capital; it takes determination and conviction.
What are your expectations heading into 2027?
We have major growth plans across Leyes and our subsidiaries, with new products spanning media, PR, entertainment, cybersecurity and more. A key focus will be LeyesX and identity-risk governance: helping executives, families and high-profile people reduce their exposure across data brokers and online platforms, and prepare for deepfakes and impersonation. Los Angeles stays central to how we serve entertainment and tech.
NO. 3: BROWN BOOTS
Lenny Rabin, Founder and CEO
What does your company do and why is it growing?
Brown Boots helps web and mobile apps unlock incremental revenue streams from their existing audience, directly improving their P&L performance. Our growth is driven by our hyper-focus on performance monetization: We deliver measurable revenue for web and app publishers while connecting advertisers with high-converting, quality users.
Why did you start this business?
To bridge the gap between web and app publishers and advertisers, we set out to build a dedicated platform that aligns their interests and delivers measurable value to both sides.
What has been your biggest challenge as your company has expanded?
Navigating volatility and long-term forecasting in the performance marketing space. Because our model depends on advertiser budgets, publisher traffic and active partnerships, sudden shifts, like a paused budget or a drop in traffic, can easily throw off predictions. To solve this, we’ve focused on diversifying both sides of our network, which has brought greater stability and enabled much more reliable FP&A.
What is your guiding principle?
“Work as hard today as you did on day one; no one is coming to save you.” This guiding principle reminds me that continuous execution relies on relentless drive and determination. Embracing this reality keeps me clear-eyed about daily operational challenges and focused on delivering impact where it matters most.
What are your expectations heading into 2027?
We are anticipating a breakout year in 2027. Backed by extensive data and a strong infrastructure, we know our strategic roadmap will drive massive expansion. We’re excited to see the foundational work from 2026 and prior years come together to cement Brown Boots as a premier brand in user acquisition and rewarded monetization.
NO. 4: SUNNIE INC.
Katy Tucker, Co-CEO
What does your company do and why is it growing?
Sunnie makes clean-ingredient snacks for families. Our crackers, snack packs and lunch kits are grain-free, gluten-free and made without seed oils. They taste like the snacks kids already love, and parents feel good about packing them. We’re growing because families are reading labels more closely than ever, and the lunchbox aisle hasn’t kept up. You can find us nationwide at Target, Whole Foods, Sprouts as well as specialty retailers such as Gelson’s, Erewhon and Bristol Farms.
Why did you start this business?
Lisette and I were two busy moms who were tired of packing lunches and tired of compromising. The convenient options didn’t meet our ingredient standards, and the options that did weren’t convenient. So we built what we wished was on the shelf.
What has been your biggest challenge as your company has expanded?
Holding the line on our ingredient standards. As we grow, the pressure to cut corners grows too. Co-manufacturers often suggest swapping in a cheaper oil, a filler or a shortcut ingredient to make production easier or improve margins. Those changes might never show up on the front of the bag, but they would change what we’re putting in kids’ lunchboxes. So we do the hard work. We spend a lot of time researching and sourcing the highest-quality ingredients, testing formulas and pushing back when a change doesn’t fit who we are.
What are your expectations heading into 2027?
We expect 2027 to be the year Sunnie goes from a brand families discover to a brand they depend on. We plan to double again, and that growth will come from building awareness. Our product is already on the shelf at the retailers families trust most. Now we need more parents to know we’re there and choose Sunnie in the lunchbox aisle week after week.
NO. 5: BEZEL
Quaid Walker, Co-Founder and CEO
What does your company do and why is it growing?
We are an authenticated marketplace for luxury watches. It’s a secondary marketplace where watch collectors can purchase, and we authenticate the purchases. We currently have $1.3 billion of listings on the platform in the U.S. We also have concierge services to help you find what you want.
Why did you start this business?
I started my career at Google as a designer. I learned how to build products for billions of users and scale a high-quality customer experience. During that time, I got into watch collecting. I started on the primary market and went to retailers directly, but didn’t have the history to make some of these purchases. The secondary market is scary. I didn’t know what to pay or how to authenticate and had heard horror stories. I had bought sneakers on Goat and other marketplaces. I wondered why this exists for sneakers, but not for higher-priced items.
What has been your biggest challenge as your company has expanded?
We have raised a little more than $20 million from institutional investors, notable collectors and others as well as major players in the watch world that work with dealers and brands. It’s easy to say that we care about the customer, but obsessing over it on a daily basis is the challenge. It’s hard to convince people when you’re a startup. We’ve had 4.5 years in market proving that we are doing this seriously and not trying to make an incremental sale.
What are your expectations heading into 2027?
We have a platform approach to watches and will continue to build technology for sellers and the industry at large. Earlier this year, we launched insurance so that we can offer it immediately when a purchase is made. The watch market is a global market and now that we’re established, we are looking at how we scale this internationally.
