socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Anaheim-based Astro-Tek , an aerospace manufacturer, has been acquired by private equity investor White Wolf Capital , the two said Wednesday morning. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. White Wolf Capital said it acquired the majority stake in Astro-Tek through a newly formed company, Consolidated Machine Tool Holdings, LLC. Astro-Tek develops equipment used by aerospace and defense companies to manufacture, test, maintain, and service aircraft, satellites, rockets, and missiles.

Capital 157

Capital Equity Tool Services 157

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 12, 2017

Fifth Wall Ventures plans to launch an accelerator program aimed at companies valued under $20 million in the real estate tech space, the firm announced Wednesday.

Company 113

Company Companies 113

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Los Angeles-based Mitu , the venture-backed online content developer focused on media and entertainment from a Latino perspective, says it is backing an effort by the Bixel Exchange, part of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce's Center for Innovation & Technology, Mayor Garcetti and Annenberg Foundation, to drive diversity in the digital media sector.

Media 124

Media Training Content Commerce 124

Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2017

There’s no denying that BB-8 was the star of the most recent installment in the Star Wars universe, Rogue One. What you might not realize is that the adorable droid was the brain child of Sphero, a robotics and digital technology company and an alumni to the Disney Accelerator program. The BB-8 app-enabled Droid had such a global adoption among kids and adults that it was named the number one Star Wars toy of 2015.

Artificial Inteligence 109

Artificial Inteligence Startup Entertainment Press 109

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.

Company

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One , one of the companies looking to bring Elon Musks's concept of a high-speed transportation system to life, said today that it has completed what it say is its first, full systems Hyperloop test in a vacuum environment. The company said it was able to send its vehicle across a track for 5.3 seconds using magnetic levitation, at nearly 2G of acceleration, and reaching 70 mph, on a test on May 12th.

Los Angeles 124

Los Angeles Angel Company Companies 124

L.A. Business Journal

JULY 12, 2017

Activision Blizzard Inc. launches pro league for Overwatch, Fifth Wall Ventures powers up accelerator program, Hyperloop One completes full system test in Nevada and interior design app Hutch raises $10 million.

Activision 100

Activision Design Report 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 12, 2017

Tuesday, July 18, 2017 -- GENBAND Perspectives. GENBAND user conference.

Conference 100

Conference 100

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Laguna Hills-based Ephesoft , a developer of document capture software, has raise $15M in a Series A funding, the company said this week. The funding came from Mercato Partners. Joe Kaiser of Mercato joins the company's board with the funding. Ephesoft develops machine learning software which is used to capture, extract, and analyze unstructured content from financial, federal, insurance, mortgage, and healthcare documents.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence Tool Content Software 113

Xconomy

JULY 12, 2017

The first ever approval of a new kind of cancer immunotherapy called CAR-T is one step closer. A 10-member panel of doctors and researchers who advise the Food and Drug Administration recommended with a rare unanimous vote that the agency approve a treatment for kids and young adults with a severe form of leukemia who have run out of other options. The therapy would involve genetically modifying a patient’s T cells to kill cancer and then infusing them back into the body.

Research 79

Research San Diego Blogging 79

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

San Diego-based biopharmaceuticals developer Arena Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday that it is looking to raise $150.0M in a public offering. The company, which is already publicly listed on the NASDAQ as ARNA, said that Citigroup, Leerink Partners, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering, with JMP Securities as co-manager.

San Diego 113

San Diego Invest Develop Development 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2017

Even though I love technology, I always cringe when an entrepreneur starts an angel investor pitch to me by touting his new technology. They have forgotten that new technologies are perceived by most customers as causing more pain than the problems they eliminate. I chastise these startups to highlight the solution created by the technology, rather than the technology.

Technology 53

Technology Customer Custom Marketing 53

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Los Angeles-based online backup provider IDrive Online Backup said on Tuesday that it has rolled out a new feature of its service, a new "snapshot" feature which is specifically aimed at helping with ransomware recovery. According to IDrive, the new IDrive Snapshots feature provides a historical view of user data stored in IDrive's accounts, so that users can perform point-in-time recovery of their files.

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Services Help Software 113

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

The Walt Disney Company has launched its fourth year of running its own accelerator program, the Disney Accelerator , saying on Tuesday afternoon that it has named eleven companies to its new class. According to Disney, the companies in this class include Ambidio (sound processing); aXiomatic (e-sports); Brit + Co (educational content for women); Epic Games (Unreal game engine); Hoodline (local news and content discovery); Kahoot (game-based learning); ProductionPro (tools for creators); ReplyYe

Class 113

Class Company Companies Commerce 113

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

West Hollywood-based Hutch , the home interior design app developer led by Beatrice Fischel-Bock, has raised a $10M round of funding from Zillow Group , the company said this morning. Hutch, lets users take a picture of room us‌ing its mobile app, and lets users apply "filters" on how they might redecorate the space. As part of the funding, Zillow's Spencer Rascoff joins the company's board.

West Hollywood 113

West Hollywood Funding Hollywood Design 113

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2017

Carlsbad-based broadband satellite services provider ViaSat announced this morning that it has appointed former Airbnb executive Varsha Rao to its board of directors, bringing its board size to nine members. Rao is the former Head of Global Operations at Airbnb, where she was from 2013 to 2016. Rao also has served as an SVP at LivingSocial, CEO of SingTel Digital Media Ptd Ltd., and VP and GM at OldNavy.com; she also was the founder of Eve.com, in addition to working at McKinsey & Co.

Media 100

Media Services 100