Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 17, 2016
I was watching my favorite show on TV this morning – GPS (Global Public Square) with Fareed Zakaria. It is a hugely compelling show because Zakaria covers world issues that will affect all of us in ways that are accessible and with frameworks for processing disparate information. He brings knowledgable experts from varying points of view but never books anybody that engages in yelling matches.
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
Newport Beach-based Acorns , the developer of a mobile app which turns your spare change into investments in an exchange traded fund (ETF), has raised $30M in a new funding round from PayPal and Rakuten, the company disclosed today. The startup, led by Walter and Jeff Cruttenden, takes spare change from a user's debit and credit card purchases--rounding up those purchases to a whole dollar amount--and invests those into an ETF for the user.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Berkonomics
APRIL 21, 2016
Dave’s note: This week we again welcome my co-author of “Get Scrappy” to give us some of her sage advice in only a way she could express it. You’ll enjoy her style and message… By Kim Shepherd. It’s great to get good reviews and hear positive feedback. positive is good. But negative is powerful. Don’t get me wrong: the glass is half full.
Tech.Co
APRIL 19, 2016
“To be successful in your business, whether you’ve been around for 30 years or 3 years, your business will only survive if you adapt and thrive to connect with your target market in a way that only the top business owners and marketers are doing. Brands like TOMS shoes, the Honest Company, and Tesla. When you decide now that you want to learn the skills of the new wave of marketers, who are more effective, creating more change and adding more to their bottom line (while working less!
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.
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 21, 2016
I usually tell people that everything I learned about being an entrepreneur I learned by F’ing up at my first company.
socalTECH
APRIL 22, 2016
Santa Monica-based Champion Technology Company , a developer of cybersecurity software, has named Jess Richter as Chief Revenue Officer, and David Aucsmith and Michael Kluse both as as Senior Advisors. Richter was most recently VP Strategic Alliances at Lieberman Software; Aucsmith is co-chairman of the FBI's Information Technology Study Group, a member of the Secret Service Task Force on Computer Aided Counterfeiting, a member of the President's Task Force on National Defense and Computer Techn
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 22, 2016
It’s easy for an entrepreneur or a CEO to feel like a leader when things are going well, but the challenge is to keep that confidence and drive in the face of economic downturns, business turnarounds, and stressful personnel situations. Working twenty hours a day, losing your cool, and falling back to a no-risk strategy are not conducive to long-term success.
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 17, 2016
I was watching my favorite show on TV this morning — GPS (Global Public Square) with Fareed Zakaria.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Pasadena-based Avery Dennison --best known for its paper products, labels, and packaging--is jumping into the Internet of Things, with a big deal to place "Internet-of-Things" sensors on apparel. The company said it has inked a deal with startup Evrythng, to create 10 billion pieces of apparel with built-in Internet sensors and identifiers. The two said they will attach tags to apparel, shoes, accessories, and more at manufacture, in order to enable future applications around tracking the identi
Tech Zulu Event
APRIL 19, 2016
Ask any firefighter to name the most important thing a person can do to prevent their house from burning to the ground, and he or she will tell you, “Install smoke alarms.”. As the wife of a firefighter and a former volunteer firefighter, I strongly concur. However, as a mother and somewhat erratic chef, I know how annoying those little plastic boxes can be.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 20, 2016
As an angel investor in early-stage startups, I’ve long noticed my peers apparent bias toward the strength and character of the founding entrepreneurs, often overriding a strong solution to a painful problem with a big opportunity. In other words, the entrepreneur quality is more important than the idea -- in investor jargon, people invest in the jockey, and not the horse.
socalTECH
APRIL 22, 2016
For our interview this morning, we caught up with Jason Reid , CEO and Co-founder of Giftagram (www.giftagram.com), which announced a $3.2M funding round this week for its mobile gifting app. How does Giftagram work? Jason Reid: Giftagram is a mobile first company, that really redefines the way people gift. We've done that, by bringing some really, cool, awesome curated gifts to our platform, and made it really easy to send those to people in essentially two clicks.
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
Santa Monica-based secure messaging provider TigerText said earlier this week that it has begun offering up its secure, enterprise messaging technology to customers of U.S. Cellular. According to TigerText, the secure messaging allows those customers to meet security and confidentiality required by legal and regulatory standards, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
The United Talent Agency (UTA) is one of the backers in a new, software-driven influencer marketing startup called Captiv8 , which announced a funding round this morning. Captiv8 said this morning that it had raised $2M in a funding round, from Social Capital, United Talent Agency (UTA), Subtraction Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Social Starts, Lone Wolf, and Jason Calacanis' LAUNCH Fund.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Santa Monica-based online dental marketplace Brighter , founded by serial entrepreneur Jake Winebaum, has raised $21M in a Series D funding round. The funding was led by General Catalyst, and also included DAG Ventures, Mayfield, Benchmark Capital, and Tenaya. Gabe Ling of General Catalyst join's the company's board with the funding. Brighter's online marketplace lets patients see ratings and reviews of dentists, differences in benefits, upfront pricing, co-pays, and more.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Los Angeles- and Toronto-based Giftagram , which develops mobile gifting apps, said today that it has raised $3.2M in a venture funding round, from a long list of angel investors. The company--which is led by Jason Reid--develops iOS and Android apps which let users send curated gifts to their friends and others. The angels in the funding round included Darr Aley (Amazon), Mark Amin (Sobini Films), Peter Benedek (UTA), Jim Berkus (UTA), The Chandaria Family, Adam Felesky (Horizon ETFs), Michael
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
The LA Kings have launched a new, social networking app -- powered by LA-based startup Vixlet --which is aimed at connecting fans of the hockey team with each other, the team said Monday. According to the LA Kings and AEG, the new app-- LA Kings Fans , runs on iOS or Android , and lets users view official content from the team, connect with other fans, see photos and videos from the Kings, and more.
socalTECH
APRIL 22, 2016
Goleta-based radio filter developer Resonant Inc. has raised $6.0M in a private placement, the company said this morning, from a number of institutional and individual accredited investors. Names of those investors were not announced. The publicly held firm said those investors paid $2.985 per share for a combination of common stock and warrants. The company said it will use the funds to continue its product development efforts and business development activities, and for general and administrat
socalTECH
APRIL 22, 2016
San Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina said Thursday afternoon that it has filed a patent infringement suit against Genoma SA , over infringement on non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) patents. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Patent Court in Switzerland. Illumina claims Genoma SA has been infringing upon European Patent (CH) 2 183 693 B1, European Patent (CH) 0 994 963 B2, European Patent (CH) 1 981 995 B1, and European Patent (CH) 2 514 842, all related to non-invasive pre
socalTECH
APRIL 22, 2016
Westlake Village-based electronics maker Interlink Electronics said Thursday afternoon, that its shares have been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market. According to Interlink, it expects to start trading on the NASDAQ next week, on April 25th, using the symbol LINK. The listing on the NASDAQ returns Interlink back to the NASDAQ for the first time since 2006, when it slipped from that exchange.
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
Aliso Viejo-based Microsemi reports this morning that it has received an early termination of the waiting period of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Act, of its $300M divestment of its board level systems and packacing business. Microsemi is selling that business to Mercury Systems, Inc., for $300M in cash. Microsemi said the deal still is subject to other, closing conditions.
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
Los Angeles-based Flipagram , which develops mobile apps which let users set their photos to their favorite music, has launched a new, in-app camera feature, the company said today. The new feature lets users film and shoot quick videos and photos, directly from the app. The new feature creates a more spontaneous aspect to the app, which previously used photos and videos that were already residing on a user's phone.
socalTECH
APRIL 21, 2016
El Segundo-based GoGuardian , a developer of digital learning software, said today that it has launched a new product to help schools manage their deployment of Chromebooks. GoGuardian said its new product, GoGuardian Fleet, is aimed at helping educators manage large numbers of Chromebooks, and allowing administrators to manage what content students can access, and other aspects of those devices.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Los Angeles-based free wireless service provider FreedomPop said Wednesday that it has launched its free, wireless service, in a link with popular texting app provider WhatsApp. FreedomPop said it will launch its free service in Spain beginning in the summer, and is initially taking beta applications for users interested in the service. FreedomPop said its service will require the installation of a SIM card from the company in their devices, and will offer up free texting and calling to WhatsApp
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Venice, California-based Snapchat has set up an a new office in Texas, to help it recruit talent to help develop its software, according to a report Tuesday. The report says that Snapchat has opened up an output in Dallas, in part to tap into that area's local tech startup community and low cost of labor. Snapchat has not announced any details about the new office.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Santa Monica-based smart doorbell maker Ring said today that it has launched a new Mac app, which lets users monitor and access the Ring Video Doorbell and the Stick Up Cam from Mac OS X El Capitan. The Mac app is free to all users, and has the same functionality as Ring's mobile app. Ring makes a connected doorbell, which lets users see who is at their front door, view recordings, and otherwise monitor their devices.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
San Diego-based SkySafe , a developer of technology to disable--and take over--rogue consumer drones, has raised $3M in a seed funding, the company disclosed today. The funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz, and also included Founder Collective and SV Angel. The company, which is targeting the public safety market, says it is developing systems which track and identify drones in airspace, and let public safety agencies either disable a drone--immediately sending it plunging to the ground--or ev
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Los Angeles-based Global Eagle Entertainment , which provides in-flight wireless, entertainment systems, and related services to the airline industry, says it has inked an expanded deal with satellite network operator SES , to add satellite capacity over India, Central Asia, the Middle East and North America. The two--which already have been working together on satellite connectivity--said the new agreement provides multiple transponders and Ku-band coverage on the SES SS-12 and AMC-1 satellites
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Los Angeles-based online cloud backup service provider IDrive said it has launched a new, wireless solid state storage (SSD) device, which it calls the IDrive One. IDrive said the device supports 802.11 b/g/n/a/ac, and comes in 1TB/128Gb SSD for $99.99 or 2Tb/256GB SSD options for $149.99, both bundled with 1TB of its cloud backup services for free for one year.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
On-demand delivery service Instacart has further expanded its delivery services in Los Angeles, in a deal with Asian food provider H Mart , the company said Tuesday. According to Instacart, it will start delivering food from the Asianinspired grocery chain H Mart, in downtown Los Angeles, via its app and service. Financial details of the partnership were not announced.
socalTECH
APRIL 20, 2016
Los Angeles-based OTOY , a provider of cloud-based graphics rendering technology, has received funding from Home Box Office and Discovery Communications , the company said on Tuesday. Size of the equity investment round was not announced by the company. According to OTOY, the investment will go towards applying its service to develop and distribute original, holographic content.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Camarillo-based Semtech reported a design win with its 12G UHD-SDI products, as part of a UHDTV Broadast Encoder with DS Broadcast. Shipping volumes and financial impact of the win was not announced. Semtech said that DS Broadcast is using its 12G UHDSDI Gearbox, retiming equalizer, retiming cable driver and 3G long-reach equalizer in its design. DS Broadcast's products are currently being used in South Korea as part of UHDTV broadcast trials.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Irvine-based disk drive manufacturer Western Digital has rolled out a new set of products, specifically aimed at data centers, which it says have much better performance, high capacity, and enhanced reliability. Western Digital said its new WD Gold data center hard drives have capacities of up to 8TB, which have reliability ratings of 2.5 million hours MTBF, much better performance than previous generations of its drives, and also 24/7 premium tech support.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Life sciences industry organization Biocom , which has been helping to represent Southern Califronia's life science industry for more than 20 years, says it has set up a Los Angeles office, to better help promote the success of LA in the life sciences industry. Biocom has appointed Dina Lozofsky as Executive Director of the new office. Biocom said that Los Angeles has a thriving, dynamic life sciences community, with nearly 300 biopharmaceutical and medical device companies in Los Angeles County
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Los Angeles-based Episource , a provider of outsourced medical coding, data analytics, risk adjustment, and other services to the healthcare industry, said it has named Erik Simonsen as its Chief Operating Officer. Simonsen was most recently Head of Corporate Banking and Securities, Birminham (UK) for Deutsche Bank. Episource said Simonsen has over 10 years of experience in setting up and managing outsourced centers, including for Deutsche Bank (Jacksonville, Florida; Mumbai, India; and Birmingh
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2016
Los Angeles-based GoodLooks , a new startup focused on connecting people with "lifestyle experts", said it has launched a new online marketplace to find career and life coaches, personal trainers, fashion stylists and dietitians. According to the startup, it was created to help "successful people" look, feel, and be their best. GoodLooks was founded by Mitzi Reaugh and Cynthia Rupeka; Reaugh previously worked at Miramax, NBC Universal, and Idealab; Rupeka was at The Chernin Group.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
205 
Let's personalize your content