Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 19, 2014
'We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere. I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013.
InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Want to be an entrepreneur? Don''t go to Wharton or Harvard. Instead, grab your surfboard and head to UC Santa Barbara. According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'Two, Los Angeles area startup veterans-- David Carter and Allen Hurff --launched a new "venture studEio" Tuesday morning aimed at helping to create and incubate early stage startups. According to the two, they have launched Zuma Ventures , a new effort to help identify early-stage technologies with large market opportunities, and use those technologies to create new, independent companies.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 23, 2014
'It’s a big issue within any company. With easy access to Internet shopping, games, social networks and more, employees are able to find many ways to focus on personal issues while at work, detracting from productivity and demonstrating a dis-respect for the time paid for by their employer. In fact, if we were to be direct, we might label it “stealing time,” and consider it a crime of sorts.
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.
Eric Greenspan
OCTOBER 18, 2014
'Back in 2006, my company was awarded Services Company of the Year by the Technology Council of Southern California. We wanted to celebrate. I’d never been to Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills and with all the paparazzi out front, I thought I may never. So I called OnStar Cadillac Concierge services from my Escalade (yes, it had big rims). I asked the concierge to book us a table for 6 and I was amazed that when she returned we got in.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 18, 2014
'Many experts will tell you that you can’t succeed as a part-time entrepreneur, as any good startup will require a 100 percent commitment of your time and energy. But not many of us have enough savings to live for a year or more without a salary, fund the startup, and still feed the family. Thus I often recommend that entrepreneurs keep their day job until the startup is producing revenue.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Craigslist and other listing sites leaves millions of buyers to find all kinds of goods and services. Like a virtual yard sale and a bulletin board combined, listing sites can connect everyone within a vicinity for a specific deal. These sites act as a place for people to virtually barter amongst each other, but a lack of safety protocols keep the community safe from fraudulent purchases and other risky exchanges. eddi , a new social listing site, seeks to change the way community-based e-comme
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'For the most part, the ubiquitous digital displays you now see in restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and bars are all still one way, noninteractive devices. How about if you could make those displays interactive and social? Culver City-based Enplug (www.enplug.com) is looking to change those one way digital displays into social, interactive content.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'San Diego-based StackIQ , which develops IT automation tools for the enterprise, has raised $6M in a Series B funding round, according to the company. The new funding came from Grayhawk Capital, Keshif Ventures, DLA Piper, and OurCrowd, as well as Anthem Venture Partners and Avalon Ventures. The company said the new funding will go toward scaling sales and marketing.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Los Angeles-based venture capital investor Upfront Ventures is one of the investors in a new, luxury valet service launching in San Francisco, called Luxe. Luxe said Thursday that it has raised $5.5M in a seed funding round, from Redpoint Ventures, Google Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures, Foundation Capital, BoxGroup, Slow Ventures, Data Collective, Eniac Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, as well as others.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Carlsbad-based satellite Internet and equipment maker ViaSat said today that it is launching its high speed, Exede satellite internet services to the general aviation market. ViaSat said its new Exede In The Air service is aimed at business executives, fractional owners, charter, and jet card flyers. The new service is based on ViaSat''s new Ka-band satellite network, which is already being used for high speed Internet on JetBlue and United Airlines, in addition to terrestrial satellite Interne
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2014
'Los Angeles-based advertising technology developer OpenX said this morning that it has hired a trio of new executives. The company said it has named Scott Braley as Vice President of Demand, Julie Van Ullen as Senior Director of Publisher Business Development, and Deborah Roth as Chief Communications Officer. Braley previously headed up Facebook''s U.S.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2014
'Los Angeles-based DataPop , the product advertising technology developer headed by Jason Lehmbeck, has launched a new product aimed at retailers. According to DataPop, its new OmniAds product uses a retailer''s merchandise catalog to drive advertising on such sites as Google, Bing, Pinterest, Polyvore, Ebay, and Amazon. DtaPop said that so far, the product is being used by such customers as Pier 1 Imports.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Santa Monica-based interactive video technology developer Fuisz Media and IP licensing firm Intellectual Ventures said yesterday that the two are in a intellectual property licensing agreement. The companies said that Fuisz has acquired several strategic patents related to interactive video technology from IV, and has become a customer of IV''s patent defense program.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Santa Monica-based TrueCar , which provides a service to let users get upfront pricing on automobiles from dealers, said today that it has just surpassed 1 million downloads of its smartphone app. The company--led by Scott Painter--said that it has been seeing a big uptick in mobile usage, with more than 40 percent of its users using mobile devices to access its service.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Los Angeles-based online advertising automation software developer Rubicon Project reported record financial results Thursday afternoon, saying that its third quarter sales were up 60 percent year over year to $32.2M. The company said the revenue performance was the best in its history. Rubicon Project, which is led by Frank Addante,said the growth was fueled by its open RTB auction technologies, private exchanges, mobile, and agency marketplaces.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen is a target of activist investor group Third Point , urging the company yesterday to split the company in two. Third Point, which says it is now one of Amgen''s largest shareholders, told its investors that it would like Amgen to split its operations between its mature business and newer, faster growing operations--and also cut what it called a "bloated cost structure".
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'Los Angeles-based market research technology provider uSamp announced this morning that it has promoted Andy Jolls to the post of Chief Marketing Officer for the company. Jolls has been SVP of Global Marketing Communications for the firm since 2013, and previously served at Cooking.com, FICO, Move.com, Hewlett Packard, and Apple Computer. The company said that Jolls will oversee marketing of its various brands, and also oversee corporate marketing, demand generation and communications.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Los Angeles-based swipe-right, swipe-left dating app developer Tinder is looking to start turning on the revenue spigot, with plans to launch a new premium service, the company revealed Monday. According to Tinder CEo Sean Rad, in an interview with Forbes, the company will roll out a premium service in early November to add more match-making to the service.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'San Diego-based therapeutic antibody developer AnaptysBio announced this morning that it has named Marco Londei as its Chief Development Officer. Dr. Londei was most recently at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he was Therapeutic Area Head, Immunosciences. He also has served at Novartis, where he had been Global Head of Autoimmunity Translational Medicine.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen said Friday that it has named R. Sander Williams, M.D., to its board of directors. Williams is president of Gladstone Institutes, a nonprofit biomedical research enterprise, and is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Amgen cited Williams'' academic medicine background and experience in the industry as being of value to the company.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2014
'Santa Monica-based Draftster.com , which operates an online fantasy sports service, has signed on former NFL player Terrell Owens in an endorsement deal. Financial details of the deal were not announced by Draftster.com, which said that fans on the site will be able to engage and challenge Owens in contests on the site. Drafster is led by David Peterson.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'Carpinteria-based Lynda.com is expanding its online training and learning site to cover IT training, the company said Tuesday, as it adds such new topic areas as hardware infrastructure, network administration, business intelligence, content management, help desks, and big data. According to Lynda.com, the new IT training information is available as part of a subscription to lynda.com.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'San Diego-based Tealium , the developer of enterprise tag management software which is led by Jeff Lunsford, said it saw 120 percent year-over-year sales growth. Actual revenues were not released by the company. The company said it grew its customer base by approximately 80 percent year over year, adding such clients as Air New Zealand, Lamps Plus, thredUp, Automotive Internet Media, and others to its roster of customers.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies has acquired Carlsbad-based Oceanscience Group Ltd. , a developer of unmanned marine vehicles and sensor platforms. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Teledyne Technologies said the buy will help add unmanned surface vessels to its line of marine products. Oceanscience''s products are used for current measurement, seafloor mapping and analysis of physical parameters such as salinity.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2014
'Santa Barbara-based Invoca , which develops software used to track phone calls from affiliate marketing, said Thursday that it has named Cynthia Stephens as its new Chief Financial Officer. Stephens joins the company from Harvest Power, where she was SVP and CFO. Stevens also served as CFO for Infoseek, and has served at OpenView Venture Partners, CodeGear/Borland Software, Pharsight, Calico Commerce, and Fractal Design.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2014
'Agoura Hills-based Tipalti , a developer of software to automate mass payments--for example, for affiliate advertising firms and marketplaces--has raised $13M in a funding round, according to the company. The Series B funding came from Wicklow Capital. The startup, which is led by Chen Amit, automates payments in the crowd for companies who have a large number of people they need to pay small amounts on a regular basis.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'San Diego-based aTyr Pharma said today that it has named John C. McKew, Ph.D., as its new Vice President, Research. aTyr said that McKew is a rare disease expert, who has served at the National Institutes of Health, Wyeth Research and Genetics Institute, Inc. (prior to its acquisition by Wyeth). aTyr Pharma is venture backed by Alta Partners, Cardinal Partners, Domain Associates and Polaris Partners.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'San Diego-based OneRoof Energy Group said this morning that it has closed on a series of financing agreements, which will provide approximately $16.7M to the company. The company said the new funding comes from Black Coral Capital and Hanwha Group, who are existing investors in the company. $6.5M of the funding is a working capital line of credit. OneRoof Energy provides lease financing, PPAs, and solar system design, installation, and maintenance.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2014
'Santa Monica-based real time parking information provider ParkMe inked a major deal Tuesday, to provide its parking data to Microsoft , for its search engine, Bing. Financial terms of the partnership deal were not announced. According to ParkMe, its parking data will be integrated into Bing. ParkMe offers information on nearby parking, availability, hours of operation, and also lets users pre-pay for parking space.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'In a bid to help speed up the availability of treatments for Ebola, Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said over the weekend that it is working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help San Diego-based ZMapp figure out a way to produce its experimental drug treatment for treating Ebola. ZMapp ran out of its extremely limited supply of its drug in August.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'Santa Barbara-based Sientra , a developer of aesthetic medicine products, said in an SEC filing last night that it now expects its IPO at between $14.00 and $16.00 per share. Sientra is looking to sell 5 million shares of its stock in an offering on the NASDAQ under the symbol SIEN. Sientra''s IPO is being underwritten by Piper Jaffray, Stifel, Leerink Partners, and William Blair.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Mojave, California-based space vehicle is set to resume testing its vehicles for space flight, according to a report over the weekend. The company--which has been attempting to start delivering tourists into space since 20009--said that it is setting up a new round of test flights for its SpaceShipTwo vehicle. The company''s vehicle is based on the first, commercial vehicle to reach space, the SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize and $10M in 2004.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'Santa Barbara-based RightSignature , which develops cloud-based, electronic signature software, has been acquired by Citrix , Citrix announced Monday. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Citrix said the buy will help it expand its Citrix ShareFile product. RightSignature''s team will join Citrix as part of the buy. RightSignature was founded by Daryl Bernstein.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 20, 2014
'San Diego-based ID Analytics , a provider of consumer risk management and analytics software and services, said today that it has named Scott Carter as the company''s Chief Operating Officer. Carter was most recently at Mitek, and also served SVP at Experian where he was responsible for analytics and fraud solutions. He has also been at Fair Isaac Corporation, First Union, Associates First Capital Corporation, Advanta and American Express Centurion Bank.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2014
'El Segundo-based Stamps.com has acquired St. Louis-based ShipWorks , a developer of subscription-based e-commerce shipping software, the company announced Monday. Stamps.com said it paid approximately $22M in cash for ShipWorks. Stamps.com said that ShipWorks will operate as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of the company. ShipWorks develops shipping software, which is used by online sellers to manage shipping and sales on such marketplaces as eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, and elsewhere.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
373 
Let's personalize your content