INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
Loyalty is a hard-earned commodity. There are several times when stakeholder loyalty is tested to the limit. For employees, a late or missed payroll is the ultimate test of corporate loyalty, divorced even from an employee’s ability to make do without a paycheck. MORE
Saturday, October 27, 2018 -- Innovate Pasadena's Connect Week 2018. Nnine full days of all things innovation! From AI to virtual reality demos to coding for both kids and adults, we have over 100 awesome events to choose from to help muster up your innovation savviness! See [link] (more MORE
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Catalog (www.catalog.cc), a startup developing artificial intelligence software to help independent visual artists scale their content production efforts, announced it raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Moonshots Capital, and also included Techstars and Luma Launch. We caught up with Catalog's co-founder and CEO Patrick Ip , along with co-founder Jacobo Lumbreras , to learn more about the startup. What's your background? MORE
Saturday, October 27, 2018 -- SURVIVE AND THRIVE TODAY 2018. Keynotes by Mitch Lowe, CEO of MoviePass; Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures; Vernice Armour, first African American Fighter Pilot, and others. See [link]. MORE
100 
Los Angeles-based ProducePay , a Los Angeles company which is developing fintech for food growers, distributors, shippers and marketers, has raised $14M in a Series B funding round, the company said this morning. The funding was led by Anterra Capital, and also included Rabo Frontier Ventures, Coventure, Social Leverage, FJ Labs, Greenhouse Capital, Moonshots Capital and Tribeca Angels. MORE
Los Angeles-based AppOnboard , the developer of mobile app demo technology led by Jonathan Zweig, says that it now has such app developers as FoxNext Games, Game Insight, Superheart Studios, Jam City, Huuuge Games, and Simple Habit using its tools. According to the startup, those cutomers are some of the developers who are using its tools to enable Google Play Instant apps via its "App Store Demos" product, which it launched in August. MORE
El Segundo-based CUJO AI , a developer of artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity software for telecom network operators, has raised a round of growth capital from KPN Ventures, the company said this morning. Size of the investment, which was part of a larger Series B investment, was not announced. KPN Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Netherlands-based KPN, a large telecom company. KPN Ventures is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. MORE
Terrkan , a new, Los Angeles startup, said on Thursday that it has launched a new online service aimed at providing real estate data to real estate developers. The company said that its service, which currently only covers Los Angeles, hows the development value of any residential or commercial property in the city of Los Angeles. MORE
Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster said this morning that it has acquired a blockchain startup, UPGRADED. UPGRADED develops blockchain software which aims to convert traditional tickets into digital assets, combined with dynamic, encrypted barcodes Ticketmaster says prevent fraud often associated with paper or PDF-based tickets. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. MORE
Playa Vista-based Xprize Foundation Inc. on Oct. 18 named technology entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari is its new chief executive MORE
Los Angeles-based Next 10 Ventures , a $50 million fund focused on the creator economy, is launching an incubator program to support YouTubers. MORE
MapleStory 2 , the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) which was launched by game developer Nexon last week, has just reached 1 million downloads, Nexon said on Thursday afternoon. Nexon--which has its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, but is based in Tokyo--offers up the game online through its own game launcher, as well as Steam. READ MORE>>. maplestory2 maplestory mmorpg role playing game videogame content gaming gamer MORE
Lensabl , the company that has built a business putting prescription lenses into any style of glasses frame , has raised $3.7 million in a new round of funding. . Lensabl makes it easy to put new lenses in a favorite pair of shades or glasses. Based in Los Angeles, Lensabl already has an agreement inked with the city’s latest tech wunderkind, partnering with the spectacles-producing augmented reality luminaries at Snap. MORE
Los Angeles-based j2 Global , which owns a large portfolio of Internet services, including such services as eFax, eVoice, Campaigner, Livedrive, as well as online media outlets like IGN, Mashable, PCMag, Everyday Health, and others, has acquired five more companies. According to j2 Global, the five acquisition were all made in the third quarter of 2018, and included PRIME Education , The Communicator Corporation , BestBlackFriday.com (certain assets), Downdetector , and DemandShore. MORE
Los Angeles-based Edlio , has received a growth capital investment this morning, for its K-12 education and "community engagement" software, and in particular, acquisitions of other companies. The funding came from private equity investment provider LLR Partners. Size of the investment was not announced. According to LLR Partners, its investment will be used by Edlio to support its market expansion, via organic growth and acquisitions. MORE
Los Angeles-based nonprofit XPRIZE , which operates a number of sponsored "challenge" prizes aimed at solving some of humanity's greatest challenges, has named Anousheh Ansari as its new CEO. Current CEO and founder Dr. Peter H. Diamandis continues as Executive Chairman. Ansari, who is a tech entrepreneur, is best known as for her private ride to space on a Russian Soyuz, which made her the first private female to visit space as a tourist. MORE
Santa Barbara-based software developer LogicMonitor said this week that it has named Daniela Streng as its new Managing Director for the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as its expands its business in the region. Streng was most recently Sales Director at Datto, in the Benelux, Germany, and UK. Datto--like LogicMonitor--is owned by private equity investor Vista Equity Partners. MORE
Costa Mesa-based Veritone , a developer of artificial intelligence software, said this morning that it has added Nayaaki Nayyar as a member of its board of directors. Nayyar is the President of Digital Services Management at BMC Software, and she previously served as head of SAP's Internet of Things (IoT) division, in addition to serving at SAP, Shell, and Valero. Veritone is led by longtime technology veterans Chad and Ryan Steelberg. READ MORE>>. MORE
Fountain Valley-based HyperX , the gaming division of Kingston Technology, says it has now shipped over 60 million memory modules since 2002. The company said it projects that it will have more than $550M in revenues in 2018. The $550M revenue number includes all products, including its sales of headsets, keyboards, and mice. HyperX specifically targets gamers with its mix of products. MORE
Friday, October 26, 2018 -- SURVIVE AND THRIVE TODAY 2018. Keynotes by Mitch Lowe, CEO of MoviePass; Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures; Vernice Armour, first African American Fighter Pilot, and others. See [link]. MORE
100 
Friday, October 26, 2018 -- Innovate Pasadena's Connect Week 2018. Nnine full days of all things innovation! From AI to virtual reality demos to coding for both kids and adults, we have over 100 awesome events to choose from to help muster up your innovation savviness! See [link] (more MORE
Manufacturing software maker FactoryFour, which recently opened a new Culver City office, received a $5 million round of funding led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based based venture capital firm August Capital, with participation from Refactor Capital MORE
San Diego-based Kazuhm , a startup developing a distributed computing workload platform, has received a funding round from Analytics Ventures, Analytics said this week. Size of the investment was not announced. Kazuhm says it is developing a platform which allows organizations to optimize its computing resources across the desktop, server, and cloud, tapping into unused processing power on all of those assets. MORE
Santa Monica e-sports organization Cloud9 Esports Inc. has raised a $53.6 million Series B round finalized Oct. MORE
Paul G. Allen , the founder of Mojave-based Stratolaunch , one of Southern California's new crop of aerospace-meets-technology companies, has died at the age of 65, according to a statement from his family issued late Monday. Allen was a co-founder of Microsoft Corp., and had been battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. MORE
The inventor and developer of a drug, nusinersen (Spinraza), are among the winners of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Adrian Krainer (pictured) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Frank Bennett, senior vice president of research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, share the $3 million prize. MORE
Santa Monica-based Tastemade , which develops food- and lifestyle-focused content for YouTube, as well as its own website, said this week that it has raised $35M, in its Series E funding round. The funding was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, and also included Amazon, Cool Japan Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Raine Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Liberty Media. The content developer, which is led by co-founder and CEO Larry Fitzgibbon, says it now reaches over 250 million monthly viewers. MORE
Santa Monica-based Surf Air , the startup airline which got its start moving executives back and forth between Silicon Beach and the Bay Area, is touting numbers which it says show it has a 90% on-time arrival rate, versus its commercial competitors. Surf Air says its on-time rate compares to such competitors as Southwest (78%) and Delta Airlines (81%). The company also says its departure times are 90% on time from its airports, which include such locations as Hawthorne and San Carlos. MORE
A "complete nightmare" experience by two LA tourists, lugging their luggage around town after checking out of their Airbnb, has spawned a new startup with links to Techstars. New York-based Vertoe , it just raised $1.85M in a seed funding round for its startup, whose founders, Sid Khattri and Neha Kesarwani, ended up hauling their suitcases around Los Angeles for six hours, turning what had been an effort to "explore LA" into a "complete nightmare". MORE
Five-year-old biotech TP Therapeutics has raised an $80 million mezzanine financing round and promoted its chief medical officer, Athena Countouriotis, to CEO. MORE
Los Angeles-based online game maker Riot Games is facing allegations of sexism and harassment at the company, according to a report this weekend from the LA Times. The allegations include that two employees who defended diversity initiatives were "targeted by online mobs and out of a job soon after." MORE
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Loyalty is a hard-earned commodity. There are several times when stakeholder loyalty is tested to the limit. For employees, a late or missed payroll is the ultimate test of corporate loyalty, divorced even from an employee’s ability to make do without a paycheck.
TechCrunch LA
OCTOBER 17, 2018
Los Angeles-based Next 10 Ventures , a $50 million fund focused on the creator economy, is launching an incubator program to support YouTubers.
L.A. Business Journal
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Playa Vista-based Xprize Foundation Inc. on Oct. 18 named technology entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari is its new chief executive
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster said this morning that it has acquired a blockchain startup, UPGRADED. UPGRADED develops blockchain software which aims to convert traditional tickets into digital assets, combined with dynamic, encrypted barcodes Ticketmaster says prevent fraud often associated with paper or PDF-based tickets. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.
SoCal Tech Calendar
OCTOBER 21, 2018
Saturday, October 27, 2018 -- Innovate Pasadena's Connect Week 2018. Nnine full days of all things innovation! From AI to virtual reality demos to coding for both kids and adults, we have over 100 awesome events to choose from to help muster up your innovation savviness! See [link] (more
Xconomy
OCTOBER 19, 2018
Five-year-old biotech TP Therapeutics has raised an $80 million mezzanine financing round and promoted its chief medical officer, Athena Countouriotis, to CEO.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
L.A. Business Journal
OCTOBER 15, 2018
Santa Monica e-sports organization Cloud9 Esports Inc. has raised a $53.6 million Series B round finalized Oct.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
El Segundo-based CUJO AI , a developer of artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity software for telecom network operators, has raised a round of growth capital from KPN Ventures, the company said this morning. Size of the investment, which was part of a larger Series B investment, was not announced. KPN Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Netherlands-based KPN, a large telecom company. KPN Ventures is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
SoCal Tech Calendar
OCTOBER 21, 2018
Saturday, October 27, 2018 -- SURVIVE AND THRIVE TODAY 2018. Keynotes by Mitch Lowe, CEO of MoviePass; Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures; Vernice Armour, first African American Fighter Pilot, and others. See [link].
Xconomy
OCTOBER 17, 2018
The inventor and developer of a drug, nusinersen (Spinraza), are among the winners of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Adrian Krainer (pictured) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Frank Bennett, senior vice president of research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, share the $3 million prize.
L.A. Business Journal
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Manufacturing software maker FactoryFour, which recently opened a new Culver City office, received a $5 million round of funding led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based based venture capital firm August Capital, with participation from Refactor Capital
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
Los Angeles-based nonprofit XPRIZE , which operates a number of sponsored "challenge" prizes aimed at solving some of humanity's greatest challenges, has named Anousheh Ansari as its new CEO. Current CEO and founder Dr. Peter H. Diamandis continues as Executive Chairman. Ansari, who is a tech entrepreneur, is best known as for her private ride to space on a Russian Soyuz, which made her the first private female to visit space as a tourist.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Catalog (www.catalog.cc), a startup developing artificial intelligence software to help independent visual artists scale their content production efforts, announced it raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Moonshots Capital, and also included Techstars and Luma Launch. We caught up with Catalog's co-founder and CEO Patrick Ip , along with co-founder Jacobo Lumbreras , to learn more about the startup. What's your background?
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Costa Mesa-based Veritone , a developer of artificial intelligence software, said this morning that it has added Nayaaki Nayyar as a member of its board of directors. Nayyar is the President of Digital Services Management at BMC Software, and she previously served as head of SAP's Internet of Things (IoT) division, in addition to serving at SAP, Shell, and Valero. Veritone is led by longtime technology veterans Chad and Ryan Steelberg. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Los Angeles-based AppOnboard , the developer of mobile app demo technology led by Jonathan Zweig, says that it now has such app developers as FoxNext Games, Game Insight, Superheart Studios, Jam City, Huuuge Games, and Simple Habit using its tools. According to the startup, those cutomers are some of the developers who are using its tools to enable Google Play Instant apps via its "App Store Demos" product, which it launched in August.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Los Angeles-based ProducePay , a Los Angeles company which is developing fintech for food growers, distributors, shippers and marketers, has raised $14M in a Series B funding round, the company said this morning. The funding was led by Anterra Capital, and also included Rabo Frontier Ventures, Coventure, Social Leverage, FJ Labs, Greenhouse Capital, Moonshots Capital and Tribeca Angels.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 17, 2018
Los Angeles-based online game maker Riot Games is facing allegations of sexism and harassment at the company, according to a report this weekend from the LA Times. The allegations include that two employees who defended diversity initiatives were "targeted by online mobs and out of a job soon after."
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
San Diego-based Kazuhm , a startup developing a distributed computing workload platform, has received a funding round from Analytics Ventures, Analytics said this week. Size of the investment was not announced. Kazuhm says it is developing a platform which allows organizations to optimize its computing resources across the desktop, server, and cloud, tapping into unused processing power on all of those assets.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
MapleStory 2 , the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) which was launched by game developer Nexon last week, has just reached 1 million downloads, Nexon said on Thursday afternoon. Nexon--which has its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, but is based in Tokyo--offers up the game online through its own game launcher, as well as Steam. READ MORE>>. maplestory2 maplestory mmorpg role playing game videogame content gaming gamer
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
Santa Barbara-based software developer LogicMonitor said this week that it has named Daniela Streng as its new Managing Director for the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as its expands its business in the region. Streng was most recently Sales Director at Datto, in the Benelux, Germany, and UK. Datto--like LogicMonitor--is owned by private equity investor Vista Equity Partners.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 19, 2018
Terrkan , a new, Los Angeles startup, said on Thursday that it has launched a new online service aimed at providing real estate data to real estate developers. The company said that its service, which currently only covers Los Angeles, hows the development value of any residential or commercial property in the city of Los Angeles.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 15, 2018
Paul G. Allen , the founder of Mojave-based Stratolaunch , one of Southern California's new crop of aerospace-meets-technology companies, has died at the age of 65, according to a statement from his family issued late Monday. Allen was a co-founder of Microsoft Corp., and had been battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 15, 2018
Fountain Valley-based HyperX , the gaming division of Kingston Technology, says it has now shipped over 60 million memory modules since 2002. The company said it projects that it will have more than $550M in revenues in 2018. The $550M revenue number includes all products, including its sales of headsets, keyboards, and mice. HyperX specifically targets gamers with its mix of products.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 17, 2018
Los Angeles-based Edlio , has received a growth capital investment this morning, for its K-12 education and "community engagement" software, and in particular, acquisitions of other companies. The funding came from private equity investment provider LLR Partners. Size of the investment was not announced. According to LLR Partners, its investment will be used by Edlio to support its market expansion, via organic growth and acquisitions.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 16, 2018
Los Angeles-based j2 Global , which owns a large portfolio of Internet services, including such services as eFax, eVoice, Campaigner, Livedrive, as well as online media outlets like IGN, Mashable, PCMag, Everyday Health, and others, has acquired five more companies. According to j2 Global, the five acquisition were all made in the third quarter of 2018, and included PRIME Education , The Communicator Corporation , BestBlackFriday.com (certain assets), Downdetector , and DemandShore.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Santa Monica-based Tastemade , which develops food- and lifestyle-focused content for YouTube, as well as its own website, said this week that it has raised $35M, in its Series E funding round. The funding was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, and also included Amazon, Cool Japan Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Raine Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Liberty Media. The content developer, which is led by co-founder and CEO Larry Fitzgibbon, says it now reaches over 250 million monthly viewers.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
Santa Monica-based Surf Air , the startup airline which got its start moving executives back and forth between Silicon Beach and the Bay Area, is touting numbers which it says show it has a 90% on-time arrival rate, versus its commercial competitors. Surf Air says its on-time rate compares to such competitors as Southwest (78%) and Delta Airlines (81%). The company also says its departure times are 90% on time from its airports, which include such locations as Hawthorne and San Carlos.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2018
A "complete nightmare" experience by two LA tourists, lugging their luggage around town after checking out of their Airbnb, has spawned a new startup with links to Techstars. New York-based Vertoe , it just raised $1.85M in a seed funding round for its startup, whose founders, Sid Khattri and Neha Kesarwani, ended up hauling their suitcases around Los Angeles for six hours, turning what had been an effort to "explore LA" into a "complete nightmare".
SoCal Tech Calendar
OCTOBER 20, 2018
Friday, October 26, 2018 -- Innovate Pasadena's Connect Week 2018. Nnine full days of all things innovation! From AI to virtual reality demos to coding for both kids and adults, we have over 100 awesome events to choose from to help muster up your innovation savviness! See [link] (more
SoCal Tech Calendar
OCTOBER 20, 2018
Friday, October 26, 2018 -- SURVIVE AND THRIVE TODAY 2018. Keynotes by Mitch Lowe, CEO of MoviePass; Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures; Vernice Armour, first African American Fighter Pilot, and others. See [link].
Let's personalize your content