socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
San Diego-based Younity is announcing this morning that it has raised $8M in a Series A funding, for its cloud-based media storage service. The funding was led by Marker LLC, and also including Draper Associates and PROfounders Capital. Younity said it has now raised $11.25M in total. Younity, which is led by Erik Caso, said the new funding will go towards improving its app, for hiring, and office expansion.
Tech Zulu Event
DECEMBER 3, 2015
The #1 radar detector is the Valentine 1. A great gift of the speeder in your life. Looking for the gift for the speed racer in your life? We all have one. You know, the person with the lead foot. While I wouldn’t generally endorse speeding, I definitely can’t get behind anyone accruing those pesky little tickets that can only be absolved by the payment of cash.
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Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 28, 2015
After working with dozens of entrepreneurs, I’m still amazed that some seem to be able to do the job easily and effectively, always in control, while others always seem to be struggling, out-of-control, and fighting the latest crisis. I am more and more convinced that it is the right business behavior that leads to success, rather than some exceptional intelligence or training.
Jason Nazar
DECEMBER 1, 2015
How do we make the right business decisions? There are 4 factors to consider whenever we have opportunity cost. 1.) Potential Upside 2.) Likelihood of Success 3.) Effort Involved 4.) Strategic Value.
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.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Pasadena-based CodeSpark , the startup developingmes which teach kids how to code software, has released a big new product release, according to the company. The startup, led by CEO Grant Hosford, said it has added a new feature called "Foo Studio", which lets kids make and share games with others. CodeSpark's software teaches the basic of software coding--even for kids as young at five.
Tech Zulu Event
DECEMBER 2, 2015
Bezalel , the company devoted to empowering mobile device users to discard the power cord, has launched a Kickstarter campaign November 10 – December 15 to fund production of the first universal wireless charging case for the iPhone. The initial 400 pre-orders on Kickstarter for Bezalel’s Latitude iPhone case will be manufactured and delivered in time for Christmas!
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Berkonomics
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Credit Dr. Mark Goulston with this headline. Mark teaches that there is a process to innovation that can be summed up with these four words. In fact, he states, that’s exactly how Steve Jobs described his “aha moment.” So let’s paraphrase Mr. Jobs as we describe this process. Jobs was invited to Xerox Parc research facility and – against the better judgment of the research coordinator – shown three projects the engineers were working on.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 30, 2015
Are you a fan of Seinfeld? Plan a visit to West Hollywood in a couple of weeks, when Los Angeles-based streaming television site Hulu is opening up its popular "Seinfeld: The Apartment" experience on Melrose Avenue. According to Hulu, its true-to-life apartment exhibit--which includes a recreation of the Seinfeld apartment, a gallery of props and memorabilia, and more from the show, will be open to the public from December 16th through the 20th.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 30, 2015
Black Friday is an important holiday for retailers who see huge numbers of consumers shopping for the holiday season. It has long been held as the ultimate annual shopping holiday, but Cyber Monday has quickly been picking up speed and pulling in equally large amounts of sales. Cyber Monday was officially termed in 2005 by the National Retail Federation after 77% of online retailers reported a surge in spending on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 4, 2015
Whether your business is a startup or large corporation, you need at least a few superstars who can get things done, despite all the challenges and distractions in the world today. Certainly, we've all heard the excuses of those who can't or won't perform. We've heard the repeated demands on our time. Further, we've been frustrated by how long some people need to finish a task, and how few results we see from many of our team members.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
Hawthorne-based SpaceX , the commercial rocket and spacecraft developer led by Elon Musk, is planning to attempt its next rocket landing test on solid ground, at Cape Canaveral, according to NASA. A NASA official said SpaceX will fly its Falcon 9 back to Cape Canaveral after its next launch, rather than attempt another ocean platform landing of its rocket in the Atlantic Ocean.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
Interested in seeing the wide ranging--and scary--impact of human caused climate change? Redlands-based geographical information systems provider Esri has rolled out a highly visual, stunning collection of maps called the Atlas for a Changing Planet Story Map , illustrating the impacts of climate change on the earth. Esri said its interactive maps illustrate the earth's natural and human systems and how they have changed, and will change, over time.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Santa Monica-based Crew32 , a stealth startup founded by Docstoc founder Jason Nazar, Betterworks, Geni, and Yammer co-founder George Ishii, and InvestedIn and MySpace co-founder Yadid Ramot, has raised $5.2M, as part of an ongoing $6.0M funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm on Thursday. No details on the startup have yet been announced.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
San Diego-based crowdfunding site GoFundMe announced this morning that donations on the site totaled $1.09 billion, which the company said puts the company on par with the top ten of America's largest charities. The site, which is led by Rob Solomon, let anyone contribute to different crowdfunded project--ranging from charitable efforts to personal projects and appeals.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 4, 2015
San Diego-based Enlibrium announced Thursday that it has raised $15M in a Series A financing, to go towards cancer therapeutics. The funding was led by Avalon Ventures and TPG Biotech, and also included Correlation Ventures and Osage University Partners. The startup said it is developing novel drugs based on the anti-cancer activity of metformin and designed to reduce cancer energy production to treat a range of cancer types.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Los Angeles-based all-you-can-fly airline is telling prospective customers that the company is planning a big pricing change on January 1st, and will increase its starting subscriptions from $1,750 per month to $1,950 a month. According to sales emails, the company is planning on revisiting pricing for both new and existing members of the service. Surf Air provides all-you-can-fly service between Burbank, Hawthorne, the Bay Area, Sacramento, Carlsbad, Las Vegas, and other destinations in Califor
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Santa Monica-based Hollar , a startup which offers up a wide range of low cost, bargain priced gifts, has raised $17.5M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing. The funding came from Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and others. Hollar's executives were previously at Honest Co., including David Yeom (CEO, formerly in Business Development at Honest Co.) and tech veteran Brian Lee (LegalZoom, Honest Co., ShoeDazzle), who serves as Executive Chairman of the company.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Google said this morning that it is in a major, renewable energy push, and has added 842MW of renewable energy agreements, as part of a commitment to triple its purchase of renewable energy by 2025. Google said it is hoping to eventually power 100 percent of its operations using clean energy. Google's new renewable energy projects include 200 megawatts of new, renewable energy from San Diego's EDF Renewable Energy.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
Los Angeles-based private equity investor Marlin Equity has acquired LiveOps Cloud Platform , the companies said today, in a deal which will split LiveOps into two different companies. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to the two, LiveOps has split into LiveOps Cloud Platform , which will be led by LiveOps Ceo Vasili Triant and is now owned by Marlin Equity, from LiveOps Agent Services , which will continue on as a separate organization.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 30, 2015
In what is good news for Southern California's venture backed startups, one of the region's most active investors, Greycroft Partners , has raised $200M in its fourth fund. Greycroft said it just closed Greycroft IV as of today, bringing its total under management to $800M. Greycroft says it now has 20 people, split between New York and Los Angeles.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 30, 2015
San Luis Obispo-based Shopatron , which develops e-commerce software, is being acquired by private equity investor Vista Equity Partners , according to the companies. Financial terms of the buy were not announced. Vista Equity partners said the deal combines both Shopatron and another, e-commerce software provider, MarketLive , which it is acquiring in a simultaneous deal.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 4, 2015
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and fellow biopharmaceuticals giant Merck said today that they are in a cancer immunotherapy collaboration, to support a Phase 1b/3 study. The two said the study includes both Amgen's BLINCYTO (blinatumomab) product and Merck's EKYTRUDA (pemblizumab) therapy, for treating non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The two also said they will collaborate on a Phase 1/2 study of Amgen's AMG 820 antibody to treat advanced solid tumors, including non-small cell lung, colorectal and pancreatic c
socalTECH
DECEMBER 4, 2015
San Diego-based EDF Renewable Energy , which develops renewable energy projects, has released more details on the company's new renewable energy deal with Google. The company said it is building a new wind farm for Google, part of a big push by Google to move towards using renewable energy for 100 percent of Google's operations. EDF Renewable Energy said that Google has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for 201 megawatts of wind power, which will come from the Great Western Wind Project, l
socalTECH
DECEMBER 4, 2015
Carlsbad-based satellite broadband provider ViaSat and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) said this morning they are in a new partnership, which will stream high quality sport via ViaSat's Exede satellite network. The two said they will be live streaming events at UCSDTritons.TV , powered by ViaSat's network. The two did not details any of the finances behind the deal.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Manhattan Beach-based 3PL Central , a developer of warehouse management software, announced Thursday that it has raised $17.5M in a funding round. The funding came from Mainsail Partners. 3PL Central, which was founded by John Watkins and Nancy Rohman in 2006, is used by third party logistics providers for their private warehouse management. Mainsail's Jason Payne and Stephen Wolfe will join the company's board. 3PL Central said it received financial advice from D.A.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Oxnard-based Multisensory Fitness , a startup developing games which combine both cognitive (brain) training and physical exercise, said Wednesday that it has launched a new product called SMARTfit , which combines both physical and mental fitness exercises. The exercise system revolves around a "smart wall" and "pods", which combines video-game like activities integrated into real life, physical exercise.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
Westlake Village-based cancer diagnostics developer Cynvenio Biosystems is in a collaboration to conduct an array of clinical cancer trials, at the University of Southern Denmark , the company said yesterday. According to Cynvenio, the strategic collaboration is with the Institute of Regional Health Research for the Region of Southern Denmark at the University of Southern Denmark, and involves studies on colorectal and breast cancer patients.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 3, 2015
San Diego-based, nonprofit fundraising software developer Classy said it pulled in $3.4M in donations on Tuesday, which has been billed #GivingTuesday, a social media effort to prompt peopel to donate to their favorite nonprofits. Classy said the numers were 4 times the number of donations on the platform from last year's push. Classy said organizations on its platform received received 31,445 donations from 29,882 people in 94 countries, with an average donation size of $108.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
Camarillo-based battery developer ZPower , which is targeting its batterires for use in hearing aids and other medical devices, said Wednesday that it has earned an FDA Medical Device Establishment registration, which it says assures ist customer of meeting or exceeding regulatory requirements. ZPower is marketing a rechargeable system for hearing aids, which it says frequently run out of power mid-day.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
San Diego-based private equity investor JMI Equity has backed Avecto , a developer of endpoint security software, based in the UK, to the tune of $49M. Avecto said that Jit Sinha and Suken Vakil, both of JMI Equity, will join the company's board. Aveco is based in Manchester, UK, and also has offices in Boston. Avecto develops endpoint management software.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
San Diego-based TurboTax , the online tax preparation software provider which is part of Intuit, said Tuesday that it has opened up its service for the coming tax filing season. TurboTax said it is again offering up free tax filing for most 1040A and 1040EZ returns. TurboTax said almost five million taxpayers took advantage of the free service last year to file their taxes.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
Irvine-based AutoAlert , a provider of data mining and lead generation tools for auto dealerships, said Tuesday that it has acquired MotoFuze , a company developing customer experience management software for the auto industry. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. AutoAlert said MotoFuze CEO Mike Dullea and co-founder Tom Walls have joined the company, with Dullea serving as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and Walls as Chief Technology Officer.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 2, 2015
A new, Los Angeles company, Car Harmony , has launched an online car shopping service that lets users shop for and purchase used cars entirely online. According to Car Harmony, its service lets users shop for used cars, and allows users to test drive those cars for three days for free, under a rental contract, to allow them to fully try out those cars before a purchase.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
A new, Los Angeles startup, Giftagram , said today that it has launched a new mobile app which helps people find curated gifts for their friends, family, and associates. The startup--led by Jason Reid--says it is targeting the "generous gifter" who doesn't have a lot of time, by removing the time, logistics and hassles of shopping, wrapping and shipping of gifts.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
Los Angeles-based fintech investor Core Innovation Capital is again the lead on an investment in a cloud-based financial software company, Mirador. Mirador said today that it has raised $7M in a Series A funding for its startup, which is developing cloud-based, small business lending software for use by banks, credit unions, and community lenders. The funding round also included Nyca Partners, Jump Capital, Collaborative Fund, Wicklow Capital, and Crosslink Capital.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 1, 2015
Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand , the provider of cloud-based talent management software for the enterprise, and human resources management outsourcer ADP , said today that they have expanded an existing strategic alliance between the companies to target small businesses. The two said they will make Cornerstone's learning and performance management solution for small businesses, Cornerstone Growth Edition, available to ADP's clients in early 2016.
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