socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

LeisureLink , which develops vacation travel booking software and technology, and was started in the Los Angeles area, appears to have halted its service, telling its partners on Friday that it has suspended accepting new reservations as well as modifying existing reservations. The company--which is still backed by a number of Southern California investors, including the Tech Coast Angels--had merged with VacationRoost.com back in 2013, and moved its headquarters to Utah.

Tech Coast Angels 170

Tech Coast Angels Services Southern California Pasadena 170

L.A. Business Journal

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Snapchat changes its name and unveils sunglasses with camera, Disney in talks to buy Twitter, SpaceX test fires Mars rocket and more.

Snapchat 109

Snapchat SpaceX Report 109

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Los Angeles-based CarLabs , a new startup developing conversational "bots" to guide users through car shopping, has scored an angel funding, the company said late last week. The ange funding came from Mitch Glub (former founder of Cars.com); Tom McAlear (former COO of DaimlerChrysler Services); and Kevin Keegan (former President, InsWeb, and SVP at JD Power).

Funding 144

Funding Guide Los Angeles Angel 144

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Tealium, a San-Diego startup that provides online advertising tag management and marketing services for enterprise customers, has raised $35 million in a growth financing deal intended to expand its technology and market reach. Georgian Partners and Bain Capital Ventures, the investment firms that anchored Tealium’s $30.7 million Series D round in early 2015, re-upped in the latest round, which included all existing investors and some debt, Tealium CEO Jeff Lunsford said last week.

Customer 85

Customer Custom San Diego JavaScript 85

Advertiser: Aggregage

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

Company

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

It's been a banner year for acquisitions and IPOs in Southern California--with such acquisitions as the $2 billion acquisition of Vizio in June; the acquisition of Dollar Shave Club in February; and the IPO of The Trade Desk last week. Who else is on the possible exit list? We've looked through our list and highlighted some of the companies who have been rumored or confirmed they are looking for an IPO or exit.

Southern California 143

Southern California Dollar Shave Club Acquisition Snapchat 143

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

The biggest challenge for every entrepreneur and every startup today is to get noticed and remembered in today’s information overload. The number of entrepreneurs worldwide is huge, starting an estimated 50 million new businesses in the past year, or 137,000 per day. Every one of these probably has a unique story, but in my years as a startup advisor I only remember hearing a few who capitalized on their story.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 100

LATechDigest

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Venice-based SRFR just launched a technology to easily stream video content from your mobile device to smart television, including videos from Facebook, Dropbox, Snapchat, and your camera roll, all without having to purchase a separate dongle or stick to plug into your TV. By leveraging advanced proprietary technology, a simple User Interface, and an OTT complimentary API against the existing lag in platform-agnostic IoT technology, srfr lets users cut through all the noise and just watch.

Mobile 46

Mobile Snapchat Venice Content 46

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Newport Beach- and Philadelphia-based InstaMed , which operates a healthcare payment network, says it has raised $50M in an investment form Carrick Capital Partners. The company said the funding goes to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and to its healthcare payments technology. Carrick Capital's Jim Madden will join the company's board as part of the funding, and VP Chris Wenner will become an observer.

Networking 143

Networking Capital Invest Funding 143

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Torrance-based residential solar installer Verengo Solar announced late Friday that it has sold substantially all of its assets to Crius Solar Fulfillment LLC , which is a subsidiary of Crius Energy Corporation. Financial details of the sale were not announced. Crius Energy Corporation is a provider of electricity, natural gas and solar products to residential and commercial customers.

Sales 132

Sales Torrance Customer Custom 132

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Hawthorne-based SpaceX has test fired the "Raptor" rocket engines it intends to use to take humans to Mars, according to a tweet from Elon Musk over the weekend. SpaceX has not detailed all of the specs on the new engine, which is intended to propel its spacecraft to Mars, as part of SpaceX's longer term goal of getting humans to the red planet. READ MORE>>.

SpaceX 132

SpaceX Hawthorne 132

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Glendale-based Walt Disney Co. is looking at a possible acquisition of Twitter , according to reports. Twitter had been rumored to be looking to sell itself to Salesforce.com on Friday. Walt Disney apparently is working with an un-named investment bank to evaluate the deal. TechCrunch says the deal is "much lower" than an earlier rumor of a $30 billion deal, which had been speculated in the Salesforce.com rumors on Friday.

Report 131

Report Glendale Acquisition Invest 131

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

A report on Monday says that Calabasas-based Blackline Systems has filed for a confidential IPO, with an IPO coming as soon as next month. According to Reuters , citing "people familiar with the matter", said that Goldman Sachs is leading the IPO effort, which could value Blackline Systems at more than $1 billion. Blackline is led by Therese Tucker.

Report 125

Report Calabasas Software Develop 125

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Venice-based Snapchat said over the weekend that it has renamed itself to Snap Inc. , as it rolled out a new, wireless camera integrated with sunglasses called Spectacles. According to a post by Evan Spiegel, the company decided to drop the "chat" portion of its name so that it can expand on the number of different products that it is developing. Spiegel also alluded to the public markets, saying that by changing the name users can search for information and "leave Snap Inc. for the Wall Street

Snapchat 125

Snapchat Venice Marketing Product 125

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Los Angeles-based biotechnology developer Capricor Therapeutics says this morning that it has received $2.4M in a grant from the U.S. Dpart of Defense. The company said the award goes towards establishing a scalable process to manufacture its CAP-2003 (Cardiosphere-Derived Cell Exosomes) product. Capricor is currently targeting the compound for treatment of cardiac conditions, including those associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Los Angeles 125

Los Angeles Product Angel Develop 125