socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Santa Monica-based TaskUs , the outsourcing firm founded by Jaspar Weir and Bryce Maddock, said today that it has just passed up 5,000 employees. The company--which had just over 1,000 employees in 2014, and started with a mere 5 employees in 2011--says it now has five outsourcing centers in the Philippines. TaskUs has seen rapid growth due to its focus on back end office functions for many, "unicorn" startups, and such customers as Tinder, Savings.com, Wikipedia, Gilt Groupe, and many, many oth

Outsource 160

Outsource Santa Monica Startup Equity 160

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 20, 2016

Los Angeles Uber riders, rejoice. UberX is finally coming to LAX. The company announced that as of 8 a.m. tomorrow, riders will be able to request and get picked up by UberX cars. This comes exactly one month after Lyft launched at LAX, which was originally announced by LA’s Mayor Eric Garcetti. Uber and Lyft had battled for months with the airport and the LA city council to reach… Read More.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Angel Company Companies 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Redlands-based GIS and mapping software developer Esri has launched a new product, which takes aim at enterprise users of Google Earth. According to Esri, its new ArcGIS Earth software is a free, desktop based interactive globe which allows users to visualize, explore, and understand spatial data, letting users work with 3D and 2D map data. Esri said the new offering is part of an effort to help support current Google customers and partners, who were using Google Earth Enterprise (Google Earth E

Google 138

Google Software Development Software Customer 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. The same applies to manufacturing and almost any process these days. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

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

JANUARY 20, 2016

Venice, California-based social messaging service Snapchat is opening up an office in Seattle, and plans to hire at least 50 staffers in the Rain City. According to a report , Snapchat has leased 8,000 square feet in the city, part of a quest to find more technical talent for the company. Seattle is a favored location for recruiting technical talent, particularly by Silicon Valley companies, drawing from the University of Washington (UW), and big, existing employers like Microsoft, Facebook, and

Snapchat 126

Snapchat Venice Report Services 126

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Los Angeles-based Univision said Tuesday that it has acquired satirical news site The Onion. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The Onion is based in Chicago, but was started in Wisconsin in 1988 by two college students, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. The Onion's satirical articles have often been mistaken for real news , despite the publication's longtime reputation for fake stories.

News 126

News Acquisition Los Angeles Sites 126

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Virtual reality hardware and software developer Jaunt --which is backed by The Walt Disney Company, Evolution Media Partners, China Media Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Axel Springer, ProSiebenSat.1 SE, The Madison Square Garden Company, Peter Gotcher, Blake Krikorian, and Sky--says it has partnered with the USC Cinema School on a new virtual reality lab.

USC 122

USC Southern California Redpoint Incubator 122

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Los Angeles-based free mobile wireless service FreedomPop has raised $50M more for its service, the company said today. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. FreedomPop says it has now raised over $109M in funding. The funding will go towards growth in international markets. The company says it plans to expand to over 40 countries by the end of the year, including in Asia and Latin America.

Los Angeles 116

Los Angeles Mobile Funding Services 116

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Los Angeles-based Tongal , the online crowdsourcing site which helps brands and studios create content by tapping into a pool of creators, said Tuesday that it will be represented by the United Talent Agency (UTA). The two said that the UTA will help Tongal develop deeper relationships with studios, networks, digital publishers, advertising agencies and brand marketers, and also provide Tongal access to additional talent.

Advertising 109

Advertising Content Los Angeles Sites 109

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Los Angeles-based CapLinked , the developer of a cloud-based platform for secure, enterprise document sharing for financing and other deal management, has raised $3.5M more in a funding round, according to the company. The funding was led by Subtraction Capital, and also included Peter Thiel and Indicator Ventures. CapLinked also said it has received venture debt funding from Western Technology Investment (WTI) as part of the round.

Los Angeles 109

Los Angeles Platform Sales Funding 109

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

San Diego-based LoanHero , a startup which helps merchants easily offer up financing to their end customers, has raised $2.5M in seed funding, the company said Wednesday. The funding was led by Alsop Louie Partners and Mucker Capital. LoanHero says it has now raised $4.2M in equity funding for the company. LoanHero develops an online software platform which lets merchants offer up streamlined application for consumer loans by their customers, to fund purchases.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Startup San Diego Equity 100