It can take 18 months from initial concern about a critical employee to getting a replacement up to speed. Of course, I’ll tell another harrowing story here. But first. an old friend, Dick Tanaka, gets credit for the 18-month rule. MORE

Netflix to raise another $1.5 billion for original content; Postmates creates 2,000 jobs in Los Angeles; Boeing invests in Morf3D MORE

The highly anticipated, Harry Potter-themed videogame from Los Angeles-based Jam City -- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery --officially launched today, and is now on Apple's App Store and Google Play. Jam City's new title allows players to create their own character, and experience "life as a Hogwarts students"--including picking their own house, taking classes, going on adventures, and more. The game was developed by Jam City, in conjunction with Warner Bros. MORE

Afraid of running into unexpected veterinary bills for that new puppy? A new, Los Angeles-based startup, Eusoh , is hoping to make it easier for people to handle unexpected veterinary costs, by banding people together in groups to help provide an alternative to traditional, insurance plans. The startup, led by CEO and founder Allen Kamrava, says it is backed by $2M in seed funding, which was raised back in September of 2017 through mostly friends and family. MORE

San Diego-based "code school" Origin Code Academy said this morning that it has rolled out a new, online-only, free course on programming and the basics of writing code. According to the boot camp operator, the free course is aimed at anyone interested in preparing to attend its program, or anyone interested in the basics of coding--to determine if coding is something for them or not. According to the school, the new course teaches some of the fundamentals of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. MORE

San Diego-based Taoglas , which develops antennas for the telematics, automotive and other markets, has named Jeff Shamblin as its new VP of Engineering. Shamblin was previously at Ethertronics, where he had served in such roles as CTO and Chief Scientist. Shamblin had spent 12 years at Ethertronics, but also previously had been at SCS Corp, Claridy Solutions, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop. READ MORE>>. executive design antenna resident vice engineering taoglas MORE

Beverly Hills-based 3D movie projection technology provider RealD said today with theater exhibitor Cinemark Holdings , that the two have renewed Cinemark's 3D agreement with RealD through 2022. Financial details of the deal were not announced by the two firms, which jointly announced the extension today. The companies said that Cinemark will also be installing RealD 3D systems in all of its new-build theaters during the term. MORE

John Dobak, a life sciences serial entrepreneur in San Diego, said a new startup he’s leading has raised $2.66 million to advance a drug that is already approved to shrink varicose veins through early-stage clinical trials testing it in a new use —fat reduction body sculpting. MORE

Simi Valley-based Xavient Digital , a provider of IT solutions and software services, said it is in a major hiring push in the region, and plans to hire 250 people in the next few months in Los Angeles, San Diego, as well as other locations across the US. Xavient Digital said the hiring comes as a result of its acquisition by customer service provider TELUS International. According to Xavient, it expects to complete its recruiting and hiring process by the end of this summer. MORE

An online publication--focused on the gaming industry and trends--says that the University of Southern California is one of the top 10 universities for video game development programs, in a new ranking of school. According to 80 LEVEL, USC joined such other schools as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and others in a new ranking. 80 LEVEL said its scoring is based on over 15 criteria. MORE

Reliam acquires Stratalux; Aviron bets on interactive movies; ICX Media opens Los Angeles office MORE

Sunday, April 29, 2018 -- Tech Coast Angels: EXTREME Coaching. Perfect your 60-second pitch with valuable coaching from Tech Coast Angels investors and startup experts. Participate in friendly competition and win bragging rights and special TCA recognition with plaques and digital website badges awarded to category favorites and participants. Incredible networking and exposure to media and active investors of Orange County. MORE

Redland-based geographical information systems (GIS) software developer Esri said this morning that it has rolled out some new software for the intelligence community, a new product specifically for intelligence analysts. Esri said its new software, Intelligence Configuration for ArcGIS Pro (ICAP), is specifically aimed at use in the defense and intelligence industry, for such activities as tracking a smuggler crossing borders o a military target, predicting their possible routes, and more. MORE

A new, $20M venture capital fund, TAU Ventures , based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Tel Aviv University (TAU), says it is specifically looking to link with the Los Angeles technology community--thanks to its link with Los Angeles investor Behzad Kianmahd--co-founder of Cross Campus. According to TAU Ventures, its early stage venture capital fund is looking to invest pre-seed funding into startups founded by students and alumni of Tel Aviv University. MORE

San Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics , a developer of biopharmaceuticals for treating obesity, said it is selling "substantially all" of the assets of the company to Nalproprion Pharmaceuticals , in a deal worth $75M in cash. According to Orexigen, Nalproprion Pharmaceuticals is a newly formed, special purpose entity which is backed by Pernix Therapeutics Holdings. MORE

Los Angeles-based early stage investment fund Bonfire Ventures said Monday morning that it has added a new Venture Partner to the firm, Brett Queener. According to Bonfire, Queener was most recently the COO at SmartRecruiters, and also spent more than a decade at Salesforec.com. Queener had served as VP of Field Operations, SVP Operations, SVP Products, EVP/GM of Data Cloud, and EVP/GM of Marketing Cloud at Salesforce, among other titles. He also has served at Siebel Systems (now Oracle). MORE

Tuesday, May 1, 2018 --. MORE

Netflix , the provider of online streaming services which has major operations in Los Angeles, is planning to raise $1.5 billion in debt to fund content acquisition, production and development, potential acquisitions and strategic transactions, and other efforts, the company said this morning. Netflix said that the interest rate, redemption provisions, maturity date and other terms debt will be negotiated with its purchasers. MORE

Irvine-based Quality Systems, Inc. which is now using the name NextGen Healthcare , said this morning that it has named Betty Rabinowitz, MD, FACP as Chief Medical Officer. Rabinowitz was previously co-founder and CEO of EagleDream Health, a developer of cloud-based analytics and population health management software. Quality Systems acquired EagleDream Health, and renamed it as NextGen Population Health, back in August of 2017. READ MORE>>. MORE

Reliam, a South Bay-based company that manages public cloud platforms for other businesses, announced it has acquired Stratalux, another South Bay-based cloud services company. Both Reliam and Stratalux work with Amazon Web Services and Reliam also works with Microsoft Azure MORE

Beverly Hills-based Aviron Capital , a consortium of financiers with primary backing from by private equity investor BlackRock, said this morning that it has acquired a "substantial equity stake" in Kino Industries , the developer of an interactive movie technology called CtrlMovie. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. MORE

ICX Media , a developer of artificial intelligence and adaptive learning-driven tools being used to help brands, media companies, and content companies with distribution and monetization, said it has set up shop in the Los Angeles area, with a new office in Santa Monica. The company is led by founder and CEO Michael Avon. The company said the new office will be a hub for the company as it approaches the entertainment industry. READ MORE>>. MORE

Los Angeles-based j2 Cloud Services , the cloud services arm of j2 Global , announced this morning that it has named longtime technology veteran Ron Burr as Senior Vice president and General Manager of its Voice Business Unit, which includes its virtual phone and unified communications offerings. Burr was most recently Chief Product and Technology Officer at scuba diving certification organization PADI, and previously was CEO of cloud telephony provider CallFire. MORE

Hawthorne-based SpaceX is getting set to launch yet another payload into space for NASA, saying all systems and weather are go for the 6:51 p.m. EDT launch of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. MORE

Lake Forest-based Netwatch said today that it has launched a new company, comprised of four visual monitoring companies in the video security area. The new company is backed by private equity funding from The Riverside Company. According to Netwatch, the new company is made up of Netwatch (Ireland), NMC (United States), CalAtlantic (United States) and Onwatch Multifire (United Kingdom). Financial details of the rollup were not announced. MORE

Lynwood, California-based NEXT Trucking , which operates an online marketplace which connects carriers to shippers, says it is planning a big hiring push in Southern California, after a big $21M funding round from Sequoia Capital. The startup, led by CEO and Co-founder Lidia Yan, says it plans to double its workforce in Southern California, with a plan to hire more than 50 engineering, sales, operations, and marketing roles this year. MORE

Los Angeles-based TaskUs , which provides outsourced customer support and other back-end support for technology companies, said today that it has named Jarrod Johnson as Chief Customer Officer. Johnson was previously SVP of Sales at TaskUs, and will be based in the company's Dallas offices. Johnson also had served at ACS and IBM. TaskUs--which has a very significant employee base in the Philippines--also has an on-shore facility in Austin, Texas. READ MORE>>. MORE

Monday, April 30, 2018 --. MORE

JMI Equity , the private equity firm which has one of its main offices in La Jolla, is the lead investor in a round for Phoenix, Arizona-based CampusLogic. CampusLogic, which develops software tools to help streamline the management of student financial aid for schools, said Wednesday morning that it had raised $55M in a funding round from JMI Equity. CampusLogic said it will use the new investment for product development, customer success, and sales and marketing. READ MORE>>. MORE

There are few things more universal in wardrobes the world over than blue jeans. But they are also the number one item that is returned by online shoppers, says Rian Buckley, founder and CEO of Fitcode. Fit is the number one purchase driver and reason to return,” she says. MORE

Brud , the actual company behind one of Instagram’s most popular virtual influencers (it’s a thing), has raised millions of dollars from Silicon Valley investors because this is 2018 and everything is awful. MORE