Who are the companies in Southern California that are part of this growing industry? Most of the company's drones are of the smaller, tactical variety. The company is also known for its development of the "Hummingbird", the world's smallest drone. MORE

Did you miss out on your limited time chance at the flamethrower Elon Musk sold through his tunneling company, Boring Company? Well, don't despair, as you could be the proud owner of life size, LEGO-like blocks--made from tunneling rock escavated by the Boring Company's tunnelers--which can be used to create structures and buildings. Musk quipped that the company will sell those blocks as kits, with the first based on "ancient Egypt -- pyramids, Sphinx, temple of Horus, etc". MORE

What I didn''t discuss was how you should go about selecting the right company. I just got an email asking about exactly this: I''m with a new company that needs some software built, but doesn''t need (or have the resources for) a large staff of software developers. MORE

Los Angeles-based The Honest Company , the online, family products retailer led by serial entrepreneur Brian Lee, and which was co-founded by Jessica Alba, has raised $70M in a funding round, according to the company Tuesday. The funding brings the company''s total raised to $122M. MORE

Goleta-based radio frequency filtering technology developer Resonant has acquired a Swiss company, GVR Trade SA , which provides design and consultation on Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) and Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) devices. The company said it paid $1.1M Plessky joins the company as Director of Engineering, as will GVR Trade SA's other key technical staff. MORE

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Irvine-based Zadara Storage , which provides enterprise storage-as-a-service to customers via a hardware product combined with cloud-based storage, has scored media company The Impress Group. Zadara said it will support a VMware environment for The Impress Group, replacing aging storage arrays with its Zadara VPSA Storage Array. The financial impact of the win was not announced. MORE

has acquired a clothing company, Cottonseed Clothing Company , the firm announced today. Cottonseed Clothing Company is a provider of t-shirt and apparel for kids. Wittlebee said that Cottonseed was one the first vendors to supply clothing to the company. The firm also said that Cottonseed Clothing CEO Erin Gutierrez will continue to be involved in the manufacturing process for the company. clothes acquisition merger ecommerce science company clothing wittlebe MORE

Los Angeles-based crowd funding site FlashFunders , which had focused on Reg A+, Reg D, and Reg CF equity crowdfunding, has been acquired by financial services company Boustead & Company Limited , the two said this morning. Boustead & Company is related to Boustead Securities, LLC, which had recently helped FlashFunders in completing a Regulation A+ IPO offering on the Nasdaq. MORE

Netflix --which has major operations in Los Angeles--is looking to acquired Los Angeles-based Regency Outdoor Advertising , according to a report on Friday. The report, from Reuters, says that Netflix has offered around $300M for Regency Outdoor. The report cited "people familiar with the matter." READ MORE>>. netflix angeles regency outdoor advertising merger acquisition streaming hollywood MORE

announced Tuesday that e-sports company aXiomatic was one of 11 companies chosen to participate in the 2017 Disney Accelerator program Walt Disney Co. MORE

Los Angeles-based Honest Company , the online provider of eco-friendly baby, personal care, and other household goods led by Brian Lee and co-founded by Jessica Alba, has quietly let go of 80 employees --or nearly 14% of the company--in what the company has billed as a "growth positioning". honest company layoff jobs employment jessica alba baby personal care products ecommerce MORE

The Boring Company , the tunnel-digging startup led by Elon Musk--which is working on developing Hyperloop transportation systems based on Musk's next generation transportation concept--has received a statement of support from Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. boring company hyperloop tunnel digging transportation maryland MORE

Santa Barbara-based Yardi , the developer of real estate and property management software, reported a win Monday with American National Insurance Company. Yardi said that American National is using the company''s technology for property management and accounting. American National Insurance Company is based in Galveston, Texas. yardi insurance company real estate property management software MORE

Venice, California-based Amplify LA , the startup investor which got its start as one of LA's first startup accelerators, said this week that it has added two new companies-- Kulagy and Tapcart --as part of its portfolio of companies. Amplify--which now focuses on pre-seed investments, generally as the first check into a company--has quietly become one of the more active investors in making investments in very early local startups. MORE

Poway-based Cohu said late Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Kita Manufacturing Co LTD , a Japanese companies that develops products used in electronics manufacturing. The company said Kita had current year sales of estimated $17M. cohu spring probe company kita manufacturing japan electronics merger acquisition MORE

For Elon Musk , the technology mogul behind SpaceX and Tesla Motors, you post a video of the car elevator you built in Hawthorne, for The Boring Company and it's efforts to whisk cars, people, and stuff around via a network of underground tunnels in Los Angeles. elon musk boring company elevator transportation spacexIf you're most anyone on Instagram, you might post a picture of puppies, a sunset, your dinner, or a selfie. MORE

Los Angeles-based The Virtual Reality Company , the startup which is developing a virtual reality version of The Martian , has raised $23M in a funding round, according to the company. According to The Virtual Reality Company, the new funding will go towards developing more, original virtual reality content. stromberg robert primus movie hollywood content capital venture martian company reality virtual MORE

UITD--which is one of the companies working with competing smartphone app provider Flywheel to counter the other ridesharing companies--told the LA Weekly it has seen at least a drop of 30 percent in business from weekend club-goers in the South Bay and in West Hollywood. MORE

Los Angeles-based e-commerce provider Honest Company , which sells organic baby and beauty products, is looking to replace CEO Brian Lee with a veteran of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, according to a report. Recode, citing insiders at The Honest Company, says board members have been talking to executives from consumer packaged goods companies to take a role at the company. honest company employment consumer product goods MORE

Techstars Music , one of the startup accelerator programs run by Techstars in Los Angeles, said this week that it has added three new companies to its effort, bringing its total class to nine. According to Techstars Music, it added Concord Music , RecoChoku , and Royalty Exchange to Techstars Music 2018. MORE

The Honest Company , the online brand offering up natural products for babies and families founded by Jessica Alba, has teamed up with daily deals site Zulily , the two said Wednesday afternoon. Financia link between the companies were not disclosed. MORE

Los Angeles-based TS2 Holdings , a strategic business development firm focused on the technology industry, said on Friday morning that it has acquired three companies, including Neohire South , RockIT Recruiting , and Hero.jobs. Neohire South is a recruiting company with offices in Santa Monica and Tarzana, RockIT Recruiting is a tech recruiting company based in San Francisco, and Hero.jobs is a recuiting software company based in Santa Monica. MORE

San Diego-based Mitek , which develops mobile capture and digital identity verification software, said on Monday that it has acquired Spanish consumer identification software developer ICAR. Mitek said it paid approximately $15.0M in cash and shares of its common stock for ICAR. ICAR provides its consumer identification products in Spain and Latin America. ICAR's customers include banks including Caixa Bank, Banco Neon, and Bancoppel, as well as others. READ MORE>>. MORE

In the first product you can actually buy from Elon Musk's new tunnel-digging startup, The Boring Company , the company is now selling a hat with the company's name/logo on it. Musk's company--which has been digging tunnels beneath SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne--says the hat costs $20, including shipping and tax. elon musk boring company tunnel spacex hyperloop transportation MORE

Los Angeles-based Boring Company has received a permit to start digging in a parking lot in Washington, DC, as the company eyes building a tunnel which would connect New York and Washington, DC, with a Hyperloop tunnel. The company--which says it has received state approval from Maryland to dig a 10.1 The Boring Company also has been digging a tunnel in Los Angeles, in the SpaceX parking lot, but also has yet to get permission to extend that line off its own property. MORE

With all the hand wringing in the tech industry over gender balance and equity, here's one company that apparently has no issue: LA-based Evite , the online invitations service. Evite's gender balance is in stark contrast to such companies as Apple (68% male, 32% female employees and 72% male, 28% male leadership); Uber (63.9% The company is led by CEO Victor Cho. evite gender balance executives diversity report online technology company tech MORE

Santa Monica-based The Honest Company , which provides baby care, personal care, home care, and other healthy lifestyle products, said this morning that it has raised $100M in a Series D funding round. The company has now raised around $228M in funding. MORE

Los Angeles-based The Honest Company , the natural home products brand, said late Thursday that it has closed on a Series E financing round. The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, along with others. per share, a significant decrease from the company's prior valuation of $45.75. fidelity capital venture ecommerce retail baby products home natural thehonestcompany company honest 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). MORE

Santa Maria--on California's Central Coast--is hoping the availability of very high speed Internet will specifically attract new tech companies and employees, who require high speed internet service. Although that segment of the Central Coast is not well known for technology startups, in recent years, the area has produced such successful companies as Mindbody Software, which had an IPO 2015. santa maria wave broadband high speed fiber tech companies MORE

Los Angeles-based j2 Global acquired four more companies in Q4 of 2017, adding to a very long list of acquisition, the company said today. According to j2 Global, it acquired four, digital media companies-- Humble Bundle , blackfriday.com , Health eCareers , and Mashable --all in Q4. j2 Global also sold one company, Tea Leaves Health, LLC, part of Everyday Health; no financial details of that deal were announced, either. MORE

Is another, Los Angeles consumer startup-- The Honest Company --about to be acquired by Unilever ? An unconfirmed report Thursday afternoon, from TechCrunch, says that Unilever is in early talks to acquire the company, founded by Jessica Alba and SoCal serial entrepreneur Brian Lee. The Honest Company has been hinting that it has been working on a possible IPO filing over the last year or so. honestco honest company jessica alba unilever merger acquisition rumor exit MORE

Los Angeles-based j2 Global , the widely diversified provider of Internet services and online media, has acquired two more companies, the company said today. j2 Global said it acquired ThreatTrack (VIPRE Security), a provider of security-focused cloud services, and certain assets of Lifescript , a provider of digial media in the health area. Financial details of those acquisition were not announced. j2 Global said it does not expect those acquisitions to be material to its business. MORE

Los Angeles-based OpenX has acquired Mezzobit and PubNation , two companies in the programmatic advertising space, the company said on Monday. Financial details of those acquisition were not announced by the company. According to OpenX, it plans to integrate Mezzobit and PubNation's tools into its platform. MORE

Los Angeles The Virtual Reality Company said this morning that it has released a new, animated virtual reality (VR) series, called Raising a Rukus. The company said it is the first to debut a series of the kind specifically for families. The Virtual Reality Company (VRC) previously had released the virtual reality series, The Martian VR for Twentieth Century Fox. virtual reality company hollywood content series raising rukus movie MORE